What Tool Should I Use? Here’s 60+ Digital Tools for Building a Business

Using Notion, Softr and Airtable to Create a Directory

Two months ago in this newsletter I wrote about the concept of “selling your sawdust” and published my personal list of tools (which many of you have downloaded — look what you’ve done!).

Today, I wanted to take you on a behind-the-scenes journey of how “selling your sawdust” has evolved from a personal database of tool recommendations to a fully-fledged public web app.

From Personal Use to Public Offering

It all began with a simple notion (pun intended). I created a personal database in Notion filled with tools that I frequently recommend. This is not unusual — as an advisor and digital consultant, it’s a core part of my job to make recommendations that help people achieve the thing they want to achieve. I just needed a way to make it easy for myself.

The Push to Ship

Encouraged by the idea of “selling your sawdust,” I decided to mute my perfectionist brain and share my personal database as a pay-what-you-want product. Most people grabbed it for free, some made a donation (🙏🏼), and overall I was getting good signals.