🔧 Our Actual Stack

Tools & Resources

Every tool on this page has been tested in our actual workflow. We don't recommend things we haven't used. Affiliate links are marked — full disclosure.

⚡ Affiliate Disclosure: Some links below are affiliate links. If you sign up through our link, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps keep the lights on. We only include tools we genuinely use and recommend.

✍️ AI Writing Tools

✍️
We Use This
Jasper AI
Full-featured AI writing assistant. Best for long-form blog content, product descriptions, and email sequences. Templates for everything. Slower than ChatGPT but more structured output.
★★★★☆

From $49/month

Try Jasper Free →
💬
We Use This
ChatGPT Plus
The Swiss Army knife of AI. Research, ideation, first drafts, code, analysis. GPT-4o is genuinely fast now. Worth $20/month if you're serious about building online. Jeff's primary brain.
★★★★★

Free or $20/month (Plus)

Visit ChatGPT →
🔍
Perplexity AI
AI search engine. Way better than Google for research. Gives cited answers. Use it for market research, competitor analysis, and fact-checking before you publish.
★★★★☆

Free or $20/month (Pro)

Read Comparison →

🎨 Design Tools

🎨
We Use This
Canva Pro
Used daily for POD designs, blog graphics, social media content, and email templates. The Pro features (background remover, brand kit, Magic Studio AI) are worth every cent. Best ROI of any design tool.
★★★★★

Free or ~$17/month (Pro)

Try Canva Free →
🖼️
Adobe Firefly
AI image generation built into Adobe's ecosystem. Commercially safe (trained on licensed content) — critical if you're selling POD products. Better than Midjourney for product mockups.
★★★★☆

Included with Adobe CC

Visit Adobe Firefly →
⚡
Kittl
Specialised design tool for POD-style graphics — retro badges, vintage typography, distressed textures. Perfect for Etsy t-shirt and mug designs. Way faster than Canva for this specific niche.
★★★★☆

Free or $10/month

Visit Kittl →

🛒 Ecommerce Platforms

📦
We Use This
Printify
Our POD platform of choice. 300+ products, global print providers, direct Etsy integration. Free plan available. Premium ($29/month) gets you 20% off all products — pays for itself once you're doing volume.
★★★★☆

Free or $29/month (Premium)

Get Printify Free →
🏪
Etsy
25+ million active buyers. Best starting platform for digital products and POD. $0.20/listing fee + 6.5% transaction fee. Built-in SEO traffic if you optimize properly.
★★★★☆

$0.20/listing + 6.5% fees

Etsy vs Shopify Guide →
🛍️
Shopify
Best for building your own brand. Full control, better margins (no marketplace fees), and scales to 8 figures. Harder to get traffic from scratch. Use once you have a proven product.
★★★★☆

From $39/month

Try Shopify Free →

🌐 Hosting & Web

🌐
Hostinger
Best cheap hosting for new bloggers and niche sites. Starts from $3/month. LiteSpeed servers are fast. 1-click WordPress install. Good support. Ideal for a first content site.
★★★★☆

From ~$3/month

Get Hostinger →
⚡
Netlify
We host this site on Netlify. Free tier is generous — unlimited bandwidth for static sites. Perfect for HTML/CSS sites, portfolios, or anything that doesn't need a server. Zero cost to start.
★★★★★

Free to start

Visit Netlify →
📊
Ahrefs / Semrush
Keyword research and SEO tools. Pricey ($99-$199/month) but essential if you're serious about organic traffic. Ahrefs has a better backlink index; Semrush better for on-page analysis.
★★★★☆

From $99/month

Read SEO Articles →

📧 Email & Marketing

📧
We Use This
Kit (ConvertKit)
Email marketing platform built for creators. Clean automations, solid deliverability, good free tier (up to 10,000 subscribers now). This is what we use for the Bacon Brief newsletter.
★★★★★

Free up to 10k subs

Try Kit Free →
🐵
Mailchimp
Industry standard. Better templates than Kit. Free up to 500 contacts. Good for ecommerce integrations. But the automation UX is clunky. Better for transactional email than creator newsletters.
★★★☆☆

Free up to 500 contacts

Visit Mailchimp →
🔗
Fiverr
For outsourcing tasks you can't or won't do yourself — logo design, video editing, voiceovers, SEO audits. Prices range wildly. Filter by "Level Two" sellers for reliable quality.
★★★★☆

Pay per gig

Browse Fiverr →