Also, our coffee warm. Literally.
Running a business sometimes feels like assembling IKEA furniture blindfolded, while your toddler tries to eat the instruction manual. It’s chaotic, messy, and occasionally makes you question your life choices.
That’s why today, we’re sharing six tools we actually use—every week, sometimes every hour—to keep things running smoothly at our firm. These aren’t apps we downloaded once and forgot about. These are real-deal tools that keep us focused, connected, and (mostly) caffeinated.
Let’s dive in.
1. Ember Mug
Before we talk tech, let’s talk survival. Specifically, coffee that’s still warm after three client calls and a toddler meltdown. Ember is our not-so-secret weapon. It keeps your coffee at the perfect temp, which might be the closest thing to actual magic we’ve found in business ownership. No more microwave coffee. No more sadness. Just hot coffee until the bottom of the mug. Bless.
2. OpenPhone (now Quo, but we’re still calling it OpenPhone)
This app is our business line, but better. Think: no second phone, seamless team access, and integration with Slack. You can send texts, make calls, and even manage multiple lines without losing your mind. It’s VOIP with real value, and yes, we’ve tried the others. This one wins.
3. Opal
Opal is digital duct tape for your overachieving brain. It blocks apps and locks you out of your work stuff when you’re supposed to be off the clock. We use it not just to avoid social scrolls, but to protect our off-hours from the lure of late-night email check-ins. You can’t “accidentally” work if your phone won’t let you in. Beautiful.
4. TaxDome
Client portal meets workflow wizard. TaxDome holds all our client docs, tasks, and communications in one place, including a built-in chat feature that clients actually like. It helps us keep everything organized and ensures no one’s stuck digging through their inbox for that one document they swore they uploaded.
5. Missive
If you’ve ever forwarded an email and cringed thinking, “Please don’t hit ‘Reply All’ to the client,” this one’s for you. Missive is a shared inbox that lets our team tag, comment, and collaborate directly inside emails—without creating more clutter or taking conversations over to Slack. Also great for vacations and inbox coverage without handing over your entire Gmail password.
6. reMarkable
This one’s for our pen-and-paper people who can’t quit the scribbles but keep losing the notebooks. reMarkable is an electronic notebook that feels like paper but syncs like the cloud. Tag your notes, search them later, and never again wonder if that really good idea was in the blue notebook… or the one you left at Starbucks.
Bonus Tool: QuickBooks Online
Love it, hate it, can’t run a business without it. QBO is our go-to accounting system. It links your bank feeds, helps track expenses, and gives you the data you need to make solid business decisions. We’ve tried others. This one grows with you and won’t leave you stranded in desktop software purgatory.
None of these tools will solve world peace, but they will help you run your business without pulling your hair out. And if you’re not sure where to start? That’s where we come in.
Book a call today and let’s figure out what tools, systems, or support will actually make your day-to-day life easier.
Because your coffee should stay hot, your books should stay clean, and your inbox shouldn’t be a war zone.
