Niche down... why I needed to + my current tech stack

When I started my business— and up until just recently, my vision was to help walk you through ALL the things you need to know in order to run your business smoothly with tech.

I wanted to be able to give you an idea of how to use a variety of tools and apps, or maybe just choose the ones that you are using and forget the rest.

What I’ve come to realize is that I don’t need to (nor can I) be all things to all people.

Yes… we’ve heard it before… NICHE DOWN!

Master those few tools and use everything they have to offer instead of piecing together a bunch of different ones. If some of the tools below seem intriguing (or maybe you already use them!), then stay tuned-in to future emails that go more in depth on tips and tricks for using these specific tools.

Below is my current tech stack, and this is all I need right now (outside of things I use for podcasting, but those are specialized). I want you to look at my list and reevaluate if you can pare yours down to just a few.

Coda - A modular, cloud-based, document management (think Google docs plus sheets). I use Coda for project management, SOPs, account management, podcast show notes, financial management, metrics, goal tracking, etc. Basically anything you can do with Google Drive.

ActiveCampaign - Email marketing (you can also use the landing pages if you don’t have a website). I use this to send emails, automations, marketing campaigns, and to segment my customer list.

ThriveCart - Shopping cart and course platform. In my opinion, one of the best shopping carts available (I haven’t used them all so I can’t definitely say it’s THE best). I also use their new Learn platform to house my online courses.

ShowIt - Website builder and platform. I recently switched my website from Wordpress to ShowIt to keep things simple and easy (my Wordpress site is still active as I work on making the switch).

So there you have it. My simple tech stack. What does yours look like?

For Full Show Notes: https://www.mirandamerten.com/87

Mentioned In This Episode:

• Coda
• ActiveCampaign
• ThriveCart
• Showit
• Canva
• Plann
• Emma Troy Design (my ShowIt website designer)

Other Helpful Links:

• My Favorite Tools
• Free Productivity Power Pack
• 10-Day Operations Challenge
• Website

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Welcome Coffee Powered Systems equippingwomen with actionable steps to overcome
overwhelm and streamlinebusiness and life.
So grab your favorite drinkand come hang out with me.
I'm your host, Miranda Merten.
This is coffee powered systems.
If you're a regularlistener, welcome back.
I appreciate you.
I am so happy you're here.

(00:21):
If you are a new listener, I amso glad you found this show.
Today I'm going to talk about NichingDown and give you a little backstory.
When I started my business, and pretty
much just up until recently, my vision wasto help you walk through all the things
you needed in order to learn howto run your business smoothly.

(00:45):
Hence the name coffee powered systems.
Basically all the systems, all the things.
So I wanted to be able to give you an idea
of how to use a variety of different toolsand apps, or maybe just choose the ones
that you were using in yourbusiness and then forget the rest.
Or you can look at a title and use thatduring a specific season in your life.

(01:08):
What I've come to realize is that I don't
need to, nor can I be allthings to all people.
Yeah, we've heard it all before.
Say it with me niche down.
Everyone is right.
Not only did I need to niche down with
what I was learning, but alsowhat I was teaching and selling.
And it was ridiculous of me, really, to

(01:30):
think that I could teach youabout every tool out there.
I thought that even if you were using adifferent project management app, I can
generalize the process and stillgive you good guidance and service.
But the truth is that's not true.
Not only do you not learn a whole lot, Idon't get fulfillment from just teaching

(01:50):
generalities, and I don't feellike I'm teaching you much value.
So after I had this epiphany recently, I
decided to niche down and teach only aboutmy favorite tools, the two or three things
that I use and always recommendwhen certain situations arise.

(02:11):
So that's what I want to propose to you.
Niche down and stop chasingevery tool that comes along.
I want you to focus on the ones thatbenefit you and serve you the most.
That can be for right now, that can be for
your current business or whatyou're planning for in the future.

(02:32):
But I do want you to focus on the ones
that are going to benefitand serve you the most.
Let's try an exercise.
So I want you to take out a piece of paper
and write down all the tools that you'reusing at this moment in your business.
What are you using for email, marketing,organization, project management.

(02:52):
Keep going until you write everythingdown that you are using daily or weekly.
That includes your freeproducts or paid products.
Even the ones that you dabble in.
Maybe you use canva because you are only
using graphics once a month, but Iwant you to write that down as well.
After you have all of those writtendown, determine if you need all of them.

(03:15):
Does each one serve its purpose fully?
Can you consolidate or getrid of something completely?
Now, after you've chosen the tools thatyou use consistently and that makes sense
for your business, I want you to masterthose tools and everything that they have
to offer instead of piecingtogether a bunch of different ones.

(03:38):
For instance, I use Planfor social media planning.
And if you have a social media planner or
scheduler, you might just be using it for,let's say you use it to auto post on
Instagram and that's allyou've been using it for.
Once you get into Plan and actually using
it, you'll notice that there are aton of other different features.

(04:02):
It pretty much posts and schedulesto all the other social media apps.
It has a calendar in there that you can
use and schedule out and kindof plan your social media feed.
It has ideas and content startersthat you can use in there as well.
And once you master it, you might realizeyou're using other tools that already are

(04:26):
included in some of thethings that you are using.
So I'm going to walk you through my
current tech stack and what I didthe last few weeks was really niche down.
I basically dropped my main tools down to
about four or five thatI use all the time.
And what I'm going to do from moving

(04:48):
forwardon my website, emails, services with
clients, really just focus andhone in on these specific apps.
And then I will still talk about allother tools because I'm a tool junkie.
But me focusing and learning these and
mastering these specific tools is reallygoing to help not only my business, but

(05:10):
also the people that come looking forinformation about these specific things.
So first off, I've got Koda.
Koda is what I use fordocument management.
It's a modular, cloud based.
Think of it as like Google Sheets plus
Google Docs and I use itfor project management.
SOPs account management, editing, my

(05:32):
podcast, notes, event financialmanagement, metrics, goal tracking,
whatever you can useCoda for so many things.
Basically anything that you can do in
Google Drive except it's alittle bit more organized.
My second one is ActiveCampaign.
Obviously you will need anemail marketing platform.
This is mine.

(05:53):
With Active Campaign, you can actuallyalso use the landing page option.
They do have landing pageswithin their platform.
If you don't have a website, think about
if you have something like lead pages andyou're already paying for Active Campaign,
you can use Active Campaigns,landing pages, so things like that.
Like I said before, you might be payingfor things that you don't necessarily need

(06:15):
because your other toolsalready have them within it.
So I use ActiveCampaign to send emails,
set up automation marketing campaigns,and to help segment my customer list.
My next tool is thrivecart.
Thrivecart is my shopping cart andnow it's also my course platform.

(06:36):
So in my opinion, Thrivecart is oneof the best shopping carts available.
Granted, I haven't used all of them,so I can't say it's the best one.
I'm sure there are comparable ones outthere, but with the fact that they have
added the course platform as well,it just makes it super easy.
I love the way it looks.
The learning platform now houses mycourses, so if you get any one of my

(06:59):
courses or freebies, you will end upin my Thrive cart learn platform.
And lastly, I was using WordPress fora long, long time for my websites.
For all my websites I always use
WordPress, but I recently switchedmy main website to Show It.
And Show It is a website builder and
platform and I recently switched tobasically keep things simple and easy.

(07:24):
Show It also is a hosting provider.
So even though I still recommendSiteGround as a host, if you do have
something like WordPress, stillShow It host websites as well.
So I just bundled it andpays for it all in one.
I switched I found a website designer, aShow It website designer and worked with

(07:45):
her to get used one of hertemplates that she had for Show It.
And I love it.It's beautiful.
I just switched everythingover within the last month.
So if you have not been to my websiterecently, miranda Merten you will now see
a brand new website thatis built on Show It.
So your action this week, I want you toexamine your business and see if there are

(08:08):
areas in there that youneed to niche down.
Don't be afraid tojust let go of tools that aren't serving
you that you haven't been using for awhile, or maybe they're just a bit
cumbersome and you just use itbecause you're familiar with it.
But every time you open up this tool,you wonder why you're still using it.

(08:31):
Just because you're familiar with it and
it's easy and you don't want to switchthings over, but sometimes just getting
rid of things, starting over or just againniching down to only the tools that you
use is going to actually be morehelpful for you in the long run.
Reach out to me.Let me know if you use any of these tools

(08:52):
or if you have some favorites that you areusing, or let me know if you niche down in
your business and what you'regoing to decide to niche down to.
All right, that is all I have for today.
I will see you next time.
Thanks for listening tocoffee powered systems.
You can find links to everything mentionedin the episode down in the Show Notes or
on the website at MirandaMerten.com if youenjoyed this episode, load rate and review

(09:16):
it in itunes or where you enjoylistening so others can find it too.
And join me here next time.Bye.