As I get back to working and blogging after a nice break, my focus is on getting my digital domain on order. Since starting my own business I have added all sorts of services, subscriptions and platforms to my tech stack, and as my work has evolved, so have the tools I use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My aim for this review is twofold: first up, I want to make sure I am not paying for services or subscriptions I don’t actually make good use of, and secondly I want to make sure that the technology I do use is, wherever possible, aligned to my values. I should probably thank Zoom’s “we are an AI-first company” announcement for prompting me to find an alternative video call platform, ideally one that put humans before technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am blogging about this as I go along, so let’s see what happens. In the interest of transparency, I have added some current costs as well as my “status” and a personal “overall” evaluation. This is not meant to be anything more than my personal view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To make it easier, I have come up with three headings to group tools together: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tools and platforms that help me run by business day to day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My business, small as it may be, still needs an organisational infrastructure, and after trying out various alternatives I have settled on Google Workspace to provide that. It’s a tool I have used for over 15 years, and it does exactly what I need it to, reliably and cleanly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Google Workspace provides my email, file storage and video call capabilities for informal calls and meetings. It’s where I work and live day to day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cost: \u00a36.00 per user per month
Status: Here to stay
Overall: Excellent <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I use Asana to plan out by business objectives, and to schedule recurring tasks and actions from completing my tax return to logging CPD coaching hours. I used Asana in my CEO role and I use it also with other teams at the moment, and it has great utility in those context. For me personally, my little Asana instance of one user is a dream as I have been able to customise it exactly to my preferences and I use it pretty much only to plan out annual cycles of work or larger projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cost: free (at the level I am using it)
Status: Here to stay
Overall: Excellent <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having tried pretty much every payment processor out there at some point, I had no great hopes for trying out Stripe. Fortunately I was wrong. For my (low volume) purposes, Stripe offers all round excellent functionality. It’s a standard fee structure, and I found it a pleasant surprise that most people seem to get on with paying invoices happily and quickly without support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cost: transaction fees depending on turnover
Status: Here to stay
Overall: Excellent <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This warrants its own category because it’s so important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My primary domain, https:\/\/marendeepwell.com\/<\/a> , is where my WordPress blog lives, and it’s been safely and happily looked after by Reclaim Hosting for over a decade. I am a big fan of this independent hosting company for many reasons, including their excellent service, personable support and fair pricing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I have been a Shared Hosting client for a long time and was also converted to Reclaim Cloud as my needs grew. I also have several domains which I manage here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cost: Shared Hosting $60 per year + top level domains. Reclaim Cloud costs depending on usage. My blog and domain on Reclaim include my newsletter and mapping of my domain to my Google Workspace email account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since I started my newsletter, I tried out various WordPress plug-ins and also MailChimp and its equivalents. Eventually I settled on the Newsletter plug-in, and Mailgun to manage the actual sending of the emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More recently, I started experimenting with MailPoet as an alternative and I am as yet undecided which one I will go with. MailPoet seems attractive as it has a nice design interface, and its integration with WordPress feels more light touch than the recently updated Newsletter plug-in, which is trying to integrate the blog and newsletter more closely (which I am not keen on). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cost: Mostly free. A lot of my consultancy work takes place within organisations who have their own tech infrastructure set ups, from security and sign-ins to file storage and video conferencing tools. Like many others in similar roles, I manage multiple profiles for platforms like Teams or Google or Slack. When it comes to delivering coaching and courses independently however, I try to find balance between form, function and feasibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the platform I use nearly everyday and which I like the least. Despite the fact that it is reliable and easy to use, this is a platform I dislike and would like to find an alternative to. Ideally something more light-weight and less objectionable. For my purposes, I really *just* need a video call platform that offers recordings, and nothing more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My current contenders are: Google Meet (easy for me, but not always a good option for folk because of log-in issues), and Whereby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cost: \u00a315.59 per month In 2024 I started offering coaching courses, and tried out a whole host of platforms, starting with WordPress, dedicated course platforms and so on. This platform offers the functionality I need in terms of managed access, offering a fully accessible course design, it’s mobile friendly and relatively easy to learn (for me). As I produce my own course resources and (audio) content, this was the only platform I tried out that work for short-term development like courses and still resulted in a professional finish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cost: \u00a3100.51 for 12 months (course module) Moo is a printing service that I love and I have used for many years. I use it to produce printed materials for my coaching, workshops and courses. It’s especially good if you need small quantities and lots of different versions of the same content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cost: depending on product This is a catch all category for everything else I use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In part 2, I’ll report back on what has changed and how I got on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Image: Photo by Carl Heyerdahl<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As I get back to working and blogging after a nice break, my focus is on getting my digital domain on order. Since starting my own business I have added all sorts of services, subscriptions and platforms to my tech stack, and as my work has evolved, so have the tools I use. My aim for this review is twofold: first up, I want to make sure I am not paying for services or subscriptions…<\/p>\n
Status: #4life
Overall: Excellent <\/p>\n\n\n\nNewsletter, MailPoet and Mailgun<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Status: in transition
Overall: could be better <\/p>\n\n\n\nCourse\/coaching delivery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Zoom<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Status: moving away from
Overall: dislike <\/p>\n\n\n\nSquarespace Courses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Status: Working well
Overall: Like the finish <\/p>\n\n\n\nMoo<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Status: Here to stay
Overall: Excellent <\/p>\n\n\n\nPersonal productivity and communications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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