There is no such thing as ‘must have’ technology. We, humans, have functioned perfectly well without it up until very recently, after all ;)
Technology works best when it allows us to get things done more efficiently. View the tech through the lens of a job to be done rather than as a kid in the toy store. As a tech-geek, I find this hard, but it is all too easy to fall down the rabbit hole of ‘messing with technology’ when you should focus on creating and serving.
As someone who is not ashamed to admit I have spent an excessive amount of time ‘down the rabbit hole,’ I created this list to give you some of the best in class options and save you some time.
I have highlighted what is non-negotiable for you on your journey.
You must be able to swiftly and efficiently capture ideas. Whether this is in a notebook with an actual pen or iPad Pro and Apple Pencil is entirely up to you. I use Instapaper to capture highlights and make notes on things I read on the web and these are synced to my second brain in Notion using Readwise.
Second, you must have a central repository to organize your ideas, content creation, client notes, etc. also called a second brain or PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) system. I use Notion for this purpose. My client notes ideas for content, courses I want to create, managing projects, and everything in between all happens in Notion.
Whether you choose Notion, Obsidian, Apple Notes, Notion, Evernote, or whatever tickles your fancy doesn’t matter. Choose one and make it your home for collecting and organizing your thoughts and ideas.
You need a home on the web for your intellectual property (IP), offers, and content to live. This could be a full-blown website or landing pages. Your main choices here are between WordPress and Squarespace. WordPress is more flexible but it takes more technical know-how to set up and manage, Squarespace takes a lot of the tech headache out of your hands.
You also need a reliable place to host video meetings with clients and potential clients. Zoom is my recommended option here and I use Fathom, an AI tool that automatically transcribes and summarizes the sessions.
Camera and audio quality make a difference, but there’s nothing to say you couldn’t get started with what you have and improve as you go.
Google Analytics and Google Search Console are non-negotiable. They are free and essential to allow you to get your content indexed in Google and track visitors and traffic. The other analytics tools are cool - but optional.
Calendly is my favorite tool for scheduling sessions with clients. If you use Squarespace for your website, they have an integration with Acuity Scheduling (another solid option).
Taking payments is another essential job to be done that you need a solution for. Sure, you can set up accounts with PayPal and Stripe and direct clients there directly, but having a more robust checkout process will pay dividends in the long run. This is where ThriveCart is powerful. It also has the bonus of the Learn course platform - a place where you can house all of your courses.
Video hosting is another non-negotiable. You can use YouTube for free, but I recommend a paid Vimeo account as this allows clean and distraction-free videos for your funnels and courses.
Finally, your email list is one of your most potent owned media assets. To grow and nurture an audience via email, you will need an Email Service Provider ESP for email marketing and automation. I use and recommend ConvertKit. It is a delight to use and not expensive. Also, remember that if you are starting on your journey, you can get all of the other elements of your funnel in place and set up BEFORE you sign up with an ESP.
The tech setup, like everything else in life, is a journey. Stay focused on the essential tasks you need to get done and experiment with different options since there is no one-size-fits-all here. Have fun and stay on task, Creator.