Really useful apps and services for running an online business

I don't normally write about my own stuff … but I thought I’d share this list in case other people find it useful.

Also as a kind of thank you to some of these tools. That might sound weird, but one or two of them make me feel like I'm robbing them. I would happily pay more, given how much value I get.

Anyway, first off, a quick background on my two businesses. I’m the only real employee, although I do get freelancers to help with different things.

What Next Strategy & Planning has been going for 3 years. It does consulting for corporate research and insight teams, agencies and software firms: change planning, training, technology advice, content marketing. And the occasional proper research or strategy project.

Insight Platforms has been going for about 18 months. It's a directory of software and data tools; a collection of thought leadership articles, ebooks and webinars; and will soon host online events and courses. It's where people in market research, user research, analytics and CX go to find suppliers and learn about things. It makes money from premium directory listings and publishing content.

Core Tools

Wordpress

Web Publishing and Content Management - Free

First thing to say is that I never learned to write code. I don't think I could have started this business even 5 years ago without a developer. But no-code and low-code tools have exploded over recent years. Wordpress is amazing, open source, powers half the web apparently. But it's extensible with millions of different plugins so you can build whatever you want. And so far - apart from the odd bit of cut-and-paste HTML - none of it has needed a proper developer.

Wordpress Plugins, currently c. ￡50 / €60 / $65 per month

A selection: Geodirectory for the platform database; beaverbuilder to design pages; ThirstyAffiliates to manage and track outbound links; NinjaForms for lots of things; Wordfence for security. Rolling out Memberpress for access to restricted content and LearnDash for online courses.

Siteground

Hosting - ￡25 / €30 / €33 per month

If you're new to all this, you need your own host for Wordpress sites. It's probably the least glamorous and most critical of all the tools listed here. And you only really appreciate it after you've had a terrible experience with a crap hosting platform. I'm not going to say who that was, but it definitely wasn't a company that rhymes with JoPaddy. Siteground is awesome. Fast servers, good pricing, phenomenal customer support.

MailChimp

Email Marketing - free to start, now ￡40 / €45 / $50 per month

So I know I'm overpaying for this. This is how they get you. Free to start, but painful once you get over a few thousand subscribers. There are email platforms that cost about half what Mailchimp charges for the same features. But the killer is that it has stable, native integrations with pretty much every other piece of software. And I have too many other things to think about right now. And they'll have to bring price down because email management is an over-saturated market.

Zapier

Automation platform - free to start, now ￡40 / €45 / $50 per month

So Zapier has gone from being cool and interesting to absolutely critical.

If you don't know it, it's a kind of API-based marketplace (yawn). What it does is connect thousands of different software tools together using triggers in one app to launch actions in another.

Still yawning.

OK. Here's what it means in practice:

• When someone registers for a webinar in Demio (see below) they are automatically added to a list in Mailchimp
• When a project is commissioned in my CRM, an invoice is automatically generated in Xero (see below for both)
• When I publish a blog post in Wordpress, the excerpt is posted to Twitter.

Honestly, over the next 12 months, Zapier will probably be the equivalent productivity of half a full time admin assistant.

Demio

Webinars - ￡75 / €90 / $99 per month

Demio is the webinar platform I use for standalone webinars (duh) and for online summits. A few killer features: runs in the browser so no need for attendees to download software; can do both live and automated / on-demand webinars; and integrates with everything through Zapier. This price gives you up to 150 concurrent attendees. Support is fantastic; some product issues to iron out - but overall, the best option for me right now.

Airtable

Free

I keep expecting to cross the paying threshold on Airtable. Hasn't happened yet. I'd gladly pay for this. I've been using the free version for more than 2 years and it's amazing.

Imagine if a Spreadsheet and a Database had a beautiful baby. It's a hybrid thing that you actually want to work with. I use it for managing the platforms database (before adding to the online directory), content planning and scheduling, customer records ... loads of stuff.

Honourable mentions

All free

Google Analytics for visitor stats and referrals. OneSignal for browser notifications. Yoast for SEO. Probably other stuff I've forgotten.

Sales & Marketing

Hubspot

CRM and sales / marketing automation - free

You know why they do it. Same as Mailchimp. Free now, get embedded in business process, superpremium cost when you start needing to pay. But I have to say you get A LOT on the Hubspot free tier. A million records in the CRM. Integration with email and calendar in Outlook or Gmail - so emails are filed tidily with contacts and clients or prospects can book a meeting straight into your diary. Online document hosting for generic pitch materials. Seriously, a lot of value.

But I know they'll get me later.

BetterProposals

Proposal software - ￡15 / €17.50 / $20 per month

I LOVE this. It's like TransferWise (see below). Something this dull shouldn't get me so excited. But it's amazing. Send proposals, use templates, get them signed online, give people the option to pay instantly with a credit card, integrate with your CRM, automatically update your pipeline. There are other proposal tools out there that make more of a song-and-dance and are much more expensive. But this is definitely the best for my needs.

Zoom

Online meetings - ￡12 / €14 / $16 per month

Every few months I ask myself why I'm paying for Zoom when I get Skype and Teams bundled with my MS Office 365 subscription.

And then I remember.

Skype is shit.

Zoom works pretty well most of the time. Video calls, screen sharing. Not much more to say really.

LinkedIn

Social publishing - free

I have to include LinkedIn here because when you say nice things your content gets a bump from the feed algorithm. Actually, I wouldn't get the same reach or engagement without LinkedIn. So I am grateful. Honestly. I did pay for it once when I was looking for a job. It was pretty expensive and nobody hired me. I'll probably be paying this year for targeted ads. Like I say, most free platforms get you in the end.

Admin & Management

Notion

Notes, planning, more - free to start, now ￡3 / €3.50 / $4 per month

Notion is Marmite. Not everyone will love it.

It's kind of hard to categorise as well. If Airtable is the beautiful baby of a spreadsheet mother and database father, Notion is like some genetically spliced product of an orgy where tables, calendars, kanban boards, forms, galleries, project management and collaboration tools were all getting it on.

It's unbelievably flexible and powerful. But when I first started using I was really overwhelmed. The interface is staggeringly simple and clean - but you can do almost whatever you want with it. Which was paralysing at first.

I replaced Evernote (shed a tear, they can't be long for this world) with Notion for all my meeting notes. I replaced Trello for all my project boards. I use it for planning, scheduling, drafting, documenting and organising pretty much everything in my business.

It's fantastic - but be warned, it's also bonkers to wrap your head around.

Todoist

Task management - free

Simple to-do task manager. I could use Notion for this, but this one is all about habit and familiarity. Syncs between desktop and iOS nicely.

1Password

Password management - ￡4 / €4.50 / $5 per month (Family Plan)

Like everyone, I have a thousand different accounts and logins that need managing. 1Password syncs across everything. Family plan is both brilliant value and a total waste of money in my household.

Just don't think about what happens if someone hacks your password manager.

IAWriter

Writing - one-off ￡30 / €35 / $40

Clean, distraction free writing app for Mac and iOS. Like a beautiful blank sheet of paper without all the features and widgets of Word or Google Docs. It says something about modern life when you have to pay for a dumbed-down version of something – and it’s totally worth it.

Hours Tracker

Time logging - free

Best free tool for logging time to projects for consultants, freelancers etc. Exports project data to CSV.

MS Office 365

Office productivity - ￡9 / €10.50 / $12

Easy to forget this is a thing given how ubiquitous Office apps have become. I guess I could have gone Google, but a lot of my consulting clients have corporate networks that don't trust Google Drive links. I actually use the Google apps and GDrive for work with less stringent clients and tech startups.

Sorry, Dropbox. You're actually the best online storage tool out there - but there's no point in paying for you any more.

Finance

Xero

Online accounting - ￡30 / €35 / $40 per month

Xero and Quickbooks are duking it out for above-the-line ad spend in the UK right now. Maybe Quickbooks is just as good, but I wouldn't know.

Xero is amazing, especially when linked to the next two entries on the list. It has integrations for multi-currency bank accounts, so I have GBP, EUR, USD and AUD all feeding directly in. I can reconcile transactions in the app whilst watching TV. I can auto-generate invoices for deals that close in Hubspot (using Zapier).

I also have an online accountant for about ￡120 / €140 / $155 per month. They do all the tax reporting and regulatory stuff. They used to be great and now they're not so I'm not naming them here. They can still recover if they try.

TransferWise

International banking and payments - free; pay when converting / sending currency

I use Metro Bank for 'proper' banking. It's fine. Unexciting. Sorry guys. But TransferWise is a different beast. I get local currency accounts in GBP, EUR, USD and AUD with local bank details. So I get paid without paying a stupid bank penalty. It integrates fully with Xero. The debit card has fee-free payments overseas. Has already saved me hundreds in less than a year.

Receipt Bank

Receipt scanning and processing - ￡10 / €12 / $13 per month

Simple and beautiful. Forward email receipts / invoices or take a photo of a paper receipt. Automatic character recognition, pulls the totals and tax elements, tries to allocate the right cost code (gets it right maybe 80% of the time). Integrates with Xero. Stores all receipts for as long as needed for tax compliance.

Stripe

Online payment processing - 1.4% on European cards, 2.9% on non-European cards

Yes, that's right. It costs over 100% more to receive your own money from non-European customers.

Who said the credit card networks are a massive racket sheltered by lazy financial regulators and lax anti-trust regimes? Hurray for the EU's championship of consumer rights.

Stripe lets me get paid by credit card easily. It's a convenience thing now, but will soon become critical for selling access to online events and courses. Integrates with Xero nicely. Not much more to say.

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If I stop and think, it’s pretty amazing that this bunch of tools lets me run a consulting business and an online publishing business from home. With clients and customers all over the world. And no full-time employees. I’m actually glad LinkedIn never found me that job.

I’m sure there are other tools I’ve forgotten that should be on this list. But Hopefully this is a useful starting point for someone.

Anyone got any recommendations for me?