Which Tools Are The Best?

One the most common questions I see online when it comes to productivity tools is "Which tools are the best?"

Of course, the answer is always... that depends.

I'm not trying to be a smart alec when I say that - it really DOES depend!

It depends on what you want the tool to help you with, it depends on which strategy you prefer, it depends on quite a few things. So, here's my attempt to clarify things for you.

It's my experience that there are certain tools that you really can't run your business without. These are the Foundational tools of your business. They need to cover:

• Your website & sales funnels (including what to say)

• Cart/Payment Processors

• Automated email

• Calendar bookings

• Tracking

At a bare minimum, this is what you need to run your business online. Which tools you choose to help you in each of these areas will depend on the strategy you prefer:

• All in one

• Multiple systems

Multiple systems is where most people start - I know I did. We start with the free versions of multiple softwares, figure out how they link together and when our businesses outgrow their free limits we either pay each company to maintain our connected approach, or we look around for something else.

The All-in-one approach is where many of us end up - again, just like I did. I spent many years using various different softwares in the Multiple systems approach but never seemed to find something that did everything I needed. And when I did, it was so expensive that it didn't make any sense to continue with it.

That's when I switched to the All-in-one approach. After teaching myself of 60 different platforms, it's a welcome relief to only have to deal with 3!

But just because that's right for me, now, that doesn't mean that my choice is what's "best" for you. All I can do is give you the benefit of my experience.

When it comes to selecting the "best", your strategy really does matter.

Are you looking for a great stand-alone shopping cart or do you want one that hosts your website and sales funnels, too? Are you ok with additional fees being charged for each sale through your funnel or do you want something that doesn't do that?

Every time you answer a question like this, you are either including or eliminating a whole bunch of software options... and there are new ones popping up every day!

That's why I've created a page on my website to showcase the tools I'm currently recommending for each part of your business.

You can find my recommendations here: sjpbusinessdevelopment.com/tools

I'll be honest, some of them are affiliate links (which means that I get paid a small commission if you decided to join after clicking my link) but that doesn't have any bearing on whether or not I recommend a software, it just helps me keep my tea stocks full so I can keep bringing you valuable insights! 😉

I can guarantee that each of the companies on the list are ones that I genuinely believe in... and if they appear in more than one section, I pretty much couldn't run my business without them!

If you want to dig deeper into the strategy behind your tool selection, check out Chapter 19 of my new book "Stop Doing It All: How Solo Business Owners Can Finally Ditch The Overwhelm, Successfully Offload Tasks, And Simply Focus On What They Love" - available now on Amazon.

I've seen far too many entrepreneurs waste time debating which tools they should use, terrified that they'll make the wrong choice... which means they don't choose. They just stay stuck in indecision. Don't let that be you.

Decide what you want the tool for, which strategy you feel most comfortable with, and go from there.

Let's get stuff done, shall we?