Software
As an online creator, great software can have a massive impact on your success. Great software can save you time, improve your work, and enable your creativity.
Below are my favorite software tools powering my business as a creator.
I strongly recommend them all!
Audience Building
ConvertKit
For building an email listConvertKit is the email service provider that I wish I would've started with. After years on MailChimp, switching over ConvertKit was a total game changer for my business.
ConvertKit makes it so easy to segment your audience, create sequences, and send them more personalized emails. Better segmentation means better messaging which means higher conversion.
If you're building an audience, ConvertKit should be your email marketing tool.
ConvertKit
For building an email listConvertKit is the email service provider that I wish I would've started with. After years on MailChimp, switching over ConvertKit was a total game changer for my business.
ConvertKit makes it so easy to segment your audience, create sequences, and send them more personalized emails. Better segmentation means better messaging which means higher conversion.
If you're building an audience, ConvertKit should be your email marketing tool.
SparkLoop
For a newsletter referral programI use SparkLoop with my ConvertKit account to encourage subscribers to share my writing.
Adding SparkLoop is really easy and I highly, highly recommend it. Within days of implementing SparkLoop, I saw more people sharing my writing than ever before, and it's led to a lot of new subscribers.
SparkLoop
For a newsletter referral programI use SparkLoop with my ConvertKit account to encourage subscribers to share my writing.
Adding SparkLoop is really easy and I highly, highly recommend it. Within days of implementing SparkLoop, I saw more people sharing my writing than ever before, and it's led to a lot of new subscribers.
Circle
For online membership communitiesAfter years of being frustrated with community platforms, Circle finally feels like the platform I've been looking for.
It's beautiful, easy to navigate, and combines the feel of a Facebook Group feed with total customization and your own branding.
I'm using it for the Freelancing School Community and wrote a full, in-depth article about Circle here.
If you're building your own community, I highly recommend it.
Circle
For online membership communitiesAfter years of being frustrated with community platforms, Circle finally feels like the platform I've been looking for.
It's beautiful, easy to navigate, and combines the feel of a Facebook Group feed with total customization and your own branding.
I'm using it for the Freelancing School Community and wrote a full, in-depth article about Circle here.
If you're building your own community, I highly recommend it.
Podia
For courses and digital productsA little over a year ago, I decided to put everything I've learned about freelancing into some online courses. And when it came to choosing a learning platform, I chose Podia.
Podia makes my Freelancing School courses look great while also handling everything for me. They handle payments without charging a transaction fee, host your lesson videos (which saves you a ton of money), help you send email, and a lot more.
They let you sell memberships, digital downloads, and webinars too.
Podia is offering my friends 15% off for life. For life! Seriously, I used this deal myself, and it's a significant savings.
Podia
For courses and digital productsA little over a year ago, I decided to put everything I've learned about freelancing into some online courses. And when it came to choosing a learning platform, I chose Podia.
Podia makes my Freelancing School courses look great while also handling everything for me. They handle payments without charging a transaction fee, host your lesson videos (which saves you a ton of money), help you send email, and a lot more.
They let you sell memberships, digital downloads, and webinars too.
Podia is offering my friends 15% off for life. For life! Seriously, I used this deal myself, and it's a significant savings.
Website & Infrastructure
PRO by Themeco
For a powerful WordPress themeI currently maintain four separate websites for my own projects. All four of those sites are custom built on WordPress using the PRO Theme by Themeco (including this one!) and I absolutely love it.
This Theme combines a beautiful visual editor (like Squarespace) with much more robust functionality. Once you learn how to use the theme, you can customize any aspect of your WordPress site without needing to touch any actual code.
And, because it's WordPress, it's setup really well for writing and SEO. They have a great video tutorial at the link below.
PRO by Themeco
For a powerful WordPress themeI currently maintain four separate websites for my own projects. All four of those sites are custom built on WordPress using the PRO Theme by Themeco (including this one!) and I absolutely love it.
This Theme combines a beautiful visual editor (like Squarespace) with much more robust functionality. Once you learn how to use the theme, you can customize any aspect of your WordPress site without needing to touch any actual code.
And, because it's WordPress, it's setup really well for writing and SEO. They have a great video tutorial at the link below.
SiteGround
For web hosting with great customer serviceSiteGround has been my WordPress hosting provider since day one. I don't know a ton about hosting, but I know that SiteGround automatically updates my WordPress sites, has top-rated security, and has never let me down.
One major bonus to SiteGround is their readily-available, always-helpful customer support. I've accidentally killed my WordPress sites several times, and their team has always been there to help me right away.
SiteGround
For web hosting with great customer serviceSiteGround has been my WordPress hosting provider since day one. I don't know a ton about hosting, but I know that SiteGround automatically updates my WordPress sites, has top-rated security, and has never let me down.
One major bonus to SiteGround is their readily-available, always-helpful customer support. I've accidentally killed my WordPress sites several times, and their team has always been there to help me right away.
Productivity & Management
Airtable
For process and contact managementAirtable works like a spreadsheet, but has the power of a database built in.
I use Airtable for my CRM, podcast guest booking, podcast production, editorial calendar, keyword research, article planning, tracking affiliate links, and more.
It's one of the most flexible and robust tools in my business. Airtable acts as a second brain and his the key to managing relationships AND content creation.
Airtable
For process and contact managementAirtable works like a spreadsheet, but has the power of a database built in.
I use Airtable for my CRM, podcast guest booking, podcast production, editorial calendar, keyword research, article planning, tracking affiliate links, and more.
It's one of the most flexible and robust tools in my business. Airtable acts as a second brain and his the key to managing relationships AND content creation.
Trello
For productivity and task managementTrello has been my go-to task management tool for years. And the best part is that it's free.
Any time there is a specific task that I need to take action on, I create a card in Trello. This eliminates my need to remember what I need to do, or when it needs to be completed – every day, I can just check my Trello board and have a good idea of what I need to complete.
And because it's collaborative, Trello is great for using with a team too.
Trello
For productivity and task managementTrello has been my go-to task management tool for years. And the best part is that it's free.
Any time there is a specific task that I need to take action on, I create a card in Trello. This eliminates my need to remember what I need to do, or when it needs to be completed – every day, I can just check my Trello board and have a good idea of what I need to complete.
And because it's collaborative, Trello is great for using with a team too.
SavvyCal
For stress-free schedulingBefore I had a real virtual assistant, SavvyCal was basically my virtual assistant.
SavvyCal makes scheduling so incredibly easy – it saves me so much time coordinating with people over email. And because it connects to your calendar in real time, you never worry about double-booking yourself.
The best part is that you can create rules for your own availability. My SavvyCal knows that I don't take meetings on Mondays or Fridays, or any day before 11am. And because of that, I'm able to protect my most productive times from meetings.
SavvyCal
For stress-free schedulingBefore I had a real virtual assistant, SavvyCal was basically my virtual assistant.
SavvyCal makes scheduling so incredibly easy – it saves me so much time coordinating with people over email. And because it connects to your calendar in real time, you never worry about double-booking yourself.
The best part is that you can create rules for your own availability. My SavvyCal knows that I don't take meetings on Mondays or Fridays, or any day before 11am. And because of that, I'm able to protect my most productive times from meetings.
Grammarly
For rapidly improving my writingGrammarly is like having a writing coach looking over your shoulder all the time. It doesn’t just correct your writing mistakes, it makes you a BETTER writer by giving you real-time feedback on clarity, sentence structure, and even the TONE of your writing.
Grammarly tells me when my writing tone, even in Tweets, is coming off as optimistic, joyful, and confident. It helps me to be more concise and clean up my excess punctuation too. That sentence I just read was actually made more concise by Grammarly.
Grammarly
For rapidly improving my writingGrammarly is like having a writing coach looking over your shoulder all the time. It doesn’t just correct your writing mistakes, it makes you a BETTER writer by giving you real-time feedback on clarity, sentence structure, and even the TONE of your writing.
Grammarly tells me when my writing tone, even in Tweets, is coming off as optimistic, joyful, and confident. It helps me to be more concise and clean up my excess punctuation too. That sentence I just read was actually made more concise by Grammarly.
Podcasting & Video
SquadCast
For high quality remote podcast recordingsSquadCast is a beautiful tool because it records the audio of every guest locally. That means instead of my computer recording a guest's audio (after it travels across the internet) it records the audio in the guest's home and sends me the final file.
This way of recording makes it sound like everyone is in the same room.
And even better – the whole experience is incredible for the guest. They don't need to download any software, they don't need an account, they just click the link you send them and they can record right in their browser.
SquadCast
For high quality remote podcast recordingsSquadCast is a beautiful tool because it records the audio of every guest locally. That means instead of my computer recording a guest's audio (after it travels across the internet) it records the audio in the guest's home and sends me the final file.
This way of recording makes it sound like everyone is in the same room.
And even better – the whole experience is incredible for the guest. They don't need to download any software, they don't need an account, they just click the link you send them and they can record right in their browser.
Transistor
For podcast hosting and analyticsTransistor has been a fantastic hosting platform for my podcast, upside. The platform makes it easy to syndicate your show to all major players including YouTube.
Transistor has a beautiful user interface that makes it easy to upload and manage your shows as well as see your show analytics.
It even lets you create multiple shows without any additional fee.
Transistor
For podcast hosting and analyticsTransistor has been a fantastic hosting platform for my podcast, upside. The platform makes it easy to syndicate your show to all major players including YouTube.
Transistor has a beautiful user interface that makes it easy to upload and manage your shows as well as see your show analytics.
It even lets you create multiple shows without any additional fee.
ScreenFlow
For video recording and editingScreenFlow is an incredibly powerful video editing platform that I am absolutely obsessed with. ScreenFlow makes it easy to record your camera, computer desktop, and external audio simultaneously.
And whether you record with ScreenFlow or import your video, the editing suite makes it really easy to create super high quality videos. I feel like an absolute pro when I use ScreenFlow, and I learned it all on the fly by creating Podcast Like The Pros.
ScreenFlow
For video recording and editingScreenFlow is an incredibly powerful video editing platform that I am absolutely obsessed with. ScreenFlow makes it easy to record your camera, computer desktop, and external audio simultaneously.
And whether you record with ScreenFlow or import your video, the editing suite makes it really easy to create super high quality videos. I feel like an absolute pro when I use ScreenFlow, and I learned it all on the fly by creating Podcast Like The Pros.
Money & Finance
QuickBooks
For accounting and bookkeepingQuickBooks is my go-to tool for all things accounting because it syncs with your bank and invoicing tools (PayPal, Stripe, Wave, etc.) and makes it easy to go in and categorize those transactions (Meals, Income, Office Supplies, etc.)
If you have recurring transactions, you can create Rules within QuickBooks so that you don't need to mark it manually next time, it will do it automatically. You can use your QuickBooks data to file your own taxes at the end of the year. Personally, I like to team up with an accountant to take that QuickBooks data and maximize my refund.
I use QuickBooks Self Employed, but the Simple Start or Essentials Plan are much more powerful. And since I'm an ambassador for QuickBooks, you can save up to 55% on your first 3 months.
QuickBooks
For accounting and bookkeepingQuickBooks is my go-to tool for all things accounting because it syncs with your bank and invoicing tools (PayPal, Stripe, Wave, etc.) and makes it easy to go in and categorize those transactions (Meals, Income, Office Supplies, etc.)
If you have recurring transactions, you can create Rules within QuickBooks so that you don't need to mark it manually next time, it will do it automatically. You can use your QuickBooks data to file your own taxes at the end of the year. Personally, I like to team up with an accountant to take that QuickBooks data and maximize my refund.
I use QuickBooks Self Employed, but the Simple Start or Essentials Plan are much more powerful. And since I'm an ambassador for QuickBooks, you can save up to 55% on your first 3 months.
Wealthfront
For personal and retirement investingBecause I'm self-employed, I'm responsible for my own retirement savings. Wealthfront has been a fantastic tool for managing my retirement accounts and helping to put my investing on autopilot.
Not only do I use Wealthfront for my Roth IRA, but I use it to invest in the market too. It profiled my risk tolerance and built a diversified portfolio that it manages on my behalf.
You can get your first $5,000 managed without any fees using my link here.
Wealthfront
For personal and retirement investingBecause I'm self-employed, I'm responsible for my own retirement savings. Wealthfront has been a fantastic tool for managing my retirement accounts and helping to put my investing on autopilot.
Not only do I use Wealthfront for my Roth IRA, but I use it to invest in the market too. It profiled my risk tolerance and built a diversified portfolio that it manages on my behalf.
You can get your first $5,000 managed without any fees using my link here.