My 10 Favorite Digital Tools for Running My Creative Business

OK! Here we go! My absolute 10 FAVORITE and MUCH needed digital tools that I need to run my creative business. What do I mean by creative business? Well, basically I have a design studio that specializes in Interior Design and Graphic Design.

But, these tools will help you too, no matter where you are in your biz, there are amazing tools that can save you dozens of hours per week, automate key marketing activities, and save you thousands of dollars on pricey freelancers.

One of the tricks with running your own business especially at the beginning stages when you are a “soloprenuer” is you have to find the best tools at the lowest price that will help move your business forward and automate as much as possible for you. These tools below have been tried and tested by me and the great thing is, most of them have trial periods or free memberships to start off with. As you grow your business, they expand with you.

I ran a freelance based business for 15 years before going to corporate American and working fulltime in a corporate office. I quit that job (read more about that here) to start my own business again and this time around everything has been so different! First, things first, while I ran a business before, I definitely did not treat it like the business that it was. I waited for jobs to roll into me and I never actively set out to look for business. It worked perfectly for me in that time of my life, but this time around I have HAD to treat it like a job and after almost a year, it has paid me like a job and has been so much fun in the process!

Of course, the first thing I had to do was design my office, duh. You can check that out here. My environment helps as much as all these tools do. Once I got that rolling, I was able to focus and get to work!

I’m somewhat of a techie person so I have tried so many things and what I have settled on has created so much ease in my personal life and my business to keep everything on track and in check. Scroll down to see the entire list, but you can fill out this form if you want the list sent directly to your inbox with clickable links. I hope you find everything here so helpful and I think you will LOVE these tools!

Just a note, some of these links are affiliate links, which means I may get a commission if you purchase. However, none of the fees of these resources have been increased to compensate me.

Getting Started

	WEBSITE HOSTING Bluehost I’ve used everything from Squarespace to custom sites, but my husband did some research and decided that WordPress and BlueHost would give me the most ease and flexibility that I wanted for my business. They offer a clean and simple way to set up your blog with WordPress and is super affordable!	Try Bluehost
	WEBSITE CREATION & HOSTING Squarespace For some of the quickest startup, Squarespace is one of the east tools to use. I’ve used it for a number of clients for easy website management after I’m done designing. It can be limiting on templates and blogging which is why I ended up changing my site setup, but this is really easy if you don’t want to have to think about it.	Try Squarespace
	WEBSITE CREATION Wordpess is the most streamlined way to start your blog, and the most popular, used by the majority of popular bloggers.	Try WordPress
	WORDPRESS THEME Studiopress Genesis is the framework and basic “parent theme” I currently use because it is so stable and pretty much problem free. It’s slick and easy, but not free. You will have to purchase the framework ($59.95) and will have to purchase a child theme (see below) for it to work. I used other frameworks, to begin with, and they were buggy and problematic. I haven’t had any issues with Genesis and have used it on 2 of my own sites and multiple client sites.  We highly recommend the Genesis Theme!	Try StudioPress
	WORDPRESS CHILDTHEME Restored 316 While the Genesis theme can be used as is, it’s also pretty basic as far as design which is why a number of developers have built more elaborate, customized designs called “child themes”. One of these developers I keep going back to time and time again and that is Restored 316. I used the Tasteful theme for www.priyacreates.com and  Refined theme for Dawson Design Co. and several others for clients. It’s definitely worth the expense!	Try Restored 316 Themes

Design Tools

Scheduling & Organizing & Business Management

My secret weapon to being a creative entrepreneur is to have systems in place so I don’t have to think about where things go. Creating systems was so challenging to setup because it goes against my creative (chaotic) nature, but once established it runs like clockwork and helps me stay on task when all I want to do is everything else.

	NOTE, FILE & DAILY LIVING MANAGEMENT Evernote My ultimate schedule and organizing tool. This is one program that I live by. I have it downloaded on my phone, iPad, and computer and love how they all sync together. It’s perfect to track all kinds of notes for clients, my business and my home. From creating grocery lists (which are shared with my husband so he can see that list too!), storing business ideas (which seem to come every 10 minutes!), referencing copy swipe files and all sorts of other items. I love this app.	Try Evernote
	SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT Hootsuite My ultimate schedule and organizing tool. This is one program that I live by. I have it downloaded on my phone, iPad, and computer and love how they all sync together. It’s perfect to track all kinds of notes for clients, my business and my home. From creating grocery lists (which are shared with my husband so he can see that list too!), storing business ideas (which seem to come every 10 minutes!), referencing copy swipe files and all sorts of other items. I love this app.	Try Hootsuite
	FILE MANAGEMENT iCloud or Dropbox I use both of these interchangeably. I use iCloud for storage mainly because it’s a little cheaper and I was already using it between all my apple products. But working with clients requires me to use Dropbox as well, so I have that also. I used to store everything on my computer, but one crash and a loss of all information changed that forever for me. With cloud systems, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. You want to make sure you use a reputable system (if they go down, your files are gone!)	Try Dropbox

Blogging Tools

I hope all these resources will help you with building a new business or streamline an existing business. My commitment to you is that I will always go first. I continually explore what’s needed to build a creative business. I experiment with what works and what doesn’t and then report back to you what you need (and when you need it) to create a profitable business you absolutely love.

Comment below if there are any cool programs that you use in your business. I would love to hear it!