I was inspired by Tony Morgan's post on the tools he uses to do business. Amazed there was very little crossover in what I use. So I thought I'd post my tools here:
1. Eventbrite - I took a gamble on Eventbrite several years ago when the market was saturated with competing registration sites. Eventbrite KILLS it. We can process credit cards seamlessly in one easy motion and check-in guests with iPhones. And now they've opened the door for merch sales.
2. Formstack - THE best form creation tool on the planet. Processes payments and uses "if then, then that" technology on the forms. I've used them for so long and with such zeal that I reached out to them for STORY 2012. The're coming!
3. Authorize.net - I use Authorize.net for payment processing on all of our tools except for Dream Year Subscriptions, which uses Stripe. Amazingly simple integration into websites.
4. Google Docs - Our team builds each STORY event with shared Google docs. We could do it no other way.
5. Mailchimp - The most beautiful and easy-to-use HTML email tool on the market. Sign-up for "Fresh Updates from STORY."
6. Proclaim - We're using this new presentation tool because it's cloud-based and sends resources and links to participants' phones LIVE throughout the program. It's ridiculous.
7. Skype Premium - I needed a stable group video-conferencing tool for Dream Year 2012 coaching class. I host live video events for up to 10 participants nearly every month.
8. Planning Center Online - Five of us build the minute-by-minute STORY program on this incredible planning tool.
9. Social Media: Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook - We have a team of community and content curators shaping our online presence: Ainsley Arment, Stephanie Gutierrez and Hilary Barnett
Ben,
Can I be a spectator of how you are using Proclaim/Planning Center Online? Seems like it could be very time-saving. But I am skeptical until I see it in the hands of users (not demos).
Posted by: Kevin Rush | May 17, 2012 at 01:17 PM
this is probably a dumb question...but why Stripe or Authorize over something as widely recognized as PayPal?
Posted by: Sam Mahlstadt | May 18, 2012 at 07:48 AM
sam, paypal forces the payment process outside of most websites - you have to leave to pay - and then come back. it's clunky and probably aborts a lot of sales. whereas authorize.net and stripe allows the process to be seamlessly embedded and integrated
Posted by: Ben Arment | May 18, 2012 at 10:32 AM
I gotta say, the check-in process last year was mindblowingly easy.
Posted by: Mitch | May 24, 2012 at 11:44 AM