Tools I Use To Run My Business
Here are the websites & software tools that I've found helpful for my business.
May you benefit from this page of resources!
Video Tools
- Kapwing is how I make my shorter videos with colorful subtitles or a lower third. (Tutorial: how to put colorful subtitles to a video using Kapwing)
- Screencast-o-matic -- how I make my screencasts, e.g. my Zoom tutorial.
- Streamyard -- to stream live video to multiple platforms at once, e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, LinkedIn.
My Productivity Tools
- Focusmate -- virtual co-working for accountability
- Todoist -- task-management software. Simple, fast.
- Google Voice -- separate accounts for business / personal
- AcuityScheduling -- client scheduling tool.
- Tomato Timer for pomodoros. E.ggtimer.com is more flexible.
- Poe.com for Ai chat brainstorming and MS Copilot for Ai search.
Money Tools
- For USA -- Tiller is what I use. Some of my clients like YouNeedABudget.
- For Canada -- Mint.ca
- For AU and NZ -- Getpocketbook
- Europe & other countries -- Xero
- Send money internationally using Wise for better exchange rates
- Healthy Money (my thoughts and methodology on money management)
Website Tools
- Squarespace Domains for registering domain names
- These days my typical recommendation is Squarespace or Strikingly, but my website is built with Simplero given the all-in-one platform. Here's why I chose Simplero.
- MyAskAi for website chatbot (try it out -- see the bottom right!)
Getting Help For Your Website, Copy Editing, Graphic Design & Technical Needs
- Fiverr (For $5 to $50 you can get logos and graphics created, as well as many other little jobs done. Could be a good place to find contractors for bigger projects too, by testing their skill with smaller ones. Here's my video on how I use fiverr.)
- TaskRabbit (hire local help)
- 99designs (get professional designs, use my link to get $60 off your first design -- the best discount available online, since I opted to give 100% of my affiliate commissions to the discount)
Image Tools
- Pablo -- easily create image quotes. Here's how I use it.
- Canva -- much more full-featured than Pablo. How's how I use it.
- Compressor.io -- reduce file size of images so they're faster to load online
- Gradient Generator -- to create a simple gradient image which I sometimes use for background cover images
- Techsmith Jing -- Free Screen Capture and Call-Outs
Online Ideas Collaboration
- Google Drive -- documents, presentations, spreadsheets
- MindMeister -- my favorite mindmap tool
- Workflowy -- fast, simple outlining
Online Survey Tools
- Google Forms (for tutorials, click here.)
- Clients also like TypeForm.
Online File Sharing
- Google Drive -- what I use for file sharing with clients and public audiences.
- Dropbox -- when I'm uploading a very large file (e.g. over 1 gig) this tends to be faster than Google Drive
Audio Tools
- Vocaroo.com -- Easily Record Short Audio
- Audacity -- Free Audio Editing and Recording (tutorials here)
- The Levelator -- Level The Volume Of All Teleclass Speakers (Levelator)
- Speakpipe -- allow website visitors to leave you voicemail without the phone
- Convert2MP3 -- convert a Youtube video to an MP3 file, without having to download a converter file
Podcasting Tools
- Substack is the podcast host I use for the George Kao Podcast.
- I recommend either not starting a podcast (because of how challenging it is to grow listeners) or making it so low-maintenance that it's easy for you to keep going. It takes me 5 minutes to upload each episode onto my podcast... because I basically download my best Youtube videos and upload them to my podcast!
- I actually have a short course about this -- how to easily launch a podcast and keep it low maintenance.
Automation Tools
- Zapier -- for linking together many tools, e.g. Simplero, Google Sheets, Gmail, etc. Lots of possibilities in how to automate your virtual tasks.
- As mentioned above, for most of my business software, I'm now happily using Simplero.
Feel free to share this webpage with others. The link to send, or post on social media, is: www.georgekao.com/tools