Studio CEO · Grow Mastermind
Recommended Tools
The apps and gear I actually trust, organized by the job they do in your business. You do not need all of them.
Start with what fits where you are right now, and add the rest as you grow. Nothing here is filler. Every pick earns its place by saving you time, making your studio look and sound more professional, or helping you make more money without burning out.
Jump to the listStudio Software — booking + management
Walla
Built for boutique studios, with a member experience that feels as polished as your space. Strong on retention and a calm front desk. My pick when you want the software to feel premium.
Visit →Momence
The all-in-one. Booking, marketing, payments, and automations under one login, so you stop duct-taping five tools together. A good fit when you want fewer logins.
Visit →Mariana Tek
The premium platform for multi-location studios or anyone scaling fast. More power, more setup, and worth it once you have outgrown the basics.
Visit →Website, Course + Membership
Kajabi
All-in-one website, email, payments, and course hosting. It is what I run my own business on, which is why I trust it to keep your tech simple while you grow.
Visit →Circle
Community-first platform for running a membership or group program. The better choice when connection and conversation are the product, not just the videos.
Visit →Squarespace
Clean, drag-and-drop website builder with templates that look good out of the box. The fast way to get a real site live without hiring anyone.
Visit →Email Marketing + CRM
Flodesk
Beautiful email templates and flat-rate pricing that does not climb as your list grows. The easiest pretty-emails-zero-tech-headache option.
Visit →ConvertKit (now Kit)
Email built for creators, with simple automations, sequences, and landing pages. This is the one I use and know inside out.
Visit →HubSpot
A full CRM plus marketing suite for when you are ready to track everything in one place. A scale tool, not a starter.
Visit →AXLE
An all-in-one CRM, marketing, and communications platform built specifically for fitness and wellness brands. Your automations and campaigns sync natively with your booking data, plus a branded member app, phone system, and lead gen. Strong fit when you have outgrown piecing tools together and want one system made for studios.
Visit →Social Media
ManyChat
Automates your Instagram DMs so a comment or a codeword instantly sends the link, freebie, or booking page. It turns a Reel into leads while you sleep, and it is the backbone of the codeword system I teach.
Visit →Later
Plan and schedule your Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook posts in advance so your content does not depend on you remembering to post. Visual calendar, easy to batch a week at a time.
Visit →Planoly
A clean visual planner for mapping out your feed and scheduling posts. A favorite if you care about how your grid looks as a whole.
Visit →Metricool
Schedules across every platform and shows you what is actually working, with analytics in one dashboard. The pick when you want planning and reporting together.
Visit →Paid Ads
Done for you
The Studio CEO Ads Agency
Running Meta ads well is a full-time skill, and running them badly burns cash fast. This is the one thing on this list I would not hand to a beginner or a random freelancer. If paid ads are how you want to fill classes, book intro offers, and grow your memberships, my team runs them for you, built specifically for yoga and Pilates studios.
Work with us →Landing Pages + Checkout
Squarespace
More than a website builder: its pages and built-in checkout make it a simple all-in-one when you do not want a separate funnel tool.
Visit →GoHighLevel
An all-in-one funnel, CRM, and automation platform. A lot of power for the price, with a steeper learning curve, so reach for it when you are ready to run everything in one place.
Visit →Kajabi
Builds your landing pages and processes the sale in the same place your courses and emails already live. The simplest path when you are on Kajabi.
Visit →Leadpages
Landing and sales pages built for conversion, with A/B testing so you can find the headline that actually sells before you commit to it.
Visit →ThriveCart
Checkout pages you can test and optimize, plus built-in affiliate management. A favorite once you are selling enough to care about conversion.
Visit →ProveSource
Adds live social-proof popups (recent signups, purchases, reviews) to your landing and checkout pages, so new visitors see that real people are buying and trusting you. A low-lift way to nudge conversions, with a free plan to start.
Visit →Checkout
Stan Store
A link-in-bio storefront that sells your digital products and offers with checkout built right in. The fastest way to start selling before you have a full website.
Visit →Kajabi Payments
Kajabi's native checkout and payment processing, so you collect the money in the same platform you deliver in. One less integration to manage.
Visit →Your Booking Software (MindBody / MBO, etc.)
Your studio booking platform already processes member payments. Before you bolt on another checkout tool, check what MindBody, Walla, or Momence can already do for you.
Visit →Webinars + Live
Zoom
Discovery calls, client sessions, and live trainings. The reliable default for anything face-to-face online.
Visit →WebinarJam
A live webinar platform built for selling, with chat, on-screen offers, and replays. The workhorse when your launches run on live webinars.
Visit →EverWebinar
Turns your best live webinar into an evergreen one that runs on a schedule. The way to keep selling after the live version is proven.
Visit →Deadline Funnel
Real, honest deadlines for evergreen offers. It tracks each lead individually so the countdown and the cart close are genuine, not faked. The piece that makes evergreen launches actually convert.
Visit →Demio
A webinar platform with real engagement tracking, so you can see what is landing live and improve the experience. A solid alternative to WebinarJam.
Visit →Scheduling
Acuity
Robust appointment scheduling with intake forms, packages, and payments built in. The step up from a basic scheduler when you are booking a lot of calls or sessions.
Visit →TidyCal
Simple appointment scheduling with a one-time payment instead of another monthly fee. Does the job without the subscription creep.
Visit →Design + Video Editing
Canva
Branded graphics, PDFs, and social posts that look professional even if design is not your thing. Load your brand kit once and stay consistent.
Visit →CapCut
Free and powerful video editing on phone or desktop, built for vertical content. The default editor for most studio owners making Reels.
Visit →Veed
Browser-based video editing with fast auto-captions and clean templates. Great when you would rather edit at your computer than on your phone.
Visit →Instagram Edits
Instagram's own free editing app. Keeps you native to the platform and makes posting Reels seamless.
Kapwing
Quick video editing, resizing, and captions right in the browser. Handy when you need to turn one video into ten formats fast.
Visit →Filming Your Content
Rode Wireless GO II
A tiny clip-on wireless mic that makes your audio sound clean and close, even in a busy studio. The mic most content creators reach for first.
Find it →Shure SM7B
The broadcast-standard podcast mic. If you want your audio to sound like a real show instead of a phone in a room, this is it.
Find it →Lume Cube 18″ Cordless Ring Light Pro
Edge-lit LED, and cordless is the whole point: light yourself anywhere in the studio without hunting for an outlet.
Find it →Phone Tripod + Mount
The piece everyone forgets. A sturdy tripod with a phone clamp so your shots are steady and at eye level, not propped against a water bottle.
Find it →Logitech Brio (webcam)
A sharp 4K webcam for talking-head video and recording at your desk. The Brio is the reliable pick, and any of Logitech's HD models will do the job.
Find it →Insta360 Link (webcam)
A webcam that tracks you and stays sharp even in rooms that are not well lit. A great option when you want movement and high quality.
Find it →Podcasting
Buzzsprout
The easy, reliable podcast host. It is where my show lives, and it makes getting an episode published genuinely simple.
Visit →Zencastr
Records high-quality audio from you and your guests separately, so one bad connection does not cost you the whole episode.
Visit →Podmatch
Matchmaking to get booked on podcasts that reach your ideal members, and to book guests on your own show.
Visit →Otter
Fast, clean transcripts from calls and episodes that you can repurpose into blogs, captions, and show notes.
Visit →Brick and Mortar + Local
Google Business Profile
Free, and the single biggest driver of new walk-ins for a studio with a physical location. It is how nearby people find you on Google and Maps, read your reviews, and book. Claim it, fill it out completely, and ask happy members for reviews.
Visit →Square
Point of sale for the front desk. Take payments in person and sell retail like mats, apparel, water, and tea without a clunky setup. The standard when you sell physical product in your studio.
Visit →Operations + Team
ClickUp
Project and task management to get the recurring work out of your head and into a system. Their free setup guides help if you are starting from sticky notes.
Visit →Google Workspace
Professional email on your own domain, plus shared docs, drive, and a team calendar. Foundational, and a real upgrade from running the business out of a personal Gmail.
Visit →Loom
Quick screen and camera recordings for training your team and building SOPs. Record it once instead of explaining it ten times. Pairs perfectly with ClickUp.
Visit →Zapier
The glue between your tools. It moves information automatically from one app to another so you stop copying and pasting between systems.
Visit →Slack
Team communication that keeps studio chatter out of your personal texts, especially for subs and last-minute coverage. If you prefer voice, Voxer does the same thing walkie-talkie style.
Visit →1Password
A password manager so you can share tool logins with your team securely, without texting passwords around. Non-negotiable once you have staff.
Visit →DocuSign
Contracts signed and stored without the paper chase. If your studio software already handles agreements, you may not need a separate tool.
Visit →Upwork
Where you hire vetted freelancers for the tech and design work you should not be doing yourself. Relief is the word.
Visit →Finance + HR
Gusto
Payroll, benefits, and HR in one simple place. It runs payroll for your team and contractors, files your payroll taxes automatically, and keeps you compliant without a bookkeeper on speed dial.
Visit →QuickBooks
The accounting standard most bookkeepers and accountants already know. Tracks income, expenses, and taxes, and connects to almost everything. The safe default.
Visit →Xero
Clean, modern accounting software that many owners find friendlier than QuickBooks. A strong alternative if you want something less clunky. Pick one, not both.
Visit →Fulfillment — print + ship
AI Assistant
ChatGPT
Your first-draft machine for captions, emails, and SOPs. Give it your voice and let it get you to eighty percent so you spend your time refining instead of staring at a blank page.
Visit →Claude
Another strong AI assistant, especially good for longer writing and thinking through decisions. Worth trying alongside ChatGPT to see whose voice you prefer.
Visit →Must-Read
Profit First — Mike Michalowicz
The simplest system I know for paying yourself first and dreading taxes less. Read it, then actually set up the accounts. That second part matters.
The E-Myth — Michael Gerber
The book that explains why being great at teaching does not make you great at running a studio. It shows you how to build a business that works without you doing every job yourself. Required reading for the shift from teacher to CEO.
