Tools and Services That Make My Day-to-Day Easier 🌟

Running a business as a one-woman show is no easy feat, especially when you're also the one making the products. There aren’t enough hours in the day or days in the month. Between designing, creating, selling, and managing admin and bureaucratic tasks, some days it feels impossible to keep up.

Little by little, I’ve started outsourcing some services. While I’d love to delegate much more, the budget only stretches so far. For now, what I’ve been able to outsource has made a huge difference: it’s given me clarity and, most importantly, time to focus on what truly matters—creating.

👩‍💻 In 2023/2024, I hired the services of lawyer Mafalda Correia Advogados, who specialises in legal support for e-commerce businesses and professionals. She provided general advice and drafted the legal texts for my website. Thanks to her, I discovered, for instance, that all toys must have CE certification to comply with legal standards.

👩‍💻 In 2024/2025, I started working with online business mentor Selena. IG @sg_digitalmarktg. She’s been guiding me through topics that initially seemed like hieroglyphics—SEO for my website, and concepts like leads, engagement rate, CPC, and more. She’s also helping me organise ideas and concepts through content planning and teaching me how to present them professionally without losing my essence.

I wholeheartedly recommend both professionals, as their work has been key to making my business grow and become more sustainable. If you’re interested in reaching out to them, you can use the hyperlinks above, or feel free to ask me for their details.

For 2025/2026, I haven’t decided what to do yet, but I’m considering investing in better product photography… and maybe even some of myself. Remember the Friends episode “The One with the Engagement Picture”, where Chandler tries to take photos with Monica, and it just doesn’t go well? That’s me… 😅 Do you have any ideas or recommendations? I’d love to hear them!

In addition to outsourcing, there are also digital tools that are indispensable for managing my day-to-day. Some might be a bit controversial, but it all depends on how you use them. Here are my favourites:

Image Editing and Visual Content

• Hypic (free version): I only use the AI retouch feature, as it adjusts images with a single click to make them more appealing. It doesn’t alter the image content, just enhances its appearance.
• CapCut (free version): Perfect for editing reels and videos quickly, intuitively, and without complications.
• Canva (paid): While I’d love to design all my graphic materials from scratch, I don’t always have the time or expertise. Canva has been a lifesaver for creating posts, posters, and any graphic material with ease.
• Photopea (free version): An online alternative to Photoshop that I use for minor image edits. I don’t have the knowledge or enough use for Photoshop’s features to justify paying for it. I’m not interested in heavily editing my photos, as I want them to look as they are. However, I do clean them up—removing little specks of dust from backgrounds, especially when working with a lightbox. (You wouldn’t believe how much dust can accumulate, even in a spotlessly clean box!).

Social Media and Communication Management

• Meta Business Suite: Great for managing social media in one place. I schedule posts and occasionally create Instagram ads here. I also use the planner feature a lot—it shows posts in a calendar view, making it easy to see what I’ve published and how often.
• ChatGPT (free version): Yes, the infamous ChatGPT... I mostly use it to polish and translate texts. It’s a lifesaver for Portuguese, which, although I’ve studied and (I think) manage quite well, always needs a second review to avoid mistakes. It’s also helpful for organising ideas and tweaking code for my website, for example.

Online Store and Sales

• Shopify (paid): The platform that keeps my online store running like clockwork. I recommend it 100% if you can’t or don’t want to build a website from scratch. It’s easy, intuitive, and has countless tutorials. Without needing technical expertise, you can manage and understand every part of your site without relying on anyone.
• Google Drive (free version): I know younger generations are totally accustomed to Drive, but it took me (a lot) of time to transition from Office to Drive. However, once I adapted, it’s been brilliant. You can use and edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files directly on the platform and save them in formats compatible with Office users, which is super handy. Although the free version doesn’t offer enough space to store all my images and videos, I don’t need it because I prefer to save my files on an external hard drive. This gives me more privacy and control over my data and my customers’ data.

Email and Office Tools

• Zoho Mail (free version): With my own domain, Zoho Mail is a free, easy-to-use option that’s simple to connect to Shopify. The free version lets you create up to three email accounts and offers all the basic functionalities of any email service, such as a calendar, signatures, and a mobile app. Plus, I confess I like its visual layout more than Outlook or Gmail.
• Cegid/Vendus (paid): An essential tool for automating invoices and communicating them directly to the tax authorities. While I could do this manually through my Finance portal, this tool ensures there are no errors, makes invoices look professional, and saves me a ton of time. It also allows me to download reports, like best-selling products, and analyse sales compared to the previous year or month (I love data more than ice cream in summer!). It includes an integrated POS (point of sale) system that works on any device; I use it on my phone as if it were a cash register screen. This is ideal for markets, as I can complete a sale, issue an invoice, and more in just a few clicks. Professional, right?!

With these apps, my daily work is a bit more manageable and efficient. Do you use any of these tools? Or do you have any recommendations to share? Let me know in the comments! 😊