My Favorite Online Business Tools

I've been creating and selling online since 2014, and I've tried a LOT of different strategies and tools. Any online venture, in my opinion, needs at least the following structures in place:

• A basic website with a blog
• A way to accept payments
• A way for people to join your email list
• Content delivery/hosting

These can be done in a variety of creative ways. I've used Weebly for websites, simple PayPal buttons (or links) and ejunkie for payments, Mailchimp, Ontraport, Active Campaign, and Kajabi for email, membership, and subscription plugins for WordPress, and probably a lot more stuff that I'm forgetting about at the moment. When I first started selling online I manually updated my email lists and sent out products through personal email. Now I have most of this automated. 

There is no perfect system or combination of tools. It's all about what you like to use, will be able to use, and works for your needs. 

Every time I have made major changes, I have learned a lot and spent a lot of time/money on research, moving my content, building systems, and honestly, it's been generally stressful. Sometimes a fancier system (and more expensive) has more capabilities but if it's 100 times harder to use, I have found them to be useless. 

I like things that are fairly intuitive and that I can generally navigate and figure out myself. I've gone to extremes of complication thinking I could make more money but it's not worth it if I'm stressed out or having to spend all of that money paying other people to do all the things in my business. I am all about keeping it simple at this point!

I create courses and programs that help people to make money doing what they love and live their dream lives. I've decided not to stress out if someone occasionally receives an email about a product they already own! My goals are to provide valuable resources, build my email list, and reach those who need/want my products and services. 

Currently, I use:

• WordPress for my Massage and Spa Success blog and website https://massageandspasuccess.com/ (now closed)
• Kajabi, for this blog, website, shop, member area, and some emails. Check out the two-week free trial if you are looking for a great platform! Read about why I LOVE Kajabi HERE.
•  Mailchimp for most email, as well as the Kajabi built-in email system. Kajabi and Mailchimp integrate and since my Massage and Spa Success list is in Mailchimp I use both depending on who I am emailing, and why.
• I use Tailwind for scheduling social media posts. 
• Voxer walkie talkie app for communicating with my team (currently one part-time VA)
• Freedom distraction management app to block websites that keep me from being productive!
• Canva for creating images and graphic design. 
• My Mac Book, Ipad and Iphone

Those are the main ones, I'll add more to this post as I think of things. A dream business can be simple and easy if you choose to make it so! 

Remember, the little things are the big things!

Gael