5 Tools I Can’t Live Without in My Business (as an Agency Owner)
Running a business support agency from home means I spend a lot of time thinking about systems and productivity tools – not just for my clients, but in my own operations.
When I started EVA Group back in 2020 (when it was known as Cerebellum Solutions) my ‘systems’ looked suspiciously like a pad of paper on my desk, a few labels in my email inbox, and a Google Drive folder called ‘Client Work’.
As my business grew and I started to think about expanding my team, I realized that most of the important stuff was living in my head.
I needed my team to be able to walk into EVA Group and represent the business well. I was terrified of standards slipping when I no longer had control of everything, so I needed to set team members up in a way that gave them confidence in knowing exactly what to do, how to do it, and where to find everything.
Bringing on my first Virtual Assistant forced me to analyze every process, take a hard look at what tools I was actually using, and get intentional about how the business operated behind the scenes.
One of the things that stuck out to me was that this review didn’t result in adding more tools. My tech stack actually got leaner and more purposeful… and became significantly easier to onboard someone into.
These are the five tools that have earned a permanent place in how Executive VA Group operates day-to-day:
1. Google Workspace Starter for Small Business
Google Workspace has been a part of my business since day one – I even purchased my original domain through Google. If I had to rebuild my business tech stack from scratch, I'd still start here.
Gmail handles the bulk of my client communications, and is well set up with automatic filters, rules, and labels to keep everything easy to manage.
Google Calendar is where I do all my time blocking and manage my schedule on a day-to-day basis. I always have my calendar open alongside my work. I have it integrated seamlessly with my Calendly account and my personal calendar, so all of my meetings show up in one place… and are even colour coded!
Google Drive keeps every file organized and accessible for both my team and my clients. Each client has their own shared folder, which acts as a collaborative space where they can upload new projects, review and edit work in progress, track where things stand, and even access past invoices, receipts, and project reports whenever they need them. Being able to work with clients in real time on Google Docs & Sheets is so valuable – especially for a service-based business with clients and contractors in various places across the country.
Drive is where our team onboarding processes, Standard Operating Procedures, and other templates and resources live. Before EVA grew into needing more formal systems, well built Google Sheets even handled our client and lead management and expense tracking!
Much like Apple, what really pushes Google Workspace over the edge isn’t any one of the apps it offers but how seamlessly they all talk to each other. Everything lives in one ecosystem and is just as accessible from my phone as it is my laptop. Sharing assets and controlling access across my team and wider network is simple too!
2. Asana – Project Management for Remote Teams
I recommend a project management system for almost every client I work with. I’ve tried all sorts over the years: Trello, Basecamp, Monday, ClickUp, and even custom Notion projects.
Asana is one I’ve continued to come back to – I find it user-friendly, simple to navigate and customize, and the way things are structured just makes sense for my brain.
Within Asana, I have a ‘Team’ set up for each client that EVA Group works with. We build out each Team page to act as a client file of sorts, linking the relevant Google Drive folders and Asana project boards, writing a client profile in the Overview section, and gathering all of the information we need to support the client in one secure place. Using Teams in this way has really helped when onboarding new virtual assistants and content creators to a client project. It’s super easy to control access and add or remove people from a Team as the project progresses and the client needs evolve.
The ‘Knowledge’ tab within each Team also deserves a special shout out! I use it to hold those little tidbits of information you pick up as you work with a client – things that are not specific to a particular task or project, or maybe not about work at all, but allow us to go above and beyond. Team Knowledge also has a neat glossary feature that more businesses should be taking advantage of: once you define a term in the Knowledge tab, wherever that term appears in Asana users can hover over it to see the definition. Imagine a glossary of industry- or company- specific terms for each of your clients, instantly accessible for anyone on your team whenever the term is mentioned anywhere in Asana.
Outside of client work, I use Asana to manage internal activities like social media content & blog writing, client relations, sales, onboarding, and website maintenance.
What I really love and have learned to rely on is the visibility it creates. At any given moment I can see exactly where every project stands, what's been completed, what's coming up, and who is responsible for it. For a team that serves multiple clients (and a founder who was nervous to delegate) that visibility is essential!
Once you start effectively using Asana for project management, you’ll probably never go back.
3. Clockify – Free Time Tracking for Service Providers
Time tracking has been part of how I run this business from the very beginning, even when it was just me and my first client. When you pre-sell a specific amount of hours, tracking and reporting them carefully isn't optional. It’s our responsibility as service providers to make sure every one of the minutes the client paid for is being used well and accounted for accurately.
Clockify is how we do that.
For each client of EVA Group, there is a ‘Project’ in Clockify. My team logs their time (using the live timer feature) as they work, entering each task individually and linking each entry to the appropriate client project. Entering each task separately allows for full visibility of where the time is going – Clockify Reports even summarize the amount of time that was spent on each task type!
The reporting feature is where Clockify really earns its place in EVA Group’s operations. It allows us to generate weekly and monthly reports compiled directly from the time entries, so we can share a transparent record of what was worked on and where the hours went with our clients. For a small business owner who has pre-paid for support, that visibility and proactive communication makes a big difference – especially in the early days of the engagement, when trust is still building.
Internally, Clockify provides our leadership team with a clear picture of where hours are being spent across the business and within each client project. It helps us to monitor when we might need to consider adjusting scope, priorities, or amount of hours; keeps billing accurate; and shows us where we are most efficient and areas we can improve.
And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better… we’re using the free version of Clockify!
4. Wave Financial – Free Invoicing Software for Small Business
Wave handles all of my estimates and invoicing, and it does it for free. I've been using it since I started freelancing years ago!
It’s easy to create and send branded professional estimates and invoices quickly – I can put together a quote or an invoice in a matter of minutes and send over an access link or a PDF version immediately after, whether I’m on my phone or my laptop.
Something I’ve found useful as EVA Group has started to support more and more clients is that the Wave dashboard shows me upcoming and overdue payments at a glance. I don’t have to keep track in my head or double check if everyone has paid… because Wave notifies me when they do (or don’t).
At tax time, the built-in reports on Wave give me a clean summary of total income. I also pop into the reports quarterly for a quick breakdown by client, to project income for the coming months, and to keep an eye on the overall financial health of the business.
Wave used to include expense tracking and receipt logging as a free feature, and at some point that changed... which was honestly kind of a bummer. I’ve thought a lot about upgrading to the paid version, and I see it as something I’ll probably have to do in the future, but for now my existing system is working well enough that I can’t justify the additional monthly expense.
For now, the free version does everything I need and does it well! For a business that isn't ready for a robust accounting platform like QuickBooks Online, Wave can be a clean and capable starting point.
5. Calendly – Seamless Scheduling for Hybrid Teams
Before Calendly, I was using Google's native appointment scheduling feature to automate the booking process. The limitation was that my Workspace plan only allowed one appointment type, and with networking calls, discovery calls, client support meetings, and contractor check-ins all requiring different booking parameters, that wasn't going to work for long.
Calendly is what solved that problem.
Each type of meeting has its own booking link with its own availability, duration, and parameters. My discovery call link lives on my website and social media for prospective clients. People in my network have a dedicated one-on-one link they can use whenever they want to connect. Clients receive a support call link at onboarding so they can book time with me whenever they need it.
I run my day completely by my Google Calendar, so I really needed it to integrate seamlessly with my booking software. Not only do Calendly meetings immediately auto-populate on my Google Calendar… Calendly intuitively understands Google’s “Free” / “Busy” feature and will only allow meetings to be booked over timeblocks I specifically designate as “Free”. That means I can add blocks for communication time without removing the meeting availability from my calendar, or protect my deep work time from bookings that pull my focus away.
The back and forth to get meetings booked is almost entirely gone – and eliminating the dreaded scheduling conversation has saved more time than I thought. I’ve noticed that when someone doesn't use a booking link and prefers to go back and forth via email, it takes at least four times as long to get the meeting booked. A quick link sent in a message gets a meeting on the calendar in minutes. In my opinion, it also creates a more professional and smooth experience for anyone trying to connect with me – the people I work with seem to notice and appreciate it!
One quick caveat: I use the paid version of Calendly for EVA Group – the free version has similar limitations to the Google booking page feature I tried, and Calendly is a relatively minimal investment at around $10 / month, so for my business it's worth it.
These five tools form the operational foundation of EVA Group. They’ve stood the test of time; building and scaling a real business through the early solo days, first hires, and the ongoing work of running a team that serves businesses across Canada.
Every business is different, and the right tech stack depends entirely on how you work, what you're building, and where you're at in the process. These are some of the tools I regularly recommend and build out for small to medium business owners, but each use case is unique.
If you're looking to set any of these systems up, get more out of the ones you already have, or build a foundation that actually supports the way you work, I'm always happy to chat.
