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Mara Founder Allison McNamara on Must-Have Digital Tools for Day-to-Day Business Operations

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After nearly a decade of TV hosting with stints on The Today Show, the Oscars red carpet for ABC, and the entertainment show Popsugar Now, Los Angeles-based Allison McNamara knows how to tell a story. Her experience informs the content behind her lauded skin-care brand, Mara, launched in 2018. But when it came to the intricacies of running a business, she admits there was much to learn. To fill in those gaps and optimize her business operations, she turned to digital tools and resources. 

The financial arm of her business runs through NetSuite, an integrated, cloud-based business software that offers enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications (a software system that helps automate and manage day-to-day business operations) such as financial management, accounting, inventory management, and procurement. Eighty-four percent of companies in the Forbes Cloud 100 List are NetSuite customers, according to the platform.

“We’ve really streamlined our accounting,” says McNamara on the latest episode of WorkParty. “NetSuite is our cloud-based paper trail. I really use that as the holy grail of our business.” 

She even hired a coach and spent over 100 hours educating herself on the platform. “You have to be open to learning…like basic accounting books or taking the time to listen to a podcast— something that you wouldn’t normally listen to that is kind of an expert in that field,” says McNamara, who bootstrapped her brand of algae-infused products. (The line is now sold at Sephora and received the celebrity stamp of approval from the likes of Chrissy Teigen, Hailey Beiber, and Olivia Munn.) 

As for internal communication, her company uses Slack, an instant messaging program designed to streamline comms and promote team collaboration in an organized, fast, and secure way. Nearly 80 percent of Fortune 100 companies rely on Slack to build their digital HQ, according to the platform. 

“I’m a big quick communicator, so I prefer Slack like texts,” she says. “Get it to me as fast as possible, but just don’t call me, "she adds while laughing.

Even though McNamara is busy running the business, she’s still very much involved in content. “My biggest strengths come from training in media because I’m really good at telling stories quickly,” she says. “I still do all of our copywriting because I enjoy it.”

For all things content, she relies on Google’s G Suite. "That's how we worked when I was an editor," she says. "We made our [Google] Calendars and [Google] Sheets. I work religiously in Docs." 

Over six million companies pay to use G Suite, according to 2020 reports (latest count), up from five million in 2019. The productivity software includes a digital calendar, cloud spreadsheets, presentations, cloud storage for documents, and a video conferencing feature. 

“There’s a tool for everything,” says McNamara.

For more on how she bootstrapped her business and made it to Sephora, as well as candid conversations on her best and worst days as an entrepreneur, tune into the latest episode of WorkParty with Jaclyn Johnson.

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