The Small Business LAB Podcast
"The Small Business LAB Podcast" is your go-to resource for actionable advice tailored to entrepreneurs who understand that time and energy are their most valuable currencies. If you're ready to optimize, scale, and automate both your business and home life, this podcast is for you. Join me every week as I dive into strategies that empower you to reclaim your time, streamline your operations, and spend more quality moments in your life. Tune in and take the next step toward building a thriving business and a fulfilling life.
The Small Business LAB Podcast
Top 3 Business Tools for Streamlining
What if you could turn your chaotic business operations into a seamless, well-oiled machine? This episode is your golden ticket! Hosted by Kayla Reilly, we explore the transformative power of Google Enterprise's suite of tools. From Gmail and Google Drive to Google Docs, Sheets, and Calendar, learn how these tools can revolutionize your workflow with cloud-based storage, color-coded calendar management, and effortless virtual meetings via Google Meet. Discover how real-time collaboration through Google Docs and Sheets, along with the robust storage capabilities of Google Drive, can make your business operations more efficient and organized.
But we don't stop there! Kayla also dives into her favorite tools for boosting productivity and maintaining top-notch security in your business. Canva takes the spotlight for its user-friendly design and vast template library, making branding easier and more eye-catching than ever. For financial management, QuickBooks stands out with its ability to automate transactions, integrate seamlessly with bank accounts, and facilitate collaboration with accountants. Whether you're a solopreneur or managing a growing team, these essential tools are designed to scale with you, enhancing professionalism and profitability in your business endeavors. Tune in to unlock these game-changing resources and elevate your business to new heights!
💡 Ready for more?
Catch up on all past episodes of the Small Business LAB Podcast at kaylareilly.com.
👉 Grab your FREE resources:
📆 Productivity Planner | 💻 Content Calendar | ✅ 3 Steps: Start a Business
Follow me on Instagram:
For more business tips and behind-the-scenes content, follow me at @kaylarreilly.
Got questions or a topic you want covered? Drop me a line—I'm here to serve you!
📧 Email: hello@kaylareilly.com
What's up, boss? Welcome to the podcast where we spill the tea on automating your business, juggling work and home like a pro and finding more time to do the things you actually want to do, because time and energy are the ultimate currency and money. Well, that should be working for us, not the other way around. Hey, I'm Kayla, your resident licensed therapist turned business badass. I started as an employee for someone else, but now I've got a seven figure practice that practically runs itself, leaving me free to wrangle my little ones and help entrepreneurs like you on how to do the same. Whether you're just getting started out or ready to trade in the hustle for something that looks a little more like freedom, I'm here to help you make more money with less time and stress. So if you are ready to stop the grind and start living your best life both at home and in business, you're in the right place. Let's do this.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to the podcast. I'm your host, kayla Riley, and today we're going to tackle a really fun topic tools to make running your business not just possible, but way more manageable. As a business owner, you've got a million things on your plate. That's why, today, I'm sharing the top three software tools that I absolutely cannot live without Google Enterprise, canva and QuickBooks. These tools aren't just convenient. They're essential to running a smooth, professional and profitable business. And the best part, they're accessible, easy to use and can grow with your business. Whether you're just starting out or scaling to the next level, let's get into it. Let's start with the powerhouse that is Google Enterprise. If you're still using multiple platforms for email, documentation, storage, collaboration, it's time to simplify your life with Google. This suite of tools is an absolute game changer for any business, big or small, and it's scalable. It can grow with you, which is really cool. So, whether you're a solopreneur and it's just you and you're like Kayla, I don't really need this. Yes, you do Do it like you're going to have a big team one day. So here are reasons why I love it.
Speaker 1:First of all, google workspace. This includes Gmail, google drive, google docs sheets and Calendar, so it keeps everything I need in one place and it's all on the cloud. I can't tell you how many times I've needed to access a document or a calendar invite while I'm on the go, while I'm traveling, and with Google Drive, it's right at my fingertips so I can be on vacation and still be able to support my team members in those moments of need. I don't have to dig through emails and try to remember where I save something. Or, um, you know, go to work and, oops, I accidentally forgot my computer. That's okay, I can grab another computer that I have for one of my team members and be just as powerful. I can log in and have all my stuff.
Speaker 1:Google Calendar is another lifesaver. I use it to keep track of appointments, deadlines, personal commitments right, I have different calendars for each realm of my life, so I have multiple businesses and it's all color coded. So green for evolution, blue for you know, boss, mom podcast. I have appointments personally. And then my husband and I have a family calendar where we put doctor's appointments, um, you know, family coming into town, things like that. Plus, you can create reminders and tasks directly within your calendar to help you stay on top of everything.
Speaker 1:Another incredible feature is Google Meet. With more of us working remotely, google Meet has become indispensable for virtual meetings. I used to utilize Zoom, but with Google Meet it just seamlessly integrates into my calendar and everything in my workspace. So it just made more sense for me to make the shift. Whether I'm checking in with my team having a consultation with a client networking with other entrepreneurs. Google Meet ensures that the communication is really clear, it's reliable and it's easy to schedule. So easy to schedule I set up an appointment on my calendar and it automatically creates a Google Meet link, what it really makes it a breeze to set up and join meetings without extra hassles.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about collaboration with Google docs and sheets. Like I was saying earlier, my team and I can work on the same document simultaneously, so we'll be working and we can work on the same document and be leaving comments to each other, which sends an email and assigns tasks. So let's play. Pretend I'm in a dashboard. I'm wondering how we calculated a certain metric. I can comment and say, hey, allie, where does this come from? Like, how do we calculate this number? And then, when she is available, she can respond to me and it sends me a notice via email. Hallelujah, it's streamlined. It's streamlined, it's efficient and it makes working remotely and even in person super brief. Then there's Google Drive storage capabilities so you can store and organize all your business files, whether they're documents, images, videos or other type of content. It's a really powerful tool that connects with your email and your calendar. Super neat.
Speaker 1:I have different drives for different roles within the different businesses. Whoa, let me say that again. So, for example, I have a management drive for my practice, I have an admin drive for my practice and then I have an all staff drive, so I know that everyone can access everything in this drive versus, hey, just my admin team can see these things, because some things not everybody needs to see. It's also really important that it stores everything in the cloud, so you really don't have to worry about losing important files if your computer crashes or, like I mentioned earlier, if you forget your computer, you still have access to everything. Or if you're traveling, you can access everything right from your device. Security is a big deal when it comes to business data, and Google enterprise offers a lot of protection, including features like two-step verification, phishing protection. And then what I really love is HIPAA. It can be HIPAA compliant. You have to go through some extra steps, but if you are a professional, like a lawyer or a mental health therapist, a dietician, and you need that extra layer of protection in HIPAA so that you can store client documentation in Google Drive, you can absolutely do that.
Speaker 1:Okay, on to my next one. This is my heartthrob. I love it. Canva. I know what you're thinking. I'm not a designer, I'm not supposed to create eye-catchy things. Well, that's where Canva comes in. Canva is like having a graphic designer in your back pocket. I shit you not. I know that sounds cliche, but it is my go-to for everything design related. Whether I'm creating a post, a marketing material that I'm going to print, even like t-shirts or presentations, canva is my go-to software. The platform is super user-friendly, it's really pretty and it's got lots of templates, so I don't even have to do a lot of creative thinking. Um, some of my team members are certainly more administrative than creative, but even they can go on there. Pick a pretty template, plug in our branding, our colors, our fonts and our message and boom, there we go it's a beautiful graphic or design.
Speaker 1:Another feature I love about Canva is animated graphics. Whether it's like a GIF, I don't know if I'm saying that right. Is it GIF or GIF? I'm not sure. Somebody message me and let me know. But whether it's a GIF, gif or short video, it can add motion to designs, and so it can make your content stand out even more. I really like that. You don't need special skills Like. I think certain software is above my skill level.
Speaker 1:Canva is super accessible and it even comes with a mobile app. So on the go, if I have like some inspiring thought, I can create designs. I particularly like to do this when I'm in the airport. For some reason, the airport inspires me and here I am on my phone just designing social media graphics. So Canva isn't just about creating pretty pictures. It's a really powerful branding tool.
Speaker 1:If you're just starting out, there is a free version. I recommend that you use that. But when you're ready to level up, join a paid version and you can do a branding kit so you can plug in your company's colors, your fonts and your logos and it makes it really easy for you and team members to all make sure that everything is consistent within your brand. Brand is really important. That's totally another topic. I do recommend that you look into this, especially if you have other team members.
Speaker 1:It's not just you building content on Canva, because it really does keep you all on the same page. You can invite team members to work on designs together. You can leave comments, you can make edits in real time, kind of like Google. You can work on designs together, you can leave comments. You can make edits in real time, kind of like Google. You can work on the same thing. It's really perfect for getting feedback and ensuring everyone's on the same page before something goes live. So people can even comment for me to approve things. I love that. I'm a little bit of a control freak and that's a cool feature. Plus, canva Pro offers even more features, like access to premium templates, stock photos, so that I don't have to like go on Shutterfly, download a photo, plug it into Canva. It's all seamlessly in there for me and it can even redesign templates. So if I make an Instagram template and the Instagram post goes really well, I can pop in there later and create it into a Facebook template which is a different size, and it's super easy and seamless. This investment into Canva Pro really has paid off for me and I think you might like it too.
Speaker 1:Okay, the last love of me and business is QuickBooks. I have a QuickBooks account for each one of my businesses. It's affordable. It's so helpful. Let's talk more. If you're anything like me, managing finances is not your favorite part of running a business, but it's super important. So with QuickBooks, it really doesn't have to be a headache. It's a tool. It's really an app these days.
Speaker 1:I know, like the old school, quickbooks was a software you purchased and downloaded and it lived on your computer. But, like everything else these days, it now lives in the cloud, which I love. It invoices, it tracks expenses, it tracks payroll. It could do payroll it has that feature, but I don't use it that much. But QuickBooks can handle it all. So it integrates with your bank accounts and your credit cards so it tracks all of your transactions automatically and you can create rules so like, for example, I don't need to tell QuickBooks that every time Duke Energy charges me it's a utility bill. I don't have to go in there and categorize it every time. So it really does seamlessly help me do my accounting. Another thing I really love is that I can share my QuickBooks account with my CPA and with my accountant, so my accountant can categorize things for me and my CPA can go in there and go ahead and tell me what my quarterly tax responsibility is going to be or file my tax information at the end of the year. Because he has access to all of my information. It makes tax season a hell of a lot less stressful. So, like I was saying, quickbooks also offers payroll services, which really can be a game changer. I have a payroll service that integrates into my HR software, which I really like, but I do like QuickBooks payroll, and if you don't have a kind of HR software yet, I do recommend looking into the QuickBooks payroll service. It automatically calculates those like payroll taxes, it handles direct deposit. It even files tax forms for you, so it's one more thing that you can automate, so you don't have to worry about it as a busy entrepreneur. Another fantastic feature is QuickBooks integration with other tools. So because it's so big and it's been around for a really long freaking time, you can integrate it. It's making friends, I guess, with other softwares like Square, paypal, other payment processors, and it really does it seamlessly. So it ensures that all your transactions are tracked in one place without you having to do anything manually.
Speaker 1:My mom is a wonderful entrepreneur. I come from a long line of entrepreneurs. My grandmother owned cottages on Cape Cod that she rented out and her house was in the front. She went into real estate investing. Eventually, my mom has owned several different businesses. Right now she has 11 different properties short-term rentals, long-term rentals, long story short, she has a lot of different things going on and she still has to send statements to her accountant. Yuck. Why would you want to do that when you could use a software like QuickBooks and automate things? Hello, one less thing for you to have to do so.
Speaker 1:If you're like me and you're always on the go, I have three counseling offices. I'm often bouncing between my office at home, the other three buildings. I've got lots going on, so that QuickBooks mobile app is really a lifesaver for me. I can be on the phone with somebody in the parking lot getting ready to pick up my kid from daycare and know exactly what my profit and loss is from last year. So tracking those expenses, sending invoices, scanning receipts right from your phone after you have a restaurant meeting with your marketing director, for example. This flexibility ensures that you're never out of touch with your business finances, no matter where you are, and as an entrepreneur, that's a powerful tool. So there you have it.
Speaker 1:Those are my top three software tools that I simply cannot live without Google, enterprise, canva and QuickBooks. I have an account with each one of these softwares for each of my businesses. These tools help me stay organized, they look professional and they keep my finances in order. So it all saves me time and stress. I love it. And beyond just saving time, these tools have been integral in scaling my business. They've allowed me to automate my processes, maintain brand consistency across channels and have a clear understanding of my business's financial health. All of these things are critical when you're juggling the demands of both business and family life. If you haven't already incorporated these tools into your business, I highly recommend you give them a try. They've made a world of difference for me and I know they can do the same for you. And that's a wrap, boss.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to the SB Lab, where we balance work and home like a boss. Remember, you have the power to build a business that not only brings you meaning, but also affords you time, money and freedom to craft your ultimate life. It's all about making small changes now that lead to big results later. So keep taking those steps, keep pushing forward and remember you've got this. If you're ready for more, hop over to my website, kaylarileycom, where I have freebies to support you in your small business journey. If you like what you heard, leave me a review. It's like a high five in the podcast world and don't forget to subscribe so you're ready to rock next Monday morning when the new episode drops. You don't want to miss these gems. Now get out there, make bold moves and show the world what it means to be a boss. I'll see you next time.