I love being able to be creative and work on growing my little business. I regularly look for great deals where I can snatch up fun products I can use to make things, organize my sewing/crafting room, keep my business in order and all the other great stuff that goes along with running a small biz.
Please check out my website (currently under construction by my great friend Kristen of K.Leigh Creative) and on the front page you will find many companies that I LOVE and do business with for various reasons.
BlueHost ~ they are my super-duper hosting company where my website resides and lives happily ever after
Fabric.com ~ a wonderfully exciting online fabric store where I’ve purchased some great stuff and I follow their nifty blog
Free-Sewing.com – looking for patterns so you can try something new…this is the place! *oh, and did I mention they have FREE ones?! Yep – that’s a great price, isn’t it? They have some you can pay for too.
Groupon – who doesn’t love a Groupon? I recently got one for Vistaprint (paid $17 for a $70 voucher). Today I went on a Vistaprint shopping spree and bought lots of GeminiRed Creations stuff – a small banner (see below) I can use at events, thank you cards, return mailing labels, and notepads.
Hancock Fabrics – This is a local store that I’ve shopped at in person and I get all giddy with excitement touching and looking at the pretty patterns on the fabrics. You can shop online too.
LivingSocial – another great “deal” site. They offer deals for products, services, and travel. I’ve purchased back-up batteries for my camera, a massage (oolala), yogurt (a nice break from the work day) and other great stuff!
LogMeIn – if you do NOT know about LogMeIn you really, really need to. I’ve been using their service for over 5 years – starting when I owned my salon. They do have some free services, but the BEST $29.99 I ever spent was to purchase their iTunes app which I can use on my iPhone and iPad. You pay one price to use it on any of your “i” devices (iTouch, iPhone, iPad). When you use LogMeIn on any of these devices you are logging directly into your home PC or laptop (must be online to access) and use all your desktop features as if you are sitting right at your desk!
Moo.com – Have you seen this great site? They have some really awesome business cards (ooohhh…the mini cards are so darn cute!!), stickers, and other great things! I found them accidentally when someone posted a “free” order of business cards to get people to LIKE your Facebook page. The cards are such great quality and nice and thick. And of course, I think the name Moo.com is so fun! Who wouldn’t want to do business with them?!
Neat Receipts – Another company I have done business with for years! I bought their small portable scanner. I scan all my receipts and then shred them so I don’t have drawers and drawers of paper. Also, you can easily export to PDF to provide to your CPA at tax time. You can create folders and subfolders just like having a real filing cabinet. I also use it to scan business cards. They are now offering a mobile app so you have all the info you need right at your finger tips when you are on the go! Let’s face it…how many times have you been somewhere looking all over for contact information for someone who handed you a business card that fell into the depths of your laptop bag or handbag (you know it…it’s a black hole in there)? Zap a picture of the card right away using the mobile app and that won’t happen again!
Pick Your Plum – WOW! That’s what I have to say about PyP (as my friend Heather and I lovingly call it when texting back and forth to make sure we each saw the daily special)!! Each week day they offer up a deal of some really great things (bakers twine, wooden personalized gift tags, little glass jars, cupcake liners…and the list goes on and on – check out their Facebook page to see what you’ve missed).
QuickBooks – Need a great way to keep track of your business financials? I’ve used QuickBooks many times over the years. I’ve tried others, but always come back to QuickBooks. They offer online services, PC and Mac software as well as merchant services. They offer just about anything you need to manager your business. You can easily zip up your files and send them over to your CPA for your year-end financials and tax preparation. Of course, it’s also easy enough to use and handle those tasks on your own.
Stamps.com – I use this service all the time at home for shipping sold items from my website and Etsy site. If you sign up you can earn FREE postage. I know some people may think “why should I pay a monthly fee for this service?” And the answer is easy peasy – I’ve done the math and the amount of time to get to and from the Post Office + stand in line is worth more to me than I pay monthly. I use the service a lot and unless the box I’m shipping is way too big, I can put it right outside in my mailbox to be picked up during my daily delivery. On the off-chance I actually have to take it to the post office there is no waiting in line for me – just take it to the counter and drop it off. *if you want the truth though, I usually take it to work with me and the mailman picks it up at the office. shhh – it’s a secret :)I hope you will check out these awesome companies and consider them when looking for new companies to do business with. And you can help me grow my business by shopping with them via the links to them on my website. I’ve been very satisfied with all of my interactions with them and hope you will be too. Feel free to post a comment asking me any questions you may have. Thanks for supporting these companies who are supporting me…and thanks for supporting me by clicking on the links on my page.
