Consultant’s Toolkit56 Tools To Grow, Streamline, And Automate Your Business

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About The Consultant’s ToolkitHello and thanks for signing up to the ConsultingFuse email list!

You’ve signed up for the weekly newsletter for consultants. Each week, you’ll get the best advice, strategies, and tactics to help grow your business right to your inbox.

But first, to help get you started, we’ve created the Consultant’s Toolkit. Here you’ll find an epic list of 56 online tools, apps, and resources to help you get your business not only up and running, but streamlined and ready for action.

Once you have your systems in place, you can spend a lot more focused on working with your current clients, pitching new clients, and making more money.

We like that.

Keep reading to discover 56 tools broken into 11 categories. You’ll find everything from the best tools for invoicing to the top systems for managing meetings. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s more than enough to get you started.

So, let’s get started. consultingfuse.com

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Communication

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As your business grows, you’l l f ind there are plenty of other ways to communicate with both your team and p o t e n t i a l c l i e n t s t h a n v i a p h o n e . That’s where these tools come into play. Use these to complete calls and meetings at anytime al l around the world.

Skype is the old standby when it comes to communicating online. The easy reason is because it works pretty well. You can use it to chat via text, audio, or video, record

calls, and even share your screen, making it a very convenient tool.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

Another popular communication tool is Google Hangouts. Since many people operate with Google (GMail, Chrome, GDocs, etc.) this makes it a natural extension for calls. If

you plan on recording your calls, or having multiple people on at once, it’s an easy option.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

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Google Hangouts

Grasshopper is an app for your Android or iPhone that allows you to “turn your smartphone into a business.” It allows you to create a 1-800, toll free, and vanity

numbers as well as multiple extensions, call forwarding, and transcribed voicemails for you and your team.

For iPhone | For Android

Oovoo is a video chat app that is growing in popularity, and for good reason. You can have up to twelve people participate on calls and it features a number of add-ons like

screen sharing, call recording, and picture messaging. Plus it integrates with Facebook.

For iPhone | For Android

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Oovoo

A very popular tool with online entrepreneurs and with good reason. GoToMeeting allows you to have meetings with your team or clients, give presentations, and

showcase product demonstrations all in one easy to use interface.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

Looking for a better way to run a conference call or team meeting? UberConference is a good place to start. It allows you to host stress free conference calls with no pins,

share your screen for collaborations and, see who’s speaking.

For iPhone | For Android

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Uber Conference

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Project Management

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There is never a moment too early to start gett ing your project management s y s t e m o r g a n i z e d . K e e p t r a c k o f cl ients, tasks, and team members al l in one place. The sooner your get y o u r p r o c e s s e s s y s t e m i z e d , t h e smoother your business growth wil l be.

One popular project management tool is Teamwork. This all in one tool serves a number of functions allowing for team management, time tracking, management of

multiple projects, document upload, task creation, and more. It also integrates with a number of other apps.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

Asana was specifically designed to help teams manage workflows and task management. The free version offers a number of features, including the ability to add

a number of team members for enhanced collaboration, task management, and other app integrations.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

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Asana

If you’re more of a visual person, consider Trello for your project management needs. Rather than having a typical system of tasks which are checked off, this tool works off

a series of stacked cards allowing you to see everything at once.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

ThriveSolo is a project management tool that was designed specifically for solo freelance entrepreneurs, acting as your own virtual assistant. It has a number of

features like time sheets, workload analysis and tracking, expense tracking, and even invoicing.

For iPhone

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Thrive Solo

Not to be confused with with the tool above, Solo is a free project management tool that has also been created to target freelancers. Though free, it has a number of

features like task management, calendars, timers, activity streams, and email capability.

Get Solo

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Organization

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No business owner can get ahead without being organized. I f you are sti l l searching your emails, f i les, and contacts for impor tant in format ion you’re already in trouble before you even start . Use this suite of tools together to up your organizat ional game to the next level.

Evernote is one of the best organizational tools out there. You can use it to both organize and grow your business. It functions as a place to take notes, store

documents, and even clip highlights, posts, and articles all in one place.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

Feel like you’re spending way too much time on sites like Facebook? RescueTime is the solution for you. It unobtrusively tracks all of the websites you visit during a set

period and reports the results, helping you get your browsing habits back on track.

For Chrome | For Firefox

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Evernote

Rescue Time

With so much information available out there on thousands of blogs, websites, and social media accounts, you can find yourself swimming in open tabs. Pocket solves

this, allowing you to save and tag websites, posts, articles, and social media updates in one place.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

Take conversations with your team members out of back and forth emails and into one easy to use communication tool. That’s what Slack is for, to help you invite and

organize chats with clients, assistants, team members and more all in one place.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

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Pocket

Slack

There’s a reason why do-to apps are popular, they work. While it might seem like something that’s beyond you, Wunderlist is a really easy way to help you get stuff

done. It allows you to plan, get reminded of tasks, and share with collaborators.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

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Time Management

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Whether you operate on a f lat per project fee, on hourly work, or need to keep track of team members who work with you, t ime management is a must. I f you can’t track and judge exactly how long you are spending on projects, you won’t be able to scale smoothly.

A calendar is a consultant’s best friend. Most find they keep everything, both business and personal on there, and Sunrise is an amazing calendar tool. This calendar works

offline, and pulls data from both iCloud and Google Calendar into one interface.

For iPhone | For Android | For iOS | For Chrome

Toggl is the perfect tool to help you keep track of your billable time per project, minute by minute. Use it on your own, or with teams to produce exact transparent reports of

time spent on tasks. It also integrates well with a number of project management tools.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

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DeskTime was created as a tool specifically geared towards helping time tracking for remote work teams. It creates a time log of each team member, plus it tracks

productivity. For the solo entrepreneur, use it to monitor your productive time online.

For iPhone | For Android | For Desktop

For a standard, very good calendar, you can’t go wrong with Google Calendar. It covers all of your most basic needs, and integrates with all of Google’s suite of tools.

Use it to collaborate with teams, track due dates, and follow major events.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

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Google Calendar

My Minutes is an app that works to help you keep track of your own personal productivity. Use it to set time budgets for certain tasks (like creating proposals),

setting motivational streak goals (like prospecting calls), and repeating tasks.

For iPhone

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Meeting Management

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I f y o u ’ v e e v e r e x p e r i e n c e d t h e continued back and forth inside email trying to set up a meeting t ime with someone, you’l l know how frustrating it can be. That’s why these tools come in handy and make sett ing meetings and appoints a snap.

Pick is a calendar tool that aims to make scheduling easier, efficient, and enjoyable. It succeeds. This tool compares available times across a number of calendar

applications, automatically books the time that works best and allows easy availability sharing.

For iPhone

Calendly was created to take all the headache and hassle out of meeting and appointment setting. You set your available days and times, then simply pass your

personal link over to anyone you want to connect with and they pick what works for them.

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Calendly

For a robust and team oriented scheduling system, check out Schedule Once. It coordinates with a number of calendars, has time zone support, team scheduling,

multiple session bookings, and integrations on websites.

For iOS | For Windows

Assistant.to plays double duty, acting as both a scheduler and a personal assistant of sorts, all from right insight your inbox. It works to remember your most commonly

available meeting times, has time zone conversions, and monitors your inbox for appointments.

For GMail | For Outlook

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Assistant.To

Timebridge was created to allow busy online entrepreneurs and consultants to schedule calls and from right inside Google Calendar or Outlook. Simply pick a few

times that work and who will be attending, then Timebridge does the rest and sets the appointment.

For Google Calendar | For Outlook

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C.R.M. Systems

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It wil l be very hard for you to get ahead in business and scale your brand if you don’t have a solid CRM system in place. Use these tools for things l ike keeping track of current cl ients, fol lowing up with past cl ients, and fol lowing up with prospects.

If you’re someone who lives inside your GMail inbox, Streak should be one of the first places you look for a quality CRM for solopreneurs. With this tool, you can monitor

current clients and update deals, keep track of follow ups, and pitches sent out to prospects.

For iPhone | For Chrome

Specifically designed as a powerful CRM tool geared towards small business owners, Insightly provides all in one options. It not only acts as a CRM, but it also tracks

project management, provides social media profiles, and produces detailed reports.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

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Insightly

BatchBook is another CRM that was created specifically for small business owners. It helps to build better relationships with clients by creating customer profiles, task

tracking, and automation. It also integrates well with a number of other tools.

For Google Apps

One of the most popular CRM tools in the world, and with good reason, Salesforce is the go to CRM for many brands. With the focus on sales, service, marketing, and

growing your brand, everything is geared towards helping you close more deals.

For iPhone | For Android

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Salesforce

Zoho created a CRM that works as a powerful tool for monitoring your sales cycle and pipeline. It works to track your sales activities, prioritize your most effective tasks,

and automate some of your most common and repetitive activities daily.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

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Storage

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Chances are, you’ve probably already learned this lesson by now, but i t ’s worth repeating: you shouldn’t store e v e r y t h i n g o n y o u r c o m p u t e r . Thankfully, there are an abundance of r iches right now when it comes to a f fo rdab le c loud s to rage fo r your f i les.

If you are already working with GMail on a consistent basis, Google Drive is the most logical place to start with your cloud storage needs. With Drive, you can not only store

your files, photos, and presentations, you can also easily share and collaborate them as well.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

Dropbox is another very popular choice for cloud storage. It offers pretty much everything you need to keep your files, photos, videos, presentations, and documents

safe in one place. You can also download it to your system so your files will sync automatically.

For iOS | For Windows | For Chrome

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Dropbox

Amazon also offers a very reliable and affordable storage system called Amazon Cloud Drive. Not only will it store your files, photos, and documents, it also is included on all

Amazon devices. Like Dropbox you can download it to easily sync files from your computer.

For iOS | For Windows | For Amazon

Many brands love using Box for their cloud storage. Built with enterprise systems in mind, it allows for much more than your typical storage solutions. It also allows for

sharing and collaboration among teams, and it integrates with a number of other tools.

For iOS | For Windows | For iPhone

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Box

Just as important as saving your files to the cloud is backing up your devices. This is where iDrive comes into play, it’s a one stop solution to protect your files very quickly.

One great feature is it backs up all your devices and even your Facebook photos.

For iOS | For Windows | For iPhone | For Android

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Document Prep

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Any consult ing business has a lot of documentation that goes with it , both in terms of creations l ike proposals and pitch decks, as well as contracts a n d g e t t i n g t h i n g s s i g n e d . T h e s e tools can help you keep control of al l your documentation support needs.

Consultants have to create a lot of proposals, so a tool like Bidsketch was created to help streamline and improve the process. It allows you to create custom professional

looking templates and also has electronic signing ability for clients.

Get Bidsketch

Another online proposal creation tool is Proposify. Featuring true customization of the look, feel, and layout of the proposal you can create exactly what you want in minutes.

It also allows for tracking, online signatures, collaboration, and integrates with other tools.

Get Proposify

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Proposify

Ever wish you could capture a document, business card, or whiteboard note and take it with you? Well, now you can with Office Lens. This app turns your phone into your

own personal scanner which then can sync with One Note or be stored on your devices.

For iPhone | For Android | For Windows Phone

It’s not uncommon to need to convert documents both to and from PDF to other formats. This is where a tool like GoNitro really shines. Use it to create, edit, and

review PDF files easily and then share them for clients to sign electronically.

Get GoNitro

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Office Lens

Go Nitro

Having the ability to electronically sign documents in a way that is both legally binding and secure has become more important (and convenient) than ever. If you find a need

for this in your business use HelloSign to get the job done.

For iPhone | For Android

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Email Tools

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Ahh the inbox, i t can be a wonderful place or a total nightmare. So many of us use our emails as f i l ing centers t h a t w e c a n m i s s w h e n a c t u a l important things happen. These tools help take the clutter out of the inbox and keep track of what needs to get done.

When reaching out to potential clients it’s easy to forget to follow up, which means you could lose out. Not with Boomerang. Use it to set follow ups, to send emails on

specific dates and times, and to get reminded of important emails at a later date.

For Android | For Chrome

If your ultimate goal is to live life at inbox zero, SaneBox is a good place to start. It goes through your email, learns what is important to you, leaving it in your inbox, and

moves the rest to a separate folder. You can also one click unsubscribe and snooze emails too.

Get SaneBox

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Sane Box

Followup.cc is another email tool that was built with people who close sales and

deals in mind. It also plugs right into your GMail account and tells you if your

emails are getting opened and read, allows you to put leads into your email, and

schedules emails for later.

For Chrome

Another tool that operates directly out of GMail, BatchedInbox holds all your emails for you and sends them to you at specific times that you schedule. This allows you to

focus on your emails in batches and not constantly have your inbox distracting you all day long.

Get BatchedInbox

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Batched Inbox

We all know LinkedIn is an awesome place to search for potential clients, and with Rapportive you can do it from right inside your inbox. This plugin shows you the

social media profiles of your contacts, including LinkedIn shared connections, from your email.

For Chrome | For Firefox

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Accounting & Invoicing

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A s m u c h a s i t i s n o t f u n a n d annoying, you need to be able to keep t r a c k o f y o u r f i n a n c e s t o r u n a successful consult ing business. And since we al l l ike to get paid, here are a few invoice tools that can help smooth the process.

FreshBooks was specifically designed as an accounting platform for small business owners in service based businesses, sound familiar? Use it to take care of your time

tracking, expenses, payments, and invoicing all in one place.

For iPhone | For Android

Another very popular accounting service geared towards small business owners and entrepreneurs is Xero. Inside Xero you can manage expenses, pay team members,

track inventory, reconcile your bank accounts, and it integrates with a number of other apps.

For iPhone | For Android

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Xero

If you’re someone who’s on the go quite a bit for your business, Shoeboxed can be a great option for keeping track of your travel and food expenses. Use it to scan your

receipts (or even business cards) and you’ll get expense reports, perfectly handy come tax season.

For iPhone | For Android

There are a lot more options for accepting payment today and Braintree is one of them. Use this tool to accept payment via everything from PayPal to Apple Pay to

Bitcoin to credit cards and have the funds deposited into your bank account within four business days.

Get Braintree

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Braintree

Chargebee was created to finally have a simple way to get paid via recurring payments. Perfect for consultants on a monthly retainer, this tool lets you manage

payments, invoicing, and subscriptions all in a way that is totally safe and secure.

Get Chargebee

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Online Security

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When i t comes to work ing on l ine today, you can never be too safe. And that goes for more than just password protection. I f you work in anywhere from a co-working space to a local coffeeshop you’l l need a few tools to keep you safe.

As your business grows, you’ll find the need to remember a huge amount of passwords growing, that’s where LastPass comes in. Use it to remember your

passwords securely, and it allows you to share your passwords to team members without them being able to see it.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

DashLane is another secure password password manager, form filler and digital wallet. It allows you to save anything to your virtual wallet, and not only creates super

strong passwords, but scores the ones you create to let you know if they are at risk.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

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Last Pass

Dashlane

If you want to work anywhere online, you need a VPN to prevent hackers. CyberGhostVPN uses military grade encryption to give you safe browsing all over the

world. It’s easy to use, protects you online, doesn’t keep logs, and protects against malicious websites.

For iPhone | For Android | For Chrome

Private Internet Access is another highly rated VPN service that will help protect you online. It’s easy to use across encrypted WiFi, carries no data logs, unblocks

censoring filters, has servers in over 24 countries, and even allows you to pay anonymously.

For iPhone | For Android | For iOS | For Windows

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Cyber Ghost Vpn

Private Internet Access

Sick and tired of annoying popups and ads every time you open a new page? Ad Block Plus can help solve that problem for you. Not only does it block ads, but it also works

to keep you safe tracking dangerous malware domains and blocking them for you.

For Android | For Safari | For Chrome | For Firefox

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Build Your BusinessWell, there you have it. Fifty five tools to help you get your business more efficient, leaving you more time to find (and win) more clients. We hope you’ve enjoyed this list and have found at least a few tools you’ll grow to love as much as we do.

In the meantime, keep an eye on your inbox, since you’ll be getting a weekly ConsultingFuse email that will cover everything you need to know to build, grow, and scale your consulting business.

To get in touch, shoot an email to hello@consultingfuse.com.

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