Top 6 Favorites Tools of 2021 for My Design Business

Over the past few years of owning a design business, I’ve tried endless business tools. Some worked, some failed – but here are my top recommended business tools that can help you save time and money, and take your business to the next level. These tools are what have helped make 2021 one of my most successful years yet!

Note: Some links are affiliate links. I may receive a commission for sharing my favorite tools with you, but they won’t cost you anything more. I’ll sometimes even share a discount for you. ◡̈

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links. If you go through them to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I only share about companies that I truly believe in and use myself!For my details on affiliate links, please visit my terms of use.

Dubsado

Client Relationship Management

Dubsado is what runs a big part of my design business – the administration side. It gives me more time to design, and less time doing the not-so-fun tasks that come with running a business. My clients absolutely love my onboarding process, which is all done through their own unique client portal! I use Dubsado for:

• Sending Client Proposals
• E-Sign Contracts
• Client Invoices & Receiving Payments
• Time Tracking Projects
• Scheduler for Discovery Call Appointments
• Finance/Reporting
• Keeping Track of Leads & Projects
• Unique Client Portals

No need to send separate emails and dozens of PDFs/links just for the client to book with you, when everything can be automated and sent out from one place! Sounds like something you’d enjoy? As an affiliate, I can offer 20% off your first month or year, with my code createwithdanielle. They offer a free 3 client trial, so you get to really try it out without the stress of a time limit.

ClickUp

Project/Task Management

This is probably my favourite business tool since it’s the first one I open every morning, keeps me organized throughout the day. ClickUp is a project management tool that is perfect for any business owner! It’s a tool that replaces everything. You can manage people, projects, and everything else in your business or personal life. With a written planner, I always tend to forget repetitive daily tasks that I should do every day. Whether it’s eating a healthy breakfast, reminding myself to get a workout in or simple tasks that every day should include. I use ClickUp for:

• Daily To-Do List
• Important Reminders
• Organizing Client Projects & Due Dates
• Content Planning
• Personal Errands (Recipes, Wedding Planning, etc)

You can start with their forever-free plan to see how you like it, but I promise you’ll be obsessed. Try out their free plan right here and you’ll see for yourself!

FOMO

Social Proof

As you know, social proof is the main way to build trust with your audience and entice them to book a service/make a purchase. This year, I decided to add a FOMO banner to my template shop. The reason I’ve decided to add this to my favorite tools of 2021 is that my conversion rate skyrocketed like I’ve never seen before. I will never deactivate this, and will always recommend it to anyone who has an online shop.

FOMO will show a banner when someone purchases your product, showing product demand which boosts urgency, confidence and trust! It will switch through various verified purchases from real customers. Want to see the magic of ProveSource? Try it out right here!

Quickbooks

Accounting + Finances

As business owners, we wear many hats! The most important one is managing finances, and making sure you’re prepared for tax season. Quickbooks has been life-saving for my business – allowing me to add all of my sales and expenses, keep track of taxes I have to remit and see the financial growth of my business! I love how you’re able to connect your bank accounts and create “rules” in order for Quickbooks to separate your expenses, and do the work for you.

Tax season is something I used to stress about as I never use to track how much HST/GST I had to remit, and I was working with clients all over the world – that it started to get really confusing. Ever since I started using Quickbooks, I started to enjoy bookkeeping for my design business, and you can too!

Get 50% off your first 3 months with Quickbooks using my link right here.

Just an example of the Quickbooks software, this is not my account to compare.

Flodesk

Email Marketing

The best email marketing platform you’ll ever use. I’m a huge perfectionist, especially when it comes to my business & branding. When testing out so many email marketing platforms, I wasn’t happy with the designs I could create so I never really sent out emails and never made it a priority. I found Flodesk, the best email marketing platform that helps you create beautiful emails with no coding or headaches required.

What made me switch to Flodesk was the easy-to-use email builder & the price! Even though MailChimp (and other email marketing platforms) show a tempting starting price, it’s hard to realize how much you could be paying for email marketing once your subscriber list grows. Most platforms charge you based on the subscribers you have & the number of emails you send out. But with Flodesk, it’s unlimited subscribers/emails for one price. Click here to sign up for a free trial & use my code at checkout (CREATEWITHDANIELLE) to receive 50% OFF your first year of Flodesk!

And Of Course, Showit!

Website Builder

If you’ve found this post, you most likely already know I design websites on Showit! This is the best website builder I’ve ever used, and I refuse to work with any other platform for creative/service businesses.

But just like any new platform you’ve never worked with before, it’s a learning curve. I would only recommend trying out Showit with help from a template, course, or getting one custom-made by a designer. Once you get the hang of all of the features, you will absolutely love working in Showit and *have fun* designing for once! Get your first month free right here & browse my Showit templates starting at $249 with a payment plan.

Ready to Level Up Your Business?

Whether you’re a new or existing business, these tools will be beneficial for you. All of these tools have given me a great return on investment, and ones I will never stop using!

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links. If you go through them to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. Keep in mind that I only share about companies that I truly believe in and use myself!For my details on affiliate links, please visit my terms of use.