The Tools We Use to Run Woodruff and Co (2020 Edit)

A few years ago, we posted an article sharing some of the digital tools and services we use to run Woodruff and Co. Fast-forward to 2019, that list has changed a little, and we thought it was time to share an updated version.
If you’re reading this, you’re likely running a small businesses, have a side-hustle, or maybe you’re interested in one day starting a business. When it comes to working out what technology and services to invest in, the number of options can be a little overwhelming! While much of it comes down to personal preference and the specific needs of your business, we wanted to share the tools we use on a daily basis. The list will evolve over time as our needs change, and new tools and technology become available.

Notion (for managing projects)

Notion is basically an all-in-one collaborative workspace app – it allows you to manage projects, take notes, keep track of tasks, and more. It’s really adaptable, allowing you to create your own layouts and toolkit to get your work done. We’ve recently started using Notion for various purposes like planning and managing the launch of new products, planning content, storing key documents keeping track of supplier details.

Help Scout (for managing customer communication)

Help Scout is a customer support platform that helps you to effectively manage customer communications, but designed to look like personal email (something that was super important to us). It integrates into our e-commerce platform so we can easily refer to customer order history when we’re emailing a customer. Super helpful once you get to a decent volume of customer emails!

Xero (for accounting)

Not a lot is fun about accounting, but Xero definitely makes it easier for tracking expenses, creating invoices when needed, and running our quarterly BAS reporting.

Ready to Ship (for shipping orders)

I’m sure many of you know this, but shipping products is a LOT of work. We’ve been using Ready to Ship for a few years now to automate some of the picking and packing process. Essentially Ready to Ship creates and formats your shipping labels and talks to your e-commerce store to populate tracking details for each order. It saves a huge amount of time and the support team are super responsive and helpful.

Dropbox (for file storage)

Dropbox is super convenient for sharing and syncing files across devices. We store all artwork files in Dropbox, which can then be accessed from anywhere. And, they’re backed up in the cloud. Dropbox is also great for sharing files, especially really large artwork files which we’re often working with.

Some other tools we use regularly are:

Stripe for processing credit card payments

Google Analytics

Google Docs for developing, and collaborating on, long-form content

Adobe Illustrator for creating artwork proofs and pre-production layout

Canva for creating once-off graphics for social media or email communication

Bear for taking notes, photos, clipping articles or quickly writing down ideas on the fly.

And if you’ve made it this far, here’s a couple of bonus tips! All the styled photography you see on our website is by Sophie Timothy from Sister Scout Studio. We wholeheartedly recommend Sophie and we’ll continue to book her for future shoots. And, one of the most common questions we’re asked is “where do you get your shipping boxes?”. The answer is a few different places, but mostly we buy in bulk from PacknBag Melbourne. For smaller quantities I suggest an eBay store called Razastore.
If you’ve any questions or thoughts on anything we’ve listed here, leave a comment below.