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The long pole in the tent
One of my favorite gifts my mom has ever given me is a hammer. Yep, I know crazy,,,,right? I think the reason I love it so much is that it is from her, but also I love the creativity behind its design. For starters, it’s shiny gold with a floral print and very light in my hand. Second, it was only $6.99 which makes me love it even more. Finally, it is multi-functional with its many sized little screwdrivers hidden within its handle. I love it.
Having the right tool is critical to my success in many areas of life. For example, when I’m hanging pictures, painting a new canvas, gardening or teaching my goldendoodle a new trick tools are all critical to my being able to accomplish my goals. Skilled tools also became very valuable in the important role of raising my children. Often these tools came to me from mothers who had successfully raised their own children and were willing to share their wisdom with me so I didn’t have to reinvent the wheel.
In many ways, my company is like a fifth child to me. We’ve grown up together. I’ve been an IEC for about 15 years. I was 37 then, I am 52 now. I was in the trenches with four kids at home juggling home life while branching out into my college coaching business at the same time. The days were sometimes long, but looking back, the years were short. There isn’t much I’d give this side of Heaven to have those same little kids back for just one afternoon. For now, I get to enjoy them as young adults who are branching out into their own careers and finishing medical school, college and high school.
One of my favorite authors summed up those things we learn early on in life. Robert Fulghum said it well in All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten. For me, many of my favorite tools were acquired early in my business, while many others have come in recent years. I realize that many of you have fabulous shiny tools in your shed as well, and I hope you’ll take the time to tell us about those in the comments. I also recognize that the tools that are easiest for me might not be the best fit for you. I’m not here to argue over whose tools are better but instead help us learn from one another in an effort to make us all better. I also want to mention that though I am fond of them all, I have not been asked or paid to promote any of these products. The one exception to this is the tool that I built for myself out of frustration when I couldn’t find a tool to do the job in the fashion that I needed it to function. I’ll share more about this later. Every tool or resource that I’ve listed is something that I currently use to grow and support my business.
I’m the queen of trying to keep costs down when it comes to my business. Therefore, I try to be cost conscious when choosing a tool to use for my business. Some of the tools I have are inexpensive. Some were cheaper when I started using them but may have gone up in costs. Others are priced in the medium range, but I can assure you that I’m getting a ROI on them or I wouldn’t continue to use them. Only a few are what I would consider “costly” and without those, I couldn’t be productive. I’m sharing my favorite tools with you below in an effort to introduce you to some ideas and helpful business tools. I hope that you’ll find them handy and useful. If you decide you want to add them to your toolbox, great. If not, please share the tools you have so we can learn from them also.
College Planner Pro - No introduction needed. I think we can all agree that the is the long pole in the tent, the one tool we simply cannot do without.
MacBook Pro - This is without a doubt the most costly tool I have. I realize many of you are not “Apple People” and I can respect that. Remember, I’m just showing off my tools and I’m eager to hear about yours as well.
Apple Ipad - You might be wondering why I would use both a laptop computer and an Ipad. Great question. This came into play many years ago when students would sometimes show up without a device to work on. It is easier for me to be able to hand them a device so we can get straight to work. They are able to log into their College Planner Pro account and we are off and running.
Zoom-
17 Hats -
FloDesk -
Weebly -
Issuu -
Loom -
Doodly -
Canva -
Gifts I give to my graduating seniors -