Tools & Software

The tools I use to run my business

A curated list of the software I actually use — plus a few my clients love — to run an authentic, soulful business. Tried, trusted, and updated as things change.

9 categories · 23 tools

A few of these are affiliate links — if you sign up through them, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only ever list tools I genuinely use or that my clients love.

Foundation

Website Tools

Where my online home lives — domains, hosting, and my AI clone.

Squarespace Domains For registering domain names. Visit site ↗
Simplero For website hosting, design, and email‑list hosting. Here’s why I chose Simplero ↗ Learn more →
Delphi For my AI clone — it knows all my public content. Talk to my bot at George Kao’s AI. Visit site ↗

Create

Video Tools

How I record and share what’s on my screen.

Zoom Clips How I make my screencasts now — built right into Zoom, with no extra subscription needed.

Focus

My Productivity Tools

The small set of tools that keep my days calm, focused, and moving.

Focusmate Virtual co‑working for gentle accountability. Visit site ↗
Todoist Task management that’s simple and fast. Visit site ↗
Google Voice A separate number to keep business and personal apart. Visit site ↗
Simplero For client scheduling and event registrations. Learn more →
JoyPro Timer For screenshared timers during my work retreats. Visit site ↗
Simplero.coach For AI chatbots, including access to the latest LLMs. Visit site ↗

Steward

Money Tools

Simple bookkeeping and a healthier relationship with money.

Tiller For the USA — this is what I use. Visit site ↗
YouNeedABudget A budgeting app some of my clients prefer. Visit site ↗
Xero For Europe & other regions. Visit site ↗
Healthy Money My thoughts and methodology on money management. Visit site ↗

Visual

Image Tools

Making and optimizing the images I use online.

ChatGPT Image What I use most of the time for AI image generation (currently 2.0). Visit site ↗
Compressor.io Shrink image file sizes so pages load faster online. Visit site ↗

Listen

Online Survey Tools

Gathering thoughtful input from the people I serve.

Google Forms Simple, free surveys and forms. Find tutorials here ↗. Visit site ↗
TypeForm A more polished option my clients also like. Visit site ↗

Sound

Audio Tools

The quickest way to record a bit of audio.

Vocaroo.com Easily record short audio. Visit site ↗

Broadcast

Podcasting Tools

How I keep a podcast going with as little effort as possible.

Substack The podcast host I use for the George Kao Podcast. Visit site ↗

My honest take: either don’t start a podcast ↗ (because of how challenging it is to grow listeners) or make it so low‑maintenance that it’s easy to keep going. It takes me about 5 minutes to upload each episode — I basically take my best YouTube videos and upload them to my podcast.

Amplify

Automation Tools

My AI thinking partner, plus the glue that connects everything.

Claude Helps me with so much now — from figuring out which AI automations are worth building, to actually implementing them. It’s become my primary thinking partner for this work. Visit site ↗
Zapier For linking many tools together — Simplero, Google Sheets, Gmail, and more. So many ways to automate the busywork. Visit site ↗
Simplero As mentioned above, for most of my business software I’m now happily using Simplero. Visit site ↗

Want to learn AI automation with me? Come join my AI training group.

One More Thing

This toolkit grows and changes as I do

I keep this list current with whatever is genuinely serving me well. If it helps you too, feel free to share it.

The link to send or post: georgekao.com/tools ~ George