The Coffee Shop Crochet

I do love planning digitally, but I love planning on paper first. Plum Paper gives me the option to customize my planner to suit my needs…which is so important for me!
There are a ton of options for how to customize your planner, including business add-on pages!
Click here for a walk through of my planner! (coming soon)

The free option of Canva is great. It’s the perfect way to figure out if Canva is for you and meets your needs! There are limitations the the free option (limits on resizing, downloading options), so be aware that if you need to have various download types or sizes, the free option is not going to do everything you want.
I started with the free version and found that, for my needs, the paid option was better! I’ve made my logo, shop banners, social graphics, and listing photos here! I can customize them to suit my needs, adjust the size for the various social media platforms, make videos…you name it, I have probably made it on Canva! I love the variety of background options, clipart, designs, and templates that are available.
Not only does it offer everything I need for graphics, it’s easy to use and has plenty of information on how to make various things within the program. Canva is a must-have for me!

My digital content planning is all done here. I can put images in, write full posts, and then plug them into Later for publishing, post it on the blog, or even copy and paste it myself to my socials…whatever I feel like doing that day! It’s amazing for making long-term content plans.
One of the best parts of using Trello is how easy it is to rearrange my content. I can lay it out, move posts around, drag and drop things. I can also access everything from my computer and my phone, a definite perk for someone who is on the go all the time!

Later may be my favorite! I love being able to plan my posts for the content that is recurring and then adding other posts throughout the day as I get a chance!
Not only can I plan for Instagram and Facebook, but I can plan things for Pinterest, TikTok, and Instagram stories as well. I can choose to auto-publish Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest posts or I can publish them manually.
The free version offers 30 posts per social account a month. With the paid version, you double that plus get access to amazing features like analytics and the best times to post.

Quickbooks and Money by Quickbooks have been huge for my business. The money side is where I have the hardest time. It’s just not my thing. QB really takes the hassle out of it.
I have Quickbooks linked with my Etsy shop. It takes the hassle out of figuring out taxes. Everything is calculated for me. I can mark transactions as business or personal, keep track of expenses, and see what my income looks like in real time.
Money by Quickbooks has worked really well as my business bank account. I can keep all of my business stuff completely separate from my personal…I only wish I had started with it sooner!

The free version of mailerlite has not only met my needs but exceeded them! I love that I can create my e-newsletters, newsletter sign-ups, and other sign-ups all in the same place!
I haven’t used mailerlite to the fullest advantage, but I’m looking forward to seeing how it helps my business as I expand and grow!

Google Drive is a lifesaver for doing a bundle of any kind and just straight-up storage. Being able to access my patterns when I’m on the go, adding ideas from my phone and being able to access them on the computer, or even editing a pattern on the go is a huge benefit.