In this day and age you cannot run any sort of business without having some parts of it online. And that requires using technology (gasp!)
So I will be sharing tech tips and helpful information about the technology that I’m currently using in my businesses, whether now or in the past, to help you make decisions about what might work for you.
First up what the heck is a tech stack?
If your business is mostly digital, you’re going to have a tech stack whether you know it or not. Basically, it’s the “stack” of all the programs and services you use to run your business. Because no one tool does it all. And I will tell you to be very suspect of any tool that says it will do it all. In my experience those tools are good in some areas and just plain suck in others. Or they are just kind of meh in all the areas. That said, it is helpful to try to make choices that can do more than one thing. Just maybe not all the things.
What’s in my tech stack?
Adobe Creative Suite
I use this almost exclusively in my knitting design business. I mainly use four applications from the suite: Illustrator for creating knitting charts, InDesign for laying out knitting patterns, Acrobat for tweaking/commenting on PDFs, and Photoshop for those photo things I can’t do in apps.
Notion
This is my project management software. And it really helps when you have projects with lots of moving pieces and steps like I don’t know, launching a coworking membership? It’s also magic for my knitting designs.
Canva
This is my new favorite. It is amazing to me how simply I can do amazing graphic work in Canva. Adobe makes it so complicated sometimes – it’s like they want a barrier to entry. There is a free version of this that is a great way to get started with it.
Dropbox
I store all my files on Dropbox. I also use it to keep archived projects so they don’t take up too much space on my computers.
GoDaddy
There is where I own/manage all my domain names – I know there are cheaper options, but I like having all my stuff in one place and it’s where I started.
Loom
I use this to record and host all my course videos and screen shares. It’s editing tools are super easy to use too!
Mailerlite
To me this is the best email service provider for the price – they give you the bells and whistles you need but don’t charge an arm and a leg.
Microsoft 365
I use Excel every single day. I’m not exaggerating. I also use Outlook and Word on the regular. Yes I know there are freeware/open source options. No I do not want to use them. Excel forever.
Tailwind
This is for planning and scheduling all my Pinterest and Instagram content. There are other schedulers for just Instagram that I’ve used and had good success with in the past, but I love having it all in one place and for one cost.
WordPress
I recently switched this site back to WordPress and I couldn’t be happier. I was able to find a way to keep all the planning and coworking membership stuff in one place. And there are plug-ins to handle the sales pages and billing too.
Zoom
And finally zoom. Because coworking of course. Although sometimes it’s awesome just to hop on zoom with a trusted friend and talk through things face to face even when they are halfway across the country.