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We all have our favorite tried and true tools that we use daily to be more productive and make our lives easier.
As a blog writer that juggles my own writing, but also multiple clients' writing, I’ve had to learn which tools work best for me.
It’s tempting to jump to something that you see people talk about on TikTok or try the thing that your business bestie uses, but after about 3-6 months of jumping from thing to thing, I quickly realized that I simply have to use what’s best for my specific work.
And the same is true for you, friend! I’m not sharing these things to convince you to use them - if you already have something that works best for you, by all means keep using them.
But if you’ve been searching for new ways to make your daily to-do’s easier in life or in business, my hope is that these can be a possible solution for you!
Quarterly Blog Content Spreadsheet
One of the questions that I get asked most often has a lot to do with how I create consistent social media content. The answer that I always hit people with is: long form content.
Essentially, my blog content drives the rest of what I do, so creating social media content is actually the easy part!
After they learn this piece of it, they often want to know how I plan my blog content. And my answer to that is a good ‘ole trusty Google spreadsheet.
The Quarterly Blog Content Spreadsheet is how I plan blog content for myself and for my clients one quarter at a time.
I know it might sound crazy to plan that far in advance, but here’s why I encourage people to do this:
It helps you be strategic with your planning and align your blog topics with any holidays, major events or launches in your business
It allows you to know exactly what to expect (which really makes your life easier in the long run)
When you know what content is coming on your blog, you can easily plan your social media content as well! And just because you plan in advance doesn’t mean that you can’t change things as you go.
The main point with this is that it helps you start somewhere and take action quickly versus just marinating on your ideas and not acting on them.
The spreadsheet used to be something I only used with clients, but because I want you to be able to easily implement blogs in your business too, you can grab your own free copy HERE!
Keywords Everywhere and Uber Suggest
I don’t talk much about SEO (search engine optimization), which might surprise you considering I’m a blog writer and one of the biggest benefits of blogs on your website is that it boosts your SEO rankings.
But the reason I don’t talk much about this is because:
1) I’m not an expert on it. I know the basics and I’m not embarrassed to admit that. SEO is robust and there’s a lot to learn, so that’s why I turn to others who ARE experts on the matter - The Duo Collective is my go to for this.
AND
2) I believe that blogs are an important part of your business for far greater reasons than just SEO. I dive into that more in this blog post!
Regardless of my take on SEO, it’s still an important part of blog writing, so I’ve found a few tools that help me do this research, especially when I’m writing for clients.
Keywords Everywhere and Uber Suggest are my favorites to use for keyword research and both are fairly easy to use. You can download both as Chrome extensions and toggle them on and off as needed!
Notion
I’ve always considered myself to be a pretty organized person, but as my client load has grown I’ve had to change the way I do a lot of things.
I really wanted a platform that could serve as a master digital to-do list while also being able to create separate views of each of my clients' work.
Asana used to be my go-to for online task management, but as my needs changed, I made the switch to Notion!
With this platform, I’m able to create as many different sections as I want and customize it based on what that section is for.
So, each of my clients have their own section on my dashboard and I have a specific calendar that can also be toggled to a list view so I can clearly see when things are due.
Aside from using this platform to organize my client work, I was also able to create different sections for myself and essentially compartmentalize different projects that I’m working on, such as my website revamp, lead magnet refresh and even simple things like my Book Bucket List.
My Productivity Trifecta
Like many people, I’ve always been a sucker for productivity and time management tools. I was always that kid in school with fresh folders, highlighters and pencils and a small part of that has carried into adulthood.
Now that I’m the one buying the supplies, I can see why my mom always said, “you can use the pencils you have!” but that’s beside the point. 😂
When I started working for myself and working with multiple clients, I quickly realized that the way I used my time was more important now than ever.
Not only do I have client deliverables every week, I also have to run my own business so learning to do both in a way that didn’t make my brain feel like mush at the end of each day was a big learning curve.
9 months in, I’ve found what I like to call my productivity trifecta:
1. Full Focus Planner
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably heard me talk about this a time or two. The reason I rave about this planner is because it’s not your typical planner, which usually consists of a calendar with a checklist.
Instead, it’s a real system that helps you intentionally set goals for the year and then break those goals down into quarters so you can fully focus (no pun intended) on a few things at a time.
There’s a weekly view that you fill out at the start of each week and in that section, you review and reflect on the previous week so you can make adjustments based on what went well and what could be better.
From there, you use the daily pages to set your daily big 3 and create an hour by hour schedule so all that’s left to do is execute.
It’s helped me manage my client work while also being able to do things for my own business! If you want to try it for yourself, you can get 10% off your first order with code ‘NATALIE10’
2. Focus Beats
I’ve been using these specific focus beats for almost 5 years now and if that doesn’t reveal how much of a creature of habit I am, IDK what does. 😂
Sometimes I get wild and match my working playlist to the weather or season (lately I’ve been loving this one for Spring), but other than that, the 528hz focus beats are my go-to.
I’m convinced that they alter my brain chemistry because when I turn them on, I get into the zone and it feels like I do my work 10x faster.
So, if you’re in need of something to help you hyper focus, I can’t recommend these enough!
3. Pomodoro Timer
The Pomodoro Timer is newer to me, but on days where the focus beats aren’t cutting it by themself, I pull up the Pomodoro Timer and it works every time.
This method of working is actually backed by science and Jim Kwik even talks about working this way in his book Limitless - a really good brain book about productivity, success and achievement.
With this method, you work in increments of 25 minutes followed by a 5 minute break. After 3, 25-minute work sessions, you take a longer break of 15-30 minutes.
This method doesn’t always work for me especially if I’m in the zone of writing, but if I’m having one of those days where I feel easily distracted, this helps me get back on track!
You can either use an actual timer that sits on your desk, use a simple timer from Google or, my personal preference, you can add the Focus To Do Chrome extension that doubles as a to do list.
FloDesk
The last thing that I use almost daily is FloDesk - my preferred email marketing platform.
There’s a chance you’ve heard of this platform before and one of the main reasons that people choose it over other platforms, such as Mailchimp or ActiveCampaign, is because it's one of the only email marketing platforms out there that makes your emails look aesthetically pleasing.
Now, as someone that preaches clear over cute, I don’t want this to be the sole reason that you choose to use FloDesk. Beyond the aesthetics that the platform offers, it’s also one of the most budget and user friendly services that I’ve personally used.
Other platforms often raise their monthly subscription price based on your subscriber count - FloDesk doesn't! It’s just one monthly fee and you can send emails, create workflows, create opt-in pages for your freebies and even create checkout pages (this feature is newer and does require a subscription upgrade).
It’s for this reason that I recommend FloDesk to people, especially if you're just starting out. It’s as little as $19/month for your first year when you use this link and is the first step for starting and growing your email list!
And there ya have it!
5 things (well, really 8) that I use almost daily as a blog writer. These are my personal tried and trues that help me work efficiently and serve people better.
Honorable mentions that didn’t make the full list include: my blue light glasses and Stanley cup.
Do you have a tool you love that you think I should know about? Let me know over on Instagram!
- Natty