My Current Tech Stack
Updated 1/9/24
Website Hosting & Domain
Squarespace (Business Plan - £20.40/month | Domain - £1.60/month)
I use Squarespace for my website and domain, and it would take a lot to persuade me otherwise. If needed in the future, I will be able to use Squarespace to host my courses, set up a content vault, and sell products at no additional cost.
Email Hosting & Office Suite
Google Workspace (Business Starter - £6.62/month)
I use this for my email hosting and the office suite. There is also additional storage in Google Drive, and as I have recently ditched Zoom, I will be using Google Meet, which is included.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Dubsado (Forever Plan cost me £1,197 in October 2022 so as of 1st September 2024 it will have cost me £34.20/month)
I use Dubsado for scheduling client calls, booking my services, handling invoices and payments, and all automated emails.
Email Marketing
Mailerlite (Free Plan - £0/month)
I only have a small list right now so the free version of Mailerlite is perfect for my needs right now.
Project/Task Management
Apple iOS Reminders App - £0/month
This one’s slightly controversial, but when I was looking at what was at my fingertips and free, I realised there’s a lot more to reminders app than meets the eye. I now use this app as my task and project manager, and it’s so seamless between all my Apple Devices. I’m still figuring out the best way to use it but with the improvements that have come with the iOS 18 release…watch this space!
Time Tracking
Clockify (Free Plan - £0/month)
In the past I used Toggl, and then switched to the native time tracker in ClickUp. However, I’m currently moving away from ClickUp so gave Clockify a try - I really like it!
Password Management
Keeper (Free Plan - £0/month)
It is really important for me to keep client passwords safely. I was using LastPass, but I keep hearing horror stories about it so have switched to Keeper, which is actually nicer to use. It also seems easier to add 2FA codes, even in the free version. However, with the iOS 18 release, Apple have updated their iCloud keychain to a snazzy new app. I predict that the next time I update this blog post I will have switched…
Design
Canva (Pro Plan - £8.33/month)
I have been on the pro plan for sometime and I’m not sure I could live without it. I mainly use it for designing social media posts, website and sales page graphics and eBooks for clients.
Video Creation & Storage
Loom (Business Plan - £6.35/month)
I chose to upgrade to the paid plan of Loom, simply because it has unlimited videos of unlimited length. I do a lot of HowTo videos for clients and was finding that I had to keep recreating the same videos over and over. Now I have a neat and organised video library, categorised so I can easily find and re-share videos.
Payment Processing
Stripe (no monthly subscription but fees per payment)
I don’t have huge amounts of choice whether to use this or not, as that is what is offered with both Dubsado and Squarespace to take payments. I would definitely use this over and above PayPal, due to the cheaper fees, but if other tools integrated better with it, I would use GoCardless, which is much cheaper and simpler to
Automation
Zapier (Free Plan - £0/month)
I had a paid version, but I was almost using it for the sake of using it. I might pay for it again one day, but while I am reviewing and scaling back my tech stack I am on the free version
Total Monthly Tech Costs = £77.50
Tools I have put on hold:
Airtable
I do love Airtable and I am still playing with this to try to decide if I actually need it or whether Google Workspace covers all my needs. It certainly has its advantages but I can probably live without it!
ClickUp
I love playing around in ClickUp, (and honestly I could procrastinate for hours in there) but as I work entirely by myself I found I really did not need its complexity. Never say never, but I have downgraded my paid plan back to the free plan, and I am currently finding that Apple Reminders suits my needs perfectly as my task and project manager.
Kitchen.co
I wanted to set up a client portal for my clients, and this tool is so simple to both setup and for your clients to use. It has a free version so I definitely recommend it, but what I found is that clients absolutely don’t want another thing on their plate, however simple!
Zoom
I was stop/starting my paid Zoom account according to my call load, and grudged paying £15/month for it. They then introduced a new basic plan for £8/month, whereby meetings were still 40 minutes, but you could upgrade 4 meetings per month. It didn’t work to start with and I had to jump through hoops to get it set up. That’s when I had a lightbulb moment 💡…I was paying for Google Workspace, which has Meet included…I haven’t looked back!