March 24, 2025 • 28 mins
Ever feel like your business is drowning in a sea of software subscriptions? You're not alone. I've been there - desperately trying to keep track of payments going out at different times, juggling multiple logins, and feeling overwhelmed by the growing tech stack needed to run my business effectively.
What started as innocently adding tools one by one quickly spiraled into a costly, time-consuming mess. An email service provider here, a funnel system there, website hosting, course platforms, CRM software, social media schedulers - each solving one problem but collectively creating a bigger one. The financial drain was just the beginning; the mental overhead of managing all these disconnected systems was stealing my focus from what really mattered.
Three years ago, I discovered a solution that transformed my business operations. By consolidating nearly everything into one comprehensive platform, I've dramatically simplified my processes, reduced my monthly software expenses from three figures to two, and gained access to tools I previously couldn't afford. Now, instead of managing a dozen different systems, I run my entire business through just four essential tools - and the difference in my productivity and peace of mind has been profound.
The beauty of streamlining isn't just about saving money; it's about reclaiming your time and mental energy. When your client information, communication history, and business functions live under one roof, everything flows more smoothly. No more hunting through different platforms for information or trying to remember where you stored that important note about a client. Whether you're just starting your business journey or looking to simplify an established operation, there's tremendous power in asking: "Do I really need all these separate tools, or is there a better way?" Your future self will thank you for the clarity and focus that comes from intentional simplification.
Ready to declutter your digital business life? I'd love to hear what syst
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Mindset in Action podcast,
the place to be to grow andstreamline your business.
I'm your host, donna Eade.
Let's jump into the show.
Welcome back to the podcast,everybody.
I'm so glad to have you heretoday.
(00:23):
And before we jump into thisepisode, I wanted to remind you
that my event is taking place onthe 3rd of April and this is
your last chance to buy tickets.
So if you are listening to thison the day of release or on the
week of release, then you stillhave a chance.
Ticket sales end on Thursday,the 27th of March.
(00:50):
Thursday, the 27th of March isyour last chance to get tickets.
They are available now.
I have a few tickets left and Ireally want to get those seats
filled.
So if you use the codeBIRTHDAY50 at checkout, you will
get 50% off the price of yourticket.
So run, don't walk.
(01:10):
Grab those last few ticketsBIRTHDAY50 for 50% off your
ticket.
I can't wait to see you there.
We have got some fantasticspeakers lined up.
It's going to be an epic eventand I can't wait to see you
there.
But today we are going to betalking about streamlining your
business.
It is one of the core pillarsof this podcast and I wanted to
(01:31):
talk to you about how I havechanged my business over the
years, streamline my processesand make everything work so much
quicker and so much moreefficiently to save me time and
money.
So let's jump into it.
(01:52):
So why is streamlining yourbusiness processes, your
business tools, important?
So there are a couple ofreasons that I think it's
important, and I will speak frommy personal experience.
So what I found was that overthe years of starting a business
, and if you're brand new tobusiness, this could be a way of
saving you from this issue.
(02:13):
But if you are a few years downthe line or more, then you will
probably understand this thatas you're growing your business,
you come across things and allof a sudden it's like, oh, I
need this piece of software tohelp me with this.
And then it's a little bitfurther down the line.
You're like, oh, I need thisbit of software to help me with
this.
So, for example, you need anemail service provider because
(02:36):
you need to be able to sendemails to your prospective
clients.
So you need an email serviceprovider.
And then you've got somethingto sell.
So now you need a funnel to beable to funnel those potential
clients through to buy the thingthat you want.
Then you, of course, you need awebsite to have a presence and
(02:56):
a shop front, because you're anonline seller.
And then, of course, you willneed something to be able to
house what it is that you'reselling.
So, whether that's a course, adigital product service, you'll
need somewhere to house that.
Then you are going to need somesort of system to look after
your clients so that you knowwhere they are in the in the
(03:18):
funnel system, where they are inyour processes, and you're
going to need some way offollowing them through the
process so that you know wherethey are so you can look after
them properly.
And all of these things areanother tool, another tool,
another tool.
And then, of course, you've gotyour marketing side.
So you need to be able tocreate graphics for your social
(03:39):
media, and then you need to beable to put your stuff out on
social media, and preferablyyou'd like to schedule that,
because you don't want to be inyour social media all the time
because you've got a business torun.
So all of these things alsoneed a tool, software, something
to do to use to make thosethings happen.
(04:00):
So as you go along, you startpicking up all these
subscriptions to these differentsoftwares.
So you've got a funnel software, you've got an email software,
you've got a crm software,you've got a social media
scheduling tool, you've got yourplanning document, you've got a
sales process tool over here,like there's tools coming out of
(04:24):
your ears You've got so manytools for so many things, and
that is what happened to me.
So I had all of these tools.
And then there were tools thatI didn't have because I just
wasn't in a position in mybusiness to be able to afford
more on top.
So I never had a proper funnelbecause I couldn't afford to get
(04:45):
the funnel system.
I wasn't able to do that.
So there were lots of thingsthat I felt like I wasn't doing
my best at because I couldn'tafford the software that I
needed to make that happen.
Yet I was paying out lots ofmoney in all these other tools
that I was using and that becamean issue for me.
(05:07):
And one of the things thatbecame an issue was I had all of
these different tools that Ihad bought all at different
times, so the money was goingout of my account at different
times and I had like so manythings.
I was trying to keep track ofwhen it came to working out my
business finances and if you'reanything like me, you want to
(05:27):
keep your business finances assimple as possible.
Doing that tax return at theend of the year is a headache
and it's just coming around thecorner again, guys, but it is a
headache and it's something thatwe don't want to overcomplicate
.
So if you can condense thosetools down so that you don't
have, you know, 12 differentpayments going out at 12
(05:49):
different points of the month or12 different points during the
year if you're paying themannually, there's another thing
is that those annual prices justcome around real quick and all
of a sudden you've got to find acouple of hundred quid that you
forgot that needed to go outthis month to pay for this tool
that you rely on.
So there are all these thingsthat happen within your business
(06:11):
processes when it comes to yoursoftware that you're using and
the tools that you are using torun your business, and I want to
help you make it as simple aspossible, because we don't need
all the extra headache.
There is time that it takes up,there is money that it takes up
, there is systems process timethat it also invades on.
(06:35):
So there's lots of areas wherethis stuff actually impacts us.
So if you have got to gothrough your bank statement and
you've got to find 12 differentpayments each month for all of
these things so that you canreconcile it and things like
that, that's 12 minutes of timeversus one, you know, for one
tool that's going to do thewhole lot.
(06:56):
So there are lots of ways thatthis is going to save you time.
So let's have a look at some ofthe core areas where we can
streamline our business.
One of them is our contentcreation and scheduling.
So how can we make that assimple as possible?
Now I have to say that my numberone go-to for this is Canva.
(07:18):
There is a link in thedescription to Canva.
If you are not yet a Canva userand you're not paying for Canva
, there is a link in thedescription.
It's actually my friend'saffiliate link, so you will be
helping another small businessif you use that link and you
decide to purchase Canva.
But I absolutely love Canva.
(07:39):
I have loved it since it likecame out.
It's brilliant.
So, as a previous photographerin a previous life, knowing how
difficult it can be to learnPhotoshop and Lightroom and all
of those things, and to learnIllustrator and get all those
graphics sorted.
Canva was an absolute godsend,and it just keeps getting better
(08:01):
, so they're always improving it.
They're always bringing out newthings, new abilities.
So now they have come out withsomething where, if you upload a
photo, canva will actually pickout like some core colours that
are in that photo and you canchange those colours.
It's absolutely amazing.
I'm sure it will improve overtime as well, but it is
(08:23):
something that really works forme.
So there is a couple ofpictures of me in items of
clothing that are almost mybrand colours, but not quite, so
a picture of me in a pinkjumper and the pink's a little
bit off just because of thelighting, and so I could
actually go into Canva andchoose that photo and it will
highlight that there is a pinkin that photo.
(08:45):
I can change it to my brandcolor, pink, and, hey presto,
I'm wearing my brand colors.
How fantastic is that.
So I am loving that feature,and they are coming up with new
stuff all the time over on Canva, so it's a really good one.
And the great thing about Canvais that you can schedule your
social media posts directly fromCanva.
So that is a really useful toolto have If you don't or can't
(09:12):
schedule from Canva, because Iknow there are some platforms
where you can't schedule fromCanva just due to the APIs and
things.
You know, some you have to donatively.
It is what it is, but there areother ways of doing it.
But Canva is brilliant and Ilove that tool.
(09:32):
So that is down below as well.
And then there are other toolsthat you can use to schedule,
like Later, hootsuite, all ofthose kind of things.
But again, that is an extracost.
So your extra cost is an extrasoftware.
It's somewhere else you've gotto take it.
I much prefer thesimplification of creating it in
Canva and scheduling it fromCanva.
(09:54):
So even though I have a toolthat I can schedule my social
media posts, I don't use thattool because it is easier to
schedule the design directlyfrom where I made the design.
So less time downloading anduploading and scheduling.
It's just create it, scheduleit done.
So Canva I highly recommend.
(10:15):
And then you need to look atyour client and community
management.
So this is something that Ireally didn't have in my
business when I first started.
So having a CRM, a customerrelationship management software
wasn't something that I had,but it is something that we
should have, and we should havefrom the beginning, because it
(10:36):
can really help to nurture yourpotential clients.
So a CRM is basically a systemthat will house your client's
details, so their email address,any other information that you
collect on them but you can alsoput notes in there.
So if you have a call with aclient, you can make notes on
(10:57):
their file and that will staywith the file.
So if you ever expand and get avirtual assistant or somebody
who is going to manage yourcommunity or anything like that,
they will be able to see all ofthose conversations, all of the
notes that you have made, sothey will be able to understand
your relationship with thatclient and they will be able to
(11:20):
respond appropriately.
If you do not have this, thenyou end up making notes on scrap
bits of paper that you've hadthis phone call and then you
lose those notes because they'rein a notebook and you've got 20
million notebooks.
I'm not talking about me there,honestly.
(11:47):
Or you are making notes on aGoogle Doc that might get lost
or mislabeled, or you are makingnotes in something that is not
quite a management system.
That, again.
You know you could misfile it,it might not be in the right
place, might not be obvious tosomebody else that comes into
your business where it is, itcan just get messy, or you're
not making any of those notes atall and it's all in your head.
So if you did expand, nobodyelse knows about your
(12:09):
relationships with other people.
But the thing is is with thehuman brain brain we push things
out to make room for otherstuff and so you may well forget
things like if you havepromised to deliver something or
send something or reach outagain.
All of these things you mightforget and you could be setting
(12:47):
up reminders in the wrong placeand it's just not going to work.
Potential clients and enablingthem to feel like they are being
seen and heard, because you canmake those notes and keep up
and remind yourself of theconversations you've had with
that person, which is just goingto solidify that relationship
more.
And then looking at your salesif you are a course creator or
(13:12):
if you are a podcaster or if youare somebody who sells digital
products, you need a system ofsoftware to be able to do that.
So with your podcasting, you'regoing to look at having a
podcast host that is quiteself-contained, so that's
fantastic.
But then you need a way ofsharing that podcast.
(13:33):
So you usually will get awebsite with your podcast host.
But really you want everythinggoing through your website, so
you need a way of sharing itthrough your website.
And then, with your course, youwant to be able to house that.
So you're going to have to lookat something like Kajabi or
Teachable or something alongthose lines, where you can keep
(13:55):
your course, slash membershipgoing and put your products.
So maybe you'll have digitalproducts and maybe you're
looking at an Etsy store thereor selling through eBay.
So there are lots of othersoftwares that are involved in
creating the sales part of yourbusiness.
So there, as you can see justfrom that little list of things,
(14:20):
there are lots of differentsoftwares that you might need in
that just that little bit thatI've spoken about there, and I'm
sure there are others that I'mnot thinking of right now.
But there is a lot of productsthat you could use and I use a
tool called FEA Create and to methis is a no-brainer tool.
(14:46):
It is an all-in-one platform.
So what it means is you don'thave to remember logins for 20
million different softwares.
You don't have 20 milliondifferent payments going out at
different times of the month.
You don't have the headache oftrying to remember all the
website addresses or having togo into your history and whatnot
.
You can just have this onebutton that opens up your whole
(15:08):
business, has everything youneed inside it one payment and
everything is there.
And I have been a user of FEACreate Now for about three years
, so I was one of the earlyadopters.
It was something that theyshared, I think, within their
membership community to startwith, and then they opened it up
(15:30):
, and when they opened it up tothe general public, that is when
I joined.
So it's coming up for threeyears this year, I believe and
it has changed the way mybusiness works, saved me money
and really given meopportunities that I didn't have
before because I couldn'tafford those other softwares.
So just to give you a littlebit of a rundown of what FEA
(15:55):
Create is, it is a platformwhere you can host a website so
you can put well, you can put asmany websites as you want on
there so you can have yourwebsite on there.
It has blog features so you canhave blogs on there.
It has a CRM system, so, and anemail service provider, so that
I love having that togetherbecause that is really useful.
(16:17):
So if I go into one of myclients sort of accounts on my
system, I see them, I see all ofthe emails that they've ever
received from me.
I can see if they've openedthem or not, and then I can see
if they have downloaded afreebie.
I can see if they haveresponded to an offer.
I can see all of that in thehistory and then there's a note
(16:41):
section where I can make notes.
So if I've personally spoken tothem about something, I can
make a note of that so thatthat's there in the history as
well.
I can send emails directlythrough that CRM system that
part of the CRM system as wellas sending through the email
service provider, part of thesoftware.
(17:02):
So it gives me lots ofopportunity to talk directly to
them as well as using them aspart of a collective.
If I'm going to send out a bulkemail, it has the email service
provider in there.
So I can create automations, Ican create campaigns, I can send
emails by trigger links, I cantag them, I can tag all my
(17:28):
clients, so that is reallyuseful.
I can have all my sales funnelson FEA Create so you can create
your funnels.
You can create your paymentoptions.
You can have your courseshosted on the platform as well.
So if you've got a membershipor course, you can host that
(17:48):
right there in that area.
There is so much in there, someof the new things that they've
added in, so there are thingsthat they have added in that are
paid top ups.
I haven't got any of those andI haven't felt like I'm missing
out on anything, but you mightfind them useful depending on
your business in there, andthose colors and fonts and
(18:18):
things will follow you around.
You can do your social mediaplanning from here.
So there is a social mediaplanner and you can there upload
new posts so you can do yourscheduling through this.
So if you didn't want to do itthrough Canva, you can do it
through FEA Create.
They have AI assistance inthere.
You have got the ability tostore media, so videos, photos,
(18:40):
things like that.
You have your calendar system.
So this was one of the onesthat I used.
I used to use Calendly, highlyrecommend Calendly.
I always found it really userfriendly and I used that for a
long time.
But when I moved over to FEACreate.
It has its own booking systemin there so you can use it to
put out calendar times wherepeople can book time with you.
(19:03):
So if you want to do paidbooking, so if you have like
power hours that you charge for,you can do that through there.
If you just want to doone-to-ones through there, you
can set up a calendar for that.
So, just like Calendly, you canuse that as well.
What else have we got in here?
So I do have my podcast blog inhere as well.
(19:26):
So I host my podcast in a blogformat.
On FEA Create you can have yoursales pipelines.
Those are really useful.
So you can actually sort of puttogether a pipeline of how
somebody would come and interactwith you at different stages of
the buying process and create afunnel and you can move people
through those funnels and that'sreally good because you can
(19:48):
start to see where your money issitting and you can also find
bottlenecks in your system.
So if everybody is gettingstuck at a certain point on that
workflow, you can say, okay,there is something here that is
not working and not allowingthese people to go through to
the to the final stage of buyingwith me.
(20:09):
So what is that and how can Iaddress it?
So your sales pipelinespipelines are really, really
useful.
You can do invoicing throughhere so you don't have to have a
separate invoicing system.
You can do your invoices, youcan do repeat invoices, you can
do subscriptions for yourmemberships and things through
there.
There's a customer reviewsection.
(20:31):
There is so much inside FEACreate, but what it did for me
was it meant that, other thanCanva and Zoom, I don't pay any
extra for any other softwaresbar FEA Create.
Now I do pay for my because Irecord my podcast through Zoom
(20:56):
and obviously use that for myone-to-one networking and etc.
And Canva and FEA.
So I have four payments a monththat go out that give me the
business that I have, and itmeans that I have a CRM system,
I have funnel systems, I have mywebsite, I have my email
(21:18):
service provider, I have mysocial media sorted.
My podcast is sorted, I have acalendar booking system sorted.
I have got all of myautomations sorted.
I have invoice capabilities.
I have an app on my phone whereI can take payments like POS
(21:39):
style, like on the go.
I can share my products,services through that or just
take payments for other thingsthrough it.
So it is a great tool and theyare improving it all the time.
They are bringing in new things.
So they started using so youcan use, like many, chat, so
those automated dm messages youcan use.
(22:01):
That kind of software is in feacreate as well, so you can use
that.
So there are so many things inthere that you can use.
It is a great tool if you arejust starting out, because you
can get in there, you can startfrom scratch and you can make
sure that you are building outthose processes really
beautifully, which is just goingto help streamline everything.
(22:24):
It's one login, you're in there, everything is in there that
you need and you can run yourbusiness from inside this one
piece of software.
If you are later on in yourbusiness, it's a great way of
collating everything.
It will take time, but onceit's done, it's that one again
one software, one payment, butyou've got everything you need
(22:46):
in there and they are alwaystaking on board customer
feedback.
So if there is something thatyou need adding, something
that's missing that you wouldlike to see, you can add it, ask
for it, make a request, andthey're really good at sort of
juggling those requests andgetting things sorted.
So I think it's a fantasticplatform.
(23:08):
Like I say, I've been using itfor three years and there is a
link in the show notes for youif you want to go and see.
Test it out, have a look atwhat you think and whether you
think it might be good for you.
I think it's a fantastic system, but I think, regardless of
what software you use, try tofind softwares that do as much
(23:30):
as possible, that do multiplejobs.
You know they turn around andthey say don't ever have a tool
in your kitchen that is onlyuseful for one thing.
Make sure it has multi-purpose,and that's because it takes up
space in.
You know, a food processor, itcan blend, it can chop, it can
do all of those things, but ahand blender can only blend, you
know.
So make sure that whatever youare using has multiple uses to
(23:54):
it, so that you are streamliningyour finances, you're
streamlining your time, you'restreamlining your efforts,
you're streamlining the software, you're streamlining those
logins, that everything isstreamlined, and the more you
can streamline it, the lessheadache you're going to have,
the less mental capacity isgoing to be taken up by trying
(24:18):
to remember all those differentthings.
So I highly recommend FEACreate.
I have loved it from the daydot.
Technicality wise, I think youdo need to have a good level of
tech knowledge, but in the samebreath, if you are somebody who
can learn well, then they havehundreds of training videos and
(24:40):
there are often classes thatthey do on different things.
They have live help sessions soyou can go in and ask for help
if you get stuck on something.
But they have so many videosthat will walk you through
exactly how to set it up.
So if you need to transfer yourwebsite from another website,
they have got videos to show youstep-by-step how to do it, how
(25:02):
to import your website.
They have got step-by-stepinstructions on how to set up a
sales funnel, step-by-stepinstructions on how to set up
your email campaigns and youremail service provider.
They have all of that withinthere, so you are never really
left on your own.
There is a group on Facebook aswell, full of people that
understand, know and work withFEA create on a daily basis.
(25:26):
So not only have you got theFEA create team, but there are
lots of people in the Facebookgroup that can help you as well,
and that's what I love about ityou don't feel like you've been
left on your own with it.
So if you are somebody who islooking for a way to streamline
all to me, it just it gives me aheadache just to think about
all of those different softwaresthat I used to have and all of
(25:48):
those it just it's mentalclutter that I didn't need.
Now I have one software for allof my business stuff, one
software for my podcast, I havemy video platform and I have
Canva and that's it, and it'sjust.
I can breathe.
So that is it for today, guys.
I hope that you got somethingfrom this and that you are going
(26:11):
to look at the software thatyou use, how you use it, how
many you've got, what that lookslike.
I mean, I added up everythingthat I was using and the
software that I wanted to buyand that came into the three
figures a month, and FEA Createis under that.
(26:32):
It is two figures a month and Ithink it's highly worth it.
So go and have a click on thatlink in the show notes, have a
look, see what you think.
If you join, then come and sayhello to me in their Facebook
group and let me know that youjoined from this podcast, but
there are other things that youcould use to streamline your
(26:53):
software.
So have a look at what you'redoing, see where you can
streamline, because anything youcan streamline, because
anything you can streamline, isjust going to give you a bit
more brain space back as well astime.
So that is it for today, guys.
I will hopefully see you nextweek.
Bye for now, thank you.
You're listening to the Mindset in Action podcast,
the place to be to grow andstreamline your business.
I'm your host, donna Eade.
Let's jump into the show.
Welcome back to the podcast,everybody.
I'm so glad to have you heretoday.
(00:23):
And before we jump into thisepisode, I wanted to remind you
that my event is taking place onthe 3rd of April and this is
your last chance to buy tickets.
So if you are listening to thison the day of release or on the
week of release, then you stillhave a chance.
Ticket sales end on Thursday,the 27th of March.
(00:50):
Thursday, the 27th of March isyour last chance to get tickets.
They are available now.
I have a few tickets left and Ireally want to get those seats
filled.
So if you use the codeBIRTHDAY50 at checkout, you will
get 50% off the price of yourticket.
So run, don't walk.
(01:10):
Grab those last few ticketsBIRTHDAY50 for 50% off your
ticket.
I can't wait to see you there.
We have got some fantasticspeakers lined up.
It's going to be an epic eventand I can't wait to see you
there.
But today we are going to betalking about streamlining your
business.
It is one of the core pillarsof this podcast and I wanted to
(01:31):
talk to you about how I havechanged my business over the
years, streamline my processesand make everything work so much
quicker and so much moreefficiently to save me time and
money.
So let's jump into it.
(01:52):
So why is streamlining yourbusiness processes, your
business tools, important?
So there are a couple ofreasons that I think it's
important, and I will speak frommy personal experience.
So what I found was that overthe years of starting a business
, and if you're brand new tobusiness, this could be a way of
saving you from this issue.
(02:13):
But if you are a few years downthe line or more, then you will
probably understand this thatas you're growing your business,
you come across things and allof a sudden it's like, oh, I
need this piece of software tohelp me with this.
And then it's a little bitfurther down the line.
You're like, oh, I need thisbit of software to help me with
this.
So, for example, you need anemail service provider because
(02:36):
you need to be able to sendemails to your prospective
clients.
So you need an email serviceprovider.
And then you've got somethingto sell.
So now you need a funnel to beable to funnel those potential
clients through to buy the thingthat you want.
Then you, of course, you need awebsite to have a presence and
(02:56):
a shop front, because you're anonline seller.
And then, of course, you willneed something to be able to
house what it is that you'reselling.
So, whether that's a course, adigital product service, you'll
need somewhere to house that.
Then you are going to need somesort of system to look after
your clients so that you knowwhere they are in the in the
(03:18):
funnel system, where they are inyour processes, and you're
going to need some way offollowing them through the
process so that you know wherethey are so you can look after
them properly.
And all of these things areanother tool, another tool,
another tool.
And then, of course, you've gotyour marketing side.
So you need to be able tocreate graphics for your social
(03:39):
media, and then you need to beable to put your stuff out on
social media, and preferablyyou'd like to schedule that,
because you don't want to be inyour social media all the time
because you've got a business torun.
So all of these things alsoneed a tool, software, something
to do to use to make thosethings happen.
(04:00):
So as you go along, you startpicking up all these
subscriptions to these differentsoftwares.
So you've got a funnel software, you've got an email software,
you've got a crm software,you've got a social media
scheduling tool, you've got yourplanning document, you've got a
sales process tool over here,like there's tools coming out of
(04:24):
your ears You've got so manytools for so many things, and
that is what happened to me.
So I had all of these tools.
And then there were tools thatI didn't have because I just
wasn't in a position in mybusiness to be able to afford
more on top.
So I never had a proper funnelbecause I couldn't afford to get
(04:45):
the funnel system.
I wasn't able to do that.
So there were lots of thingsthat I felt like I wasn't doing
my best at because I couldn'tafford the software that I
needed to make that happen.
Yet I was paying out lots ofmoney in all these other tools
that I was using and that becamean issue for me.
(05:07):
And one of the things thatbecame an issue was I had all of
these different tools that Ihad bought all at different
times, so the money was goingout of my account at different
times and I had like so manythings.
I was trying to keep track ofwhen it came to working out my
business finances and if you'reanything like me, you want to
(05:27):
keep your business finances assimple as possible.
Doing that tax return at theend of the year is a headache
and it's just coming around thecorner again, guys, but it is a
headache and it's something thatwe don't want to overcomplicate
.
So if you can condense thosetools down so that you don't
have, you know, 12 differentpayments going out at 12
(05:49):
different points of the month or12 different points during the
year if you're paying themannually, there's another thing
is that those annual prices justcome around real quick and all
of a sudden you've got to find acouple of hundred quid that you
forgot that needed to go outthis month to pay for this tool
that you rely on.
So there are all these thingsthat happen within your business
(06:11):
processes when it comes to yoursoftware that you're using and
the tools that you are using torun your business, and I want to
help you make it as simple aspossible, because we don't need
all the extra headache.
There is time that it takes up,there is money that it takes up
, there is systems process timethat it also invades on.
(06:35):
So there's lots of areas wherethis stuff actually impacts us.
So if you have got to gothrough your bank statement and
you've got to find 12 differentpayments each month for all of
these things so that you canreconcile it and things like
that, that's 12 minutes of timeversus one, you know, for one
tool that's going to do thewhole lot.
(06:56):
So there are lots of ways thatthis is going to save you time.
So let's have a look at some ofthe core areas where we can
streamline our business.
One of them is our contentcreation and scheduling.
So how can we make that assimple as possible?
Now I have to say that my numberone go-to for this is Canva.
(07:18):
There is a link in thedescription to Canva.
If you are not yet a Canva userand you're not paying for Canva
, there is a link in thedescription.
It's actually my friend'saffiliate link, so you will be
helping another small businessif you use that link and you
decide to purchase Canva.
But I absolutely love Canva.
(07:39):
I have loved it since it likecame out.
It's brilliant.
So, as a previous photographerin a previous life, knowing how
difficult it can be to learnPhotoshop and Lightroom and all
of those things, and to learnIllustrator and get all those
graphics sorted.
Canva was an absolute godsend,and it just keeps getting better
(08:01):
, so they're always improving it.
They're always bringing out newthings, new abilities.
So now they have come out withsomething where, if you upload a
photo, canva will actually pickout like some core colours that
are in that photo and you canchange those colours.
It's absolutely amazing.
I'm sure it will improve overtime as well, but it is
(08:23):
something that really works forme.
So there is a couple ofpictures of me in items of
clothing that are almost mybrand colours, but not quite, so
a picture of me in a pinkjumper and the pink's a little
bit off just because of thelighting, and so I could
actually go into Canva andchoose that photo and it will
highlight that there is a pinkin that photo.
(08:45):
I can change it to my brandcolor, pink, and, hey presto,
I'm wearing my brand colors.
How fantastic is that.
So I am loving that feature,and they are coming up with new
stuff all the time over on Canva, so it's a really good one.
And the great thing about Canvais that you can schedule your
social media posts directly fromCanva.
So that is a really useful toolto have If you don't or can't
(09:12):
schedule from Canva, because Iknow there are some platforms
where you can't schedule fromCanva just due to the APIs and
things.
You know, some you have to donatively.
It is what it is, but there areother ways of doing it.
But Canva is brilliant and Ilove that tool.
(09:32):
So that is down below as well.
And then there are other toolsthat you can use to schedule,
like Later, hootsuite, all ofthose kind of things.
But again, that is an extracost.
So your extra cost is an extrasoftware.
It's somewhere else you've gotto take it.
I much prefer thesimplification of creating it in
Canva and scheduling it fromCanva.
(09:54):
So even though I have a toolthat I can schedule my social
media posts, I don't use thattool because it is easier to
schedule the design directlyfrom where I made the design.
So less time downloading anduploading and scheduling.
It's just create it, scheduleit done.
So Canva I highly recommend.
(10:15):
And then you need to look atyour client and community
management.
So this is something that Ireally didn't have in my
business when I first started.
So having a CRM, a customerrelationship management software
wasn't something that I had,but it is something that we
should have, and we should havefrom the beginning, because it
(10:36):
can really help to nurture yourpotential clients.
So a CRM is basically a systemthat will house your client's
details, so their email address,any other information that you
collect on them but you can alsoput notes in there.
So if you have a call with aclient, you can make notes on
(10:57):
their file and that will staywith the file.
So if you ever expand and get avirtual assistant or somebody
who is going to manage yourcommunity or anything like that,
they will be able to see all ofthose conversations, all of the
notes that you have made, sothey will be able to understand
your relationship with thatclient and they will be able to
(11:20):
respond appropriately.
If you do not have this, thenyou end up making notes on scrap
bits of paper that you've hadthis phone call and then you
lose those notes because they'rein a notebook and you've got 20
million notebooks.
I'm not talking about me there,honestly.
(11:47):
Or you are making notes on aGoogle Doc that might get lost
or mislabeled, or you are makingnotes in something that is not
quite a management system.
That, again.
You know you could misfile it,it might not be in the right
place, might not be obvious tosomebody else that comes into
your business where it is, itcan just get messy, or you're
not making any of those notes atall and it's all in your head.
So if you did expand, nobodyelse knows about your
(12:09):
relationships with other people.
But the thing is is with thehuman brain brain we push things
out to make room for otherstuff and so you may well forget
things like if you havepromised to deliver something or
send something or reach outagain.
All of these things you mightforget and you could be setting
(12:47):
up reminders in the wrong placeand it's just not going to work.
Potential clients and enablingthem to feel like they are being
seen and heard, because you canmake those notes and keep up
and remind yourself of theconversations you've had with
that person, which is just goingto solidify that relationship
more.
And then looking at your salesif you are a course creator or
(13:12):
if you are a podcaster or if youare somebody who sells digital
products, you need a system ofsoftware to be able to do that.
So with your podcasting, you'regoing to look at having a
podcast host that is quiteself-contained, so that's
fantastic.
But then you need a way ofsharing that podcast.
(13:33):
So you usually will get awebsite with your podcast host.
But really you want everythinggoing through your website, so
you need a way of sharing itthrough your website.
And then, with your course, youwant to be able to house that.
So you're going to have to lookat something like Kajabi or
Teachable or something alongthose lines, where you can keep
(13:55):
your course, slash membershipgoing and put your products.
So maybe you'll have digitalproducts and maybe you're
looking at an Etsy store thereor selling through eBay.
So there are lots of othersoftwares that are involved in
creating the sales part of yourbusiness.
So there, as you can see justfrom that little list of things,
(14:20):
there are lots of differentsoftwares that you might need in
that just that little bit thatI've spoken about there, and I'm
sure there are others that I'mnot thinking of right now.
But there is a lot of productsthat you could use and I use a
tool called FEA Create and to methis is a no-brainer tool.
(14:46):
It is an all-in-one platform.
So what it means is you don'thave to remember logins for 20
million different softwares.
You don't have 20 milliondifferent payments going out at
different times of the month.
You don't have the headache oftrying to remember all the
website addresses or having togo into your history and whatnot
.
You can just have this onebutton that opens up your whole
(15:08):
business, has everything youneed inside it one payment and
everything is there.
And I have been a user of FEACreate Now for about three years
, so I was one of the earlyadopters.
It was something that theyshared, I think, within their
membership community to startwith, and then they opened it up
(15:30):
, and when they opened it up tothe general public, that is when
I joined.
So it's coming up for threeyears this year, I believe and
it has changed the way mybusiness works, saved me money
and really given meopportunities that I didn't have
before because I couldn'tafford those other softwares.
So just to give you a littlebit of a rundown of what FEA
(15:55):
Create is, it is a platformwhere you can host a website so
you can put well, you can put asmany websites as you want on
there so you can have yourwebsite on there.
It has blog features so you canhave blogs on there.
It has a CRM system, so, and anemail service provider, so that
I love having that togetherbecause that is really useful.
(16:17):
So if I go into one of myclients sort of accounts on my
system, I see them, I see all ofthe emails that they've ever
received from me.
I can see if they've openedthem or not, and then I can see
if they have downloaded afreebie.
I can see if they haveresponded to an offer.
I can see all of that in thehistory and then there's a note
(16:41):
section where I can make notes.
So if I've personally spoken tothem about something, I can
make a note of that so thatthat's there in the history as
well.
I can send emails directlythrough that CRM system that
part of the CRM system as wellas sending through the email
service provider, part of thesoftware.
(17:02):
So it gives me lots ofopportunity to talk directly to
them as well as using them aspart of a collective.
If I'm going to send out a bulkemail, it has the email service
provider in there.
So I can create automations, Ican create campaigns, I can send
emails by trigger links, I cantag them, I can tag all my
(17:28):
clients, so that is reallyuseful.
I can have all my sales funnelson FEA Create so you can create
your funnels.
You can create your paymentoptions.
You can have your courseshosted on the platform as well.
So if you've got a membershipor course, you can host that
(17:48):
right there in that area.
There is so much in there, someof the new things that they've
added in, so there are thingsthat they have added in that are
paid top ups.
I haven't got any of those andI haven't felt like I'm missing
out on anything, but you mightfind them useful depending on
your business in there, andthose colors and fonts and
(18:18):
things will follow you around.
You can do your social mediaplanning from here.
So there is a social mediaplanner and you can there upload
new posts so you can do yourscheduling through this.
So if you didn't want to do itthrough Canva, you can do it
through FEA Create.
They have AI assistance inthere.
You have got the ability tostore media, so videos, photos,
(18:40):
things like that.
You have your calendar system.
So this was one of the onesthat I used.
I used to use Calendly, highlyrecommend Calendly.
I always found it really userfriendly and I used that for a
long time.
But when I moved over to FEACreate.
It has its own booking systemin there so you can use it to
put out calendar times wherepeople can book time with you.
(19:03):
So if you want to do paidbooking, so if you have like
power hours that you charge for,you can do that through there.
If you just want to doone-to-ones through there, you
can set up a calendar for that.
So, just like Calendly, you canuse that as well.
What else have we got in here?
So I do have my podcast blog inhere as well.
(19:26):
So I host my podcast in a blogformat.
On FEA Create you can have yoursales pipelines.
Those are really useful.
So you can actually sort of puttogether a pipeline of how
somebody would come and interactwith you at different stages of
the buying process and create afunnel and you can move people
through those funnels and that'sreally good because you can
(19:48):
start to see where your money issitting and you can also find
bottlenecks in your system.
So if everybody is gettingstuck at a certain point on that
workflow, you can say, okay,there is something here that is
not working and not allowingthese people to go through to
the to the final stage of buyingwith me.
(20:09):
So what is that and how can Iaddress it?
So your sales pipelinespipelines are really, really
useful.
You can do invoicing throughhere so you don't have to have a
separate invoicing system.
You can do your invoices, youcan do repeat invoices, you can
do subscriptions for yourmemberships and things through
there.
There's a customer reviewsection.
(20:31):
There is so much inside FEACreate, but what it did for me
was it meant that, other thanCanva and Zoom, I don't pay any
extra for any other softwaresbar FEA Create.
Now I do pay for my because Irecord my podcast through Zoom
(20:56):
and obviously use that for myone-to-one networking and etc.
And Canva and FEA.
So I have four payments a monththat go out that give me the
business that I have, and itmeans that I have a CRM system,
I have funnel systems, I have mywebsite, I have my email
(21:18):
service provider, I have mysocial media sorted.
My podcast is sorted, I have acalendar booking system sorted.
I have got all of myautomations sorted.
I have invoice capabilities.
I have an app on my phone whereI can take payments like POS
(21:39):
style, like on the go.
I can share my products,services through that or just
take payments for other thingsthrough it.
So it is a great tool and theyare improving it all the time.
They are bringing in new things.
So they started using so youcan use, like many, chat, so
those automated dm messages youcan use.
(22:01):
That kind of software is in feacreate as well, so you can use
that.
So there are so many things inthere that you can use.
It is a great tool if you arejust starting out, because you
can get in there, you can startfrom scratch and you can make
sure that you are building outthose processes really
beautifully, which is just goingto help streamline everything.
(22:24):
It's one login, you're in there, everything is in there that
you need and you can run yourbusiness from inside this one
piece of software.
If you are later on in yourbusiness, it's a great way of
collating everything.
It will take time, but onceit's done, it's that one again
one software, one payment, butyou've got everything you need
(22:46):
in there and they are alwaystaking on board customer
feedback.
So if there is something thatyou need adding, something
that's missing that you wouldlike to see, you can add it, ask
for it, make a request, andthey're really good at sort of
juggling those requests andgetting things sorted.
So I think it's a fantasticplatform.
(23:08):
Like I say, I've been using itfor three years and there is a
link in the show notes for youif you want to go and see.
Test it out, have a look atwhat you think and whether you
think it might be good for you.
I think it's a fantastic system, but I think, regardless of
what software you use, try tofind softwares that do as much
(23:30):
as possible, that do multiplejobs.
You know they turn around andthey say don't ever have a tool
in your kitchen that is onlyuseful for one thing.
Make sure it has multi-purpose,and that's because it takes up
space in.
You know, a food processor, itcan blend, it can chop, it can
do all of those things, but ahand blender can only blend, you
know.
So make sure that whatever youare using has multiple uses to
(23:54):
it, so that you are streamliningyour finances, you're
streamlining your time, you'restreamlining your efforts,
you're streamlining the software, you're streamlining those
logins, that everything isstreamlined, and the more you
can streamline it, the lessheadache you're going to have,
the less mental capacity isgoing to be taken up by trying
(24:18):
to remember all those differentthings.
So I highly recommend FEACreate.
I have loved it from the daydot.
Technicality wise, I think youdo need to have a good level of
tech knowledge, but in the samebreath, if you are somebody who
can learn well, then they havehundreds of training videos and
(24:40):
there are often classes thatthey do on different things.
They have live help sessions soyou can go in and ask for help
if you get stuck on something.
But they have so many videosthat will walk you through
exactly how to set it up.
So if you need to transfer yourwebsite from another website,
they have got videos to show youstep-by-step how to do it, how
(25:02):
to import your website.
They have got step-by-stepinstructions on how to set up a
sales funnel, step-by-stepinstructions on how to set up
your email campaigns and youremail service provider.
They have all of that withinthere, so you are never really
left on your own.
There is a group on Facebook aswell, full of people that
understand, know and work withFEA create on a daily basis.
(25:26):
So not only have you got theFEA create team, but there are
lots of people in the Facebookgroup that can help you as well,
and that's what I love about ityou don't feel like you've been
left on your own with it.
So if you are somebody who islooking for a way to streamline
all to me, it just it gives me aheadache just to think about
all of those different softwaresthat I used to have and all of
(25:48):
those it just it's mentalclutter that I didn't need.
Now I have one software for allof my business stuff, one
software for my podcast, I havemy video platform and I have
Canva and that's it, and it'sjust.
I can breathe.
So that is it for today, guys.
I hope that you got somethingfrom this and that you are going
(26:11):
to look at the software thatyou use, how you use it, how
many you've got, what that lookslike.
I mean, I added up everythingthat I was using and the
software that I wanted to buyand that came into the three
figures a month, and FEA Createis under that.
(26:32):
It is two figures a month and Ithink it's highly worth it.
So go and have a click on thatlink in the show notes, have a
look, see what you think.
If you join, then come and sayhello to me in their Facebook
group and let me know that youjoined from this podcast, but
there are other things that youcould use to streamline your
(26:53):
software.
So have a look at what you'redoing, see where you can
streamline, because anything youcan streamline, because
anything you can streamline, isjust going to give you a bit
more brain space back as well astime.
So that is it for today, guys.
I will hopefully see you nextweek.
Bye for now, thank you.
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