30 Tools Virtual Assistants Can Use To Make Their Lives Easier
I’ve done a list like before but NOTHING this extensive. This is every tool I currently use in my business. There is also a freebie included in this blog post that you can download that has a list of 70 tools you can use in your online small business. This list is not just for Virtual Assistants. If you’re a social media manager, a coach, or thinking about creating online classes you DEFINITELY need this list. I’ve included links to each tool and a price if applicable.
Affiliate Disclaimer: This essential tool list may contain affiliate links where I earn a commission if you make a purchase. However this in no way affects my recommendation. If I recommend the tool and it has an affiliate link, it’s because I’m currently using it too. (Not all have affiliate links.)
Are you ready?
Let’s gooooooo!
30 Essential Virtual Assistant Tools
Photo Editing - Graphic Design
Canva
Canva is a graphic design platform, used to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents and other visual content. The app includes templates for users to use. The platform is free to use and offers paid subscriptions like Canva Pro. Canva Pro is $9.99 per month.
PicMonkey
PicMonkey is an online photo editing and design service that can be accessed from a web browser, or through a mobile app. Create beautiful photos, logos, social media graphics, and Facebook covers with PicMonkey's easy yet powerful photo editing and graphic design software. Pic Monkey Basic is $7.99. Pic Monkey Pro is $12.99.
I use Canvo Pro to create all of my social media content for myself. I am in no way a graphic designer so Canva is perfect when I create my graphics for Instagram and Pinterest. I also use it to create my freebies.
Payment Processors
Paypal
Paypal is an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods such as checks and money orders. You can use it to send invoices and accept payments from your clients.
Wave
Wave is a company that provides financial services and software for small businesses. You manage your income and expenses. Track everything and connect to other Wave products such as payroll, payments, and invoicing. I use PayPal to send invoices and receive payments from my clients. Most of these payment processors will charge you a fee once you receive payment from your client. Fee - 3%
When I first started my business I used Wave. I switched to PayPal because one of the agencies I worked for preferred Paypal and I received my money quicker with PayPal vs. Wave.
Client Management
Dubsado
Dubsado is an all-in-one business management tool that allows you to send contracts and invoices, handle project management, create questionnaires and other forms, manage bookkeeping, track your time, send and receive emails and SO much more. Free up to your first 4 clients. After $350 per year
Freshbooks
Freshbooks is a cloud accounting software especially designed for service providers, small businesses and freelancers. It can track your time, create invoices, track expenses, provide reports, design estimates, send follow up emails, and allow your team members and clients to log in. And it’s really easy to use on top of all that functionality. $4.50 a month up to 5 clients
Dubsado is a website that I also like to use for invoicing, but it is a WHOLE LOT MORE! Dubsado is the leading tech I use for my business. I do everything with Dubsado. Proposals, contracts, invoices. It also serves as a CRM, and I store my information about my clients and my leads. Dubsado is not cheap. However, if you want to try it out, you can use it for your first three clients/contacts for free to see how it works. When you enter your fourth client, you are charged. Click on the link and use my code (skyrocket) and you’ll receive a 20% discount on your first year.
EMail Service Provider / Email Marketing
MailChimp
Mailchimp is an all-in-one marketing platform that helps you manage and talk to your clients, customers, and other interested parties. Free up to 2000 subscribers. After $9.99
FloDesk
Flodesk is an email marketing service provider that is built for creators, by creators. You can use it to design and send on-brand marketing emails, create opt-in forms to grow your list, and build powerful email automations. $38 per month.
When I first started I used MailChimp because the idea of being able to use it up to 2000 subscribers without paying was ideal. However, with MailChimp you do not get a lot of the options with the free version (i.e. automations). I’ve recently signed up with FloDesk. You get a free 14-day trial in the beginning and I was able to start with 50% off using an affiliate code.
Website Hosting
Squarespace
$18 month for small business account
Free custom domain
Unlimited bandwidth and storage
Templates for every type of business
Drag and drop build
Bluehost
Basic
$2.95 per month
1 Website
50 GB SSD Storage
Custom Themes
24/7 Customer Support
I have a Squarespace site and I always have. I picked it at the beginning of my business because of the drag and drop appeal and I couldn’t afford to have someone build it for me and I didn’t want to learn nor did I have the time to learn WordPress.
Social Media Scheduler
Tailwind
Tailwind is the complete Pinterest & Instagram marketing toolkit for bloggers, eCommerce and other businesses of all sizes. Schedule posts at the best times, create beautiful pins faster than ever, discover content, monitor conversations, amplify your reach, and measure results all with one tool. Free up to 100 posts. After $14.99 per month.
Buffer
Buffer is a software application for the web and mobile, designed to manage accounts in social networks, by providing the means for a user to schedule posts to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Instagram Stories, Pinterest, and LinkedIn, as well as analyze their results and engage with their community. Free up to 3 channels.
Tailwind is my bread and butter when it comes to scheduling for my Pinterest management clients. Pinterest allows you to schedule pins, join Tailwind tribes, and use their smart loop. The best thing about Tailwind is that it saves you time! Depending on the plan you choose, you can schedule anywhere from 100 to unlimited pins on Tailwind. If you want to read more about Tailwind, check out this blog post I wrote about it. If you want a free trial of Tailwind that allows you to schedule up to 100 pins for free, you can click this link here. The basic account is less than $15.00 per month.
I use Buffer for everything else: Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. With Buffer’s free version you can have up to 10 posts scheduled on each platform.
Video Calls
Zoom
Free Up To:
Host up to 100 participants
Unlimited group meetings for up to 40 minutes
Unlimited one-to-one meetings with a 30 hour time limit per meeting.
Private & Group Chat
$14.99 per month
All the benefits of Free, plus:
Host up to 100 participants
Increase participants up to 1,000 with Large Meetings add-on
Group meetings for up to 30 hours
Social media streaming
1 GB cloud recording (per license)
This is what I use for Discovery Calls.
Domain Names
NameCheap
Register domain and buy cheap names at Namecheap and enjoy 24/7 support. You can purchase a domain name for $3.88 per year.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy allows you to create your website, secure your domain, and also have it protected securely! You can purchase a domain name for $2.99 per year
I have purchased domain names with both NameCheap and GoDaddy so either is great in my opinion.
Project Management Tool
Asana
Asana is a web and mobile application designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work. The Basic plan is free. The premium plan is $10.99 per month (billed annually)
Trello
Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what's being worked on, who's working on what, and where something is in a process. Imagine a white board, filled with lists of sticky notes, with each note as a task for you and your team. Organize and prioritize your to-do lists in an easy, visual way. You can use it to keep up with client work too! There is a free version and a standard version that is $5 per month.
I currently use Trello and Asana and like them both. I am also using the free version of both.
Password Protection
LastPass
You can store passwords for yourself and for your clients. For teams of 50 or less it is $4 per month. Unlimited teams $6 per month. They have a free version as well for one device type.
I use LastPass professionally and personally to store passwords. The good thing about LastPass is that your client will share with you so unless you are working with a large group of people there is no need to use anything other than the free version.
Communication
Slack https://slack.com/
Slack is a messaging app for business that connects people to the information they need. By bringing people together to work as one unified team, Slack transforms the way organizations communicate. There is a free version. The next upgrade is the Pro version that is $6.67 per month.
Voxer https://www.voxer.com/
Voxer is a free app that combines the best of voice, text, photo and video messages for a powerful and personal messaging tool. Easily and instantly communicate with friends, family or teams at work – live or later. Voxer works over any 3G, 4G, or WIFI network in the world. Free
Google Voice https://voice.google.com/
Google Voice is a telephone service that provides call forwarding and voicemail services, voice and text messaging, as well as U.S. and international call termination for Google Account customers It gives you a phone number for calling, text messaging, and voicemail. It works on smartphones and computers, and syncs across your devices. Free
I use all of these and I use the free version of Google Voice. There is a paid version of Google Voice but if you are only using it for one person - you - you do not need the business account.
Social Media Marketing
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/
Twitter https://twitter.com/
Free Royalty Free Images
Deposit Photo https://depositphotos.com/
You can find royalty-free images, videos, vectors, illustrations, and music.
Unsplash https://unsplash.com/
Beautiful, free images and photos that you can download and use for any project. Better than any royalty free or stock photos.
When I first started my business I was able to find enough free photos on either Deposit Photo, Unsplash or Canva to suit my needs for my social media marketing. As of this creation of this freebie, I now pay for a membership with She Bold Stock. It is $75 per quarter. With this membership I also get stock videos, templates (which I’m using to create this freebie) and content resources.
Cloud Storage
Google Drive https://www.google.com/drive/
You can create documents, spreadsheets, and slide presentations and store everything in Drive. In addition you can share files, folders, save images and collaborate. Free
DropBox https://www.dropbox.com/
If you want a place to store just about anything you create and you don't want to save it to your computer or a zip drive...use DropBox. The free basic plan gives you 2GB of space. You can get 5TB of storage for $12.50 per month.
That’s A LOT isn’t it. I never knew just how many tools I used until I decided to create the freebie that goes along with this blog post. Like I said before, the freebie has 70 tools you can use in your online business, but this blog post specifically lists the tools I use in MY business currently. If you are looking for places you can get free or paid stock photos, what programs you can use to sale digital products, create online classes, set up automations, schedule appointments, etc. - this list has it all. Click the link below and download it now!
