The JoyBox

What brings me joy and what I use in my life and business.

What I Use to Run My Business

  • So many business owners are afraid to spring for Quickbooks. You guys. I pay $30/mo. for Quickbooks Online and it’s so. worth it.

    QB syncs to my bank account so all I have to do is match income to invoices (which I send via QB!) and expenses to the correct entry in my chart of accounts.

    I send invoices via Quickbooks and many clients pay the invoice as soon as they get it because I use Quickbooks Payments.

    Reports are super easy to create and you can even track mileage on QB.

    I recommend sitting down with your bookkeeper or accountant to set up your chart of accounts and to get an overview.

  • I wish I purchased the website designer contract sooner.

    When I finally did, my contract went from 3 pages to 8! The Legal Paige includes so many provisions I never considered.

    I feel much more protected, and I now have boundaries in place that protect my time so I am compensated for additional work.

    Having a professional contract protects your business and you. It’s major peace of mind and absolutely necessary!

    Even if you don’t offer a service, The Legal Paige offers templates pertaining to employees, website privacy policies, and more.

    Protect Your Business →
    *Use code MISSMEGABUG for $10 off!

  • My community bank sold out so I switched to Found.

    It offers sub accounts called “Pockets,” which I use to save for taxes and emergencies.

    I also appreciate how I can allocate a percentage of every payment I receive to these sub accounts.

    You can also use Found for bookkeeping and invoicing, but I prefer Quickbooks.

Marketing Favorites

  • I held out on upgrading for as long as I could, but it’s so worth it.

    I have Adobe Illustrator, but Canva is way easier for simple projects, like social media graphics.

    With Canva Pro you can resize designs, download graphics with a transparent background, import more brand colors and even fonts, AND you receive access to even more stock photography and icon/design elements for FREE.

    Check out my free Canva tutorials.

    Try Canva Pro free for 30 days. →

  • Squarespace is an all-in-one platform (domain, hosting, Google Workspace email) that’s easy to use. Their beautiful templates give you a great start and their tutorials, forums, and customer service reps are SUPER helpful.

    The Personal Plan ($144/year) is a great foundation, unless you’re selling products. In that case check-out their Basic E-Commerce Plan!

    Still unsure about Squarespace? Click here!

    Not sure where to start when designing your website? Module 4 of Self-Employed School is all about website design.

  • Intuitive, on-brand, and all in one.

    That’s why I switched to Flodesk. My emails are easier to create and I find them way prettier!

    Flodesk offers more integration than Mailchimp (have you seen my Instagram feed in the footer of my emails?!), allows you to set-up your branding so changing template colors is a snap, and not to mention their templates are GORGEOUS.

    Flodesk also has excellent analytics, way more subscribe form features, and their automations are simpler than Mailchimp’s.

    Plus they’re continuously unveiling new features and their customer service is fab.

    Looking to learn more about email marketing and Flodesk? Enroll in my Self-Employed School online course.

    Try Flodesk free, then receive 50% off your first year! →

  • We switched our main bank account to SoFi for the high interest rate and Vault feature, which allows us to have sub accounts in our high yield savings account for specific goals.

    I'‘m also loving the credit score monitoring, spending tracker, and net worth tracker.

  • My community bank sold out so I switched to Found.

    It offers sub accounts called “Pockets,” which I use to save for taxes and emergencies.

    I also appreciate how I can allocate a percentage of every payment I receive to these sub accounts.

    You can also use Found for bookkeeping and invoicing, but I prefer Quickbooks.

  • I invested in a Nokbox, which is an organized filing system that keeps all of my important documents in one portable, fire safe place (I went with this model).

    “Nok” is an abbreviation for “next of kin” and I love their premise:

    “The Nokbox is a complete system that helps you organize all of your accounts, possessions, social media presence, communities, kids, pets, personal history, and estate plans (even if you don't have estate plans yet!). It's an estate planning tool AND a home organization system: if you have a household, you need a Nokbox.”

    Basically, you’re making investing in a system that’s easy for you to use and helping your next of kin avoid a scavenger hunt.

Money Moves + Estate Planning

My Little Joys

Recommended Reads

Health & Wellness

Psst! I do earn a commission on some of these links. I believe in integrity and in putting helping others over making a commission on a something I don’t believe in. Therefore, I promise to only share resources I actually use and love. Learn more by reading my Affiliate Disclosure.