It’s 5 pm, and you just finished your client work for the day.

You have a sigh of relief, but as soon as you begin to sink into your chair and close your eyes, you’re jolted awake by the thought of the five proposals, three reminder emails, and four appointments you have to schedule.

You muster up a half smile because business is booming, but you begrudgingly sit back up and start typing because you still have more work to do before you end your day.

Have you ever been in this situation? I know I have!

But it didn’t take me long to realize I needed the right tools to support my business.

But I get it! Finding the right tools you need to grow your business can be daunting. Just another thing to add to your list.

But whether you’re a team of one or fifty, online business tools and apps can support you in taking your business to the next level and take some of the burdens off of you!

As someone with an engineering degree, I’m always finding ways to be efficient. Let’s say I like to spend my time, money, and resources wisely.

That means having tools or apps to support me will streamline my business and processes.

Instead of spending months and years manually processing the administrative aspects of business, save time and money by finding tools to help you do the job.

Like they say, “There’s an app for that!”

There are so many great business tools available on the market today. These tools can transform and grow your business by increasing efficiency and productivity. In this blog, I’ve outlined my top 6 must-have business tools for every coach and consultant to help you streamline and automate processes, enable collaboration, and help organize information and tasks.

1. Appointment Scheduling

Top Pick: Calendly

Calendly was one of the first tools I used at the start of my business. Even when my own website was in progress, I used Calendly to get a headstart on making connecting and building a network.

An appointment scheduling tool like Calendly can help save time by automating the scheduling process and eliminating the need to coordinate meetings manually.

It can be frustrating trying to coordinate schedules over text or email. But Calendly makes it convenient for clients and colleagues to book time with you, making it easier for you to manage your time and prioritize tasks.

Calendly also lets you provide your client with a questionnaire within the invite to prep all the information relevant to the meeting. And it can also help to streamline the process of setting up recurring events, like weekly team meetings or client check-ins.

For easier access and management of your appointments, you can sync with other calendar systems, such as Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCal. As soon as someone books an appointment with me, Calendly syncs it to my Google calendar, so I never miss a client meeting or discovery call.

And to take it a step further, Calendly includes a video conferencing tool option of your choice when an appointment is scheduled. I use Zoom, so my zoom link is automatically added to every invite. Easy!

Another excellent feature for coaches and consultants is that Calendly allows you to accept appointment payments. This can streamline your sales process without using a separate payment processor.

Next Pick: Acuity

I also recommend Acuity Scheduling! Squarespace owns Acuity, so it easily integrates into your Squarespace website. This is another great tool to streamline your scheduling process.

Like Calendly, it can save you time and money by automating appointment scheduling and reminders, eliminating the need for manual data entry. It also helps to reduce no-shows by sending automated appointment reminders and notifications.

Also, with Acuity Scheduling, you can customize your booking page with your logo, images, and colors to coordinate with your Squarespace website. And for coaches and consultants, Acuity allows you to accept payments directly from clients as they book their appointment.

2. Email and File Management

Top Pick: Google Workspace

Google Workspace is my one-stop shop for professional email communication, file storage, and sharing.

Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) helps streamline communication and collaboration across teams or clients and helps keep documents organized.

It provides a secure cloud-based environment with access to Google apps such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides, to name a few. These apps are also great for real-time editing and sharing internally or externally with clients and leads.

And the best part is that Google Workspace and its apps are available on any device, allowing users to work from anywhere.

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3. Email Marketing

Top Pick: ActiveCampaign

I use ActiveCampaign for my email newsletter and to manage my email subscribers list. It’s an all-in-one marketing and customer relationship platform that helps you to better engage with your clients and leads. I’ve used other email platforms, but I chose ActiveCampaign specifically for its intuitive user interface and how my business can grow with it in the future.

It includes a ton of features, including email marketing, funnels and email sequences, automation, customer segmentation, contact management, surveys, landing pages, analytics, and more.

And I love how it allows you to create personalized customer experiences to develop more meaningful relationships with your clients. With better segmentation and analytics, you can make smarter decisions about your marketing and ultimately drive more sales.

And the cherry on top is that ActiveCampaign has an excellent customer support team to assist with any questions.

4. Project & Task Management

Top Pick: ClickUp

ClickUp is an incredibly versatile task management tool that makes it easy to stay organized and work efficiently. I use ClickUp for managing internal tasks, charting the journey of my leads and what stage they’re in, and my marketing content creation calendar.

I enjoy project management, so ClickUp allows me to set deadlines, track my progress, and know what tasks must be done. I can also customize dashboards to create an overview of all tasks on my plate at any given moment.

And it’s easy to develop workflow templates I can duplicate for internal projects. ClickUp automatically creates tasks based on workflow rules, allowing me to stay organized and on top of tasks without manually recreating them.

Having a project management tool is an excellent practice for any size coaching or consulting firm. Even if you’re starting, developing SOPs and processes now will save you time and energy as you expand your team.

5. CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

Top Pick: Dubsado

Every one of my clients asks me about the custom client portal they enter when we start our project. It’s Dubsado! And it’s incredible!

Dubsado allows me to create a high-end, luxury experience for my clients throughout the business administrative and relationship management touchpoints. This tool reinforces your brand story and identity and offers a consistent and seamless client experience.

So, if you haven't heard of Dubsado, it’s an all-in-one business automation and CRM software designed to help streamline client management and automate business processes.

With Dubsado, you can easily create beautiful custom proposals, contracts, invoices, questionnaires, and more. I also use it to automate communication and manage client invoices and payments.

And their support is fantastic! They’re still a young company and are very hands-on and attuned to its users. They also offer webinars for continuing education on how to optimize Dubsado specifically for your niche as well as when they roll out new updates.

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6. Website Platform

Top Pick: Squarespace

As a web designer, I‘ve used many platforms on the market today, but Squarespace is my favorite when designing client sites. Squarespace is perfect for anyone, even with little to no tech skills!

Squarespace recently introduced Fluid Engine, which now makes it a drag-and-drop editor. This makes websites easy to manage on the front end and easy for me to design and code a custom website on the backend for my clients.

Squarespace is an excellent platform for creating beautiful, professional websites quickly and smoothly. You can easily add pages, images, videos, and more to make a truly unique website.

I also love that the tools above can be integrated into your Squarespace website. For example, my contact form is an embedded Dubsado form connecting to my Gmail, Calendly, and Zoom. My free guide sign-up forms are linked to my ActiveCampaign newsletters.

And Squarespace also has fantastic customer support, so if you ever run into any issues, you can rest assured that help is just a phone call away. Trust me. I use the chat and resource guides all the time.

Well, there you have it! These are the six must-have business tools you need to grow your business and eliminate overwhelm. And feel free to start where you have the greatest need. It’s all about finding the right tools and systems to support you while saving time and money.

I use each of the tools above and love them so much that I recommend them for your business as you continue to grow. So that you know, some of the links are affiliate links meaning I’ll receive a small compensation if you decide to sign-up and try them out. (But trust me, you’ll want to shout them from the rooftops too!)

6 Must-Have Business Tools for Coaches and Consultants

It’s 5 pm, and you just finished your client work for the day.

You have a sigh of relief, but as soon as you begin to sink into your chair and close your eyes, you’re jolted awake by the thought of the five proposals, three reminder emails, and four appointments you have to schedule.

Instead of spending months and years manually processing the administrative aspects of business, save time and money by finding tools to help you do the job.