Recommended Tools
How we choose recommended products + disclosure
Starting and running a small business is tough. Among the sea of options out there, it’s not easy to find good, reliable products, and weed out the bad ones.
From personal experience, I’ve tried many products that didn’t bring enough value to justify their costs. I’ve also been on the receiving end of affiliate offers for various products and services, some of which under inspection turn out to bring more harm than good for users.
Because our purchases are votes towards the future we want to create, I don’t take purchases and product recommendations lightly. I only recommend products that I’ve personally used for a long time.
Most of my recommended products have a free trial so you can test and see if it’s truly suitable for your business.
Disclosure: Some of the products on this page are affiliates. When you buy through my links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
I’m grateful for your gift in affiliate income as it provides me additional free time to create resources and support others. If you have feedback on any recommendations here, please let me know by email.
Categories:
WEBSITE BUILDER
OPERATIONS
DESIGN + MARKETING
LEARNING
Squarespace
I’ve built many websites for small to medium-sized businesses on Squarespace and it rarely lacks any capability. It’s easy to maintain and give you peace of mind with security.
Enter TAYLORNGUYEN10 at checkout to get 10% off.
Shopify
E-commerce are more complicated than marketing websites and requires more features to optimize sales (that Squarespace doesn’t always have). Shopify with its vast plugin ecosystem will offer everything you need.
Get an extended trial with the link below.
ThriveCart
Before ThriveCart, I created and sent invoices three times for each client project. I also had to keep track of who hasn’t paid to send reminders.
With ThriveCart, I only need to set up my packages and hourly rate one time for all clients. After the deposit, subsequent payments are automatically charged. Also, clients can log in to their portal to review and download invoices. I can also create landing pages and build courses on ThriveCart. As a one-time purchase with no additional recurring fees, this was one of the best value-for-price investments for my business.
While there’s no free trial, you can watch walkthroughs/tutorials on Youtube to see if it might benefit your business. Take your time to make the decision and don’t worry about the sales countdown on their website’s homepage :)
Wise
Banks charge so much fees to keep our money while using our money to invest and generate their revenues. If you think that’s unfair, start looking into new banking options.
For me, as a freelancer who works with clients around the world, Wise has provided more freedom and flexibility.
After connecting Wise to a payment processor (eg. Paypal), I can charge clients in their currency and set up currency conversion to occur automatically later when the exchange rate is most favourable. This saves me the monthly fees, credit card transaction fees, currency exchange fees, and terrible currency exchange rates from a traditional bank. My clients also saved money from not having to pay in a foreign currency.
For Canadians, you can connect Wise with EQBank for easy movement of USD and CAD.
Milanote
Milanote helps you organize ideas and projects into visual boards. It’s a great tool for creative collaboration and for individuals to stay organized and feel inspired.
Having used Trello, Notion, Asana, Miro, and many other tools to achieve the same purpose, Milanote is my favourite. It makes organizing information somewhat addicting… try it and you’ll see what I mean :)
Rawpixel
You’ve probably heard and maybe tried Canva. Rawpixels is a graphic design tool similar to that, but it has a different vibe that makes it a great addition to your design toolkit. What I love most is Rawpixels’s features for creating moodboard and mockups. They also have a vast library of design assets and editable templates, many of which are free.
SkillShare
With over 35,000 classes, SkillShare is a great platform for whenever you need an intro course into any creative subject. It’s a much more focused and efficient way to start learning compared to browsing randomly on Youtube.
Standout Squarespace Course
If you’re a Squarespace designer, you can level up your skills and service price with this course. It’s comprehensive and packed with resources (far exceeding any other course I’ve ever enrolled in). You’ll get a lot of knowledge, inspiration, and personalized support.