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If you’re an entrepreneurial friend in business-building mode, we see you and we’re so glad you’re here! We truly know the early days of taking a dream from an idea, to a functioning small business (lots of throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks, right?), to an actual thriving entity similar to what you envisioned.
This life is so rewarding… but it’s also an unpredictable sh*tshow at times, right?
Right now, you may be buried under a pile of to-dos and client notes before you’ve even had your second coffee. You may be getting through your day wondering if this project you’ve kicked off will ever actually feel like it’s taking shape.
Whatever it is, we just want to say: building a career in a helping profession is no small thing.
Whether you’re a therapist, a counsellor, a nurse, a doula, or any kind of provider working with perinatal families, your job is to meet people in vulnerable moments and offer something meaningful.
Enter Apps And Organizational Tools (Because Unfortunately, Businesses Aren’t About Flying By The Seat Of Your Pants)
But in order to actually do that, you need a little structure.
Over here, we’ve been thinking a lot about the systems that help us sustain a Canada-wide practice of perinatal therapists and education for those in the field. The practical, unglamorous stuff that helps us show up with presence and energy.
Because let’s be honest, entrepreneurship can get so overwhelming and messy.
The behind-the-scenes stuff (scheduling, emailing, trying to somehow be a content creator while not getting pulled too deep into social media, the admin chaos) can tangle up SO quickly and pull you away from the work that brought you here in the first place.
Over the many years of being in online business, we have tried SO. MANY. PLATFORMS.
Too many.
But now we have a very good sense of what keeps us afloat.
So we thought we’d share the systems that actually help us breathe, these are the ones that give us clarity, time, and peace of mind.
The Systems That Let Us Breathe in Our Business: From Jane App to Canva and Everything in Between
Google Suite
We’re going to start here because we basically run our entire business out of Google Suite. It’s our home base for everything behind the scenes, from team communication (we live in Google Chat) to organizing folders of SOPs, managing shared docs, tracking projects, and keeping our heads above water.
Every therapist bio, every presentation or seminar slide deck, every big idea starts as a Google Doc somewhere in the mix. And we almost never use email within the team, just GoogleChat. It’s the best.
If you’re building something with a team, or even just want to feel a little less chaotic in your solo practice, having one central hub like this makes a huge difference. Everything has a home. It’s all in the same place under the same system… which you know like the back of your hand.
Jane App
Our software bff and the backbone of the company. You know Jane, right? If you’re a healthcare or mental health provider in Canada or North America, we’ll bet you know it super well! We truly think it’s the best all-in-one scheduling, billing, charting, and telehealth system. Designed in Vancouver, it was created with healthcare providers (like us therapists) in mind. It’s easy for clients to use (plus they recognize it literally everywhere, which builds instant trust). We’ve looked at all other ERP systems over the years, and always stick with Jane.
And by the way, we wrote more in-depth about the Jane App recently. We’re also now Jane App ambassadors and are SO excited to team up with them because of all the systems we use, this one has changed the game for us completely. Read why here!
If you’re just getting started in your practice, getting set up with Jane App is the first step, and one you won’t regret. They have generously given us a code to share with out community that gives you an entire months grace period so that you have time to get everything set up.
Learn more here and make sure to use our code: PERINATAL1MO
Showit
If you’ve ever peeked at our website, you’ve seen what Showit can do. It’s honestly one of our favourite platforms because it’s so intuitive and gives us total creative freedom and no coding required (thank goodness).
We love that we can make changes anytime, like swap out photos, tweak copy, or build new pages, without needing a web designer on speed dial. It’s also connected to WordPress for blogging, so we get all the SEO benefits without losing the drag-and-drop magic.
If you want your site to look beautiful and be easy to update, Showit is a dream. The templates are stunning and customizable, and it’s perfect for therapists, educators, or anyone who wants their online home to actually feel like them.
Canva
This might be a no-brainer, like saying “I use Google,” but we can’t share a list of useful business systems and tools without it.
We’ve used Canva since the beginning for so many things. Whether that’s creating social posts, course slides, workbooks, printable resources, or other freebies.
We know how easy it is to get pulled into design perfectionism, and have honestly sunk so much (unnecessary) time into details that probably don’t matter, so Canva makes it easy to look polished without needing to also become a graphic designer.
Trello
This is the go-to tool for anyone who loves a good visual to-do list. This is the tool when you have multiple things to keep track of but you want to be able to see it all in one place, not disorganized scrawly notes or random papers.
Trello keeps projects, content calendars, and workflows organized with a very satisfying drag-and-drop boards that make you feel on top of your life (even when you’re not, because, you know… entrepreneur life). It honestly feels like moving around sticky notes, it’s the best when you’re constantly reorganizing plans, and managing so many tasks.
We mostly use it for organizing blog posts (and tracking everything from the idea phase, editing, adding graphics, and publishing), as well as for organizing our annual Perinatal Mental Health Conference.
Thrivecart
ThriveCart is our behind-the-scenes checkout hero. It’s what we use for all our digital offers like workshops, guides, and courses, and it keeps the whole process super smooth for both us and our customers.
We use it to set up payments, discounts, bundles, and even affiliate links when we collaborate with others. It also plays nicely with Teachable and Kit, so everything talks to each other without any extra tech headaches.
If you’re starting to sell digital products or trainings, ThriveCart makes you look way more organized than you probably feel, and it also leads to higher conversions than your standard checkouts that are embedded in programs like Teachable or Kajabi.
ChatGPT
Yes, we use ChatGPT for things like proof-reading, editing a simple line of copy here and there, reviewing slide decks for typos, helping us solve tech hiccups, learning how to code for our website, and streamlining our SOPs.
We’ve also used ScholarGPT to help us connect with research articles so that we can keep learning more about the field and ensuring that we’re continuing to ground ourselves in evidence-based data.
It’s a great support tool for those days when you need a fallback or second pair of eyes. We believe that being human is at the core of our work, and sorry AI but you’ll never touch that. Our belief is that AI is truly an assistant, it should never replace the heart or the bulk of what you’re creating, but you can use it to help pull info, synthesize material, or get some ideas flowing.
Teachable
If you’re thinking about building a course, workshop, or training, Teachable makes it easy to set it up and deliver all the content to your audience or students. We recently launched our new resource on perinatal grief + loss, and also host our Perinatal Mental Health Conference through Teachable.
Kit
Having a newsletter (like our biweekly general and professional-focused ones, sign up here) is one of the best ways to talk to your people.
Because even if your email list is small, it’s usually far more engaged and interested in what you’re talking about compared to social media. Plus, it means you’re not at the mercy of weird algorithm changes or accounts that get shut down without notice! We use Kit for our emails because it’s clean, simple, easy-to-use and helps us track when these notes sink or swim.
Alright my friends, we hope this gives you a little behind the scenes peek at the systems we used, to help make the path easier for you when the time comes. Let us know what questions you have, happy to help!
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