30+ Tools I Use To Generate Money In My Biz
I was on a call with one of my mastermind partners recently and we were talking about tools that we use in business.
She was TOTALLY geeked when I shared with her a productivity tool I use and said I should make a list of the tools I use and then share it with my mastermind group.
I thought that was a great idea. That same afternoon, I got another call from a one of the members in my online courses and they asked about some tools as well.
So, I decided to start that list and share it with you because in addition to sharing your stories with confidence, I want you to love your life and business. But, you can’t do that unless you have some confidence around the money coming in. Right?
So, here’s my list. I PERSONALLY use these tools to generate passive income and many of them are free.
As a speaker or writer, you spend a lot of time working on your craft. But, you also don’t make money unless you show up physically. That’s why it’s good to have some other passive things happening.
Will they make you rich overnight? No. But, you need eggs in multiple baskets.
So, here are some of the tools.
Transparency: Because I’m telling you about passive income, I’m practicing what I preach and some of the links you will see here are affiliate links. I’m not just posting stuff. I actually use these things.
Websites
WordPress — My websites are powered through wordpress. I write blog posts and I often have affiliate links.
StudioPress — Studiopress runs the Genesis platform of Wordpress. While there are other platforms out there, I have found the guys at CopyBlogger to make it easy to find themes that work pretty easily.
Bluehost — You need a website host and quite simply, Bluehost has treated me well for almost a decade. Are they perfect? No. But, their customer service is awesome and keeps things easy.
Landing Pages & Funnels
Thrive Themes — Thrive makes it easy for me to build out landing pages and set up marketing for my webinars and other products I offer.
Mailing List, CRM and Contact Management
Convertkit — This is where most of the selling takes place. I announce my courses here. I share my affiliate links here. I update about webinars and programs here. This is the workhorse of my systems.
Contactually — You need to reach out to people and this contact management system helped me to put my contacting on autopilot.
Prosperworks — I love this system. This helps me manage both my offline and online business pipelines. This is the CRM that Google uses. Can you imagine that?
Affiliate Offers
I have a few masterminds and group coaching programs in addition to some courses I offer on my Academy site. But, if you are going to be in business, you should have several ways of not only making income but passive income. So, affiliate offers is one of the ways to do this. Here are a few of the places I find affiliate offers to promote.
Clickbank | JVZoo | ShareASale | LinkShare (Rakuten) | CJ Affiliate (used to be Commission Junction)
I’ve used all of the above at one point or another. If you decide you want to do affiliate marketing, you will need to set a good amount of time aside at the beginning because there are a LOT of products you can find to promote. You will need to determine what is worth it for you.
Amazon Affiliate Program — EVERYTHING is on Amazon. Honestly, I rarely post a link to a book, a product or anything anywhere without using my Amazon affiliate links. It’s easy to pull up and helps you earn some money every month. If you continue to promote old articles and have readership of your old content, then you continue to have a way to make a few bucks with little effort.
Membership, Academy, Course
Thinkific — I currently host my Academy on Thinkific. It’s easy and you don’t have to wait to get paid.
Teachable — I love the interface of Teachable and have some of my courses hosted here. The only drawback here is that they make you wait 30 days to receive your payments. On the plus side, they take care of all the processing setup.
Online Payments
PayPal — I’ve used this since I was selling on eBay in the early 2000s. Be sure to get a business account on PayPal and move away from a personal account.
Stripe — I use Stripe with my affiliate payments, my online courses and almost everything I sell online. They take a processing fee when you make a sale but the money is deposited into your bank account very quickly.
MoonClerk — I like Moonclerk for my recurring group coaching program payments. Simple to set up. Simple to use and it looks good. Yeah, that’s important to me. It’s currently $15/mo but you can cover that with 1 product sale.
Video Presentations & Meetings (Live or Recorded)
YouTube (free) — I use Youtube to host most of my video and as a backup. For the videos I want no one else to see, I use the Private option. For some of my courses, promos and programs, I use the Unlisted option. Everything else is public. Here is one of my recent fun vids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFqLXTDx4CM
Zoom — I use the Pro version of Zoom to host my masterminds and group coaching. I use the webinar version to run my trainings and webinars. Zoom allows me to set up registration easily, record, screen share, run polls, Q&A and a host of other features including going LIVE to Facebook or Youtube.
Creation of Products
Fiverr — There are some things you just DON’T need to do on your own. I use Fiverr for everything from podcast cover design and transcription to simple website fixes and VA help. Everything starts at $5. Whatta bahgain!
Upwork — Upwork is a great place to find contractors quickly who can do pretty much anything you need in your business. I’ve used them since they were elance.com and oDesk.
Email Management
Google Inbox — You need to connect with you prospects and clients. Correct? Otherwise there is NO money. Inbox separates a lot of the fluff that I don’t need to see immediately. It also allows me to delay seeing emails or schedule emails to a later time when I want to see them.
Wisestamp — This saves me so much time. At first glance, this is an easy way to create an amazing email signature. But it’s more. In every email, used see all of my social channels, my latest blog post, and things like my Speaker Sheet and time scheduler.
Appointment Scheduling
Calendly — For scheduling appointments from strategy sessions to coaching calls.
Social Media
SmarterQueue — This is my secret weapon. I love this because it not only allows you to schedule content but once your queue is empty, it recycles some of the old content for you.
HootSuite — I use this periodically to schedule and send out some info about upcoming programs. I love the interface and being able to see the streams of social content right inside my screen.
Buffer — Sometimes I don’t exactly want to schedule something but I want it to go out later at optimal times. I use Buffer for this.
Graphics
Canva (free version) — Need professional looking graphics quickly for your blog post, your course promo, your Youtube header or thumbnail? Canva is my go-to tool
Pixlr (free) — I use Photoshop because sometimes I want to edit some graphics to my liking. But, there are days where I step away from my computer and need to still makes some online edits. Pixlr is perfect for this and has many of the capabilities of Photoshop.
Productivity
RescueTime (free version) — You can’t make much money if you are always getting distracted and working randomly. RescueTime helps me track what I’m doing with my time and focus on being even more productive.
These are just some of the tools I use in my business to generate income and keep me on target.
Members of the Speak Write Now community marvel at how I’m able to come up with resources and ideas to help them move forward quickly. Well, I’ve messed up just enough to help you shortcut your process :).
You have my list. Dive in and use them.
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About The Author
My name is Robert Kennedy III. I’m a professional speaker and author. I speak and write mainly about leadership and communication. Connect with me on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook or on my website, RobertKennedy3.com
