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When I initially began my journey, I found myself constantly researching and experimenting with new tools, products, services, and courses (and I still do). It’s important to have the very best products in your toolbox. So, I created this all-encompassing, one-stop resource page that I keep updated for all your needs. I recommend bookmarking this page for your reference.
If you want to create an e-commerce site, this is by far the best and #1 way to go. Whether it’s just a small side hustle or a $100 million business (yes, there are many examples of this), Shopify can handle your needs. It’s also super simple to use and what I love is that there are a ton of apps to customize your store conversion optimization and capabilities.
All of my websites are now hosted on Liquid Web. This is the first thing you need to get your website running and I highly recommend them, with no reservations.
Is everything for your website. Thrive Themes is WordPress Themes and Plugins focused on making your website convert more visitors into subscribers, customers & clients. I have a full membership and use all their products — Themes, Leads, Landing Pages, Headline Optimizer (so amazing for bloggers), and more. Everything is super customizable and they are constantly evolving the product. Note: Yes, I’ve used them all — LeadPages, SumoMe, OptimizePress, etc. Thrive wins, by a lot.
The text message service I use and love. Text = email marketing 10 years ago. Get in now and engage your prospects, audience, fans in a deeper way.
Free assessment I created to discover your unique brain type, taken by over half a million people and counting. Are you an Alchemist, Oracle, Architect, or Explorer? Then, take my much more in-depth Elements Assessment to get your full personality profile.
The world’s first personalized planning system, and most funded planner of all time, made by yours truly.
Sorare is a fantasy football game where you can trade official digital collectibles. The platform is growing fast, with a global audience collecting, buying, and selling their favorite players. Use this link and you’ll get a free Rare card after you purchase 5 cards or 1 bundle.
Don’t just buy crypto – start earning on it. Open an interest account with up to 8.6% APY, trade currencies, or borrow money without selling your assets.
Mixmax is my favorite, it’s an all-in-one tool turns your inbox into something somewhat manageable. My favorite features are the open tracking, send later, email templates, and even the meeting scheduler is awesome. It’s free, but if you get a paid plan and use my link you’ll also get a $25 gift card.
Aurelia Ventures is the equity-free accelerator for tech-entrepreneurs worldwide. We support startups with our personal accelerator program that is tailored to your milestones, access to our network of mentors and access to perks & benefits worth $1,250,000+.
I can’t imagine managing my finances without the greatest bank on the planet! I said goodbye to old school brick and mortar banks years ago. ING Direct was acquired by Capital One, and not a thing has changed. 100% free. No fees, ever. Automatic savings, free checks, free person to person payments, and so much more. I highly recommend opening a free account with Capital One 360.Use this link to get a $50 bonus just for opening your account.
You need a checking account with Schwab for one reason: Unlimited ATM fee rebates worldwide. Yes, you read it right. I haven’t paid an ATM fee in years. This is also an amazing hack for overseas travel, since getting cash from the ATM is the easiest and best way. Simply connect this to your existing checking account (use Capital One 360 above!), and transfer some ‘ATM funds’ over.
U.S. based virtual assistant service. Oh Fancy Hands…how I love thee! This is the next best thing to having a dedicated personal assistant. At only $29.99 a month, it’s a steal, and will make your life so much easier. I’ve saved countless hours of my time. See my full review and use this linkto get 50% off your first month.
My favorite place to hire freelancers. I outsource technical tasks and projects as much as possible, so I can spend my time working on high lifetime value work. If it’s something someone else can do, delegate it. Focus on the stuff that fulfills you.
This is a must for any remote-working, traveler, location-independent types. Never check your postal mail again. Live anywhere, manage your mail online, and get your mail sent to you anywhere. I love this service, and researched this in depth. You’re given an address in Los Angeles county. If you can put up with that, go for it.
All of my websites are now hosted on Liquid Web. This is the first thing you need to get your website running and I highly recommend them, with no reservations.
This is the company I use to do all my podcast editing post-production. I spoke to 4-5 different companies and they were the most professional and hands on and continue to do great work for me. Use my link to get a free episode edited.
This is the best platform for creating an online store. Shopify has 24/7 support and offers easy-to-use features. You don’t need to be too technical to design a nice site.
I’ve tried pretty much every project management tool there is. The reason I use Asana and love it the most is that it really pulls the best parts of them all together. It’s easy to use, clean, customizable, has a great app, and more. IMO it absolutely beats Basecamp, Trello, Monday, and all the others.
I absolutely love Loom. It’s a more efficient, expressive, effective way to communicate and the best way to communicate asynchronously. I use it to record and share video messages of my phone and desktop. Faster than typing an email or meeting live.
Forget GoDaddy. This is the site to use when you buy your domains. They are a trusted name in the industry. Keep your domain registrar (Namecheap) and your hosting (Hostgator) separate. You may outgrow your hosting, but you’ll want to always keep your domains in one place.
An amazing free guide by Pat Flynn, who has two of the top podcasts in all of iTunes. Everything you need to get started is in here, with videos and step-by-step instructions
Lot sof stuff out there on the topic, but this is the most in-depth. Plus it’s free and they aren’t trying to upsell you into some course. I do use Buzzsprout for hosting, they are the best out there IMO.
Publishing posts on social media takes a ton of time. But using these two free tools together really helps. I put them together, because each serves its own purpose. With Buffer, you load up your queue and it’ll automagically publish them throughout the day. Hootsuite also has similar features, but is priceless for keeping an eye on Twitter lists that you may be following. Pro tip: Install the extensions/plugins so you can grab articles to share on the fly.
Publishing posts on social media takes a ton of time. But using these two free tools together really helps. I put them together, because each serves its own purpose. With Buffer, you load up your queue and it’ll automagically publish them throughout the day. Hootsuite also has similar features, but is priceless for keeping an eye on Twitter lists that you may be following. Pro tip: Install the extensions/plugins so you can grab articles to share on the fly.
Influex is the team that created my website, and this is a free kit on their process you can download. Also if you want to take it a big step further, here is their DIY Training program that shows you how to create your own site. And if you want them to do it for you like I did, just contact me and I’ll make an intro.
If only I had known about this amazing free resource when I first launched my blog, by Neil Patel of Quicksprout. This free (complete) guide has been more valuable to me than 90% of the resources/courses I’ve paid for. You will be far ahead of the rest if you simply implement everything Neil shares in this guide.
A free course from the very knowledgeable folks at this awesome company. I highly recommend checking this out if you’re getting started online.
If you need to book a place last minute, Hotel Tonight is your new best friend. This wonderfully designed app gives you incredible deals at hotels worldwide. The app now also allows you to book in advance, not just the same day. You can download the app here and use my promo code AASSADI3 to get $25 off your first booking
As the first ever Lyft passenger of all time (seriously, true story) I have to rep Lyft. I find that the drivers are professional and sociable, and the experience is similar to getting a ride from a friend of a friend. You can download the app here and you’ll also receive Lyft credit towards your first ride.
The more widely available, professional cousin of Lyft. Uber is available in 58 countries. Not cities. For example, I used Uber all throughout Rome during a recent trip for cheaper than a taxi. Here’s a full list of cities. Uber is a fast, reliable service you need to keep in your back pocket (smartphone). You can download the app here and even claim a free ride worth up to $20.
By far the best Gmail add-on out there. Mixmax essentially brings together all your favorite features and does it in a beautiful way. I no longer use Yesware, Boomerang, or Sidekick thanks to Mixmax. Read receipts on emails, an incredibly simple meeting scheduler, email templates, send later, awesome integrations, GIF’s, and more.
An organizational tool that allows you to sort ideas, to-do’s, projects, etc. in lists. My brain thinks in lists, and if yours does too you’ll love this. So, so simple. Yet so effective. Make sure you grab the mobile app also, it syncs across devices.
The ultimate tool — all your communication and collaboration together in one place (great for working with your team, assistants, or freelancers). Slack is incredibly intuitive and easy to use, has a free version, and integrates with just about everything. Use this link to get $100.00 in free credit.
A no-brainer. Use Evernote everywhere, all the time. The more you use it, the more you’ll understand its power. These days, I can’t imagine working without Evernote. Make sure in addition to the standard desktop version you have the, mobile app, and most importantly, the web clipper.
You’ll thank me for this one. Instantly clean up your inbox and unsubscribe from any emails you no longer want (or can’t get rid of). Note from Arman: I recommend deactivating the ‘rollup’ feature. It will only confuse your inbox more, and you can do a more custom organization through filters/labels yourself.
The apps that save me from hours of distraction. Freedom locks you away from the internet so you can get real work done. Anti-Social blocks you from social media and any sites you designate that waste your time. You can purchase them together as a bundle.
Password Manager and Secure Wallet. This app has not only saved me time, but frustration. 1Password will securely remember your password, credit card/wallet info, personal details, and more. I highly recommend it!
a complete tool for quick screen capture and screen recording, then share instantly. You can easily edit images/videos and share through a variety of methods. For a free version check out Jing.
My favorite read it later service. Install the bookmarklet for your browser and download the mobile app. Say no to distracting articles and read them on your time. Also integrates with Feedly.
This is what I use to write in Markdown, and is a very useful writing tool in general. If you’re writing for your website (or someone else’s) the best thing you can do is write in Markdown. You simply write in plain-text then instantly convert to HTML. And yes, I’ve compared it to many other Markdown writing tools—iA Writer wins. A solid alternative is Byword (Mac/iPad).
Must have, always be reading. With me everywhere. Sync your Kindle highlights to your Evernote and go to the next level.
These are the headphones I use almost daily. I use them when recording for my podcast and also love them for work and traveling to block out noise and bump awesome tunes.
Just updated my camera! This one is awesome, it features a 24.1 Megapixel (APS-C) sensor capable of capturing high-resolution image and video files. It perfect for YouTube videos!
If you want something that is sharp, gives you great images, and has really good atuofocus, then you won’t be disappointed with this lens.
This is the microphone I am currently using for the podcast (I did a ton of research on this). It’s extremely versatile, sounds amazing, and inexpensive.
For my podcast I decided on this setup so I could have both an at home and on-the-go set up. The SM58 mic plugs right into this, and I can have up to SIX mic’s for a recording session. The Zoom H4 also works fine.
The most well-recognized microphone there is. The Yeti gets the job done.
I upgraded from my laptop’s standard issue webcam recently to this very portable Logitech HD webcam. It was well worth it. I get compliments all the time on my video quality.
This thing is a beast, it’s my favorite toy and has enhanced the joy in my life so much. Once you go electric you’ll never go back. These guys did an Indiegogo campaign and in end raised $17+ million. I have this 750W 14AH model. I used to have a Sondors, this is much higher quality and an amazing value for the price.
I love this funny looking thing, it’s on my neck all day long. If you are on calls a lot or you like walking around and listening to music, audiobooks, whatever — this is a game changer.
If you need a wireless lavalier microphone system on a budget, this is solid.
Multiple docs and biohackers I trust recommended this sea salt, it’s delicious. I mix it ¼ teaspoon with water and lemon every morning to hydrate and start my day.
The best water bottle there is. My big things are: no spout, no spills, and keep your water cold. This does all that.
Another natural insurance policy I always travel with or take if I’m feeling a cold coming, been using this for years. Has lysine, vitamin C, echinacea, licorice, propolis, and odorless garlic.
Solid scale to also keep track of your body fat and a few other markers.
Tummy hurting? Backed up? This Is what you need. Trust.
This is more than a book. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the global leader in positive psychology, delivers his pioneering manifesto based on decades of research to show people how they can get the most fulfillment and enjoyment out of life. Read it.
Exceptional and entertaining read on negotiation with a very different perspective, so much good stuff in here. I apply the lessons to my daily life now.
This book is seen by many as the godfather of modern self-development. Great source material for much of what we see today that has lost its original foundational research. From Amazon: “Maltz was the first researcher and author to explain how the self-image (a term he popularized) has complete control over an individual’s ability to achieve (or fail to achieve) any goal.”
Everyone has heard of this book, but have you read it? Few non-fiction self-help/business bestsellers are as good as people say and rarely stand the test of time, but this one deserves all the praise. IMO this is close to PhD level thinking, well done Mark.
I would say Jordan Peterson is one of the most significant and important intellectuals of our time. This book is a beautiful summary of his work for creating a fulfilling and meaningful life. Highly recommended. Sidenote: his YouTube lectures are outrageously brilliant.
Important life-changing research that can radically shift your approach to life. Should be taught in schools.
Life’s Missing Instruction Manual. You should read Epictetus. “The Manual is a collection of Epictetus’ essential teachings and pithy sayings, compiled by his closest student. It is the most accessible and actionable guide to Stoic philosophy, as relevant today as it was in the Roman Empire.”
First off, Alan Watts is my hero. And second, I love his work on psychology and psychotherapy. This book does an amazing job of distilling Jung’s work (which is notoriously dense for many) and spirituality of the East .
The autobiography of Alan Watts. What more can I say? 🙂
I mean, if you want to learn philosophy you should probably start here.
Carl Jung is another hero of mine, and this is the work of his I’ve spent the most time with. Psychological Types are the foundation for what we’ve created at Project EVO with the Brain Type Assessment and Elements Assessment. For the really hungry ones, here are Jung’s collected works, all 17 volumes.
A wonderful read on Alan Watts’s core philosophy.
In 2019, I read this book at the right time and it just blew my mind open. It is the book I have gifted the most. Don’t be fooled by the title, I can’t recall a single moment in the book that the concept of the “soul” was even discussed. This is a profound book mostly about psychology, doses of philosophy, and little sprinkles of spirituality. It’s a book about how to navigate life and make the unconscious, conscious.
If you are doing any form of creative work in your life I recommend you read this book (which I found out is actually more of a course) and form a club/cluster and work through it together. If you can push through the areas that may not resonate, the deeper work that the book (and your group) offers is profound.
This was another one of those, “I can’t believe what I’m learning/realizing books.” My jaw would continuously drop and I would need to take lots of breaks. At the right time with the right mind, it’s profound. I think I’m due for a re-read actually.
I first read this at 18 years old and it launched me into a completely different life. It was a profound and significant moment, and I haven’t looked back.
Finally over 10 years after I read Eckhart Tolle’s first book, I read A New Earth. It took me over a year to read this book. I read it one sentence, sometimes even one word at a time. Profound isn’t a grandiose enough word to describe the experience I had reading this book.
I first read this when I was in college while getting ready to enter the work world. I believe I was far more successful because of it. A classic must read.
Understand and implement the principles in this classic book. This is one of the bestselling non-fiction books of all time (over 80 million copies sold!), originally written in 1937 by Napoleon Hill, and still very relevant today. This book will show you the formula for achievement, and not just money (don’t be misled by the title).
Important reading for all men.
An excellent book on writing, beautifully written.
Definitely my favorite book on writing. It’s definitely educational, but also just extremely entertaining at the same time. You can see why Stephen is such a genius.
Steven Pressfield delivers an incredibly powerful message about overcoming your fears and learning how to cultivate your creative side. I’d recommend this book to just about anyone. But, if you’re a writer, entrepreneur, or artist—you’ll love this book.
Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon
Most people know Austin from his book Steal Like An Artist, which is also great, but this is my favorite book of his. It’s a very deep book, every creator should read this.
Because we all need a little more Rumi and Beauty in our lives, and this is the best version and translation of his work I’ve come across.
Most people know this phrase and know Benjamin Franklin, but they haven’t read the actual source material. You should, it’s really good. In my experience the book contained a deeply spiritual energy to it, something Jung would call synchronistic.
Mesmerizing. It’s hard to pick a favorite on this list, but Robert Greene’s masterpiece — Mastery — might be it. A beautifully researched book with illustrative and inspiring stories that will have you clinging to every word. Your eyes and mind will open.
If I could speak to my younger entrepreneur self this is the book I’d made sure he read. Really truly important to your success as a business owner, changed everything for me.
Once I got through Profit First I wanted more from Michalowicz, and this was just the perfect companion. Solve the money, then time.
The classic and most important book on marketing.
Great book and easy read that will help you focus and learn the principles behind deep work. Goes nicely with Essentialism, similar concept.
I recommend this book by Chris Guillebeau for one (big) reason: I agree and resonate with practically every idea in it. We all deserve to live fulfilled lives that we choose. Chris agrees, and he wrote an incredible story about it. Also, I read this around the time I was thinking about leaving Google and venturing out on my own. It deeply inspired me. And clearly, it worked and I’ve never looked back.
Another one by Chris Guillebeau, this book is a massive part of what helped me finally declare my freedom and become a solopreneur. There are many books out there on entrepreneurship, but this one really changes the way you look at it. Chris gives you detailed case studies of businesses earning $50,000 or more with an initial investment of $100 or less (in most cases). Simple, direct, and full of interesting examples.
When I first started the process of writing my first traditionally published book (which is still yet to publish), I read at least 5-6 books on the topic. This was the best one, and I highly recommend it. Although very few people are still doing traditional publishing and have shifted to hybrid or self publishing, I do still believe a proposal is important to create. Think of it as a business plan for your book.
This is one of my favorite stories of all time. I don’t know what it is really, but it’s just incredible. Make sure to read this Penguin Classics version, and pretty much ignore the movie. The book is completely different.
If you haven’t read this yet, what a gift. Shantaram is my favorite novel of all time, and is for many others as well. It’s a work of art that you won’t be able to put down and wish would never end.
Because I love Carl Sagan (another hero) and this book is mesmerizingly beautiful and brilliant.
The incredible bestseller, one of the most beautiful fiction stories of all time.
Note from Arman: It’s not always necessary to pay for fancy products and courses. Everything you need to get started and more is available online for free. Follow people whose teachings resonate with you and consume everything they put out.
Disclosure: This website contains no advertising, and takes countless hours of research and writing in an aim to create useful, insightful content. You can support my work by using my links when purchasing products/services I recommend. Some of these are referral or affiliate links, and at zero additional cost to you I may receive a small referral bonus or commission if you make a purchase. And of course, I only recommend products I have personally tested and used, and believe will be helpful or useful for you too. Cheers!
