My college professor always told me, “why reinvent the wheel?” If you are looking for ideas, find something you like and start with that.
For instance, when my wife was bugging me to build a deck on the back of our last home, I didn’t try to imagine something from scratch. I immediately went to the internet and looked up “cool decks” and BAM, there was the idea I was looking for. I simply took that picture to the lumber store, showed it to the employee, told him how big I wanted my deck to be and he helped me get just the right amount of materials.
You may have stories like that too. But often we forget to use this trick in business. We try to come up with the right solution on our own, instead of starting with a copy from someone who has “been there, done that”.
When I started my business 6 years ago, I had no idea where to begin. I didn’t know what tools I should use or even where to look. Until one day, I ran into that professor and his statement went through my head again. I started asking other business owners what tools they use. I posted some questions online. I did Google searches. I kept doing this until I found exactly what worked for me.
And hey, there’s too much opportunity in this world as business owners NOT to help one another, right?
So to help you, I want to share with you MY special list of 12 tools I could not run my business without. As you look at these, know that they are tried and tested — most of them for years. They are a key piece of my business, and could become important to yours as well.
After downloading, if you think of one you use that’s not on my list, I would love to hear about it. Simply add it to the comments section below.
