People, Services, & Products I Love

Some of the products below are free (or have free options), while some cost money.  In all cases, I only endorse those products, people, and services which I passionately believe in and/or use daily in my own life and business.

Personal Finance Tools I Use

PocketSmith – Budgeting & Tracking Income/Expenses

I love PocketSmith.  I love the concept and I love the people behind it.  The calender-based interface allows me to tangibly connect in a way other software hasn’t.  The forecasting mindset also pushes me to focus on projecting the future, rather than just analyzing my past data.

PocketSmith also stepped up to support my Radical Financial Transparency project.  Check that out to see how Courtney and I are using the tool.

Chris Guillebeau Rocks My World

Unless your brand new, you know I love Chris Guillebeau.  I don’t really hide my crush.  His work has shaped and continues to shape a large part of Man Vs. Debt.  In particular his free e-book, 279 Days to Overnight Success, radically changed my approach to blogging.  I love how Chris includes not only text, but audio and video in much of his premium content.  The stuff is really comprehensive.  While I enjoy all of them, I’ve really connected deeply with the three guides below:

The Unconventional Guide To Working for Yourself

Working for Yourself is the 279 Days guide on steroids.  After changing my blogging direction, this guide convinced me of the power of the ‘very small business’ concept.  It one of the sources that helped me get to the point where I knew my future was in blogging.  You know that point, I’m talking about?  Where it became a matter of when and not just if.

It’s a 53-page ebook, 3 separate 25-minute audio sessions, and includes a special SEO section written by Naomi Dunford.  This is Chris’ flagship product and was what converted me from blog reader to rabid AoNC-fanboy!

Become Your Own Travel Ninja

Travel Ninja is where Chris reveals many of his intermediate to advance level hacking tips.  He admits up front that this isn’t so you can save money on your spring break trip to Cancun.  It’s for people interested in round-the-world trips, advanced travelers, or long-term relocations.

I’ve personally used information in Travel Ninja on our own trip through Australia and New Zealand.  This is high-level stuff.  Some great strategies.

The Unconventional Guide to Social Media

Chris has been one of the people I’ve modeled in my approach to Social Media.  I’ve already wrote an extensive post on my own journey in social media, including a review of this guide.  Check it out for more information!

Do you dig the blog set-up?

Thesis – My Wordpress Theme

Thesis has been a lifesaver for me.  I’m an idiot when it comes to coding, website building, or anything technical really.  At first, I tried to ’save money’ with a free theme, but it was an uphill battle and a headache to make any minor changes.  Ultimately, the support forums is what drove me to take the chance with Thesis.

The first 9 months of blogging, I was able to do all the tweaks myself using the awesome support forums.  Only recently did I make the decision to bring in an expert for even deeper Thesis customization.

Let me put it this way:  In terms of the ‘details’ of the blog, buying the Thesis theme was the best decision I ever made regarding this blog.  It’s saved me time, stress, and money. 

Aweber – E-mail list building/maintenance

I use Aweber to run my e-mail list, The Militia.  The service offers a mind-boggling amount of amounts for newsletters and e-mails.  It allows me to manage my list, sub-divide into groups, run split-tests, and most importantly abide my laws governing opt-in e-mail lists.  When I asked people I trusted what they used to manage their e-mail lists, 100% of them said Aweber.  I can now see why.

IvyLime – Affordable Logo Design/Graphics

The logos and graphics you see on the site aren’t mine.  I suck at that stuff.  Instead of wasting countless hours on this, I call up Dustin Koester over at IvyLime.  He’s done minor work for me including my current header, Militia graphic in the sidebar, and my twitter profile.   I’m not making any money by referring you, just returning the special attention Dustin has given my projects!

IvyLime is currently running several affordable specials on packages, including bundling logos, banner, favicon, social media icons, and twitter background.  For those of you just launching blogs or sites, save yourself the headache and bundle some of these together.  If you need a custom job, Dustin’s super flexible.  Trust me, if he can please my twisted preferences…  he’ll have no problem meeting your needs! 

Must-Read Books!

Like many of you, I love reading books.  Several of them have really changed my life in one way or another.  Using Amazon, I’ve collect a sample of my favorite books below.  I’ve included some old and new, trying to provide a good mix.