I spend a lot of time trying out financial products and business services so I can report back to you on what works and what doesn’t. On this page, you’ll find a list of all the books, financial products, courses and business services I’ve personally used to improve my business and finances.
Note: Some of these are affiliate and referral links. Which means I will get a small commission if you purchase any of these items through my link at no extra cost to you. In some cases, you are eligible for a bonus as well and I will mark that next to the resource. I only recommend products I’ve either personally used, have had significant interaction with the company or know that friends and colleagues have used them with great success.
Web Hosting
Bluehost – Having your own website is an absolute must if you want to make money online. If you’re just starting out I would recommend Bluehost for web hosting. We’ve been using Bluehost since 2010 and we’ve never had any major issues. It also comes with 1-click WordPress install and is super affordable. Sign up through my referral link and get web hosting for $3.95 a month and a free domain name. Read my tutorial on how to start a blog, How to Use Bluehost to Set Up a WordPress Blog.
Resources for Freelance Writers and Bloggers
Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing – Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing is a course by one of my colleagues, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner where she teaches students the strategies she uses to earn $100,000 in affiliate sales from her blog each month. I’ve taken the course myself and saw an uptick in affiliate sales almost immediately, which is why I highly recommend it to bloggers who are interested in affiliate marketing and passive streams of income. Click here to check it out for yourself.
Make Money Your Honey With Freelance Writing – Make Money Your Honey With Freelance Writing came about because I’ve received lots of requests to create a class that outlines the exact steps I’ve taken to earn over $50,000 per year as a freelance writer and blogger. This 30+ module course will show you everything you need to know to start your own fruitful freelancing career. You can learn more information about the course here.
10K VA by Kayla Sloan – The virtual assistant industry is blowing up! In her course, 10K VA, my friend and colleague KaylaSloan teaches you how to start making money as a virtual assistant. Kayla built up her own business to over $10,000 a month in revenue very quickly! Heck, my own VA took this course herself and now earns four times what she and her husband used to earn collectively! Click here to learn more about $10K VA.
Bookkeeping for Bloggers – I’m starting to get asked a lot of questions about bookkeeping from bloggers and small businessowners. Fortunately, my accountant who I’ve been working with for years has put together a course with everything you need to know. From what to do with tax forms to how to stay organized with your finances! Click here to check out Bookkeeping for Bloggers.
Build Your Own Business Selling Products on Amazon – Sandy Smith teaches students exactly how she has created anAmazon business that has generated up to $30,000 in sales in a month! If you’re looking to start a hustle on the side of your day job that doesn’t involve writing or VA work, then look no further than this course! Click here to learn more about Build Your Own Business Selling Products on Amazon.
Email Marketing and CRM
ConvertKit – An email list is a must if you want to make money blogging. If you’re looking for an affordable but still very powerful way to build your email list, ConvertKit is the way to go. For as little as $29 you can have a list, multiple opt-ins and a tag system. To give you an idea, the tag system alone is genius. Before ConvertKit you would have had to pay a lot of money to be able to tag subscribers for targeted email marketing. Click here to learn more about ConverKit.
Webinars
Everwebinar – I’m at a stage in my business where I want my webinars running on autopilot. With Everwebinar I’m abe to create pre-recorded webinars that look like real webinars. I can schedule them for several times throughout the week, use a “just in time” feature, and more. This has helped me scale my business, automate my sales process for coaching and automate my digital course sales. Should I ever want to do a live webinar then I can simply use the WebinarJam suite that comes with the Everwebinar package. Click here to try Everwebinar free for 60 days.
Retirement and Investing
Betterment – Betterment is a robo-advisor that makes it easy for people to invest. This means that they automatically rebalance your portfolio and do tax loss harvesting for you. They also have an awesome RetirementGuide that helps you figure out how much you need to save each month. This is what I personally use for my retirement account. No minimum balance. Low fees. Easy user interface. By switching to Betterment I was able to save myself $250,000 in fees. Read: Betterment Review: An Easy Way for Millennials to Save for Retirement.
Budgeting
Personal Capital – Personal Capital is a budgeting software similar to Mint and other Quicken products
but with better options for keeping track of investments. I switched over to Personal Capital in 2016 and I love it! It helps me keep track of my income, spending, debt, investments and net worth. Best of all, it’s free! Read: Personal Capital Review: A New Tool to Track Your Net Worth