You’re gonna want to bookmark this one! I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, running a business is hard work. Which is why I rely on systems and processes to keep everything organized and on schedule. Are you like me? You know, the type of person who will NOT remember X,Y, or Z unless it is written down or logged somewhere… 

The softwares I’ve listed below are tried and true systems that work best for me and my business — they might not be the best fit for you. However, I do have other recommendations on resources that you may want to try before throwing in the towel.

Disclaimer: Some links listed below are affiliate links which means that I may get a small commission or discount on my monthly subscription while also providing you with a discount.

Project Management: ClickUp

If I had to keep only one tool in my business, it would be ClickUp. It’s the software I open first thing in the morning when I start my work day and we house both client and internal projects through this platform. As a client, you will be invited to your own private project space within ClickUp once your retainer is paid. The first thing you’ll see is the project timeline, as well as a “get started” task to complete. 

ClickUp is a beast with many, many capabilities so I created a tutorial on how to use it to make things easy. Apart from tasks, their in-app chat and email features allow all communication during the project to happen here. This way, we keep things in one central place (say goodbye to long email threads)! 

One of my favorite features in ClickUp is the ability for clients to mark up a PDF with their feedback. This makes edits super easy and clear for both you and me! Coming from someone who’s tried project management platforms like Trello, Asana, and Notion, this is sure worth a try. 

Client Relationship Management System: Dubsado

As a design studio that specializes in brand and website design, we request information from our clients quite often. These info requests come in the form of initial questionnaires and deliverables feedback to the end-of-project survey. These types of forms, along with proposals, contracts, payments, schedules, and *most* canned emails can all be set up within the mighty Dubsado!

Dubsado also allows for total customization on the visual aspect of your forms if you are comfortable implementing code to keep that brand consistency. Win-win!

Email Platform: Flodesk

If you’re like me, writing might not be your strong suit. Throw in designing an email too?! There’s good news — this is where Flodesk comes in! Flodesk is hands down the most aesthetically pleasing yet easy-to-navigate email platform I have ever used. They have pre-made templates and layout blocks which makes designing your emails so much easier.

You might also appreciate their segment and workflow features. Segmenting is just FloDesk’s term for grouping, categorizing, or tagging emails. Workflows are automations you can set up to trigger certain email sequences according to which segment or stage they’re in. 

Website Platform: ShowIt

How does a drag and drop website builder sound? Or a fully customizable site that requires no code? I knew I got your attention. 😉

After attempting to build websites with many other platforms, it became clear that ShowIt was the winner. From their extremely user-friendly backend to customer services (and beyond!), we know you’ll love it as much as we do.

If you have a starter or ecommerce business, we like to build your website on ShowIt with the Shopify Lite integration to get you started. However, an ecommerce business with a robust catalog of inventory should be built on Shopify to set you up for success in the long run. 

Video Meetings: Whereby

Forget Zoom and GoToMeeting! Whereby is an in-browser app which means no additional downloads AND no logins are necessary for anyone to join.

Although I subscribe to a paid plan of only $7 per month, the pros of having 3 rooms, my custom branding, unlimited recordings, and no call limits makes it all worthwhile. Prior to discovering Whereby, I was using Google Meet and was paying the same amount for less features. 

Everything Else: Google

At the end of the day, Google still runs most of the show here at Full Bloom Creative. From emails, domains, analytics, to file storage and so much more…

One of my favorite features is Google Drive’s file stream aka Google Drive for desktop. My suggestion is to turn on the sync feature because it automatically syncs everything that’s on the drive. When you try to move a file, a notification will pop up. If you delete a file, it will ask to make sure that is what you actually want to do. So instead of dragging your files from your computer to your drive, why not just save your files to the drive and have them sync automatically? 

Experience the Full Bloom process

One thing is for sure, we are able to run like a well-oiled machine with all of these systems in place. As a client, you’ll see firsthand how each of these softwares play a role during your entire project and beyond! 
Want to experience it for yourself? You can inquire with us about a project or just drop a DM on Instagram to chat.