Resources & Tools
My favorite resources for entrepreneurs + designers
Running a business ain’t easy, right? But we all have our favorite tools to make it less messy, so I want to share mine with you. From organizational tools and software to my favorite courses, here’s an overview of my favorite tools. Some of these are affiliate links (marked with * for easy reference), which means I earn a little commission if you use these links to make a purchase. However, I only recommend things I genuinely use, love and find valuable.
Organization
Notion
Notion is my absolute favorite tool when it comes to organizing my biz. I plan both my private and my business life with it. From documenting workouts to gathering ideas for content, there’s hardly anything I don’t have organized in Notion in some way. I use the free version.
Asana
While I love Notion for the backend of my business, I prefer Asana for client-facing communication. With its automatic reminders, it just feels a little more hands-off than Notion and easier for my clients. I’ve gone back and forth on other project management tools, but I always return to Asana eventually, because it has a good mixture of functionality and ease of use. And it beats sending back and forth a thousand emails during the course of a project. This tool helps me and my clients to keep everything neatly organized and it makes it so much easier to keep track of things or find a conversation you had a while back. I use the free version.
Google Suite
I don’t know about you, but I use Gmail, Google Docs and Sheets and Google Drive on a daily basis. I type everything out in plain Google Docs first, before taking it over to my blog, Indesign or wherever I need it. I use Sheets for keeping track of my finances and the Google Data Studio for my Marketing Dashboard and tracking my KPIs. And I use Drive to easily and quickly share files with my clients.
Toggl
I recently started tracking my time with Toggl. And although I could be better at actually tracking, it does give me valuable insights into the time I spend on specific tasks and projects. It lets you sort tasks into different projects, which makes it super easy to see where you spend your time. I use the free version.
Marketing
Pinterest is one of my favorite platforms, not just to promote my own work, but to gather images and ideas for moodboards, typography and photography. So it’s not just a marketing tool, but also an organizational tool. What I love most about it, is that unlike social media platforms like Instagram the content has a very long shelf life on Pinterest. You don’t have to keep churning out content, but your old content can work for you for years.
Flodesk*
I’m gonna be the first to admit it, but I’m not the best when it comes to email marketing. When I first started, I used Mailchimp and it was such a chore to create a somewhat aesthetically pleasing newsletter. But Flodesk makes it such a breeze to create beautiful-looking newsletters, workflows and segments. It has all the functionality I need while looking cute af. Another plus is that you pay one price no matter how large your list grows. (PS: if you use my affiliate link you’ll save a whooping 50%)
Planoly
I don’t really schedule Instagram posts, because I like to be online when I post, so I can engage with people. But I do like to set reminders for myself, preview what my grid is going to look like and prep hashtags and for that I use Planoly (I use the free version). To write captions, I usually just use the notes app on my phone.
Miscellaneous
DeepL Translate
My business is bilingual. Although German is my native language, when it comes to design my default language is English (almost everything I know about design I learned in English), but I love working with local German clients as well, so that means I have to translate a lot. And although I consider myself pretty fluent in both languages, translating things is hard. DeepL is a lot better and more accurate than Google Translate and it gives you several options for certain words or phrases. It makes the whole translation process a lot quicker and easier. Of course, I’ll go over everything manually again, but it just inspires me and helps me to sound better.
Loom
I create screen share videos with Loom for all major steps in my process to walk my clients through my thought process and give additional explanations and rationale for my decisions. I prefer that over a meeting on Zoom for everything because I often work with clients in different time zones and I like that they can watch it when it suits them best. But even with my local clients the advantage is, that they don’t feel put on the spot to give me feedback right away. They can review everything and think about it before giving me feedback. Loom allows me to quickly record and upload those videos and share them with my clients easily.
Whereby
For video calls, client meetings and group calls I have ditched Zoom and switched to Whereby. Whereby has all the functionalities I used in Zoom, but it has a couple of perks: it’s GDPR-compliant, you can zhuzh up your meeting rooms with your own branding and it costs only a fraction of Zoom.
Design Tools
Adobe Creative Cloud
The Adobe Creative Cloud is my bread and butter! I use so many different tools from the cloud. For example, I use Adobe Sign for secure contracts, Photoshop for mockups and photos, Illustrator for logos, XD for website mockups and prototypes, and InDesign for presentations.
Procreate
Before I create logos or illustrations in Illustrator, I usually go into Procreate and sketch things out first. Procreate feels like pen and paper – just so much better!
Canva
I’m not using Canva for my own stuff honestly (I’m an Adobe girl all the way), but when I create social media templates for my clients I usually do that in Canva, because it’s simple for them to use. And that’s what counts at the end of the day.
Squarespace
My own website is on Squarespace and I recommend Squarespace to almost all service-based businesses and everyone who doesn’t need full e-commerce functionality (see Shopify below). What I love most about it, is how easy it is to use and maintain for my clients. You don’t have to worry about having to maintain and update a gazillion plugins, security issues, etc. It’s the perfect blend of easy usability and functionality. And with a bit of coding magic from your designer, it’ll look anything but boring and template-y.
Shopify*
Shopify is the best platform for any e-commerce and product-based business. While it can be difficult to customize its look (that’s what you have designers and developers for though!) it hands down has the best functionality for online stores. Anything you need to run a successful online store? Shopify has got you covered!
Mockups, Stock Photos + Typography
Moyo Studio*
Moyo Studio is one of the best places to get high-quality mockups and stock photography from. The only downside is that these tend to be a little overused because they are so good and therefore very popular. But they are still my go-to, not gonna lie!
Creatsy
Creatsy is the place to go to when you need packaging mockups. Boxes, bags, fabric – whatever you need, they probably have it. The quality and usability of these mockups are fantastic.
Rebecca Berrington*
Rebecca Berrington offers stunning high-quality mockups and stock photos. I use them for almost every project to give it that elevated but realistic look. You can use my code SARAGISABELLA for 15% off your purchase.
Creative Market
Creative Market is a great place for all kind of graphic assets. Whether you can’t afford full branding yet and need a good quality logo for little money or social media templates, or you’re a designer needing mockups, textures or fonts – it’s the place to go.
Unsplash
Unsplash is one of the best places for natural, beautiful stock photography. And the best part is, it’s all free for commercial use, so you never have to worry about licensing!
Typewolf
When it comes to finding the perfect fonts, Typewolf is a great resource. It’s perfect to find new type foundries and see fonts in use.
Courses & Memberships
I’m a course hoarder. I love taking courses and educating myself further. Here’s a selection of my favorites, but unfortunately I can’t add all the ones I took and love, because that would just be too much. But these are some essentials that have been a major influence on my work and how I run my business.
Green Design Course by Little Fox
Sustainability is something that becomes more and more important each day as we face the climate crisis. Businesses in particular have a responsibility to make better choices for the planet and it was important to me to learn how I can better help my clients do that. Thanks to the Green Design Course I now not only can help my clients (learn more here) to make better choices but I also learned more about what I can do in my private life. I can’t recommend this course enough if you want to learn more about sustainability and the impact design can have.
The Designer Essentials Club by Wayfarer Design*
I took many courses on processes, but the Designer Essential Club has to be my favorite. Before taking this course I struggled with finding the right balance between educating my clients and overwhelming them, but this course has taught me so much about client communication and education. I still use a lot of the templates as base for my own and expand on them. I do many things differently than Abbey (for example, I fully believe in the one concept method – learn more about that here), but it’s still one of my go-to resources. Also Abbey is constantly adding tons of new lessons, guest lessons, etc.
Designed to Thrive Community by Studio Antheia*
The Designed to Thrive Community is part course and part collective. And while the course is great and will absolutely help you to streamline and strengthen your process, it's the community aspect of it that really changed the game for me. The weekly group calls have become a fixed part of my schedule. It’s truly a community of like-minded designers, everyone struggling and soaring in their own ways. It’s a place where you can ask for guidance, for feedback on your work or just talk through what’s going on in your business. It has been a place to form friendships and partnerships. There are always new guest experts and resources too.
Squarestylist*
Every resource from Squarestylist, whether it’s a mini-course or her full course Standout Squarespace has been an absolute game-changer for me. I cannot understate how much I learned from Squarestylist about coding and creating out of the box websites that are intentional, still easy to use, but not looking like your standard Squarespace template.
Packaging Design Course by Our Kind*
The Brand and Packaging Design Course is a must for all designers who work with print and packaging. Laura’s experience and knowledge is incredible! Before taking this course, print was pretty scary but now I know how to confidently handle cutter guides, colors and all the other scary aspects of printing.
This by no means is a full list of courses, tools and resources, but I wanted to share some of my favorites. And hopefully you found something that’s useful for your business too.
And if you’re ready to elevate your business with a strategy-driven and cohesive brand, let’s chat!
* marks affiliate links, meaning if you should choose to use them and make a purchase, I get a little compensation in return. However, I only recommend tools and resources here that I use and recommend. But please note, what works for me might not work for you, so I make no guarantees.
◯ YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
