Entrepreneur Tools

A weekly newsletter to help you grow your business

Hey there Reader,

What I'm Working On: FlexPortal

This week, I’ve dived deeper into a new client project that I’ve been working on for a few weeks. Right now, I’m calling it "The FlexPortal Project." FlexPortal is my client’s software, a platform he uses to build custom business management solutions for his clients. We aim to make this tool more user-friendly for a broader range of businesses. Our goal is to transform a robust business management platform with a lot of capability into a straightforward, customizable SaaS solution, to help entrepreneurs manage their businesses efficiently—and affordably!

I spent time playing around in a FlexPortal demo account, brainstorming a straightforward, impactful first software release phase for testing with real entrepreneurs. The challenge with FlexPortal is its complexity—it can do a lot, lending itself to creating custom solutions quickly. However, this complexity presents challenges for new users looking for an off-the-shelf solution. Our goal is to simplify, focusing on the most useful and affordable aspects for small business owners without a current solution or those frustrated by existing ones. Whether it’s for proposals, customer management, or service packaging, our goal remains simplicity and affordability.

What I'm (Re)Learning: Customer Personas

After exploring FlexPortal, I revisited the target customer profiles we created for this project, drilling down into specific customer personas. It’s been a while since I’ve shifted from broader strategy to detailed persona work—usually, my clients handle this post-business plan development. I used HubSpot’s persona resources as a refresher, which helped fine-tune my approach to creating effective user personas.

Effective customer personas are crucial for everything from strategy and branding to product development and marketing. I refined our targets into two actionable customer personas so far, a critical step for effectively planning software design, marketing, and pricing. Understanding your audience not only improves strategic planning but also ensures your offerings meet real needs.

Tools I'm Using This Week

• ​HubSpot’s Make My Persona Generator (Free): A handy tool for refreshing my understanding of customer persona elements and creating comprehensive personas for this project.
• ​GuideJar (Free and Paid): This tool made creating clickable walkthrough guides for the new 1:1 Client Portal a breeze. It’s incredibly user-friendly and helps create engaging guides for clients or customers.
• ​MailMeteor (Free and Paid): While I use ConvertKit for newsletters, MailMeteor is my go-to for direct communication with clients or learners. Its integration with Google Sheets and Gmail streamlines communication, making it easy to manage and send emails to specific groups.

Have questions or need help with a new tool? Curious about defining target customers or creating personas for your business strategy? Hit reply—I’d love to discuss these topics further with you.

Cheers,

Juli

Juli James is on a mission to bring sanity and efficiency to entrepreneurs. She is your go-to expert in streamlining workflows and optimizing online tools.

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