Tools for running an online business

Let’s be honest, running an online business can get messy fast. Juggling clients, content, and admin can leave you feeling scattered and exhausted.

But here’s the truth: it’s not you. It’s your tools and systems.

When the right tools are in place, things start to flow. You get your time back, your workload feels lighter, and your business becomes a lot more enjoyable to run.

So here it is, the tech stack we use every day inside The Virtual Studio and for our clients to keep their businesses running smoothly.

For Productivity and Project Management

Clockify
If you’ve ever ended a day thinking, “Where did my time even go?”, you need Clockify. We track everything inside The Virtual Studio, from client tasks to admin hours and even CEO time. It helps us see which projects take longer than expected and where we’re over-delivering. The data has been a game-changer for pricing and planning our capacity. Bonus: it’s free, and the reports make client invoicing a breeze.

Asana
Our entire business lives in Asana. Every project, deliverable, and internal system has its home there. When a new client comes on board, we build out their workspace with timelines, task lists, and SOPs so the whole team knows what’s happening and when. It’s how we stay calm even when juggling multiple clients and launches at once.


For Organisation and Collaboration

Google Drive
Think of Drive as our digital headquarters. Every client has their own folder with sub-folders for brand assets and project documents. We even keep our team manuals and internal templates there. It might sound simple, but that level of organisation saves us hours every week and means anyone on the team can jump in without confusion.

Canva
We use Canva daily, not just for social media, but for proposals, onboarding kits, course slides, and even blog graphics like the one you’re seeing here. Having everything branded and stored in shared folders keeps our visual identity consistent across clients and platforms. Plus, the new Brand Hub feature makes it easy for our VAs to create on-brand designs without starting from scratch.

For Marketing and Automation

MailerLite
MailerLite is our home for newsletters, nurture sequences, and client lead magnets. We love how simple it is to use and how clean the interface feels. We’ve built everything from free guide automations to full webinar sequences here. It’s also affordable, which makes it perfect for both new VAs and established coaches.

Zapier
This one quietly keeps our business running behind the scenes. We use it to connect our forms, automations, and CRM so we’re not doing repetitive admin manually. For example, when someone downloads a free guide, Zapier adds them to a MailerLite group, tags them correctly. It’s the definition of working smarter, not harder.

For Finances 

Xero

Xero keeps our financial world tidy. All client invoices, expenses, and reports are handled here, and because it syncs beautifully with PayPal and PayFast, reconciliation takes minutes instead of hours. We also love that it integrates with our accountant’s system, which makes tax time so much smoother. Having accurate numbers at a glance helps us make smart decisions about growth and hiring.

For Websites and Courses

Squarespace
Most of our clients come to us with patchy websites that are hard to update. We build or refresh them in Squarespace because it’s reliable, mobile-friendly, and genuinely easy for clients to maintain on their own. Our own site is built here, too. It’s also a great all-in-one option for service-based founders who want something simple but polished.

Kajabi
When it comes to hosting courses, memberships, or digital products, Kajabi is our go-to. We use it to manage client education portals. It’s the best platform we’ve found for keeping everything, funnels, videos, payments, and email, under one roof. Once it’s set up properly, it’s incredibly hands-off, which our clients love.

For Creative Support

ChatGPT
And finally, our favourite creative co-pilot. We use ChatGPT to brainstorm blog ideas, write content drafts, map out email sequences, and even test workflows. It doesn’t replace our voice, but it does help us get ideas out faster and refine them into something we’re proud to publish. It’s become such a natural part of our process that we can’t imagine working without it.

Bringing it all together

These are the tools we help our clients build and manage every day. They create flow, not friction, and allow you to focus on the parts of your business that truly move the needle.

If your backend feels tangled or overwhelming, we can help you set up the right tools so you can work with more clarity and ease.

You can reach out to us at hello@thevs.co.za. We’d love to chat about how we can support you and your business.