Get started with your admin advent calendar
Created for small business owners, small teams, entrepreneurs and freelancers, this list is a collection of tried and tested software that will save you time and money, and give your digital and print presence a professional look. Some of this software is free, others have a free trial, but all of them are budget-friendly and easy to use and just brilliant solutions that you'll wish you'd used sooner.
Try one tool per day throughout December
🎅🏻 Day 1 🤶🏻 LastPass - share access to your accounts without sharing your passwords.
🎅🏻 Day 2 🤶🏻 Canva - create graphics for social media, crop photos, find stock images, edit videos and create Reels, includes stock video and audio.
🎅🏻 Day 3 🤶🏻 Clockify - what do you do all day? Track your time to find out, just start the clock and click stop when you've finished a task, work out if you're spending your time wisely.
🎅🏻 Day 4 🤶🏻 Kapwing - add subtitles to video - not just because so many of us scroll with no sound but to include everybody, think accessibility.
🎅🏻 Day 5 🤶🏻 Google Workspace - Docs is so much better than Word, edit your documents live without uploading and downloading to replace and rename files 'version 3 Final FINAL'.
🎅🏻 Day 6 🤶🏻 Buffer (and Buffer Analytics) - a simple social media scheduling tool which now comes with a Start Page (link in bio tool).
🎅🏻 Day 7 🤶🏻 Animoto - even easier to create video than Lumen5. Includes stock photos, videos and sound.
🎅🏻 Day 8 🤶🏻 Survey Monkey - lots of surveys to duplicate and issue? This is your tool.
🎅🏻 Day 9 🤶🏻 Google Survey - Watch the live data updates on your responses and brand up your survey.
🎅🏻 Day 10 🤶🏻 Tailwind - create and schedule social media posts, you don't even need to artwork them, this tool will do it for you.
🎅🏻 Day 11 🤶🏻 WeTransfer - send those massive files to the printer.
🎅🏻 Day 12 🤶🏻 Mailchimp - an email tool with all the automations.
🎅🏻 Day 13 🤶🏻 Mailerlite - an email tool with automations, better on the budget.
🎅🏻 Day 14 🤶🏻 Answer the public - the tool to help you write your blog titles and headings, you only get a couple of goes a day.
🎅🏻 Day 15 🤶🏻 Neil Patel/Ubersuggest - a quick free website audio and keyword suggestions, don't mind if you do.
🎅🏻 Day 16 🤶🏻 Pexels - stock imagery and stock video (an alternative to the increasingly Unfree Unsplash).
🎅🏻 Day 17 🤶🏻 I Love PDF - the best tool ever, need a PDF to become a Word doc? Need a Word doc to be a PDF? Need to put two PDFs together and even take pages out. Does it all.
🎅🏻 Day 18 🤶🏻 Hello Sign - a very easy to use online signature tool for your important documents, sends you and your recipients reminders until the docs are all signed (recently purchased by DropBox).
🎅🏻 Day 19 🤶🏻 MeetUp - Eventbrite a bit above your budget? You can email your group using the tool inside MeetUp.
🎅🏻 Day 20 🤶🏻 Repost - an app to post someone else's Insta post to your feed - you might be tagged or want to share.
🎅🏻 Day 21 🤶🏻 Google Meet - gives you more free time than a 40 min Zoom, share a link and get started.
🎅🏻 Day 22 🤶🏻 Calendly - you probably know what this is, but have you tried it? Eliminate the back and forth of dates and times, just send a link.
🎅🏻 Day 23 🤶🏻 Google Profile - claim your business page, use this to share updates, events and more, help people find you (formerly Google My Business).
🎅🏻 Day 24 🤶🏻 Grammarly, it's free, why would you not? There is no excuse for typos when Grammarly works with so many of the programs already on your laptop including social schedulers.
Bonus gift: delete all those screenshots on your phone!
Have a lovely Christmas, use your time wisely.
About Virtual Executive Services MK
Virtual Executive Services MK is a Virtual Assistant service based in Milton Keynes, supporting clients across the UK. Specialising in admin, marketing and social media support for small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs. Find out more.