The 10 Tools I Use for My Online Art Therapy Business
10 Tools I Use for My Online Art Therapy Business
Hey! I'm Youhjung, an art therapist & creative entrepreneur who've built a 100% online business providing non-clinical art therapy resources & services as well as business support for art therapists.
I've worked with art therapists and creative facilitators and coaches to build their businesses, and one of the questions I often get is what tools I use to run my business. So I wanted to compile a list of the major tools I use to help run my business smoothly and deliver my products/services online.
If you're curious, keep reading!
*note: I included some affiliate links in this post, which means I earn a small commission if you do click it and purchase my recommendations, but you won't be charged anything! This just helps me run my blog and provide these resources for free to the public.
I love Acuity! I use this to let my clients book me & sign up for 1:1 packages. This is the one tool that I have been using since the very beginning of my business, when I first started to offer 1:1 services. It's easy to use, integrates with SquareSpace, and allows you to:
Create packages & subscriptions
Let clients book their sessions on their own time, on your calendar as well as reschedule on their own (no back and forth emails to do so!)
Take payments for those sessions booked! (they use Stripe + Paypal)
Adjust your calendar availability ANYTIME & cancel, change, and refund any client bookings
Incorporate a simplified "agreement form" when a client books a package
I like that Acuity is a scheduler, a calendar, and a payment processor, all in one.
2. Squarespace
Squarespace is where I host my website. In the past I've used Wordpress (self-hosted) and tried a bit of Wix. I worked with Wordpress for a while, but decided to switch over to SS because I was tired of all the maintenance and time it took to adjust little things on Wordpress. I was putting in too much time to have a website, even when I used add-ons to make things easier). I wanted something simple, something that's drag and drop, and something that's already kind of built out. That's why I went for SS. I know many others also use Wix, but I have heard SS has better SEO abilities (meaning your website will show more on a google search result), though I can't say for sure if that's true. I've been really satisfied with SS. The features I like are:
Integrates with Acuity Scheduler, so someone can book you right on your website
Has simple "switch on-off" announcement bar & pop up features that are oh-so useful to have
Built in blog features
Built in shop features (you can list items including downloadable products, services, and even subscriptions!)
Easily purchase your url/domain as well as your G suite (professional gmail) within SS
3. Jotform
I use Jotform to create documents that clients can sign digitally, including agreement forms. It's important to have a form that can be signed digitally and is legally effective, and Jotform is one of the apps out there that offers this.
I believe the first 5 forms/templates are free for you to use, which is great if you're just starting out and want your overhead to be low. It's easy for you to create templates in there and easy for your clients to use as well.
4. Podia
Podia is the platform I use currently to offer my digital products (i.e., ebooks & video trainings), as well as host my membership/group program.
I really enjoy their platform because it's so easy to use and set up. For those of you who don't use Squarespace, or want to use a separate platform from your website to host your digital products and online courses, this is a great option.
There's a benefit to hosting these on another space, such as allowing people to create their own "accounts" where they can log-in, host a lot of material, convenient check-out process, ease of delivering the digital product, additional features (like hosting memberships, pop-up mini checkout page, up-sells, etc), included customer support, etc.
5. FloDesk
FloDesk is the platform I currently use for my email campaigns and managing my email list.
If you have a website, it is crucial to have an email list as an art therapist! And an email list has to be hosted somewhere. It's not like you keep an address book on your gmail; that's different.
An email list can be small but also can be very huge - some people can have hundreds of thousands of people on it. We have to use a special email campaign platform to send our emails to all those people at the same time. So that's why I use FloDesk. (And FloDesk does not charge by the amount of people you have on your list; it’s a flat-rate, which I love).
I've used another platform called MailChimp, but it was not user-friendly (at that time, at least), and so confusing and time consuming to use. So I switched to MailerLite, and then finally now to FloDesk and I am happy with it. It's simple, easy to use, and has all the basic features you'd need - such as creating and sending email campaigns and creating automatic email sequences. You can create emails through drag-and-drop features and their templates.
The only thing is FloDesk doesn’t have a free plan. HOWEVER, you can sign up through this link for a 50% off - woohoo!
On the other hand MailerLite is free up to the first 1,000 people on your list. So if you’re tight on budget you can look into them. You can create your free account here. If you signup on MailerLite through this link (and upgrade your plan), then you can get $20 credit.
6. Canva
I don't know how many times I talk about Canva when I talk about social media in my Visionary Art Therapists Membership and I coach art therapists in there. If you're like me and don't want to use Photoshop, or Adobe Illustrator, and any complicated software like that to create the graphics and visuals for your social media and website, then you'll love Canva.
It's free (paid plans available), and they have tons of templates from social media posts to resumes, posters, and presentation slides. Almost all of the graphics I use in my business I create with Canva. Honestly, I don’t think I can run my business without Canva. All my visuals are created with it.
After a while of using the free plan, I upgraded to the pro plan, which I can honestly say is one of my best investments I've made for my business. I save time because there are tons of templates and it's less stressful for me to create all these visuals, and keep all those things "on brand" for my business - so I've really enjoyed the pro plan.
7. Google drive
Oh my trusty Google drive. I have my G Suite and I use the Google drive features so much everyday in my business. From documents, sheets, to forms, it has many of the essential tools I need.
With Google documents, I've created my business plans, kept my business notes, wrote my content, created templates for people to use. With Google sheets, I keep track of sign-ups, financial details, create market research documents, etc. With Google forms, I create questionnaires, waitlists, and feedback forms. And I use Google drive to upload my pdf's and freebie for people to download.
8. Zoom
Zoom is the video call app I use to do all my sessions, workshops, and record presentations. It's easy to use and lots of other people use this as well, so it's convenient for my clients as well.
I find the quality is better than some other apps out there. You can also add HIPAA features as well as additional accounts on there if you have contractors or employees who need to do video sessions with clients.
I find that the chat function and the "breakout room" feature really helps when I'm hosting a big group or workshops. Screen-share and whiteboard features also are great to have.
9. Notion
Running an online business is not an easy or simple feat. That's why I need a checklist, a reminder, a digital "notebook" to organize everything, see the big picture, and keep track of what I need to do weekly.
I used to use Asana for this purpose, but now I have switched to Notion, as I really enjoy the interface more. From making notes to creating to-do lists, attaching photos, making tables, etc., Notion has it.
One of the best ways I like to use Notion is to have a list of content ideas. I love just adding ideas whenever they come to me, and I when I work on the content or actually publish it, I keep track of that inside Notion. Then I know what I've published, what's "in progress" and what I could do in the future.
10. Toggle Track
So, this isn't an app that I use to create content or deliver products/services, but it's a must-have app for someone who is self-employed. Before I started using this, I never knew how much time I was spending within my business. But after using this time-tracker app, I know exactly how much time I spend for exactly what in my business every day, every week.
Knowing this information is crucial because it's so easy to overwork yourself in your own business. It's easy to ignore your boundaries, burnout, and also waste time on things that essentially don't matter in your business.
When you start tracking your time, you get efficient, you get smart with your daily to-do's, and you keep your work-life boundaries so much better. This app can be on your desktop, tablet, and your phone, which is great.
So that's it for my 10 essential tools I use in my online art therapy business! Hope that was helpful.
If you are curious about what (physical & digital) tools and apps I use to create my YouTube videos, Instagram posts, podcast episodes, and other social media content, let me know in the comments! If I get interest, I'll definitely make another post on it!
P.S. By the way, if you are curious about therapeutic art and want to learn how to facilitate it or incorporate it in your work, then I’ve got the ✨perfect✨ resource for you. My Therapeutic Art Facilitation School course is THE place where you can learn the foundation of nonclinical, therapeutic art work. I teach you my step by step signature method of using therapeutic art to help people, even if you’re just starting (no artist or therapist background needed). Want to learn how to do this? Check out my therapeutic art course here.
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