I spend $2,426 a year to run my media business

Hey honeys and hustlers,

I used to collect subscriptions the way I collect notebooks—one for every idea, every workflow, every new promise of helping me become “more productive.” But lately I’ve been canceling. Not because I’m anti-tools, but because I got tired of paying for a stack that mostly kept me busy managing the stack. The surprising part is what happened next: my work got clearer. When I simplified what I actually do to writing and producing shows, I actually had to decide what helps me do that efficiently. I kept what genuinely supports my media business—my home base in Notion, a few essentials for writing, recording, design, publishing, and finance—and let the rest go.

I’m also not leaning on AI the way solopreneurs are being told we “should.” I use it sometimes, mainly in Notion and Perplexity, but I don’t want my business to run on constant prompting. The goal isn’t to outsource thinking; it’s to protect it. AI can help me move faster on small tasks and think through things I’m pondering in my business or creative projects, but it can’t replace taste, discernment, or the lived experience that makes my work sound like me. Doing less, better, has made my output feel sharper and my focus steadier. Fewer subscriptions means fewer tabs, fewer decisions, fewer subtle pulls away from the work, and fewer untracked renewal emails (yeah, sometimes I forgot I was even paying for things until that email hit my inbox). The real flex isn’t having the biggest tech stack; it’s having a setup that gets out of the way so I can actually make the thing.

Here’s a breakdown of what I spend per year running my business:

Total: $2,426

The ones I have affiliate codes for are down below in the footer if you’d like to check those out.

There are some SaaS tools I only pay for as needed: Bolt (vibe coding), nano banana (AI graphic design mock-ups), Namecheap (domains), and Dripify (LinkedIn DM automation. I pay for these by the month or by usage. There are some SaaS tools that I use for free and haven’t seen the need to upgrade to a paid plan: Canva (graphic design), Luma (events), and Perplexity (AI deep search/research). I used to pay for a social media scheduling tool, but now that I’m focused on social media dramatically less, I don’t see the point. All the places I post on now have native scheduling, which makes it easier if that’s something I want: LinkedIn, Threads, and YouTube are where I spend my time.

For all the things digital tools can do, sometimes there’s just nothing better than pen and paper to sketch and write out ideas. My favorite stationary companies for the last few years have been Ugmonk and Lochby. I get my pens from Amazon, which are pretty generic.

There are things that don’t make this list, like memberships or community subscriptions I’ve paid for in years past that have connected me with people to learn from that have helped me grow my business exponentially. My reasons for renewing or not renewing vary, but I think some professional membership organizations can be profoundly helpful if you’re participating when they can add to your momentum.

For some, that number above may seem like a lot. Others may be questioning how I got it so low. The main thing I’ve learned about SaaS tools over the years is that anyone acting like they aren’t important to get right and use effectively to run a business is probably trying to sell you a dream of a silver bullet software and workflow that’ll make you six figures on autopilot. Tools help us engage with the internet and our ideas more effectively. There are so many tools that sell analysis and automation, but they won’t ever change the fact that you have to create a product, project, or service that people actually want. So yeah, I use less, and I do less. But everything I hit publish on, I can stand behind, and that’s worth the money to me.

What are your favorite digital tools? Do you feel like you’re paying too much? Is there a tool you think will help you that you’re afraid to invest in? Comment or reply and let me know! Let’s workshop it together!

Happy Thursday, folks!