This page is an ever-evolving list of the products and services I use on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis to run two blogs, a copywriting business, and three Etsy shops. Some of these links are affiliate links, so if you sign up or make a purchase, I might make a couple bucks (at no extra cost to you). Feel free to reach out if you have questions on any of these services and how they might help your business.

Cover Your Ass (Legal)

HelloSign – every business contract I send out goes through HelloSign, a legally binding e-signature service. It’s free for up to 3 signatures a month.

Unf*ckwithable Contracts from The Middle Finger Project – These are the contracts I send to new clients through HelloSign. 

Freelancer’s Union – going out on your own? Join the Freelancer’s Union for help finding health insurance and navigating your way through the unexpected situations that come with self-employment.

LegalZoom – Talk to an attorney, register your business, and apply for trademarks here.

Money Stuff

FreshBooks – I started using FreshBooks this year after realizing that not having my business finances all in one place was probably doing more harm than good. I’m SO glad I made this decision because it’s already freed up time spent organizing financial information that could have been on autopilot. They make it incredibly easy to send invoices and accept credit card payments, you can link your bank to upload expenses automatically, and they even create reports for profits and losses so you can get real with yourself and see how your business is doing.

Mint – I stare at all of my money – business and non-business – through my Mint account. It’s free and easy to sync your accounts so you can track your spending and pay off debt more quickly.

Credit Karma – this free app updates your credit score once a week.

Ebates – Ebates is one of those cashback websites that sounds too good to be true, but it’s not. Simply install the browser add-on to Google Chrome, then whenever you’re on a shopping website, Ebates will pop up in the corner if it has a cash back offer for that store. All you have to do is click “activate cash back” and when you check out, the amount for the percentage will be added to your Ebates account and accumulate until it’s time for your quarterly Paypal payment.

Honey – Honey is another browser add-on, but works a bit differently. Whenever you’re shopping online and reach the checkout, Honey will pop up and ask if you want it to scan for coupon codes across the internet. Almost every time I use this I end up saving money with a code I would never have found otherwise.

Website & Blogging Tools

Bluehost & WordPress – I buy all my web hosting and domains through Bluehost and have been using them since 2011. Hosting starts as low as $2.95 per month and there’s an option to install WordPress automatically, so it’s the perfect tool for getting started on your first website, whether you know what you’re doing or not. Interested in starting a website or blog for yourself or your business? Read my tutorial for getting up and running in 15 minutes here.

Genesis – The Genesis framework makes it easy to manage and customize your website design and theme without losing work during WordPress updates.

Bites to Brand – This is where I purchased my Genesis Child theme, Nourish.

Yoast SEO – Yoast is available as a free WordPress plugin. It’s great for SEO, but also great for helping to weed the passive voice out of your writing.

Google Analytics – Track your page views for free.

Mailchimp – Get all up in people’s mailbox for free.

Shopify – Sell products on your website with Shopify. I have a $9/month Shopify account that I use to take advantage of their print-on-demand apps. I’m only selling products on Etsy right now, but if I ever plan to add products right to my websites, I’ll be able to do that with Shopify.

Advertising & Affiliate Marketing

Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – If you or your clients ever want to make money through affiliate marketing, this is a great introductory course to learning the basics and making sure you’ve got everything covered legally.

Smart Passive Income – Pat’s website is full of resources (lots are free!) on making passive income, affiliate marketing, creating courses, creating podcasts, and more.

Google Adsense – This is where the ads you see on this site come from.

Mantis Ad Network – This is where Jane Dope’s ads come from since you cannot advertise anything associated with cannabis through Google.

Graphics / Design / Branding

Creative Fabrica – I signed up for the Creative Fabrica newsletter for their free weekly font, which can be used for personal AND commercial use. Their website has plenty of free and paid fonts, graphics, craft designs, and patterns.

Ivory Mix – This is where most of my stock photos are sourced. They give out a handful of free stock photos each month (with 300+ free photos currently accessible on the site) and also have paid photo packages of various themes.

Unsplash – More free stock photos.

Canva – I use Canva to design all my blog, Pinterest, and social media content. The free version is great if you’re just getting started, as they have premade templates for just about anything you need to make. The paid version allows you to set color palettes and logos for your brand, upload custom fonts, and much more.

PicMonkey – I use PicMonkey for basic image editing. My main uses are for brightening up a dull photo and overlaying print designs into frame mockups, but it does so much more than that. Design a collage, touch up your vacation photos, make yourself look thinner… PicMonkey does it all.

VistaPrint Pro Advantage – If you create and/or sell printed materials for your business, this is an invaluable resource. I accidentally signed up for the annual plan without even realizing it, but it worked out in my favor because I’ve used it more times in the last 3 months than I thought I would in a year. These services are great for ordering some quick and cheap business cards, printed literature for a trade show, and drop-shipping printed products to customers.

Moo – I love Moo’s business cards, their papers are pure luxury.

Writing, Productivity, Etc

Google Drive – Everything I’ve ever written, every picture I’ve taken, everything I’ve done on Etsy or social media has probably passed through Google Drive. I use Google Docs (and Gmail) so frequently (and organize it all so infrequently) that after 10 years, I filled all 15MB in my account. I’m not going to pay to upgrade my storage so I spent hours deleting stuff from 2007-2012. That was a… fun rabbit hole.

Google Keep – If you like lists or taking notes, install this on your phone right now. You can create notes and lists, share them with others for collaboration, organize them into folders, and there’s even a Chrome plugin so you can access and write notes from your computer. I use Keep to jot down brilliant ideas, to store my hashtag lists for Instagram posts, and of course, groceries.

Trello – Trello is a free tool that can help you manage both your professional and home life (especially if you work from home). I’ve only been using it a short time, but so far it’s pretty intuitive and visually helpful

Upwork – Find independent contractor gigs and get started on your freelance journey here.

Tailwind – Since my husband and I have both product and service-based businesses, Pinterest is huge for attracting customers and readers. More than half of Jane Dope’s traffic is thanks to her Pinterest presence and the graphics I make with Canva. Our Etsy shops attract decor customers through relevant Etsy and home decor group boards. Needless to say, Pinterest is hugely valuable to all of my brands, and the only way I’m able to maintain a decent presence for each brand is with Tailwind, an automatic Pinterest and Instagram scheduler that uses a smart schedule to determine the best times for your pins to drop. It’s the only service that allows you to post automatically to both Pinterest AND Instagram. If you use either platform with any frequency, give the free trial a shot and watch your numbers grow.

Slack – I communicate with clients through our own Slack channels and have joined a few in my niche. Here’s a list of 400 Slack communities to join.

Skype – Free video chats and phone calls to clients across the world.

Kindle Paperwhite – I love to read and never thought my book-loyalist self would enjoy a Kindle, but I can bring literally hundreds of books with me anywhere I go and never have to think “what will I want to read?” in advance.

Macbook Air – It all happens on one of these guys. Everything. I’ve had 4 different laptops since starting my own business and nothing has come close to the quality of this machine. If only humans were as dependable as my Macbook…