🎶 It's the most wonderful time of the year 🎶

Not, not Christmas. That's still ages away (says me from over here in denial). It's Black Friday / Cyber Monday!!

If you're anything like me, you're swimming though a tidal wave of email promotions and are busily trying to figure out what's worth your cash this year. Well you can jump out of the pool and towel off now, because I've done all the hard work for you.

There are really three main categories you'll be tempted to invest in if you're an aspiring or early-stage online business owner: software, services and education. I've broken down my recommendations into these categories to help you focus in on where you want to invest.

But first, some tips on how to figure out if you should be spending the money at all.

How to be a smart shopper

There are zillions of bargains to be had, so to help you choose what's right I suggest asking yourself the following 3 questions:

1. Do I need it or do I just want it?

2. Will this help make my life easier?

3. Do I want it because I'll use it now, or do I want it because #FOMO?

Now don't get me wrong, it's 100% ok to buy a "want" this Black Friday / Cyber Monday. But if you're watching your spending this year (is anyone not?) then getting clear on the want vs need thing will help you prioritise where your dollars go.

Now, armed with those sensible and budget-checking questions, let's explore all the awesome deals I've found for you this year.

(Btw some of these are affiliate links. So if you end up purchasing one that is, then I'll receive a small commission from the company).

Best Black Friday deals on software

Backup your documents with Backblaze

Backblaze provides online backups of your computer and any external drives that want to keep safe in the cloud. It's an alternative to Time Machine if you have a Mac. I've been using it for years and it saved my bacon when my stupid WD Passport external drive broke. The deal below is for new customers only, and means you'll be paying less than I do each month, but I'm trying hard to not to be annoyed by that 😉

Get 20% off with code BLAZEITUP23

Run your whole business in one place with High Level

Funnels, web pages, email marketing, booking appointments, invoicing, tracking leads...there are so many different things to pull together when your business is based online. Often it involves toggling between 6+ different pieces of software and trying to make them talk to each other. With High Level, everything is in one place.

This is the software I use to run my whole business, and it's the technology that's hosting this here blog post you're reading right now!

(Full disclosure, I pay a little bit extra to Julie and Cathy over at Funnel Gorgeous to use their customised version of High Level instead of the parent platform that's offering the Black Friday discount. If you want to know why, visit this page).

There's a steep learning curve with this software, but the bonus is that once you've climbed that mountain you have everything you need to run a profitable, million-dollar online business right there in one place and all at your fingertips!

Get 50% off any plan for your first 3 months

Best Black Friday deals on services

Let AI do the heavy lifting with Marketing Magic by Menekse Stewart

I know I'm blurring the line between software and services here, but I really do think of this AI tool as being my unpaid marketing intern (I call her Mimi 😇).

Among other things, it'll help you write your sales page, website copy, blogs, emails, social media post captions, come up with podcast and content ideas, write training materials, create lead magnets...you can even upload audio files and it'll create a bunch of content out of them.

It's no exaggeration to say this is always the first place I go when I'm creating anything new in my business. I nabbed this myself when the lifetime deal was last open - about 6 months ago, it switched to a recurring fee of $297 per year, so if you're a bargain-hunter like me then I'd snap up the lifetime deal while it's open again now so you never have to pay again.

Cheapest. Intern. Ever.

Get the Lifetime Deal Before it Expires

Best Black Friday deals on education

This might just be my favourite category. It's also one where I'll sometimes break my own Smart Shopper rules and buy something on special even if I'm not quite at the stage where I'll need it yet. But at least I know it's there once I am!

Stock up on the most practical training on online business out there, courtesy of the Funnel Gorgeous team

I don't even know how to describe the value of the courses that Julie and Cathy put together. They're quite possibly the best in the business. These women have generated tens of millions of dollars of sales in their businesses and have particular expertise in marketing (duh), creating courses and coaching.

They're offering 30% off everything for Black Friday and have even brought some new stuff out of the vault that's never been seen before outside private (paid) launch rounds. I know I'll be stocking up, take a look and decide if you want to as well!

Get 30% Off With Code BLACKFRIDAY2023

Learn to do it YOUR way with the Brilliant Biz + Life Academy by multi-millionaire hippie Leonie Dawson

I might need to start with a trigger warning here...Leonie is definitely a love-or-hate kind of business personality. Watch the intro video at the top of her page, and you'll know within 30 seconds which camp you fall into!

Leonie's all about being authentically you, and has built a multi-million dollar empire all while working part time hours. Inside her Academy you'll find courses that teach you how to write a book, deal with burnout, get organised, create a course, market without social media, work less and earn more, deal with criticism, find a great accountant, and much, much more.

It's a brilliant everything-style offer where you pay $99 just once, and get access to everything for a whole year.

Grab Access to the Academy Before it Doubles in Price in a Few Days 😱

Get The Everything Offer by Elizabeth Goddard

Talking about everything offers, this one is literally named just that! Lizzy Goddard is a multi-passionate online business strategist whose magic is in breaking things down into simple steps that just make sense.

She's all about encouraging playfulness and experimentation in business, which is the same approach I recommend to my clients when I'm helping them design the business model and marketing strategy that'll help propel them out of the 9-5 once and for all.

You'll get access to 33 existing products plus anything under $1,500 that she creates in the next 12 months AND quarterly feedback on any copy you write plus a few other bits and bobs. (There's also a mini-everything offer if you're totally new to Lizzy and want to start with a smaller investment until you're 100% sure you vibe.)

Take A Look At Everything

PS I have 16 of those 33 Lizzy products already, and I highly rate them all. Take a look and see what you think!

Take the ick out of selling with the "Selling Safari" Premium Bundle by Tara Reid (and 75+ other awesome contributors)

Not gonna lie, the absolute hardest thing for me in transitioning from an employee to entreprenur was learning how to sell. If it's making you nervous too, and you want to shortcut your way through all the hurdles coming up ahead, there's something in this bundle that'll help you out.

It includes courses and templates on website copy, emails, tech, camera skills, marketing, expense planning, social media stuff and SO much more.

(Fun fact: the expert teaching you how to create a sales page in less than an hour using AI is my sister ✨)

Collectively everything in the bundle is worth $7,000 but for the next three days you can get the lot for just $97.

Check Out What's Included in the Bundle

A final word on how to choose the best education deal for your needs

Your eagle eyes will have noticed that I've recommended three different "everything-you-need" style offers above. One by Julie and Cathy at Funnel Gorgeous, one by Lizzy Goddard and one by Leonie Dawson.

Please don't think I'm recommending you buy all three of them.

All three (technically four) of those women have very different personalities, teaching styles and approaches. And the truth is, you're going to naturally resonate more with one of them than the others.

Yes, I have bought almost all the courses that each of them offer, but as an online business strategist I want to know everything that's out there so I can fine-tune the recommendations I make to my clients to their specific needs - my pet peeve is coaches or consultants who don't tailor advice to their clients and instead just pushing their own personal strategy preferences onto them.

And you know what? Some days I'm just in more of a Lizzy mood than a Leonie mood, so it works for me.

But for you...take a look at all three offer pages and you'll get the sense very quickly about which one appeals most to you. And if you do find an offer that sings to you...nab it while you can. All of their Black Friday offers this year are better than anything I've seen them do before!

So that's it! My Black Friday roundup for 2023 🎉

I hope you found it helpful. I really love all the companies and people I've recommended above, so if you end up joining me in being in their world I hope you end up loving them as much as I do.

Happy shopping!