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Top 10 Tools Entrepreneurs Use When Working From Home

So, you want to be an entrepreneur who works from home. Wonder what are the tools used by entrepreneurs to scale their business right from the comfort of their coach?

Carry on reading and tell me what you think!

Best note taking app: Evernote

There is no doubt Evernote is the best (and highly recommended) note taking app for entrepreneurs.

I use this all the time to keep notes and ideas — and as an entrepreneur, ideas worth a whole lot of money and more than you can imagine!

More about Evernote here.

Best blogging software: WordPress

Blogging is a greta way to showcase your talent and skills in the online world. While there are many blogging software in the market, WordPress is definitely the best option for you to get started on the right track.

Free Tutorial

Want to start a blog but no idea where to begin? Click the button below to learn more about blogging and how you can start a blog under $30.

Best web hosting service: BlueHost

If you are just starting out, you don’t need to spend hundred of dollars in web hosting. Getting a shared web hosting from reliable web hosting providers such as BlueHost will get your home business started in no time and minus the massive startup cost.

Disclaimer: BlueHost web hosting services starts at $2.95 per month and comes with unlimited bandwidth, 1-click WordPress installation and website builder (at no cost to you).

Get started with BlueHost (or check out their web hosting offers).

Best email marketing service: AWeber

Starting an email list as early as possible is an important step to grow your audience. As a matter of fact, it is one of the best investments you can do for yourself especially when you are working on a side hustle like blogging and website creation.

AWeber is highly affordable (starts at $19 per month), comes with awesome visual builder, hundreds of email templates and a cool support team to help you get started without any hassle.

More about AWeber and professional email marketing solution.

Best website analytics tool: Google Analytics

Google Analytics is undeniable the most used tool for entrepreneurs who have a website. With Google Analytics, you get important information of your website visitors including geolocation, time spend on site and many more information.

Plus, the free tag is definitely a no-brainer for anyone!

Register for a free Google Analytics account.

Best webmaster tool: Google Search Console

If you have a website, it is obvious that you want to rank well on search engine result page. However, the first step is to ensure that your website is known to respective search engines such as Google. This is where Google Search Console comes into play.

With Google Search Console, you will be able to notify Google on changes done to your website so that it can start indexing your site. Once your site is indexed, your website will be visible on the search pages.

Get started using free Google Search Console.

Best free SEO plugin: Yoast SEO

I have been using Yoast SEO for ages and it has never failed me — not even once.

Once the plugin is installed on your WordPress site, you can easily configure it to start ranking well on search engine. Here’s the Yoast SEO guide I’d published sometime back.

Best WordPress theme: Thrive Themes

Thrive Themes is perfect and I mean P-E-R-F-E-C-T. Thrive Themes comes with tons of features that allows you to create custom website designs without hiring a website developer (and potentially paying thousands of dollars).

Website templates are built from ground up with speed, conversion and security in mind. Plus with the Thrive Membership (review) that costs you as low as $19 per month, you get 9 powerful Thrive Plugins to make your entrepreneurship life much easier when you are working from home!

See why more than 17,338 entrepreneurs use Thrive Themes and products in their every day life.

Best live chat module for website: Tawk.to

Let’s face it. What are the chances that website visitors will search for your contact form, open up the link, fill up the form and press submit? Wouldn’t that be easier if you have a live chat module that allows them to talk to you directly?

This is where Tawk.to comes into play. It is a free live chat module for websites and you can opt for paid version if you require additional features. I even use Tawk.to for my digital marketing website.

More about Tawk.to.

Best payment gateay/service: PayPal

Okay, I hear you — PayPal is expensive and bla, bla, bla. True enough!

However, PayPal is a great option especially when you are living in countries where Stripe is not available. PayPal allows you to receive and send money in just a few clicks, and it works perfectly well with most banks in the world.

It is also very secure and you don’t have to worry about hackers (unless you share your password)!

Get paid working from home using PayPal. Learn more here.

What are the tools and software you are using as an entrepreneurs?

Leave a comment below and share with me the tools you are using daily in your entrepreneurship life.

May 19, 2024
6 Freelance Business Ideas That You Can Work From Home Today

Make money. Freelance business. Work from home.

These are just the few things that are constantly lingering in our mind. As a freelancer, you are always finding for more freelance business you can work from home.

Well, we can’t say no to those extra income, right?

In this post, you will discover some of the best freelance business you can start right now (with minimal or no cost at all).

1. Freelance writing

Do you like to write? If you like writing (and a taste for additional income), freelance writing is the best freelance business you can start right now.

You can sign up for freelance job portals such as this one, and getting started is easy — like dead simple and no investment cost.

You can easily earn at least $3 per article and scale all the way up to few thousands in just a few months.

Read: The complete guide to freelancing

2. Freelance graphic designer

Do you like Photoshop or editing images? If yes, this is a great freelance business you can start from home.

Again, it is very simple to get started and the cost of starting ip is literally zero.

With freelance graphic designing, you can easily earn at least $10 per image creation.

3. Freelance data entry

If you are fast with typing and keyboard stuffs, data entry is a great place to start your freelance business from home.

Freelance data entry are calculated based on number of hours you work and at the very least, the charges is around $5 per hour.

With zero cost of investment, consider freelance data entry to earn some extra income.

4. Freelance editor

If you have eyes of a predator, freelance editing could be an excellent fit for you.

Editing is what you will do on a daily basis and this is a very lucrative freelance work indeed!

From video to manuscript, you can earn at least $50 per project and cost of investment is zero.

5. Freelance proofreader

Freelance proofreader is very similar to freelance editor. You are required to proofread documents, content and many heavy content-based matters.

Usually, you can earn around $50 (or more) per project and just like the rest of the freelance business, there is no startup cost required.

6. Freelance marketer

Freelance marketer is easy to start and takes literally no cost for startup. When I first started my digital marketing agency for small businesses, I was skeptical on the success level. And little did I know, it is now a big consultancy agency in Malaysia that is striving very well!

You don’t need a lot of money (or any money at all) to become a freelance marketer. You can work on the side while waiting to start your own enterprise.

Want to know how to start a digital marketing agency (minus the cost)?

Talk to me today and I’m happy to help!

Are you ready to get started with freelancing?

There is a lot of freelance business that you can work from home — pick one and try it out. Give it a few months before deciding if it is the right one for you.

Tell me what you think in the comments!

P.S. Photo credit: Edubirdie

May 19, 2024
Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder: Which is the best visual builder for web developers?

When it comes to developers tool for web designing, both Thrive Architect and Divi Builder are receive equal shares of likes (and dislikes).

The biggest question would be – which is the better choice for website developers? Which tool is a better option for designing websites faster, more effective and most importantly, cost efficient?

Let’s dive into the comparison of both Thrive Architect and Divi Builder, and ultimately deciding which is the best for website designing projects.

What is Thrive Architect?

Previously known as Thrive Content Builder, Thrive Architect is a WordPress editor that allows you to customize any WordPress website in real time.

Thrive Architect is a standalone WordPress editor plugin and it is also apart of the Thrive Themes plugins when you sign up for the Thrive Themes membership.

Read more about Thrive Themes membership here.

What is Divi Builder?

Divi Builder is pretty similar to Thrive Architect in many ways and the most visible one is the WordPress drag and drop editor. Divi Builder isn’t that popular compared to Thrive Content Builder (on papers) for many reasons.

One of the main reasons is of course, due to the indirect competition from Divi 3. Divi 3 (or Divi 3.x) is a WordPress theme builder that allows website developers to build website faster and more efficient.

Read more about Divi from Elegant Themes here.

Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder: Which is better for a web developer?

This is a tough call, but let’s compare them side by side, shall we?

1. Visual builder

When comparing Thrive Architect vs Divi, both are pretty close in terms of functionality. This is how you can use Thrive Architect for building custom WordPress designs.

Using Thrive Architect, you can customize everything under one roof using the super intuitive visual builder. Thrive Architect is green in colour and I think that gives a nice view for the eyes as it is not overly empowering after a long usage.

On the other hand, Divi Theme Builder is also a greta choice in visual building tool. It works similar to Thrive Architect in many ways — and I know it is one of the most popular developer’s visual builder tool for many.

Divi Theme is considered more robust especially with the functionality that you will get in just a few clicks. Take a look at the image above and judge for yourself!

2. Speed — Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder

Speed is all about efficiency and which is faster? If you are using a shared web hosting service, website loading speed should definitely be your top concern!

Lucky for you, both Thrive Architect and Divi Builder are both very effective in terms of website loading speed.

But make no mistake — both of these visual builder can easily create massive page size which affects your loading speed. Therefore, I highly recommend you to use elements that you really need to reduce the webpage size.

The clear winner for for speed is Thrive Architect as it comes with a nice ‘Remove Theme CSS’ which helps improve the website loading speed. Take a look at this video to under how this option is implemented.

3. WordPress support — Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder

Last but not least, developers are going to have a massive head if there is no support for the visual builder tool.

On the surface, both Thrive Architect and Divi Builder comes with unlimited support (as long as you are paying for the tools). When deciding on support level, my bet goes to Thrive Architect as the support forum is massive. Click here to see their forum.

Thrive support team are working around the clock to answer all the questions you had in mind and that is a feature worth mentioning. Compared to Divi Builder, they have a support forum but it is not as great as compared to Thrive’s in many ways (feel, support level, activeness of the forum etc.).

4. Pricing — Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder

Last but not least, pricing is all that matters, right, right?

How much does Thrive Architect costs?

The smallest plan starts at $67 for a single website and a full year support.

In terms of pricing, you can also consider getting Thrive Themes membership that comes with 10 premium Thrive Themes and 9 Thrive plugins including Thrive Architect. Read more about Thrive Membership here or see the pricing table below.

As a website developer, signing up for Thrive membership is definitely the best bet money can buy (and it’s really affordable too!).

Get the latest Thrive Membership discount here.

Divi Builder on the other hand is priced differently and very attractively (I got to say).

Divi Builder or Divi 3.0 pricing is indeed very interesting. For only $89 per year or $249 one time payment for lifetime access are definitely more interesting compared to Thrive Themes (or Thrive Architect) in anyway!

Unlike Thrive, Divi does not limit you to how many websites and domains you can use. Therefore, you are to use it as much as possible and this means unlimited usages to all Elegant Themes WordPress themes and plugins.

Check out the latest discount or try Divi Builder for free here.

Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder — Which is better for web developers?

This is a tough call. On one hand, Thrive Architect and Thrive Membership comes with massive features and benefits which web developers can leverage almost instantly. On another hand, Divi Builder comes with a simple pricing structure which is very interesting especially for freelance web developers who are on a budget.

Click on the buttons below to choose your option now!

What do you think? Leave a comment below and tell me what you think!

May 19, 2024
Two Tools To Create Custom WordPress Design (Without Hiring Developers)

Custom WordPress design is eye-popping, head turning and above everything, awesome. However, the process of creating custom WordPress theme is long-winded and expensive.

If you don’t have coding skills, you are going to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars in hiring web developers to get the job done for you. And that if you are able to find the right web developer.

Headache, headache and more headache.

In this article, you are going to discover how to create custom WordPress design without hiring developers (and spending a lot of money).

What tools do you really need?

Let’s face it. There are many fancy tools you can have in your arsenal but the truth is, you only need one — WordPress visual builder as what we call it.

What is WordPress visual builder?

A WordPress visual builder is a drag and drop website builder (some call it visual frontend site editor) that allows you to drop different elements on a WordPress post or page without using a single line of code. At the same time, visual frontend editor allows you to customize the site design at real time. Thus, changes are immediately visible which is known as what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG).

But there are so(ooo) many options!

Choosing the right WordPress visual editor is a challenging task. To make your task easier, here are the only two tools you should be using to create custom WordPress designs.

Option 1: Divi Theme Builder

Divi is a powerful WordPress editor that allows beginners and advanced users to build custom designs without coding skills.

This is what I mean.

Years back, building WordPress website designs requires a lot of coding works including HTML and CSS.

Building a website design from scratch would take days if not weeks — not to forget the massive manhours needed to check the codes and testing.

Yes, those are no fun at all.

With the birth of WordPress website builders such as Divi, creating custom website design is no longer a hassle. As a matter of fact, it can be done and completed in a very short time (without breaking your neck or budget).

Divi backend system is extremely easy to use (big kudos to the guys behind it — Elegant Themes).

These are just some of the element options you can use to create your ultimate WordPress design.

It’s a massive list, right?

Click here to learn more about Divi by Elegant Themes.

Option 2: Thrive Architect

The beauty of Thrive Architect is the pricing (apart from similar features with Divi).

While Divi is build up entirely as a theme, Thrive Architect is a plugin and is compatible with most WordPress themes available on the market.

The advantages using Thrive Architect is that it is able to integrate with most themes, including popular ones such as StudioPress child themes. As I know that you probably have some theme installed, changing theme including widget areas could be time consuming.

If you are looking for a quick solution, Thrive Architect is definitely your best bet here. You can build both WordPress posts and pages using Thrive Architect.

One of the best advantages using Thrive Architect is the ability to important demo content. At this point of time, there are over 100 different templates that you can choose from and installing them with just one click. No coding, nothing.

Thrive Architect comes with over 100 landing page templates, including homepage and blog post templates.

Just like Divi, Thrive Architect allows you to modify anything and everything when creating custom WordPress designs without using a single line of code.

Lastly, Thrive Architect is very light and therefore, it is not going to affect your website loading speed in anyway. The plugin also offers options such as removing theme CSS is a huge plus in making the page loads faster.

Watch this video to see how it is done.

Like what you see?

Click here to learn more about Thrive Architect.

Summary: How To Create Custom WordPress Design (Without Hiring Developers)

Website builders such as Divi and Thrive Architect helps you to create custom WordPress designs fast and without those messy codes. Plus, you can now save a huge portion of the money as you can create your own design without hiring freelance website developers!

May 19, 2024
How To Create A Beautiful Single Page WordPress Websites?

Single page WordPress website is getting really popular nowadays. Everyone been talking about it and even using it.

What is a single page WordPress website?

A single page WordPress website displays all the essential features of your website on the home page. It makes easy for the users to get all the required information within a single page.

Single page WordPress website taking the hit as a popular option because it is easy to setup with the right WordPress tools.

How does a single page WordPress website looks like?

Pretty cool, right? Single page WordPress website is best for website owners who doesn’t have the time for constant updating and would like to feature all the information under one page (for better user experience).

However, single page WordPress website can be long and boring. Here’s how you can create single page WordPress website that looks great to the eyes and convert visitors into customers.

How to create beautiful single page WordPress website?

The first step is to use the right tool — in this case, I highly recommend using Thrive Architect to create single page WordPress website.

Click on the play button to learn how you can create beautiful single page WordPress website using Thrive Architect.

Should you be using a single page WordPress website?

If you are running a business website, I see no reason why you shouldn’t be using it.

A single page WordPress website is easy to create and manage. Plus, you can save thousands of dollars from hiring web developers and replace the entire process with a flexible do-it-yourself using Thrive Architect.

BONUS: Looking for Thrive Architect discount? Sign up for Thrive Membership for only $19 per month and get saving up to $500 a year! You can also read about the Thrive Membership review here.

May 19, 2024
Why Should I Start An Email List?

May 5, 2024