5 digital tools that save me thousands of dollars a year as a small-business owner

• Jen Glantz is an entrepreneur and the founder of Bridesmaid for Hire.
• She says she regularly uses digital tools to keep her business organized and running smoothly.
• Glantz uses Rebump to schedule follow-up emails and FloDesk for email marketing and newsletters.

As a solopreneur who’s been running a business for more than eight years, I’ve learned that I can’t do everything alone all of the time.

Not only do I have a roster of freelancers that I turn to when I need specialized help with a campaign or project, but I also have a list of tools for when I need support with important items on my to-do list.

Here are five of the tools I use regularly for my business that have saved me thousands of dollars and hundreds of work hours.

1. Copy.Ai

A few months ago, a friend told me about a copywriting tool that uses AI to generate blog posts, marketing messages, and advertisement copy. As a professional writer, I was skeptical to use this tool, but after testing it out for a product launch I realized it’s a must-have. 

I use the free plan on Copy.Ai, which allows me to use the tool to generate around 10 different pieces of copy (for a subject line, Instagram ad, blog post, newsletter, and more). When I’m doing A/B testing of marketing language or want to give my own brain a break, this tool has come in handy to save me time and produce a framework of copy to edit and work with. 

2. Canva 

I like to have control over my marketing materials and content creation, and using a template-based design tool like Canva has been a game-changer. I use Canva for all of my design needs, including making logos, social-media posts, website banner ads, and graphics for my newsletters. 

I don’t have any background in design, and my graphics skills are unfortunately sub-par. If I were to hire a designer to help with my daily needs, I’d spend thousands of dollars a month. Instead, I do 90% of my design work on Canva and use their premium version, with access to more designs for $119 a year. 

3. Rebump 

One of the tasks that used to eat into my quality work time every month was sending follow-up emails to people I wanted to meet or work with. Every Monday and Wednesday, I’d dedicate two hours to reaching back out to people and trying to get them to respond. 

For the past two years, I haven’t had to do that. Now I use a tool called Rebump, which allows you to pre-write your follow-up emails and schedule dates for them to go out. If the person emails you back, the emails are unscheduled and don’t get sent. 

Rebump has not only saved me time, it’s also helped me to land meetings or responses from people who I might have forgotten to follow up with. I use their unlimited plan, which costs $5 a month. 

4. FloDesk 

I’ve been doing email marketing and sending out newsletters to my audience for the past eight years. When I first started doing this, I used services that charged you based on how many subscribers you had. When I reached 30,000 subscribers, this became costly at around $200 a month. 

Two years ago, I switched to FloDesk, which charges a flat fee (I pay $19 a month) no matter how many subscribers you have. Other email services also might charge more to use their automation features, but FloDesk doesn’t.

Having email workflows pre-written and created saves me a ton of time. When people sign up for my newsletter or say they’re interested in one of my services, these automated flows send out a series of emails to them over a seven-day period. It allows me to do passive yet effective marketing. 

5. Zapier 

I use a lot of different programs, software, and tools as a solopreneur. Since I don’t have a full-time programmer or developer on my team, it can be challenging to integrate  all of these different programs to work together smoothly.

That’s why I use a tool called Zapier, which connects my different platforms and helps with automation.

For example, if someone purchases a product from my website, Zapier connects that action to my email-marketing platform to tell it to immediately send the customer a post-purchase email.

If I had an in-house developer doing this, it could easily cost me thousands a year. Instead, I spend $20 a month to use Zapier. 

As a solopreneur, it’s important to have a collection of tools that help you tackle important tasks on your to-do list that don’t always require the help of a freelancer or assistant. That way, you can continue to focus your time and money on growing and expanding your business.