Tools I Use
For a long time, my collection of tools looked like most people’s.
A growing list.
Some useful.
Some interesting.
Some that felt promising, but never quite found their place.
It wasn’t until I began building real projects—writing, publishing, organizing, experimenting—that a pattern started to emerge.
Some tools stayed open all day.
Others were opened once… and quietly set aside.
Over time, I stopped asking, “What’s the best tool?”
and started asking, “What actually supports the work?”
That shift changed everything.
In Quiet Selling, tools are not solutions.
They are part of a system.
The right tools:
- reduce friction
- support natural workflow
- respect energy and pace
- make the work feel easier (or even enjoyable)
The wrong tools do the opposite—even when they are powerful.
This page is not a list of recommendations.
It is a working map of the tools that have earned a place in the system—
and how they fit into the work as it actually happens.
Some will stay.
Some will be replaced.
Some new ones will be added.
All of them are here because they are being used.
What follows is the current system—organized by how the work flows.
Working with Tools
Over time, I stopped asking, “What’s the best tool?”
and started asking, “What actually supports the work?”
In Quiet Selling, tools are not solutions.
They are part of a system.
The right tools:
- reduce friction
- support natural workflow
- respect energy and pace
- make the work feel easier (or even enjoyable)
But this isn’t theoretical.
If I look at my browser tabs on a typical day, I see something like this:
- Gmail
- ChatGPT
- Google Drive
- WordPress / Divi
- Google Keep
- Airtable
- Evernote Extension
- MS Word on Toolbar
- File Manager on Toolbar
These are the ones that stay open.
Everything else—documents, research, and supporting work—comes and goes with the workflow.
Thinking & Writing Tools
These tools support the early and middle stages of the work—where ideas are explored, shaped, and gradually clarified.
AI tools act as thinking partners during drafting and experimentation, while traditional editors like Google Docs and Word are where ideas settle into finished form.
ChatGPT / AI
Used as a thinking partner for drafting, outlining, and exploring ideas. Most useful early in the process, when direction matters more than precision. It also helps capture trials and errors and shape them into more refined processes. Like any good tool, its role evolves as the work develops.
Gemini
A second perspective during idea development. Useful for comparison, alternative approaches, and occasionally surprising connections. Moving between models becomes part of the process—offering different angles on the same idea.
Google Docs
Where most drafts begin to stabilize. Simple, reliable, and easy to return to—so it never interrupts the work. Conversations often begin alongside a working document, which becomes a place to capture and refine the strongest ideas as they emerge. Project files live here, even when they begin elsewhere.
Microsoft Word
Used for more structured editing and longer-form refinement. A familiar environment that supports careful revision, and a reliable local workspace when preparing files for use across different tools.
Together, these tools form a loop.
Ideas are explored, captured, refined, and eventually shaped into something that can be shared.
Website & Publishing
These tools run the Quiet Selling site and shape how ideas move from draft to published work.
Together, they form the environment where content is structured, refined, and shared.
WordPress
Used as the foundation for everything I publish.
Blog posts become archives. Pages become structured guides. It has even served as a simple way to share a book—making stories available without needing anything more complex.
There’s a reason so many sites are built on this platform. It’s stable, well understood, and when questions arise, the answers are usually easy to find.
I’ve built sites from scratch in HTML and worked with more complex systems, but I keep coming back to WordPress. It’s flexible without being overwhelming, and familiar enough that it never gets in the way.
It’s comfortable—and that matters more than it might seem.
Divi 5
Used as the design framework across multiple sites.
The block-based approach makes it easy to build and adjust layouts, while still allowing each page to be shaped to match the vision.
The relationship is occasionally a bit love-hate—this is the most rebellious tool in the system—but it’s also the one that makes it possible to create exactly what I have in mind.
Hostinger
The hosting platform behind all of my sites.
It’s not something I think about often—and that’s the point. When hosting works, it fades into the background and lets the work take center stage.
I’ve used it for many years. Performance has been consistent, the experience steady, and the platform has improved over time without requiring constant relearning.
There are more powerful or specialized options available, but for my needs, this has been a reliable choice.
Together, these tools make publishing possible.
They carry a finished idea across the final stretch—from something complete to something shared.
Creative Production
These tools support the visual side of the work—where ideas become images, layouts, and finished designs.
Canva
From logos to birthday cards, Canva is where most designs come together and get their final polish.
It’s especially strong in the last stage of the process—when something is close, but not quite right. Small adjustments to layout, text, or spacing can quickly bring a design into balance without needing to start over.
Over time, the tool has expanded well beyond simple templates. Features like background editing, image expansion, and text cleanup make it easy to refine designs without specialized software.
The newer AI tools are still evolving, but they improve steadily. Each time I return, I find something that saves a bit more time or removes a bit more friction.
It’s not where every design begins—but it’s often where they finish.
Organization & Systems
Ideas, projects, and experiments need structure. These tools form the backbone of the organizational system behind Quiet Selling.
They don’t generate the work—but they make it possible to return to it, build on it, and keep it from getting lost.
Airtable
The central hub for organizing projects, tools, and processes.
It provides structure without feeling rigid, and makes it easy to connect ideas across different parts of the system.
Core tables include:
- Ideas — a place to capture future pursuits
- Artifacts — items with a defined life (templates, posts, stories), tracked from draft to completion
- Tools — connects tools to ideas and artifacts, showing how they are used
- Process Library — notes on evolving workflows and requirements for documenting new processes
Excel
Used for structured thinking, planning, and analysis.
When something needs to be worked out step by step, Excel provides a clear and flexible environment.
Google Sheets
A lighter companion to Excel—useful for quick tracking, shared access, and simple working models.
Google Keep
The capture tool.
Quick thoughts, reminders, and small ideas land here first, before finding a more permanent place in the system.
Evernote
A long-standing archive of earlier work.
Used less actively now, but still holds a significant part of the history behind current projects.
Automation & Special Projects
These tools support deeper exploration—when a project needs something more structured, technical, or experimental.
Python
Used for automation, data handling, and building small tools that support the system.
It allows repetitive or complex tasks to be simplified over time.
VSCode
The working environment for coding and technical projects.
Clean, flexible, and well-suited for experimenting and building in a structured way.
Together, these tools provide continuity.
They keep ideas accessible, projects organized, and progress steady over time.
Communications & Community
Even introverts like me still need connection.
These tools support communication, updates, and the quieter side of staying in touch—without overwhelming the work itself.
Gmail
The central inbox.
It handles everything from direct communication to system notifications, forming the main channel through which information arrives.
Newsletters
A way to stay connected to ideas, people, and conversations beyond my own work.
Some are read closely. Others are skimmed. Together, they form a steady background of perspective and input.
Aweber
Used to share work and stay in touch over time.
It supports newsletters, subscriber management, and simple automation—making it possible to build ongoing relationships through email rather than one-time interactions .
Communication today can easily become noise.
I’m still working on both systems and discipline here—learning what to receive, what to keep, and what to let pass.
These tools don’t just connect me to others.
They shape how much of the outside world enters the work—and how much of the work reaches back out.
Filing and Archive Systems
A quiet system behind the scenes keeps projects organized.
Most files live in either Google Drive or OneDrive. These provide reliable storage and easy sharing. The real value, however, comes from consistent naming conventions and linking key files inside Airtable so they can be found quickly.
Good systems reduce friction. When files are easy to find, creative work flows more smoothly.
- Google Drive
- One Drive
- Naming conventions
- Temporary Inboxes
- Repeatable Folder Structures