Software I Use to Make Life Easier

Everyone has their preferences when it comes to the programmes they use day-to-day, but these are the ones I use:

Task Management - Click-Up

Click-Up is one of the first programmes that appears when I open Chrome. I have all my tasks in categories with dates and folders keeping everything organised and constantly reminding me what I need to do next (and nagging me if it isn’t done) 

In previous jobs, I have used Click-Up across my department and the wider team and it makes collaboration easy and efficient. I currently use the free version which has its limitations but it works well for me right now and I will upgrade as my business grows.

Design - Canva

Yes, you knew this one was coming. I love Canva and have used it for over 10 years to do my marketing graphics. I have used Photoshop and found it unnecessarily complex for what I need. I have also used Figma which I got on well with but I just find Canva the easiest design program to work with.

Canva has a simple and easy-to-follow design with loads of templates you can adapt to suit you. Although over the years to amount of free graphics available has reduced I still find everything I currently need without needing the Pro package. Canva also offers AI features which can support your creations.

Image Source - Unsplash

If you need some free stock images (or inspiration) Unsplash is great. I tend to use stock images to go with my articles and this is a great place to get them. There are tonnes of free ones but as always paid options are available too. 

Website & CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) - HubSpot

I have always been a fan of HubSpot since I was introduced to them in my early 20s. I find the platform each and user friendly with loads of features available on the free package and tonnes more on the paid options. I host my website through HubSpot and use their emails and CRM to manage my clients and queries. 

HubSpot also has a very generous blog with loads of support and an Academy that offers training, several of which I have done myself.


Spell Checker - Grammarly

I have always had difficulty with spelling and grammar and was diagnosed in my mid-20s with minor dyslexia. Since then I have found that having Grammarly on my side takes out the fear of mistakes wherever I am writing. Grammarly checks across the whole internet and if I ever find somewhere that it doesn’t (it’s rare but it has happened) then I copy my text into a Google Doc to check it.

Having a proofreader on your side is never a bad thing, even if you don’t generally struggle. 


Carousel Creation - My Social Boutique

As I said, I do my design work in Canva, but it’s much easier to design carousels as one (or two) long images and then split them. This gives you a lovely seamless swipe with less hassle, but once you have got the long image(s) you need to split them up and for that, I use My Social Boutique. 

It is so easy to use, you just drag and drop your design onto the website, and then select how many slides or grid boxes you want it chopped into, it does it and you download each slide.

Easy to use and free!


PDF Creation - PDFCandy

Once you have 10 slides for Instagram you can then repurpose these into a carousel for LinkedIn. LinkedIn carousels are slightly different to other platforms. They are not image-based, but PDF. If you upload multiple images they are shared as a collage, but if you share a document it will scroll through like a carousel. The document needs to be a PDF and I think the limit is 500 pages (but I wouldn't suggest going that far).

PDFCandy allows you to take multiple images, such as 10 slides for an Instagram carousel, and make them into a 10-page PDF document which is exactly what you need for LinkedIn.

Just upload your images, choose their order, margins, and a few other details and convert. Just note, the free option only allows one conversion per hour, so make sure it’s right before you download or you will have to wait to try again.

There are others that I use but these are my regulars and most important ones. Are there any you expected to see but aren’t on there? Or have you found new software to try?