If there is one thing the last two years have taught me, it’s to be thankful. So, with Thanksgiving season and child handprint turkey drawings still on my mind – and more fun holidays on the horizon – I thought I’d count out five apps that I’m very thankful for!

1. Veem

I’ve been a Veem fan for quite a while. It’s my tried-and-true go-to. Here are some reasons why it continues to be one of my most valuable tools:

• Free domestic payments. That’s right – paying domestic vendors is free! Enough said.
• Competitive foreign payments. Their exchange rates are great. I don’t have to pay a fee to my bank to send money, and the vendor doesn’t pay a fee on their side to receive money from me.
• Veem wallet. New, but a game-changing feature. My payments in US dollars can be held by foreign vendors in a Veem wallet, so they can use those US dollars to pay for things. That means there’s no need to worry about currency conversion, only to convert right back. My vendors appreciate being able to avoid needless exchanges and the costs often associated with them.
• Veem API. The team at Veem recently helped my client develop a custom payments system, using their Veem backend so that I can still connect to QuickBooks® Online (QBO) and reconcile easily. Class act!

Basically, what all of this boils down to is that Veem is cost effective, great for workflows, and the Veem team is fantastic to work with. What’s not to be thankful for?

2. Liscio

I must admit, I’m brand spanking new to Liscio, but I’m already a fan. Here are a few reasons why:

• Better, more seamless experience for my clients. I am able to reach them where and how they want to be reached – by text, email, or mobile app. Basically, I can hit them up in a way that increases the odds they will respond.
• Getting replies and documents much faster from my customers. They can upload from their phone or computer.
• Monitor the interactions between my team and my clients. This keeps me in the loop, while also keeping my team confident.
• No more worries about tax returns sent by email. 

Using Liscio has already replaced two apps in my stack, resulting in more seamless workflows. Not to mention a savings of about $100/month. Every penny counts!

3. Synder

Synder syncs e-commerce and payment platforms with QBO. Why is that great for my work with clients? Here are a few reasons why:

• Lots of use cases. Synder connects Stripe, PayPal, and many other platforms. That means I can keep similar workflows, even when my clients’ platforms might vary a lot. More diverse client base without adding more workflows, anyone?
• It does what it should. This app saves me a TON of time by importing payments, merchant fees, and seller fees for my clients’ online sales. It’s a huge help to not have to key in, and recommend, everything manually.
• Problem-solving. Recently, Synder was great about working with me to create a workaround for recording Financing Paydowns correctly on a new Stripe Line of Credit for a client.

Basically, the folks at Synder are committed to making sure everything ends up where it should and how it should, ensuring that it’s easy for you to take it from there.

4. Sync with Etsy by Intuit

As some of you may know, I recently started an Etsy shop with Kristen Nies Ciraldo of The Friday Guide! And, boy, are we in the middle of a crash course on the business side of e-commerce. One solution we’ve found that has made this all a lot easier is Intuit’s Sync with Etsy solution. Here’s how it’s helping:

• Connected our Etsy shop to QBO quite easily, allowing us to bring in all sales, discounts, seller fees, and merchant fees.
• Refunds come in CORRECTLY. They actually have their own separate income account in the Chart of Accounts, per GAAP standards.
• QBO tracks the amount of our money being held by Etsy until it is deposited.
• The deposits actually match the bank feed!

In short, it’s not just that all the information comes over; it’s that it comes over in a way that allows us to see our true costs and how they are associated with sales. We might just conquer this new venture after all!

5. Zapier

This is the “app” that connects other apps together. It basically allows you to very easily “write” a small program that causes one thing to happen inside an app, when another thing happens inside a different app. Some might think this one shouldn’t be on this list because it really isn’t an app. I don’t care. It’s my list, and I’m thankful! Zapier is what puts 1,000 apps at my fingertips, in terms of integration. Here are just a couple of ways I love using it:

• Zapier sends an immediate reply when I get a lead from my Find-a-ProAdvisor. This, alone, has converted 99% of those leads into actual appointments with potential clients. Thanks Heather Satterley for this gem!
• When I add a new vendor in QBO, an email goes out from my Gmail, requesting a W-9 from that vendor. So, I’m following up on my 1099 tasks without even thinking about it.

This tool is a powerhouse of automation, especially when you set it up well. You can use it to create invoices in QBO from different sources (Stripe, Shopify, WooCommerce). You can have it add your customers to Gmail or save invoices to your Google Drive. The possibilities seem never-ending. Chances are, if you want to accomplish something in your workflow automatically that you currently do manually, Zapier can help you do that.

So that’s it – my five apps. If anything, I’m more aware these days just how much a good app can change the game for not just my business, but also my own quality of life. So, thanks Liscio, Veem, Synder, Sync with Etsy, and Zapier! You’ve made things easier, and that means a lot.

Got big feelings about your own five favorites? I’d love to hear your take!