As a successful, hard-working entrepreneur, you’re tasked every day with making smart decisions that pay off and get the job done.

In order to this, we know that using the best business tools can skyrocket your productivity, save you time, money, and help avoid hassles and headaches down the road.

That’s why we’ve put together this list of our favorite resources that will help you grow your business:

1. Our Blog: We update our blog often with specific and useful information for entrepreneurs – from how to get more clients through “vertical marketing,” to truths and tips on using social media for swift results!  This blog has relevant and timely information at no cost to you.  If you haven’t already done so, subscribe today and start receiving tips for working smarter and boosting your income.

If you haven't added a blog to your website, let us help you with that!

See how our readers are getting results! Recently we conducted an experiment with one of our blog posts and invited readers to ‘ask for what you want to find if you’ll get results in one week.‘  By leaving comments and engaging in a ‘conversation,’ fellow entrepreneurs asked for leads, shared new resources and generously gave ideas for helping one another grow their businesses.  The response was astounding!  In just one week, 50% of the participants got what they asked for.  Check out Results In One Week! 

[ a bit more on blogs below]

 

  2. Template for Sales, Promo Message, Sales Pitch, or Introductions. This will help you focus an elevator pitch, 30 second or 1 minute message.

 

 

 3. Doodle allows you to schedule with multiple people without having to weed through dozens of emails to coordinate. So easy to use. Creates a form allowing invitees to schedule online, privately. Saves time!

 

4. Sending Emails to a Large List? You cannot send emails to hundreds of people through Outlook or they will be tagged as ‘sp^m’ by your recipient’s server, which would be a very bad thing.  Vertical Response  is a low-cost, pay-as-you-go program that allows you to send large quantities of email without getting tagged as a sp^mmer.  And, get this, it only costs about $15 to email 1,000 people.  Now that’s leverage!

This powerful email tool also allows you to send your ‘designed’ e-newsletters and announce them on your social media sites, too.

Or you can just broadcast a plain, text-only email message to your entire lead list.  As a smart communications tool, Vertical Response will help you manage your email marketing efforts with ease and efficiency; giving you reports on the crucial aspects of email marketing: delivery rate, open rate, click-through rate, & unsubscribers.This valuable data helps you improve your marketing in the short and long term.

Don't waste your time by doing it wrong. Get our step-by-step process for creating email campaigns that work in our special report: 11 STEPS TO BUILD ENEWS CAMPAIGNS | cost: $12.99

 

5. Tweetdeck allows you to manage twitter- when you're being searched, track categories, various communications all in one place. You can use it on iphone or ipad, too. Another time saver!

 

6. Need a Website or Internet Marketing Advice? With all the ‘noise’ online, how can you be sure your website will get found?

And once people find you, will they buy from you?

These are the top concerns of every smart entrepreneur.  To ensure you have a website that gets results, we’ll either build you a fully functional and search-optimized site, or conduct an internet marketing review of your current site.  Expert advising with a sales and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) evaluation can uncover all kinds of missed opportunities, or recommend small adjustments that can dramatically impact your bottom line.

Recently, we had the opportunity to work on the website of one of our heroes, Chip Conley, of Joie De Vivre Hotels.  If you haven’t read his book, Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo From Maslow, we highly recommend it.  Check out his Peak Organizations website to learn about their Peak Trainings, and get some inspiration on leading your own organization. Here's their experience with our service?

 

 7. FilemakerPro. Like many entrepreneurs, we’re always juggling multiple projects simultaneously, with multiple deadlines, involving multiple stakeholders who perform multiple tasks.

But rather than pulling our hair out and losing sleep, we easily keep track of all those activities using a database called  Filemaker Pro. This robust program allows you to custom tailor project notes, and efficiently track your marketing campaigns and sales activities. And that makes you better at what you do.

There are many database programs to choose from, but we find Filemaker Pro to be the most intuitive and adaptable for just about any type of company.  To get you up and running quickly with it, we can even train you to use it and add custom marketing fields, too.

Want other ideas for online databases? Take a look at the resources at the bottom of our "Store" page.

 

  8. Creating Breakthroughs. You will not find this marketing tool anywhere else!  ‘‘Walks With Bliss: Idea Lab”: Innovative business breakthrough "Walking Consultation" sessions for groups or individuals to stimulate ideas for building revenues, to gain clarity for branding, or to foster creative solutions for operational or team  issues with a calming one-hour walk along the water.

Bucolic walking environments set the stage for relaxation, stimulation of our imagination with the emergence of breakthrough direction, solutions and results.

Visionary leaders are guided by a business and marketing consultant through a proprietary process of discovery to reach high performance mode.

 

  9. Evernote helps you remember everything! It's a free tool that captures information from web pages, mobile devices and allows you to search by topic on items you've saved.

 

  10. Article Marketing. Publishing articles online or in print is one of the most effective strategies for marketing your business and sending traffic to your website.

When an author bio is added at the end of your article with a link back to your website, you can really begin to improve your web traffic and improve your SEO (find-ability on Google).  Contact us to get dozens more smart resources for article marketing! Call 510-879-7600.

 

11. Venmo is my favorite way to pay. It's immediate transfer of funds which can be set up at no charge. They also have a business version with a small fee.

 

11. Square Cash (not "Square"). NOTE; THIS IS OLD RESOURCE FROM 2010 SO SUGGEST YOU VERIFY INFO BEFORE SIGNING UP!

Here’s a great tool for making online payments that (so far) don’t cost sender or receiver any fees.  

I've been using square cash for about 5 years with no issues, except their monthly cap on payments of $2500. It beats Paypal because there is no 3 day hold on money, so payments to my vendors drops immediately into their bank account!

How to Pay with Square Cash

note: as of spring 2016, this tool works as an app only. super easy to use, free, immediate money transfer, secure. Download the Square Cash app from the iTunes App Store or Google Play. The app is compatible with most iOS devices running 6.0 or higher and Google Android devices running 4.0 or higher.

• Open the Square Cash app.
• Enter your payment. Enter the recipient’s email address.
• Send the email. Enter your password on the auto-reply

Voila! All done!

Note: If you haven’t sent or received Square Cash before, you will be prompted to set up an account and link a debit card. Once added, your payment will be drawn from checking account linked to that debit card.

 

 

 

We have many more angelically helpful resources that we customize for your business to save you time & money.

Please share your favorite resources. Add a comment below. It helps us all! 

After all, knowledge is bliss!

 

Need more results from your marketing efforts? We have a full service marketing agency standing by to help you increase revenues with social media, websites, branding, marketing strategy, SEO and more!

Total Marketing Services. Total Bliss!