Throughout my life I’ve encountered people, books, resources and tools that have had a incalculably positive effect on my life. I’m sharing some of them here so that you can gain the insight, make your life more efficient, productive and simply delight in the magic that some of the following will bring to you!
Whether you need an accessible resource to embolden the geek in you or you desire some motivation and a shift of the old mindset to a more expressive and expansive realm, I’m certain you’ll will find something in this ever growing list!
Some of the following books and resources contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Books
A Happy Pocket Full of Money: Infinite Wealth and Abundance in the Here and Now
by David Cameron Gikandi
By far one of the most influential books I’ve ever read. From the first chapter, I was glued. I am currently one my 4th read through of this gem. I will continually loop through this book for the rest of my life. It’s that powerful.
If you’ve got a lack mentality, this book will obliterate the subconscious limitations you are setting for yourself.
Read this book over and over again. Share with others. It will greatly improve this world.
The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life’s Perfection
by Michael A. Singer
Have you ever wondered is there was a method to the apparent chaos you experience in the world? What would happen if you were brave enough to say “Yes” to whatever came into your experience, no matter how ridiculous or incongruous it may seem?
Well, this is exactly what Michael Singer did in his attempt to quiet the inner voice inside. The voice that incessantly dictates your likes and dislikes and plans out the “safe” way to advance.
This book is nothing short of astounding and will inspire you to let go of the reigns more often than not.
Head First HTML and CSS: A Learner’s Guide to Creating Standards-Based Web Pages
The Head First Guides are exceptional learning resources and this one is legendary for the crafty way it injects you with a level of geek comprehension you didn’t think was possible. You hear it all the time: “Build a website without knowing any code”. I’ve got news for you: websites are made of code and if you don’t know at least a smidgeon, you are doing more harm than good.
The authors: “We think of a ‘Head First’ reader as a learner.” Indeed they do. Using engaging visuals, words near the graphics and diagrams, and a conversational tone they get the learner to “think more deeply”, “get — and keep — the reader’s attention”, and finally, “touch their emotions”. I guarantee, you’ll never encounter a more enjoyable tech book than this one. Unless, it’s another in the amazing Head First Guide series.
Tech and Plugins
Site Ground Hosting
Years ago, I swore by a hosting company called Site5. Then one summer their quality and responsiveness of their tech support hit rock bottom over night. The main cause was the EIG acquisition of this amazing hosting company. EIG let the highly skilled and knowledgable staff go. The previous CEO was disturbed enough by this to take it upon himself to find jobs for the staff. Siteground took them all.
So, I followed the brains to SiteGround and have never looked back. SiteGround are known to have the best customer support in the industry, they provide free SSL, four weeks of backups and their servers are rarely down. I’ve only had good experiences with them. It took me 2 years before I became an affiliate because I wanted to make sure I was recommending a hosting company I could trust. They did not disappoint.
GeneratePress
When it comes to creating your website you should have infinite flexibility and not have to reinvent the wheel every single time. That’s why I love the GeneratePress theme. It’s the theme I recommend to all of my coaching students and my Decked Out WP members. It’s robust enough for extreme custom coding and still manageable for those who are allergic to code. The basic theme is free and has enough options to provide a solid foundation to build . However, I highly recommend extending it with the premium plugin. There are so many more goodies for a killer price. And the support for Generatepress is superb!
GenerateBlocks
The Block editor is the revolutionary default way of doing WordPress these days. If you haven’t embraced it yet, then I suggest you do so soon since the Classic editor plugin hasn’t been updated in a while and will be retiring forever by the end of 2022. GenerateBlocks is a plugin that extends the WordPress Block Editor with a handful of blocks that are extremely powerful. GenerateBlocks Pro brings a whole host of goodies to the editor such as a template library, geometric border shapes and more!
Memberpress
This incredible plugin can turn your WordPress site into a full blown membership site. It’s the very one I’m using here on WP with Heart.
Formidable Pro
Formidable Forms is one of the most versatile and robust form plugins for WordPress. Not only does it do an awesome job with basic forms but you can create complex form based applications if you opt for the Premium Pro version. It’s my go-to every single time.
A lite version is available in the WordPress Plugin Repository. You can grab the pro version and the sky is the limit on what you can create!
Envira Gallery
This is an elegantly simple gallery. The I recommend Envira Pro. It has important options like default settings for all galleries. This comes in handy if you are a prolific gallery maker and you want the styles to be homogenous across the site.
Email capture is a vital component to a successful online business or any business, for that matter. With an email list, you’ll always have contacts with which to share your promotions, events and words of wisdom. Your email list is yours. It can’t disappear because a platform has given up the ghost. See, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter followers are not yours. If you delete your account or the third party site closes shop, you lose all those followers. So, building your own list is really important, yo!
My go-to email campaign online software is Active Campaign. They’ve been doing their thing since 2003. What I love about it is the ability to create extremely detailed automations and endless ways to segment my main list. They also have a rather large tutorial video library and offer a course on Teachable to help you wrangle in all the cool features.
Gusto
I just love getting an email notice that I’ve been paid by my beloved festival client! Gusto is a wonderful way to add Payroll tracking to your fledgling business. It’s delightful and easy for your employees to keep track of their earnings!
Pixlr
Back in the day, Photoshop was the only kid on the block and getting acquainted with it came at a hefty pinch to the pocketbook. If you want the power of Photoshop without the financial hit, then Pixlr is an excellent option. It really is powerful! And best of all? It works right in the browser! You can use it for free, but you get more features if you pay the minimal monthly fee!
Creative Market
I love Creative Market. The pride themselves on providing unique design assets for any project. And the prices start as low as $2.00. That’s great for that shoestring budget when you’re starting out and you still want your website and other graphics to look like the pros. Most of the assets you find here are ready-to-use!
Popup Maker
This is one powerful plugin! The free version is packed with goodies: Different styles (slide in, banners, popup), endless trigger and cookie configurations, versatile display options and it’s easy to style. There is a suite of add-ons, including my favorite: The exit intent popup.