THE BEST SMALL BUSINESS TOOL RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations & discounts for small business owners
I am a bit of a geek when it comes to productivity and software. So here’s a little list of what I use, and I’ve included money off links where possible. I’ve also recommended some of my favourite small business owners, offering lovely things.
CONTENT CREATION
MORNING OF MARKETING
If you struggle with coming up with content ideas, OR, like me, you have too many ideas and it’s hard to see the wood for the trees sometimes, I highly recommend Hannah Isted’s Morning of Marketing course. She talks you through 15 prompts with examples and ideas for each.
What’s more, if you like it, you can join her 90-day membership next time it opens, The Best 90 Days Ever (an incredible community of small business owners in which Hannah gives you a 10-minute action each day for your small business marketing) – the membership is only £45 and she’ll deduct the £30 you paid for Morning of Marketing!
£30 – Info & sign up here (affiliate link; same price for you, small referral credit for me)
PENSION
PENFOLD
Trust me when I say I did my research on SIPPs – self-invested pensions. While other providers looked like they had lower fees, Penfold don’t charge for ‘managed funds’, meaning you just pick your risk and they’ll sort the rest.
Free – Get £25 in your pension (referral link; £25 for you, £25 for me)
BANKING
MONZO
I’ve used Monzo for years as my main bank account and savings account. Simple and convenient.
Free – Get £5 free (referral link; £5 for you, £5 for me)
EMAIL MARKETING
MAILERLITE
Simple platform with everything small businesses need (without all the confusing fluff).
Free – Get $20 credit with my link (referral link; $20 credit for you, $20 credit for me)
CLIENT MANAGEMENT
WHATSAPP FOR BUSINESS
Separate app that you can use on your main phone – just link it to a separate number (I bought a £5 sim from giffgaff).
Free – business.whatsapp.com
Discounts – Get £5 credit on a free Giffgaff sim
BUSINESS STRATEGIES & CLIENT PORTALS
NOTION
It’s like a notes app meets a file system meets gel pens in the 00s.
Free – notion.so
Discounts – you can apply for a startup grant; I was successful and got $500 credit towards a teams account.
BANKING
STARLING
My business bank account – you can automatically split your income into pots and other accounts.
Free – Sign up using this link and they’ll plant a tree (referral link; free for you, tree for the planet)
CONTENT CREATION
TRELLO
I have all my key messages and service info in Trello then use it to capture ideas, write posts, and draft blogs
Free – trello.com
COFFEE
PACT
I’ve been using Pact for years. I pay £8 a bag. Pact coffee is sustainably sourced, they pay 60% above base Fairtrade prices, and it’s tastier because it’s brewed in the UK a few days before it’ll come through your letterbox.
Free – Get £5 off your first bag with my link (referral link; £5 for you, £5 credit for me)
INVOICING & BUDGETING
AIRTABLE
I have a template to automatically create PDF invoices and track my income and expenditure.
Free – airtable.com (referral link; free for you, account credit for me)