3 TOOLS THAT SAVED MY BUSINESS
Soooo I can be a bit stubborn when it comes to learning new skills. I’m the person that gets the iPhone software update but turns off all the bells and whistles in the settings to make it operate like the previous software did. BUT I will say that in this solopreneur world, tech tools can be your best friend! These three online tools/apps have heavily improved my workflow and efficiency by optimizing my time.
ZAPIER
I am obsessed with Zapier! This is a website that automates thousands of tasks for you- like making your Instagram photos go to Twitter, or syncing emails from your website to your Mailchimp list. There are a million things you can do with this website and I always recommend it to people who are looking to cut a corner in some way.
ACUITY SCHEDULING
Acuity Scheduling is something that I pay for on a yearly basis but only really utilize during my busiest portrait seasons. It’s basically a digital calendar that you can send to your clients to self-schedule themselves on, and it’s really a lifesaver! I used to spend SO.MUCH.TIME. playing email tag with potential clients and trying to rearrange schedules to accommodate everyone. Now I just send them a calendar with the dates I’m available and they have at it! They can pay me and book all at once, and it’ll send them reminders and sync to both of your iCal or Google Calendars. This isn’t ideal for my whole year because I don’t always know what days I’m available that far in advance, but it’s really helpful for the busy seasons.
PLANOLY
Planoly is a wonderful app and website to use for Instagram to help store hashtags, see analytics, and plan/schedule your grid. I don’t do a whole lot of scheduling on my Instagram, but I do like to store all of my hashtags in there so they can easily be copied and pasted. I definitely recommend this app if you are wanting to view your future posts in a grid-format to help plan.