5 Subscriptions I Use For My Small Business

In 2019, I stared Luna & Jade, which is a jewelry design studio, and since that day have learned what feels like a lifetime of small business e-commerce knowledge.

Full transparency, I started out doing things the hard way — taking orders via DM’s, handwriting shipping labels, and paying standard rate for shipments at the post office– fast forward 5 years and I have my business as streamlined as it can be.

If you find yourself surviving in your small business processes, instead of thriving, below are FIVE subscriptions worth every penny.

Shopify: I have had three (yes, 3!) websites since I launched in 2019. My first site was hosted on SquareSpace, and although it did an OK enough job, it was not the ideal platform to host an e-commerce site. I was just getting started and knew little to nothing about websites, so when the website designer I hired only worked on SquareSpace sites and told me this was the best platform, I wasn’t educated enough to know any differently. Looking back, I didn’t really have a choice — so I used it until 2021 when I decided to take the leap to Shopify, which is the most powerful e-commerce platform there is. I had a full re-brand (and one more in 2023) done in Shopify and was much happier with the functionality of the site compared to SquareSpace. Be fair warned, the site runs on apps and each app costs money, so you’ll pay an annual fee to host your site on Shopify, along with monthly app fees. The way I look at it, it’s a small price to pay to have a fully functional website and nothing in the small business world is free.

NOTE: If you sell physical products and hire a web designer, DO NOT let them talk you into using Wix, SquareSpace, or any of design heavy hosting site, especially if you plan to scale your business, track large quantities of inventory, and have complex check-out variants. These platforms will majorly fall short, and you will spend a lot more time and money eventually moving your site over to Shopify down the road. Trust me, I learned this the hard way.

PRICING: Plans run from $29 – $299/month, depending on your needs and app fees are subject to what features you add to your site. I spend about $100/month on apps, which includes out of stock notifications, reviews, and dynamic variants.

ShipStation: If you sell over multiple platforms, having a system like ShipStation can be so helpful. Since I sell on Etsy and Shopify, ShipStation is a hub that pulls in any order placed into one view. It breaks down days pending, shipping costs, allows you to edit any info, and prints shipping labels with a connected Stamps.com account and Rollo printer at home with ease.

PRICING: Plans run from $9.99 – $99/month, depending on volume of sales. If you don’t have more than 500 shipments a month, your plan will land around $30/month. In my opinion, this is a small price to pay to consolidate all of your orders in one management system, especially during high traffic seasons.

Tailwind: If you are familiar with my Luna & Jade account, you have seen me post about using Tailwind with Pinterest as an evergreen marketing tool. Evergreen content is search-optimized content that is continually relevant over a long period of time. It’s how you play the marketing long game. Tailwind automatically creates, schedules, and publishes Pins to Pinterest. This essentially allows you to spend a couple hours a month setting up multiple Pins and schedule them to post throughout the month.

I started posting consistently to Pinterest via Tailwind around 2020 and in 2023 hit ONE MILLION monthly views. These views convert to website clicks as each Pin directs them to a page/product on my site and the more eyes on the site, the more sales.

PRICING: Plans range between $14.99 – $49.99/month, dependent on your volume of Pins and needs.

Canva: Canva is an online graphic design platform that saved my sanity when it came to creating social media content. When I first started, I was trying to teach myself how to use Adobe products and let’s face it, unless you are a graphic designer, Adobe suite is HARD to learn. Canva comes with 1000’s of editable templates. It allows you to upload your brand kit and catalog files by folders and projects to keep you organized.

PRICING: If you’re on the fence, there is a free version of Canva you can try out. I personally use their Canva Pro plan which is $120/year. This is perfect for my needs and worth the cost.

Flodesk: Flodesk is the platform I use for email marketing, which like it or not, it a necessary step in running a small business. It allows you to create segments, workflows, and forms so when you capture an email from your opt-in form on your website, you can start emailing this list of active or potential customers.

When I first started, I used Kalviyo. In my opinion, Flodesk is 100% more user and design friendly.

PRICING: Flodesk offers free plans, but if you’re serious about taking your email marketing to the next level, paid plans start at $24/month and increase depending on how many subscribers you have.

It really does take money to make money, especially in the small business world. Invest time and resources up front in setting up solid seamless backend systems. You’ll thank yourself later.

If this blog helped, make sure to follow @xomandyscott for more small business tips, advice, and encouragement along your journey. 🖤