What do you spend money on in your business? It can be tricky to know which resources are worth investing in to help grow and run your business. This is especially true when you’re just starting out and money is tight. As I’ve grown my business over the years, I’ve come to love some resources that help make my business run SO much more smoothly than if I were doing it myself. Here’s everything I spend money on in my 6-figure business.

 

 

The hope I have for you as you read this post is that you’ll be able to discover some resources that you didn’t know existed that could help make running your business a million times easier. I am all about simplifying where possible! And there are so many ways to automate your work with the help of some subscriptions and apps. 

I have quite a few business tools that I use to help run my business. I also have a team who helps keep my work moving forward. So, just know I am not doing this business alone. I am a wife and a mom to five kids, so I know what it’s like to balance this business mom thing! If you’re in a similar situation, I hope you can find some tools from this list to help you know where it’s worth investing to help your business grow. Alright, let’s get started!

 

Everything I Spend Money On in My 6-Figure Business

 

 

Best Business Tool #1: Showit

We are starting with my website! I use Showit to design all of my pages throughout my website. Showit makes it incredibly easy to create your website, even if you are not a designer. It literally is a drag-and-drop function to create most of your designs, so it’s very user-friendly. Plus, the customer service is amazing! You can learn more about why I love Showit so much HERE. Interested in signing up? Get your first month free when you sign up HERE.

Also, if you are in the market right now for either creating or updating your website, you can either hire my team or use my Showit website templates! These templates are already designed for you, so all you have to do is plug in your company information throughout the different pages. Your site can be ready in a matter of days! Check out my Showit templates HERE.

 

Best Business Tool #2: WordPress

While I use Showit to design all of my web pages, I use WordPress for my blog. My blog is a huge part of my business because I’m a firm believer in evergreen content and long-term strategy! And that’s why I use WordPress to run my blog. It is the top website of its competitors when it comes to SEO, which is a HUGE deal. 

SEO is what boosts your blog post to the top of Google results and gets your content seen by the right people. Speaking of which, if you use WordPress it is 100 percent worth it to pay for the Tasty Pins plugin. This plugin is what allows you to add pins to Pinterest directly from your blog post. While you’re formatting your post, you just scroll to the bottom and you can add your pins and descriptions there and they will automatically get published on Pinterest. So cool, right?

 

Best Business Tool #3: Canva

Canva is the best way to create graphics and images fast. The free version is awesome, and the pro version is even better. I use the pro version because there are a lot of functions that just make my life easier. I would use the free version as long as you can, but when you come to a time when you’re ready to upgrade, go pro. 

 

Best Business Tool #4: Haute Stock

Haute Stock is my go-to for stock images. I love Haute Stock because they have more professional stock photos and it’s more niched to the type of industry I’m in. They have photographers who are updating the stock images every week with content I know will work for my graphics and photos. 

I know there are other places you can get stock images, but Haute Stock is a must for me because it makes creating pins and graphics for blog posts and other things done in a matter of minutes. And they always look really nice and in line with my brand.

 

 

Best Business Tool #5: SEM Rush

You use SEM Rush when you’re really getting into Google analytics and SEO. I use this feature a lot in my agency with my clients. We often run tests to see where our clients can improve in SEO on their website, blog, etc., and what type of content they should create based on what people are searching for right now. It’s a great tool to have depending on your business needs! If you’re interested in having this done for your business, my agency can totally help. You can hire us HERE.

 

Best Business Tool #6: Descript

I use Descript to record all of my podcast episodes and YouTube videos. I will sing Descript praises until the end of my life because I used to record podcasts and it would take hours upon hours to edit all the “ums”, pauses, and mistakes out of each one. And now with Descript, it takes out all of your filler words with a single click of a button!

Another amazing feature of Descript is as soon as you record a podcast, you get a transcript. And you can edit your transcript just like a Word document. Let’s say you want to take out an entire sentence–it will also take out that sentence from your recording! Wow, Descript has given me so many hours of my life back, so of course, this is a HUGE yes for me to have it as one of my business tools.

 

Best Business Tool #7: Tube Buddy

Tube Buddy is a must if you’re a YouTuber. Tube Buddy is a way for you to do SEO and keyword research on YouTube. For example, let’s say you wanted to make a video about how to propagate plants. You can type this keyword into Tube Buddy and it will tell you how much competition you have with this keyword, if that content would really help your channel at that time, and recommendations on when it is the best time to post that content. Game-changer, right?!

 

Best Business Tool #8: Kajabi

Listen, I have been on a whole journey trying to find the right email list builder. I’ve changed three times over the past year and I am finally so happy with what I use. I will say, however, if you are just starting out with email marketing, do not get Kajabi. I recommend Flodesk. That is best for beginners and it is the cheapest and most beautiful way to go. I actually have a link HERE that when you sign up it’s only $19 a month with Flodesk!

If you have a course and a little bit more of a robust business then Kajabi is for you. It makes sense for me to use Kajabi because I sell several courses, manage a membership, and have a thriving email list. So, I’m able to do all of these in one place, which is so amazing and makes my organized heart so happy! 

 

 

Best Business Tool #9: Tailwind

Tailwind makes a world of difference for Pinterest because they so easily go hand-in-hand. Tailwind allows you to schedule your Pinterest images, which is a big deal! Why? Because you could spend literally 2-3 hours a month on Pinterest and see huge results. 

Another feature I love about Tailwind is its pin smart loops. This makes it so you can put certain pins on an annual schedule that will automatically go out without you having to do a thing. For example, let’s say you want to post a pin every November to start advertising something for Christmas. You can set that up on a pin smart loop one time and it will post every year on the same date! And, I have to say it’s worth it to get the pro version. Use my code HERE to get half off.

 

Best Business Tool #10: HoneyBook

I use HoneyBook to manage my clients. If you have any kind of service-based business then I highly recommend using HoneyBook as your client management system. One of the things I love about HoneyBook is how easily I can send invoices to my clients. I have all of my contracts, questionnaires, and notes all in one place so I can keep track of it easily. I don’t have to run reoccurring invoices–I just set it up once and it’s done. 

Again, if you have a lot of different clients or customers to keep track of, HoneyBook is the best way to go. I cannot tell you how much it has helped me stay organized with all of my clients and the conversations we have. If you’re interested in signing up, I have a 50% off coupon HERE! 

 

Best Business Tool #11: Monday

Monday is the brain of my agency. It’s where I keep track of all the different content we manage for all of my agency’s different clients. Each of my clients has a board and on each one, we can build out their content schedule. I also have a board for my own content. This makes it super easy for my team to know what’s coming up next. For example, I can build out my podcast schedule and paste a link to my Descript recording, so my team can then use that to create my other content. 

Monday minimizes all the different conversations I would need to have in order to make sure all the correct information gets to the right people. All I have to do is post it on Monday and the right people will see it. It saves so much time and keeps everything nice and organized! 

 

Best Business Tool #12: Slack

Slack is where I communicate with my clients and my team. This is basically an app we use for texting, but it is WAY better than normal texting. I used to text my team when there was just a couple of us, but the hard thing about texting is you can never really turn it off. With Slack, it helps separate your personal and professional life. 

So, you can text people directly or you can set up group chats. I use both and it works great for sending out announcements, following up with projects, and getting quick updates when we need them. I cannot tell you enough about how much anxiety Slack has taken out of my life. I used to have clients texting me all of the time, and now it’s all on Slack, so I have better control over when I get notified and when to reply. I 100 percent recommend it, especially for you business mamas! 

 

 

Everything I Spend Money On in My 6-Figure Business

Alright, friends, this is everything I spend money on in my 6-figure business! I have been using these tried and true biz tools for years, and they are a big part of my business. I hope they become the same for you too. Which ones are you interested in? Come let me know over on Instagram! You can find me @iammichellegifford. I hope to chat soon!