The notion of working while traveling is romantic but nothing beats a dedicated workspace with optimized tools.
This is where it gets done friends.
Every item on my shelves has a story.
A simple glance instantly tops up my inspiration and gets me motivated to create more memories through hard work. I am the only one going to make it happen and I am the only one standing in my way.
Less talk, more rock.
A few people ask what gear I’m rolling for side-projects, so here is a detailed breakdown of my tangible and digital tools:
Hardware
- 27″ 5K Retina iMac (late 2015)
- 13″ Retina MBAir (2018)
- Griffin Elevator Stand (for MBAir)
- Magic Mouse with Ugmonk Mousepad (black)
- Shure SM7B Mic – podcast, audits and video narration
- Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 & Cloudlifter CL-1 Mic Activator – to power the Shure
- RODE PSA 1 boom arm – to swivel that Shure
- Logitech C922 Pro Stream 1080P – webcam
- Bose Q25 – headphones for editing (with cable, no lag)
- Bose Q35 – headphones for designing/coding
- Aeron Chair by Herman Miller
- …and I rotate between 3 Ugmonk mugs 🙂
Software: General Work
- iA Writer – Notes ($30)
- Notion – Writing and organizing my Landing Page course ($10/mo)
- Trello – Yo! Podcast research and question curation (free)
- 1Password – Password Management ($3/mo)
- Loom – Screen recorder for daily comms ($10/mo)
- AudioNotes – Faster/better audio links pasted into emails and specs (free)
Software: Hosting, Domains, Email
- Flywheel – WordPress hosting for my full network of sites ($100/mo)
- Digital Ocean – Hosting for one side-project ($5/mo)
- Amazon Web Services – CDN, EC2, SES (~$30/mo)
- IMGIX – Image CDN ($80/mo)
- Plausible – Simple analytics across full network ($18/mo)
- Cloudflare – DNS (free)
- Hover – Domains ($20/mo)
- EmailOctopus – Newsletters ($23/mo)
- MailerLite – Newsletters + Automated RSS Newsletters ($15/mo)
- Google Drive – Bigger work file backups ($20/yr)
- Dropbox – Regular work file backups (free)
- Google Mail – Email for 3 projects ($21/mo)
- Gumroad – Commerce transactions ($25/mo)
- Zapier – Automation help ($25/mo)
- Notion – Hosting my Landing Page course ($10/mo)
Software: Video and Podcast
- Vimeo Pro – Video hosting for my Landing Page course ($20/mo)
- Loom – Screen recorder for Landing Page feedback ($10/mo)
- Simplecast – Yo! Podcast hosting and distribution ($12/mo)
- Anchor – Second podcast hosting and distribution (free)
- Zencastr – Yo! Podcast guest recording (free)
- Epidemic Sound – Music licensing and SFX ($15/mo)
- Screenflow – Video and Podcast editing ($129)
- Speechpad – Podcast transcription ($1/min)
Software: Designing
- Figma – Designing, wireframing, brainstorming (free)
- Adobe Photoshop – Mainly stitching together difficult screenshots ($23/mo)
- Contrast – Screen color identifier including color contrast ratios ($7)
- PixelSnap – Screen measurement tool ($39)
Software: Development
- Sublime Text – Code Editor ($80)
- Transmit – FTP ($45)
- Codekit – Code compiling ($38)
- Local by Flywheel – WordPress local development (free)
- ImageOptim – Image optimization desktop tool (free)
- Tower – Git client (legacy acc)
- GitHub – Code backups (free)
Shelf Highlights
- “Water Thick Lines” print by Aaron James Draplin
- Inter “a” print by Rasmus Anderson
- Skeleton Bay, Namibia print by Seth Phitides
- … current being updated.
FAQ: What maker chat communities have you joined?
Nothing against Slack or Discord but they are too distracting for me so I haven’t joined any and not using chat software.