#newsletter

I got fed up with ’leasing’ software and paying through the nose for SaaS products, so I spun up a VDS and got to work.

The main thing I needed was the ability to send my email newsletter without breaking the bank. So just the SMTP part of an email server.

Listening, reading and watching the ’tech bros’ talking about how hard it is to get ’email right’ scared me away from learning something I wanted.

But the only way to truly learn is to ‘do, break then fix’.

I’ve been ‘radio silent’ for a little while, so here’s an update…

Spain

You may have seen some of my emails/posts while I was in Spain. Man it was a great trip.

Truth be told, I wish I was still there. But alas, I had to come back for a project and to help my cousin build the barn.

I love the fact that that I’m not fixed to a location, so can help where I can and enjoy the moment.

Oh, one little nugget of information about ‘coming back’… the truck broke down in France!

AAGGHH!!

It took me many long walks, 1 coach, 1 bus, 1 taxi, 2 hire cars and 4 days to get back to NL!

I’m waiting for the ANWB to bring the truck back to me so I can work on it. It should be here in a few days.

Yeah annoying, but life is an adventure… so live it!

A long time subscriber Mark replied to a previous newsletter about using a second screen. And how using an iPad is helping him make things easier for him.

A nice addition and can be helpful from time to time is that I use my iPad as a 2nd screen. Not all the time, but for some work that is very beneficial.

Mark hit the nail on the head when he noted “Not all the time, but for some work that is very beneficial.”

Here’s the thing…

You don’t have to use something just because it’s there.
You should only use something if it’ll make your life easier.

And far for me to tell you what you should or shouldn’t use, but my experience and working with 1000’s clients over 35 years has taught me two very important things…

First and foremost: You can’t change people’s minds.
And secondly: Many simply have never needed a screen.

So, never be ‘press-ganged’ into anything if it’s not going to work for you.

The picture is of my truck, again in southern Spain whee I stayed for two nights, but you have to really zoom in to see it.

Let me know if you do see it!

Below is my reply to John, one of my long time subscribers, about moving to another country and how to deal with how, what, where, when, why etc. It was so good, I just had to share it with you…

If you think about it, there aren’t that many apps you need to do your work. And may of us has specific apps we need for our craft.

However, there is one app that every single one of us use. And that’s is… Email.

Email is by far the most logical, simple and oldest app that we’ve all used to communicate with the outside world.

It’s used for sending responses, transactions, sales, newsletters etc. Oh, and even love letters!

I won’t go too much in to that last one ;-)

Now that we agree that email is great, why is it everyone struggles with it?

Why does it have to be so messy, annoying and damn right complicated!

aaaaggggghhhh!!!

Well, there is a way to simplify your email so that you can do you actual work rather than get annoyed with the mess, the notifications the (dis)organisation of it all!

…And I can help.

There are times when you think you have everything worked out. But after some soul searching you find something slowly eating away at you.

This is how I’ve been feeling for the last year or so about my tech stack.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love my Mac and stack. The way it’s helped me, and my clients, get work done… simply!

But I’ve had this inner urge to find a better, simpler, more privacy focused, more secure, and even more productive way to doing things for me and my business.

Let’s just say this Tech Minimalist, that was ‘The MacJunky’ since 1986, may possibly be moving to linux!

And over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing the approach, the pitfalls and the wins.

Are you fed up with Apple/Windows. And have had thoughts like…

“There’s gotta to be a better way!”

I’d love to hear your story!

After a hectic few weeks of cat sitting for my best friend, while packing my storage space to move. And the unexpected bad news about Woof! I’m exhausted!

However, life, and work, doesn’t stop. Not only that, I can’t sit still and wallow in self pity.

I’ve grieved, I’ve felt every emotion run through me. And I’m guessing it’s going to take a while to get it out of my system.

Hence an email rather than a video (for a while).

Anyhoo…

I wrote about my site being slow a few weeks back. It was annoying me no need. Even after back and forth with the support team, I got so frustrated and fed up, I caved and got myself a VPS (Virtual Private Server).

I initially got it purely for speeding up my website. And it’s really speedy now!

But I got to thinkin’…

Why not use the server for more than just a website.

I got to work and thought about all the services, their respective monthly payments, and whether I could securely host everything I needed.

Yes. The answer was Yes! I can move a bunch of stuff, self host. And it’ll be WAY cheaper.

And here’s the list…

– Website
– Analytics
– Podcast
– Newsletter
– Email server

Setting up the Website, Analytics, Podcast and Newsletter were simple. However, the Email server needed for the Newsletter to be sent, was a little tricky.

But once you navigate the techno babble, it too was rather quite simple. And it only took me about a week to do it all.

One of the issues with hosting your own Email server, or SMTP service (the protocol that send email via the internet) is that the server, IP and hostname has to be ‘warmed up’ so that it doesn’t land in/on a block list, and for other servers to ’trust’ it.

That can take quite a while, 1-3 months (!!)

And although it’s all running perfectly, I’m going to be warming it up by only sending the newsletter to a select few from the new server for a while.

What really helps with the ‘warm up’, and would help me greatly is for my newsletter recipients to reply.

Here’s the thing…

Apart from wanting to self host, and save money. I wanted everything to be on brand. Especially the Newsletter.

I want my newsletter to be an ‘Email’ not a ‘Flyer’.

Not just something that sounds like a sales pitch. But more importantly, it doesn’t look like a freaking sales pitch!

Like 99% of all newsletters out there!

I think I’ve succeeded, you be the judge…

Did you receive my old ‘Flyer’ style newsletter? Or are you one of the lucky ones who received the new improved super-duper ‘Email’ style newsletter?

Hit reply and let me know!

Kia.

P.S. Oh and do let me know if my newsletters are going into Spam automatically too!

P.P.S If you too are fed up with paying for software and tools you could self host and want help, hit me up!

This morning I commented on a Substack Note, and thought I’d share it with you.

Yes, it’s about ai.

The plan was to publish a Friday Fury episode yesterday about ai, but so much more information is coming my way that I wasn’t able to record it in time.

But it will be coming, and it’s going to be the most fierce one I’ve ever done.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on ai, so send me a (comment: )

Anyhow, enjoy your weekend, and I’ll see you next week at some point!

I’d like to bring your attention to a great short film by Ali Gallop about what the internet is supposed to be.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’d know how I feel about social media, and more importantly ai.

Why do I hate ai so much?

I know people use ai for all sorts of things. I also know that it can be a valuable resource of knowledge.

But at what cost?

The cost I foresaw was the downright thievery of the data set.
The ai slop we all now see over taking social media.
The bombardment of shit blog posts with no soul.
The dangers of powerful ai content to sway public opinion.
The emergence of ai expert tech bro gurus

etc.

So the ‘dead internet theory’ isn’t/wasn’t a myth, but it wasn’t 100% correct either.

What the Ali’s video shows is that there are many more real people creating great art, and many of them share that art on…

THE FREE INTERNET!

So keeping the internet open and free, away from big tech, large corps., money hungry tech bros and the like is OUR responsibility.

So what’s the best plan?

To keep posting your thoughts, ideas and sharing knowledge via your own platform and stop feeding ai with your hard work.

Read what’s going on and use tools like Cloudflare to block ai from the scraping your art!

Hit reply to this email, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

There’re times when you’re head down in the zone that you forget things that you should do.

It’s unavoidable, annoying, and anyone can fall victim, no matter how well organised you are.

I’ve become one of its victims!

For the last few months I have been head down working on a large project and it’s been taking a lot of my time, and I’ve been in the zone and loving it!

Hence the lack of posting, making videos and doing TikTok dances from me. (The latter is on my private OnlyKia site)

The new project a slight departure to what you may know me for, but being a self-proclaimed Tech Minimalist/Generalist, even though generalists are often frowned upon, I wear it as a badge of honor.

It’s has grown me as a person. Also, I now have yet another tool in my professional toolbox!

I can’t talk too much about the details, but one of my very first MacJunky clients contacted me to help them build a website. Ok, nothing too complex I thought, until we had the meeting.

It’s turned into a full e-commerce site with connections to SAP, to be available in 3 different world regions, and with a bunch of external connection points.

Ok, not just a simple ‘website’ then.

So don’t ever listen to the ’expert’ online gurus who tell you to specialise in one singe area and ’niche down’, because it’s a lie, for most.

Having a general niche that you’re known for is always a good thing, otherwise you won’t ever be able to market yourself.

If you market to to everyone, you market to no one

– Some boffin at some point has said this.

There are MANY people out there, like me, who are interested in many things and only by doing them will you understand your full true worth.

Also this past few months, I’ve been building barns and doing some ground work for an open air art museum for my cousin, and even rebuilding and upgrading parts for my truck.

You are capable of everything and anything, it’s just your mind holding you back due to lack of experience. And experience, as you know, comes from doing, not (over) thinking!

Anyhow, hope to post more soon about the project, but for now here’s a random post

Have an awesome day!

Kia.

Hey! It’s been a while!

The past few weeks I have been insanely busy with getting the truck ready for a road trip.

Aside from that I’m working on a massive project that I will share more of the finer details soon.

But let’s just say it’s a slight departure from what I’m known for, but here’s the remit from the client…

Get it built right. We’re fed up with how it currently works. It’s too complicated for staff. And we’re losing way too much money!

Well, that’s what the Tech Minimalist does best… Simplify and remove tech friction!

Again, will share what I can very soon.

It’s a great project to sink my teeth into and I’m loving it. Hence why I haven’t been too active on social media and other channels.

Although sometimes I do post photos of nice places I’m at.

Kia.

…especially if it’s the only choice as a nomad, and you only have a 13" MacBook pro to work with!

No one said it was easy.

It’s all discipline, and knowing that your workspace and tools are setup so well that they’ll never be in your way.

Here’s how I set up mine when I collaborate with my clients, including some of the tools I use!

Kia.

It’s hard running a business, we all know this.

So when you have a someone in your circle that get fed, cleaned, walked and sleeps whenever he likes, it can be a little annoying to say the least.

So why not get them to pull their weight!

Woof! has been a my Security Officer for many years, but he also has another incredibly important duty within my organisation!

Kia.

…but many make the mistake of complicating the simple and make it hard for themselves.

Here’s a preview of my Basecamp template just before I onboard my clients for a large project we’re collaboration on.

Don’t have everything all over the place, have it all in one place, that way you’ll never have things fall through the gaps!

How do you start your projects?

Kia.

Well, it’s been almost a year, since I posted this last year.

I find it calming, it does everything I need, and keeps me super productive!

How’s your desktop and Dock looking?

Kia.

In the spirit of my video titled ‘ You already have the app!’ I almost fell into the trap, again!

This morning I needed to send a proposal to a client. I have in the past used several services to make this task simple, but I found them to be complicated and bloated.

Then I realised… I already have an app! It’s called Basecamp!

Kia.

I was one of those who though Basecamp was ’too simple’. I also bounced between apps to help me run mu business and collaborate with my clients.

But once I realised Basecamp could do everything I wanted form it, I never looked back!

Kia.

Using a Mac should be as easy as pie. Even though we have every intention of staying organised, it gets messy over time. So how can we keep it organised so we know where our files are?

The best way is to Keep IT Simple!

How’s your Mac right now? Want some help getting it organised?

Let me know…

Kia.

It’s been a while since I made a video. But while I was checking my archives, I came across this one that’s nudging me to get off my ass to make more!

What kind of video would you like to see?

Click here and let me know!

Kia.

If you’re like me you love email. But it can also get very ‘busy’ and annoying. Especially if it’s setup in a convoluted annoying way!

So how about simplifying it by using the right tools that’ll make you WAY more productive!

Kia.

Keep up the good work.

I think it’s a good thing you’re making your brand a bigger scope. Your knowledge and expertise are not limited to one field. It’s interconnected to a lot of things.

This way you don’t limit yourself to just one subject. Your point of view on a lot of things is needed in the future of technology.

It’s confusing sometimes and is of great value to get to know what you think about everything that is happening in the field of tech and Apple.

So make it as wide as possible and don’t limit yourself. You are true and honest, and we need that very much in this era.

Keep up the good work!

Someone asked me why I wanted to stop the old email list and start all over again fresh, with zero subscribers.

Here was my reply…

My old email list was from the days of MacJunky (my previous brand and company) and most of the users on there were not benefiting from my new messaging and content.

So I thought it was best to start all over again to better help those who do like my new content and not ‘spam’ those who rather not hear the new me.

I think it was the right decision, even though I had over 2k subscribers, I rather have fewer subscribers that like and want to hear what I have to say.

My focus is simplicity in every aspect of my life, as you know, so I’ve decided to use HEY World for the new newsletter as it’s the simplest way to publish something and email it out.

They will be published on my HEY World profile but deleted when the following newsletter gets sent. However, they’ll all be archived on my website forever.

I’ve never been into lead magnets, tags, segments, automation etc. or any everything that comes with modern day newsletters, as I find it very un-human. I just wanted to go back to how newsletters were in the past.

Will I lose ‘sales’ yeah probably.
Am I leaving money on the tables, absolutely.

But life shouldn’t just about money! Yes, I need to work and make money, who doesn’t!

But I’d rather just share my videos, posts, thoughts etc. and if someone needs my help they will hire me. It’s simple and it’s been working for me for as long as I care to remember.

Anyhoo, welcome and thanks for trusting me with your time!

Oh, and I don’t want this first week to be an empty admin email, so here are the latest articles that you may have missed form my website…

Apple’s simple yet powerful Invites app was released today
How I stay on top of everything with my iPhone
Using HEY by 37signals as a lite CRM works!
Simplify LinkedIn with this browser extension
After waiting months, I finally got my Dutch drivers licence!

Comments and feedback are always welcomed, and encouraged, moving forward! :-)

Have a great day, and see you in your inbox next Wednesday!

Kia.

I’ve been enjoying your posts and emails for quite some time now, and while I have a VERY strict policy with regards to my email inbox, your newsletter has always been allowed in!

Your advice reaches beyond just Tech Minimalism, and can be applied to life/work in general. Love that!

I’ve been putting off sending this email for a while but sometimes, like a band-aid, you have to rip it off and deal with the pain quickly.

This is goodbye from this newsletter, as I will finally be shutting it down on Friday 31st January 2024. However, we can still be connected via social media or my Telegram channel.

I’ll also be creating a brand new newsletter in the future, so if you prefer email (like I do) you can pre-register for it below.

Newsletter
Telegram
Social media

If you’d like to know why I’m making this decision, let me know. Maybe I’ll make a video about it.

Have an awesome day, and hope to see you on the other side!

Kia.

Kia, I love the content, really thought provoking, and helpful.

Merry Christmas if that’s your thing and best to Woof!