Tools I use to run my business.
And my life.
Happy Sunday!
We just got back from the beach here in Valencia.
Feelin’ salty and refreshed, let’s get to it:
Virality and nomading as a family
It seems like every time I post on Twitter about nomading with a family of 4, it goes viral, which happened again this week.
On that note, my wife and I have been debating writing a brief guide about how we’ve done it, lessons learned, and some tips and tricks for those considering doing something similar.
We're currently gauging interest to see if that's something people would be willing to pay for, so that's of interest to you, hit reply and let me know, as that'll help us decide if we should pursue it or not.
Tools I use to run my business (and life).
I enjoy seeing behind the scenes of other people's workflows, and the tools they use, so I thought I'd share my updated list here.
Reply and let me know if you use anything else I should know about!
Content production
My content system is ever-evolving. While everyone has a unique system for creating content, especially across various platforms, Justin Welsh's courses, Content OS, and LinkedIn OS gave me a huge kickstart in getting good systems in place.
I do a lot of my writing verbally using AudioPen to get a first draft out. I love it because aside from being much faster than typing, I can do it on walks, which is where most of my good ideas appear.
I organize my content writing schedule and distribution in Google Sheets, and I write and keep all my notes in Obsidian.
To organize my thoughts, I occasionally use MindMeister to create mind maps. I also use this to create graphics for social media.
Social media
Like anyone serious about growing on LinkedIn, I use Aware (a tool created by myself and Alex). It's got full analytics, post-scheduling, hand-curated influencer feeds, custom feeds, CRM integrations, and more.
When I'm scheduling tweets I use Hypefury.
The Texts app has been a game-changer for consolidating all my message inboxes, ensuring I don't drop the ball on conversations. And just today I got an email saying it's now free for up to 10 connected accounts.
Social listening
GummySearch for the win! Amazing tool by my friend Fed, for all things Reddit.
Referral marketing
Word of mouth is the best kind of marketing, which I why I now put ViralBox in all my SaaS apps (a tool created by myself and @JantheSaasGuy)
Websites
I build my business websites with Framer, though I also have one on Wordpress.
If I'm just creating a quick landing page, I'll use Carrd.
My personal website is published directly from Obsidian. While Obsidian Publish makes this quite easy, I use the Obsidian Digital Garden plugin. I love it!
Testimonials
For testimonials, I use Testimonial.to on some projects and Senja on others. There's no specific reason I use both, other than trying them out for different projects and keeping it that way.
Hosting
My SaaS apps are hosted either on Render.com, and all use Stripe.
Emails
Postmark is my go-to for sending emails, and Softr is my favorite tool for building no-code apps.
Affiliate programs
For affiliate programs, I use FirstPromoter, though I have used and liked Tapfiliate in the past.
Analytics
For analytics, I use Fathom Analytics and Google Search Console, along with TagParrot to get my sites indexed quickly and ensure all pages remain indexed.
Consulting
Intro.co is my choice for consulting, scheduling, and management.
Reading
For growth inspiration, I read every issue of Growth in Reverse from beginning to end. Exploding Topics is an excellent resource for discovering trends.
Newsletter
My newsletter the SaaS bootstrapper is published on beehiiv -- hands down the best newsletter publishing platform, in my opinion. And while I use beehiiv., I bought Mastering Convertkit and it changed the way I approach email marketing, much of which can be applied regardless of what email publishing platform you use.
Communities
As far as communities, IndieHackers should be everyone's first stop for finding like-minded people and sharing and reading each other's stories.
SmallBets is a course and community accessed with a single lifetime fee that comes with access to countless live courses, and a very active Discord community. This one is well worth the price.
I'm also a member of Trends.VC, which, along with the community, puts out the most amazing in-depth reports about everything you can think of related to online pursuits. I pay the fee each year just for these reports.
MicroConf has two annual conferences that I attend every chance I can pull it off. The associated Slack community is highly recommended, though it recently switched to paid.
Other tidbits:
New interview live:
How Mac Grew Castanet to $60K MRR Before Selling
And finally, I’m honored to have been included in Tekpon’s Top 300 People in SaaS:
When you’re ready:
Monthly coaching: My 1:1 coaching via chat has been more popular than expected so I’ve closed them to new signups before they become more than I can keep up with. I have replaced those with new coaching options.
1:1 clarity call: Wherever you are on your bootstrapping journey, chances are I've been there. I know the struggles and challenges and am here to help through a 1:1 clarity call.
Tools and resources: A complete list of the tools and resources I use to run my business, and some books that have helped me along the way.
Til next week!
Mac