Recommended Tools

Nick Gausling
Jun 09, 2023
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Below are recommended tools for business leaders.

Every tool listed here is something I personally use. Some are affiliate links and are indicated as such. I only recommend products or services I actually believe in, regardless of affiliate status.

This list may be updated from time to time.

COMMUNICATION TOOLS

  • EFANI (secure phone service)

    • What it does: Replaces your existing cell plan with a much more secure line. No contract required and comes with top tier, white glove customer service.

    • Why use it: Your phone number is a major gateway into your business and can be used to access most of your other accounts. It’s also remarkably easy to hack through a technique called SIM Swapping. Security features you may enable with your current phone plan are helpful, but largely insufficient.

    • Get Efani (affiliate): Sign up here and get one month free.

  • MULLVAD (VPN)

    • What it does: Encrypts and obscures your internet connection, providing substantial security and privacy benefits. Available for most devices.

    • Why use it: To help protect your data from hackers, competitors, and more. Useful all the time but especially when working remotely or using public WiFi. Consistent, low-cost pricing.

    • Get Mullvad: Sign up here.

  • SIGNAL (secure call and text app)

    • What it does: A secure communication platform for encrypted calls, video, and text messages. Available for most devices.

    • Why use it: Signal is the gold standard for secure communication and a fantastic way to help ensure your private business discussions stay private.

    • Get Signal: Download for free.

  • THUNDERBIRD (e-mail client)

    • What it does: A lightweight desktop program for managing all your e-mail across multiple accounts in one place.

    • Why use it: It’s much easier to use, more secure, and less resource-intensive than Outlook. Best for those who don’t use Microsoft Exchange.

    • Get Thunderbird: Download for free.

PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

  • MORGEN (unified calendar)

    • What it does: A unified interface to manage all of your calendars in one place and a scheduling tool that checks for conflicts across all your accounts.

    • Why use it: So you don’t need to juggle between multiple business and personal calendars. Easy to use and very affordable.

    • Get Morgen (affiliate): Sign up here and use code XUDHJ20 for 20% off

  • BRAVE BROWSER (secure web browser)

    • What it does: A highly-secure and private web browser. Replaces or can be used alongside your current web browser (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari).

    • Why use it: Your browser is probably one of your most-used business tools. Brave gives you an easy, fast, highly-secure browser that is vastly superior to anything else on the market.

    • Get Brave Browser: Download for free.

  • BRAVE SEARCH (private search engine)

    • What it does: A private, secure search engine that doesn’t depend on the major tech companies and provides high quality, independent results. It can be used with or without the Brave Browser.

    • Why use it: To help protect your business research and privacy, and also find information that may be more difficult to find on legacy search engines.

    • Get Brave Search: Use for free.

  • TRESORIT (secure cloud storage)

    • What it does: Secure, private backup and storage of your important business files, synced across all your devices.

    • Why use it: Backing up your business files is one of your best defenses against data loss. Many other cloud providers, including most mainline solutions, are not as secure or private.

    • Get Tresorit: Sign up here.

OTHER TOOLS

  • BUNNY CDN (content delivery network)

    • What it is: A CDN automatically copies and serves up your site’s data from servers closer to your visitors rather than directly from your web host.

    • Why use it: To make your site run faster, cleaner, and more securely. This improves SEO for better search engine ranking and provides a better customer experience. Easy to implement and has a very affordable pricing model. The Bunny Optimizer add-on is also highly recommended.

    • Get Bunny CDN (affiliate): Sign up here.