Resources

You can do almost anything online these days, and to get it done, you have to choose from a dizzying array of providers and possibilities. I’ve tried and tested a lot of the options out there in my work, and have settled on a few favorites that I’ll share here. Please note that some of the links on this page are affiliate links and I may receive some remuneration if you use them. Rest assured, however, that these are what I use in my own business or recommend to clients because I truly believe they’re terrific choices. Cross my heart!

Email Marketing: I’ve worked with lots of email marketing programs while managing my clients’ marketing efforts and there’s none better than Active Campaign. It’s incredibly powerful, intuitive, and reasonably priced for the power it provides your business.

Password Management: I have had a LastPass account for years and cannot imagine living in this online world without it. Not only will it keep track of all your passwords, but also your sensitive financial details like bank account and credit card numbers. If the security of your information is important to you, I can’t recommend LastPass highly enough.

VPN (Virtual Private Network): Another must-have security feature if you work online anywhere – hotels, coffee shops, airports… anywhere you’re using an open wireless connection. A VPN gives you a secure “tunnel” through which your information can pass, walled off from hackers and other nefarious types. I use NordVPN on my desktop computer and laptops, my iPad, and my phone. It’s a very inexpensive insurance policy to protect your data.

Data Backup: I use Google Workspace to run my business, and while I feel pretty confident that Google takes great pains to secure their own company data, I’m not comfortable relying solely on them to back mine up. So I use Spanning Backup to back up all my email, Google calendar, contacts, and Drive docs. That information is the lifeblood of my business and I sleep better at night knowing that if Google lets me down, my info is still safely stored elsewhere. (Spanning offers plans for Salesforce and Office365, too.)

I have a massive amount of mission-critical business data that’s not stored in the cloud, but lives on my own computers. While I certainly hope never to have a hard-drive failure or a disastrous event like a fire or flood, we all know – stuff happens. So I not only back up my computers redundantly on-site, I back everything up to the cloud as well. That’s where CrashPlan comes in. It’s another one of those minimal monetary investments that pays major dividends in peace of mind.

Websites: Your website is one of your biggest business assets, and there are a lot of moving parts to keeping it up and running. I recommend and use NameCheap for domain registration, SiteGround for hosting and Elegant Themes for gorgeous Divi WordPress themes.