Streamlined Solopreneur: Easy Productivity & Tech Systems for Solopreneurs

Matt Mullenweg gave his annual State of the Word, an update on all things WordPress, . He focused on a few key areas, like how WordPress grew in a pandemic year, an update on each major release of WordPress, and where Gutenberg is going. There was also a big focus in the Q&A on virtual events, multilingual WordPress, and performance.

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It’s that time of year again! I round up my favorite media and tech picks of 2020 - but this year I’m doing it a little differently. Over on Casabona.org, I’ve written blog posts for the past several years, but I’ve never recorded my thoughts. So this year, along with a blog post, I decided to do a podcast episode too - this lets me ramble a little more and add some thoughts on 2021. I hope you enjoy! 

Show Notes and Picks

• Tech Pick: Elgato Stream Deck
  • How I Configured my Stream Deck
  • Honorable Mentions: iPad Magic Keyboard, Kindle Oasis, Drums
• App: Milanote
  • What I’m Using 
  • Testing Out Milanote for Research
  • Honorable Mentions: eCamm Live, iOS 14
• Thing I Learned: How to hire more
  • I’ve Been Hiring A Lot 
  • Brittney Lynn
  • Honorable Mention: marketing messaging, PR outreach
• Book: The Ride of a Lifetime by Robert Iger
  • My 2020 Goodreads Reading Challenge
  • Honorable Mention: Marketing Made Simple, Dooku: Jedi Lost
• TV Show: Ted Lasso
  • Honorable Mention: The Mandalorian (again)
  • All the Disney Investor Day Announcements
• Music: First to Eleven, Lewis Capaldi
• Movie: Hamilton
  • Warner Bros. Says All 2021 Films Will Be Streamed Right Away
• Podcast: Advisory Opinions

Sponsored by: ConvertKit | Hostinger

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Streamlined Solopreneur helps solopreneurs stop doing it all themselves, with simple systems that give them their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without having to make another decision, hire employees, or sell your soul to AI.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it (so YOU don't need to make another decision). https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

WordPress 5.6 “Simone” is out now! It’s the last major update of 2020 and it’s packed with lots of changes. We’ll get an overview of what’s changed, as well as demos of auto-updates, Block Patterns, Column improvements, a walk through the new default theme Twenty Twenty One, and more.

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Well 2020 was unlike any year I’ve lived through, and I’m sure it’s the same for you. When I decided to come up with a theme for Season 9, which started in July, we were a couple of months into the global pandemic. I wanted focus on topics that could help you (and me) grow at a time where we were traveling less, seeing less foot traffic, and had to change in some way to make ends meet. I settled on coming up with good content, and using that content to evolve memberships, and build communities. If you didn’t catch every episode, here are the highlights.

• Check out all the episodes mentioned
• Podcast Liftoff

Sponsored by: ConvertKit | Hostinger

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Streamlined Solopreneur helps solopreneurs stop doing it all themselves, with simple systems that give them their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without having to make another decision, hire employees, or sell your soul to AI.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it (so YOU don't need to make another decision). https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

In September 2020, my 4th book published by a publisher (6th overall) came out. It's called HTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide and it's a (very) beginner's guide to learning HTML and CSS. The process was long and at times frustrating. I wanted to go through how I wrote it, from inception to hitting the shelved.

Show Notes

• HTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide
• MindNode
• Procreate

Sponsored by: ConvertKit | Hostinger

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Streamlined Solopreneur helps solopreneurs stop doing it all themselves, with simple systems that give them their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without having to make another decision, hire employees, or sell your soul to AI.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it (so YOU don't need to make another decision). https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

Winstina Hughes is an Assistant Regional Planner for the Maryland Department of Transportation but she's coming to us today as a member of the wordpress community! Throughout the interview we talk about all sorts of things - life, WordPress, the New Jersey Transit…and it call comes back to the main takeaway for this episode: writing what you know and creating opportunities to share your insight. This was such a fun conversation where we covered a lot of ground. I enjoyed it, and I know you will too. 

• Winstina Hughes | Twitter
• WordPress NYC Meetup
• Winstina on WordPress.TV
• Winstina on Hallway Chats
• HTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide

Sponsored by: Hostinger | Yes Plz | iThemes

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Streamlined Solopreneur helps solopreneurs stop doing it all themselves, with simple systems that give them their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without having to make another decision, hire employees, or sell your soul to AI.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it (so YOU don't need to make another decision). https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

In our third and final speaker track, we’re looking at development! We’ll hear from Akshat Choudhary, Leo Losoviz, and David Baumwald  about smart updates, using GraphQL, and working on a major Core release! Enjoy!

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Throughout this season, we’ve talked about create content to build an audience. And the best way to build that audience and interact with them is forms. Well, Naomi C Bush tells us all about some great ways to build helpful forms for users. This is a much more traditional episode of How I Built It and I’m excited. Naomi talks about how she’s built her business, then provides some actionable advice for us. 

• Naomi C. Bush
• gravity+
• Gravity Forms 
• Episode 55: Alex Cancado & Gravity Forms
• ConvertKit 
• Build Your List Using ConvertKit with Angel Marie
• RightMessage
• Brennan Dunn and RightMessage
• HTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide

Sponsored by: Hostinger | Yes Plz | iThemes

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Streamlined Solopreneur helps solopreneurs stop doing it all themselves, with simple systems that give them their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without having to make another decision, hire employees, or sell your soul to AI.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it (so YOU don't need to make another decision). https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/

After taking a break last week to talk to Hugh Lashbrooke, we’re back with the Business Track. Chris Ford, Laura Byrne-Cristiano, and and Patrick Rauland will all be giving you great advice for working with clients, workflows, and money management.

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Jase Rodley has A LOT going on. In fact, since we recorded this episode, he stepped down from Rank Defender to run Dialed Labs. His energy and drive are apparent in the interview, where we talk about Making Resource sites. Essentially, he tells us how to make content to fill a demand, and make a little money along the way. I even put him on the spot and have him help me through an idea during the episode. So listen for that and more - and let me know what ideas you come up with!

• Jase Rodley | Twitter
• Dialed Labs
• ahrefs
• Screaming Frog
• The 4 Hour Work Week
• Episode 8: Joost de Valk and Yoast SEO
• The 2020 Gift Guide!
• HARO
• Should SEO audits be part of your ongoing maintenance?
• Keyword Discovery: Produce Creative Content to Be Seen
• How to Write a Great Blog Post

Sponsored by: Hostinger | Yes Plz | iThemes

————
Streamlined Solopreneur helps solopreneurs stop doing it all themselves, with simple systems that give them their time back.

Each week, Joe Casabona shares one practical idea — a system, tool, or strategy to help you get your time back without having to make another decision, hire employees, or sell your soul to AI.

Looking for a place to start? Take the Solo Systems Starter Quiz. 60 seconds, 8 questions, and I will tell you what system you should build first, and exactly how to build it (so YOU don't need to make another decision). https://streamlined.fm/quiz 

Connect with Joe on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcasabona/