I had to do some work last Saturday…

It was the weekend, yes, but I’m working on a really big project at the moment that urgently needs my attention.

I got up early and flipped open my laptop…

Only to see that my screen had a thin black line running down one side.

Hmmm…

At first, I wasn’t too alarmed…

After all, my laptop is 7 years old, so I expect the odd glitches here and there.

Usually these things steady themselves once the computer has loaded everything up and gone through whatever processes it runs in the background.

“IT KNOWS WHAT IT’S DOING” I reassured myself.

So I went into the kitchen and made coffee.

When I returned the screen was almost completely black except for a small circle of text.

I was amazed because it was just like the ‘iris fade’ shot which was often used in silent movies.

It looked a bit like this…

As you can imagine, it was a highly disconcerting thing to see on a modern laptop screen.

A few seconds later, the little circle popped out of existence and my screen was dead!

Of course, I tried switching it off and on again.

(Which is about the extent of my IT skills.)

Still dead.

That was when panic ensued.

The whole reason I was working on a Saturday was that I was racing to hit a tight deadline.

Even one day without my laptop could be a disaster!

So I immediately bought a new Macbook Pro online and jumped on a bus to Covent Garden Apple store where I picked it up.

It’s amazing, really…

From screen death to rebirth in less than 3 hours!

Which was where the fun started (and also where the point of this email is headed,)

Because I found myself in an unusual situation.

In front of me was a brand new computer, but with none of the tools, platforms, software and apps loaded on it yet.

I had a very limited time to get everything up and running in order to carry out my planned work and hit the deadline.

So the question to myself (and to you) was this…

What Do You REALLY Need to Run a Business?

I needed to work out what was more important and necessary for me to run my 7-figure business from my laptop.

Well it turned out that I only needed a relative few.

Thankfully, all of them were cloud-based, rather than being on the hard drive of my old computer.

This meant that all I had to do was select what I wanted, then sign into that system, download the app or software, and load it up.

It made for an eye-opening exercise…

Because I was forced to narrow everything to absolute essentials.

So I thought it would be worth sharing them with you.

• iCloud This is the cloud storage which is built into Apple devices. It keeps your files, photos, and documents synced across devices, and means they are all backed-up online. If you have a PC rather than a Mac then the equivalent is OneDrive, which is built directly into Windows and integrates with Microsoft Office apps like Word, Excel, and Outlook. It also automatically backs up files and folders across your devices.
• Dropbox I use this for long-term file archiving and backup. It’s been around forever and still does the job brilliantly.
• Canva The only design platform I need for social graphics, lead magnets, checklists, slide decks (in fact, pretty much anything). It uses drag and drop tools which means it’s easy and instinctive for beginners to use.
• ChatGPT Yes, this one’s obvious but I use ChatGPT for help with images, brainstorming, design, content writing, planning, and a dozen other things each day. I also dip into Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Midjourney — but 90% of my work runs through ChatGPT.
• Notion An all-in-one digital notebook and planner. I use it for jotting down thoughts and clipping websites I want to revisit.
• Yahoo! Mail Yes, I know it’s old-fashioned but I’ve used this email inbox for over 25 years and it still works! I could switch… but I can’t quite give it up.
• Brevo It’s the broadcasting platform I use to send out these very emails. The fact that you are reading this shows that it works!
• Veed I use Veed to record screen tutorials and quick walkthrough videos. It has a great interface and easy export options.
• Camtasia: My trusted video editor. It’s fast, intuitive, and handles screen recordings with ease.
  If I was running a business solo, then I’d have everything I need with the above tools.

But because I have a team…

4 Recommended Collaborative Tools

Here are four great ways to stay on top of projects along with your team, or if you often work with freelancers and JV partners.

• Google Docs My go-to for collaborating on documents with other people. It works just like Word and allows you to work on a document that’s stored online, where all the latest changes are automatically updated, and anyone you invited can make changes. It avoids confusion over the latest drafts!
• Slack We use this for quick internal chats and threads. It is sometimes easier than dealing with long and messy email chains – yet it also keeps everyone in the loop.
• Zoom For face-to-face (ish) meetings, calls, and screen shares.
• Asana This platform keeps our projects and deadlines organised. You can upload files, link to ongoing googledocs, make comments and ask questions. It’s especially useful when we’ve got multiple launches or campaigns on the go.

So there you have it…

My personal collection of tools for running a 7-figure business!

In a digital world with so many gizmos, plug-ins, platforms and apps, it turns out I only needed a handful to meet that deadline.

If they’re unfamiliar to you, it’s well worth checking them out!

And if you have your own recommendations for tech tools you simply CANNOT do without, feel free to share them with me!