The programs in the Adobe suite have served me well for many years, helping me make all my creative projects possible. (My favorite is Illustrator, but I use Photoshop a fair bit, too!)

You can choose a plan that gives you access to the whole suite or choose a cheaper plan that gives you access to only one program. And, if you are a student or educator, they offer deep discounts — be sure to use the “Students and Teachers” tab on the checkout page.

ConvertKit is my email service provider of choice because they consistently build their platform and features to support the needs of online creators. Through attending their live events, I’ve made several friends among their employees, so I can say first-hand that this company is full of big-hearted people who genuinely want to see their customers succeed at earning a living online.

They offer a free trial to give customers a chance to learn how to use their very robust feature set before ever entering a credit card number. The trial includes a step-by-step in-dashboard checklist to get you started — and they’ll even send you a t-shirt as a reward for completing it!

Uniregistry is a domain registrar offering a wide variety of top-level domains (e.g. .com, .org, etc). I recommend them because they don’t charge extra for privacy protection and thereby offer a consistent, fair price for the most popular top-level domains without any hidden fees.

Privacy protection obscures the address you must provide for the publicly listed “whois” record that defines you as the owner of a domain. It is important for your domain registration to include this if you are using your home address on the domain registration.

The last piece of the puzzle you need to get a self-hosted email is an email server. This is a server that handles domain name server MX records for your domain.

I use 1&1 Ionos as my email host because my web host doesn’t offer email hosting as an add-on. I prefer 1&1 Ionos over the more widely known option of Google Business Solutions because it’s about $3 cheaper per month. Plus, I like to keep my email hosting separate from my Google accounts because I’ve seen it get very confusing to untangle Google Business Solutions from Google Drive, Analytics, YouTube, etc for people wanting to switch.

I recommend WP Engine for those who plan to publish multiple websites — either multiple sub-domains under one brand or multiple domains for multiple brands.

If you purchase through the link below, a 10% discount code will be applied at checkout. Personally, I like saving money by paying annually, but they have monthly payment options, too.

Tip: The cheapest WPE hosting plan that includes hosting for multiple domains is the Startup plan with multisite enabled. You can enable multisite via a checkbox on the checkout page for any plan.

Flywheel and WP Engine have now joined forces in their shared goal of offering top-notch managed WordPress hosting.

Though these two companies are comparable when it comes to the peace of mind they offer in terms of security and fast site speeds, Flywheel is different in a couple of important ways:

#1. Their platform is built for creatives and people who tend to feel overwhelmed or stressed by techno-jargon. Everything in their dashboards is set up to feel approachable and beautiful.

#2. Their mulitisite pricing works in a different way. This means Flywheel is noticeably cheaper for business owners with only one website, but their prices go up faster as you host multiple domains with them.

I love Gravity Forms for their wide range of form features. They are the technology behind all of the answer-checking forms in the online escape room I have running for Open House Mystery Parties. This plugin is built and maintained by a long-standing and trustworthy development team that knows WordPress inside and out.

Gravity Forms charges a once-per-year flat licencing fee to get the base plugin and offers a wide range of free add-on plugins after that.

Tip: If you don’t keep up with your licence fee, you keep the plugin, but you lose access to updates — which are important for WordPress site security.

AccessAlly is an extremely feature-rich plugin you can use to build an online course or membership site. They are different than other course plugins because they support several types of gamification (think granting users in-account points for completing tasks or sending them emails based on their course progress). They also feature robust order forms that allow you to offer products in different bundles.

This plugin has an awesome team of truly supportive and ingenious people behind it. They do a monthly group video call where you can ask specific questions about your course or membership site, and their Facebook group is also very welcoming and helpful.

In Will it Fly?, Pat Flynn walks through several thought experiments and research exercises to help you choose your first (or next) business idea. This is the first book I recommend to anyone who wants to start a business. It focuses on choosing an idea that will result in a business that’s both profitable and enjoyable to own and operate.

The audio book is read by the author and has a few extra off-script additions. Whether you choose the audio book or paperback, you’ll get access to a free online companion course to help you keep track of your progress.

In Superfans, Pat Flynn shares his favorite strategies for growing and nurturing a base of Superfans — the followers and customers who will be your biggest supporters. I love this book because it encourages all entrepreneurs to look at the people behind the numbers and engage with their audience on a human level.

As with Will it Fly?, the audio book is read by the author with a few extra side-notes added in and both versions include a free companion course.

Practicing his own method to a T, Dan Sullivan delegated the task of writing Who Not How to Dr. Benjamin Hardy, who was immidiately convinced of the concept’s power after listing to Dan present it in a talk at a conference.

This book explains why “who can help me with this?” is a better question than “how can I do this?” when you want to achieve big things. It also gives some actionable steps on how to empower the “whos” you delegate to and get the best possible outcome for every project.

In Ask, Ryan Levesque outlines a step-by-step method for surveying your audience to learn which problems they most want your help solving. It’s loaded with actionable advice and helps you start from a place of service when writing a business plan or designing a product.

I recommend the paperback for this one over the audio book, because it has lots of step-by-step instructions. However, I know everyone has their own favorite ways to learn, so I’ve got links for both!

Ryan Levesque calls Choose his prequel to Ask because, though it was written several years later, it helps you answer questions that will make you more likely to succeed when using the Ask Formula. I highly recommend this book to anyone starting a new business or a new product line. I’ve found it to be a perfect companion to Will it Fly? with different but complimentary exercises for choosing a customer and market to serve.

Like Ask, this book has a lot of step-by-step instructions, so I’ve found the physical copy useful (even though I’m usually an audio book fan.)

In Building a StoryBrand, Donald Miller teaches that the best way to get people’s attention and get them to know, like, and trust your brand is to position your brand as the guide in their own personal “hero’s journey” story. Creating this clear story your customers can see themselves in is a powerful way to make your brand stand out from the crowd.

This book offers a companion web app to help you write your Brand Script — a tool to help you “clarify your message so customers listen.” The audio book is read by the author, and I think he does a great job of keeping it entertaining.

In Fix This Next, Mike Michalowicz introduces the Business Hierarchy of Needs analysis, modeled after Maslow’s well-known Hierarchy of Needs motivational theory.

The book outlines 5 levels of needs every business needs to thrive. If you find your business has any base-level needs that are unmet, you know you’ll need to fix those first before assessing the next level. The levels are Sales, Profit, Order (or Organization/Systems), Impact, and Legacy.

In Your Best Year Ever, Michael Hyatt outlines 5 steps for choosing goals you will be excited and proud to have accomplished over the next 12 months of your life — and how to stay on track to achieving those goals.

Michael makes it a practice to open his online course of the same name for enrollment each year around late November, but this book allows you to get started any time of year.

In The Bullet Journal Method, Ryder Carroll shares his starting-point guidelines for developing a journaling practice tailored to your own needs and goals. The book aims to teach the principles behind the method so you can eventually create your own personalized journaling practice that focuses on the things that are useful to you. It’s also focused on teaching time-saving journaling techniques that will make it easier to find time for a daily practice.

I’ve used various journal templates to help me lose weight, manage to-do lists, and grow a healthier mindset. I’ve found that the bullet journal method makes it much easier to feel excited to journal, find time for it most days, and pick up again after missing a day (or seven) than any rigid journal template ever has.

These notebooks are my go-to for my own bullet journal practice, and the 2-pack bundle makes them affordable for how fancy they feel.

They have all the features I look for in a nice journal: faux leather cover, lay-flat binding out-of-the-box, a pocket inside the back cover, an attached ribbon book mark, and an elastic band to hold the book closed. The dot grid makes it easy to lay out the pages any way you want, and the nice thick paper is feels great to write on.

Do you love writing with nice, fluid gel pens but hate having to scratch things out when you make a mistake? If so, these Frixion erasable pens are your answer! They write very smoothly and put down dark, smudge-proof lines, but they also erase cleanly. Using these has made me a lot more excited about my daily journaling practice.

Note that, since it’s the heat of the eraser friction that makes this ink disappear, high heat or too long sitting in direct sunlight will also fade the ink. However, if this happens, some time in the freezer can bring it back.

After using a Frixion pen, it’s easy for these to become your go-to writing utensil — which means you start going through the ink quickly.

The most economical option I’ve found for keeping ahead of my ink cartridge needs is this bulk 25-pack — and I can attest that the cartridges in this pack of refills work exactly the same as the ink that comes with the pens.

You may have seen pictures of bullet journals on social media that give you the impression this practice is only for artist. However, if you read The Bullet Journal Method, you’ll learn that the creator of the phenomenon, Ryder Caroll, is a programmer and writes a lot of plain, simple lists in his own bullet journal.

Things like colored ink, stencils, Washi tape or stickers are all 100% optional in a bullet journal practice — but you are encouraged to include things in it that make it a fun and joyful experience to open your journal each time.

This is the stencil pack I use to make my own practice more fun. They are the perfect size to fit in the pocket of the dotted notebooks listed above.

These pens are seriously like magic. They feel like writing or coloring with a marker, but they erase cleanly.

Some of the colors are fairly similar to each other, but I still feel there’s plenty of variety in this pack.

Whether weight loss is one of your specific goals or not, I’ve found that reminders to get up and move are helpful to my physical and emotional well-being — making it easier to focus on whatever goals I might be working on. I’ve found this Fitbit Alta HR super helpful for the hourly movement reminders, sleep tracking, and encouragement to meet whatever step goal I’ve set in the companion app.

It also has a handy time display and a heart rate monitor. It comes with a special charger and needs to be charged every 7-9 days. It’s much more affordable than an Apple Watch — and less distracting.

Be sure to select the size and color that fits you, but keep in mind that vanity bands are cheap, so you might as well go with the cheaper option for the base unit. I wouldn’t bother with a screen protector. The ones I found just fell off, and I haven’t had a problem with a scratched or broken screen after over a year of use.

I was annoyed when my rubbery Fitbit Alta HR band broke after less than a year, but I was happy when I discovered how cheap the bands were to replace. In fact, if I had known how affordable it would be, I might have purchased the replacement band at the same time as the Fitbit.

These leather bands feel and look nicer than the band the Fitbit comes with. Plus, with a 2-Pack it’s good to know I won’t have to go without my little electronic accountability partner while I wait for my replacement the next time the band wears out.

This screen recording software is a great starter option for people looking to make screen recording videos. It is easy to use and has several helpful features like the ability to highlight your cursor or add captions to your videos.

It’s very affordable to get started through their subscription-based plan that equates to about $1.00-1.50 per month depending on how many months you pay for at once.

I use this tool to record the screencast portion of videos and then bring the footage into Adobe Premier Pro for editing since I have easy access to it through my Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.

My iPhone is currently the best face-to-camera video recorder I own, but its weakest point is the built in microphone — especially in those cases where I’d like to step a bit further back from my phone to get a wider angle.

The Rode smartLav microphone is a perfect companion to my iPhone video camera.  It’s a wired mic that plugs directly in to the headphone port and clips to your shirt to help get a clear recording of your voice.

In the case that you have an iPhone 7 or later with no headphone port, you can still make this mic work with the right adapter. I recommend getting an adapter that will allow for simultaneous charging and headphone/microphone use.  The adapter linked below is very affordable and highly rated by customers on Amazon.

The Q2U is an affordable, high quality option for recording voice overs in screen capture videos. It doesn’t require a lot of extra support equipment to work. It plugs directly into your laptop or desktop’s USB port. USB and XLR cables are included, along with a tripod desk stand and stand clamp.

It’s designed to only pick up sound that’s close to the receiver, so it helps cut down on background noise and reverb. The catch is that you have to make sure to keep your mouth close to it when using it to record your voice, so I use this primarily when creating screen recording videos.

And, when keeping your mouth close to a microphone, a simple foam pop filter can help reduce extra noises from your breath and soften your Ss, Fs, and Ps.

I often see ring lights suggested for starter video lighting, but I find that they’re usually over $100, and I don’t like to recommend investing that much on only one piece of the puzzle for someone still trying video on for size.

These softboxes are the most useful part of a larger lighting kit I bought from the same brand. They allow for the option of diffuse light if you add the cloth covers or more harsh bright light if you remove the covers to expose the bulb and foil interior. Having 2 of them allows you to light a subject from both sides to reduce unsightly shadows. The softboxes and stands fold up nicely for easy transport.

This brand offers lots of different configurations of lighting sets. The one I purchased for myself included a collapsible backdrop frame and a green screen tarp. The backdrop works great, but I haven’t found it absolutely necessary for basic video shooting (Though it was super fun for the green screen photo booth I set up using a free iPhone app at one of my parties!)

One of the most frustrating things I’ve had to deal with when creating videos on my iPhone is a tripod mount that couldn’t fit around my phone while it was in its protective case. And, even more stressful, after having taken the phone out of the case, the mount still didn’t hold the phone securely in place. Plus, I’d often have to remove the phone from the mount between clips because the clamp covered a portion of the screen — often right where the controls were displayed.

This smartphone tripod mount removes all that frustration. It has an adjustable clamp that opens wide enough to fit around any phone case and tightens securely without obstructing any part of the screen. You can also freely turn the mount to allow for landscape or portrait orientation videos or photos.

The bluetooth remote that comes along with the mount is an awesome addition to this still very affordable hardware kit. It was quick and easy to pair with my iPhone in the Settings panel, and it works seamlessly with my camera apps to take photos or start and stop video recordings.

This affordable tripod is easy to adjust to several different heights and folds up quickly and easily for storage or travel. You can use the crank at the top of the tripod to raise or lower the camera without needing to readjust the legs, and the top portion allows you to tilt the camera any direction to help level out your shots.

It has a built-in bubble level to help ensure an even base on which to mount a camera. It also features a removable screw-on camera base held to the tripod with a quick release lever. This makes it easy to place and remove your camera once the base is attached to it.

This is a budget-friendly laptop with enough power to run the Adobe Suite. Plus, it’s wide enough to include a number pad to the right of the main keyboard, which I personally always find useful.

It’s a great option if you’re just getting started and don’t yet have a lot of funds to invest.

This is the laptop I recently bought for my own business, and I think it’s a great value for the operating power it offers. (Yes, I’m a Windows user through and through… although I do use an iPhone!)

Choosing a laptop was a bit of a stressful decision for me, but I got some advice from an IT professional friend of mine, and the specs on this one check out for all kinds of creative projects — Adobe programs, web development, video editing, live streaming, etc.