Referral Link
These are the resources I love! If you learned about them through this page, please consider using these links. By using these links, these companies show me gratitude by compensating me in credits/cash every time I evangelize their products and someone signs up using the link. If you are curious about any of these, sign up for the free account and if you ever go premium, the gratitude credits still come my way and an angel gets its wings.
AppSumo - Lifetime Deals on Biz Tools
Kinda like Groupon for biz tools but like 10000x better
Pay once for the product and have it forever
Find products that don't require a monthly payment for everyday biz problems like calendar links. I got mine for 50ish bucks once back in 2020 and never had to pay again.
I bought a cool tool to help me with podcasts and another product to help me run my consulting biz.
Podmatch - Getting you on more podcasts, FREE
PodMatch uses A.I. to painlessly match ideal podcast guests and hosts together to produce high quality podcast interviews.
I got booked on 3 shows right off the bat. Make sure you fill out your profile completely.
To join, use this link: https://podmatch.com/signup/startpodcastingnow
My podcasting profile: https://podmatch.com/member/hakimian45FreeUp - Hire Good Freelancers Easily
This is a competitor of Upwork and Fiverr but is highly selective of who they let on the platform
You can hire people from all around the world at various price points. I like that they make personal introductions to people who are good fits for my projects. The customer service is awesome and so is the founder. Within a day or two of signing up, the founder called me out of the blue to just say hi and see how I was doing. You can even book a call with him if you want.
SaneBox - Your inbox simplified
SaneBox's A.I. makes sure that only important email stays in your Inbox.
Though ramp-up took a good chunk of time, my inbox no longer controls me. I can move emails that I don't want to respond to today, to the following Monday. The best thing, it filters out all the marketing emails into another inbox that I only look at when I am bored. It really is quantifiable to time saved.
They are weirdly negotiable on price too.
I loved the customer support I got. They let me get on the phone with a member of their team to show me around.
YNAB - You Need a Budget
Helps you see what you have and what you spend
This is a newer tool I started that is helping me see how much money I have and how prepared I am for the future. They have great content too for people in various financial situations. I learned about it from a FB group where people went bonkers for this site. I am still figuring my way around it but did pay for the next year. We will see.
Strikingly - Easy Website Maker
Strikingly brings beautiful mobile websites to everyone.
I use it to make this and the website that you are on. It was a simple plug and play format. It took me less than an hour to have something ready to go. There were no headaches to navigate to building my website. The customer service is friendly and efficient. I should add, 4 months of full features free with a university ID.
ActiveCampaign - Email/Customer Experience Automation
Automate your business and your marketing
This is where you go when the limitations of Mailchimp let you down. I spend a ton of time during the fall of 2019 working to use this software to automate workflows for my social media education business. It blows my mind all the things you can do with it.
Also, they are local to Chicago! I have gone to their office for a lot of events over the years. They are fantastic hosts and are constantly hiring!Pack Your Pipeline - Profit off of LinkedIn
Consultants: learn how to get more business via LinkedIn
I coach Leah Neaderthal's clients in her Pack Your Pipeline course on how to step up their game with their LinkedIn profiles and home feed post content via 1-on-1 calls, group implementation calls, and profile reviews. I engage her online community with regular social media content and support.
Come sign up and join the community!Patreon - Get paid by your fans
This is crowdfunding for content creators
This is how content creators can monetize their community by having their audience pay their salary through recurring payments. If 1000 people give you a dollar a month, that is not too shabby.
Zenni Optical - Cheap Awesome Glasses!
How I get my glasses for $20-$50 bucks a year!
I have been ordering my glasses from them since the early 2010's! I have been mostly ordering the same pair. It's been great.
Add blue light blockerz to your glasses. Totally worth it!
VistaPrint - Where I get business cards
10+ year customer!
I have been getting t-shirts, mugs, calendars, magnets, and business cards from them for over a decade! I was using them when they gave away 250 free business cards to everyone. The quality of the experience has gone up and so have the prices. I appreciate that they now offer design services for almost no money to their clients.
They also shipped another set of cards when they did not arrive in time. They definitely try to make things right when they can.Headliner App - Easy video editing and subtitling online
Online Video Editing Tool
This is how I get all my videos transcribed for FREE!
Fiverr - Hire people to do cool things online
Buy and Sell Digital Services
Selling: I have been selling on here for quite a few years. I have gotten to meet a lot of cool clients from around the country helping them with motivation, marketing, studying, and beyond. It's been an awesome platform to beta test business ideas.
Buying: You can hire people for all kinds of cool things. I hired two teenagers to make a rock video for my friends B-day! I hired a guy in south America to do admin work for me for one of my clients and it was a huge help.
I have also been a speaker for them before too!
Wyzant - Tutoring Platform
Find tutors locally or online through this platform
Teachers: I think they tend to rip off tutors with their crazy fees but if you need to get experience working this new clients, this is not a bad spot to start if you are willing to work for very little.
Families: This is a great way for you to find and vet tutors in a range of subjects.