The CEO's Sustainable Tech Stack: 5 Tools to Help You Scale (and Breathe)
Let's talk about that moment when you realize you've got seventeen browser tabs open, three different project management tools fighting for your attention, and you still can't find that one client email from last Tuesday.
Sound familiar?
Look, I get it. You didn't start your business to become an IT department of one. You started it because you had a vision, a gift, and probably a healthy dose of "I can do this better" energy. But somewhere along the way, the tools that were supposed to help you started feeling like another full-time job.
That's exactly why I've become obsessed with building what I call a sustainable tech stack, a collection of business systems and processes that actually work for you instead of against you. These aren't just shiny new apps to add to your overwhelm. These are the ride-or-die tools that let you scale your business while still having time to, you know, live your life.
So grab your favorite beverage and let's break down the five tools (plus one secret weapon) that have completely transformed how I run my business.
1. Flodesk: Email Marketing That Doesn't Make You Want to Cry
If you've ever spent three hours trying to make a basic email look decent in a clunky email platform, this one's for you.
Flodesk for entrepreneurs is genuinely a game-changer. It's gorgeous, intuitive, and the most beautiful, intuitive platform out there for creatives.
The big update: Flodesk now has tiered pricing that scales with your subscriber count, with Lite, Pro, and Everything plans—so you can choose what you need now and upgrade as your list (and business) grows.
What I love most about Flodesk is that it lets you create beautiful, on-brand emails without needing a design degree. The templates are stunning right out of the box, and the automation features? Chef's kiss. You can set up welcome sequences, launch funnels, and nurture campaigns that run while you're at brunch.
Pro tip: Use Flodesk's workflow feature to create an automated onboarding sequence for new clients. It makes them feel taken care of from day one, and you don't have to lift a finger after the initial setup.
If you want to try it, you can sign up for Flodesk here: https://partners.flodesk.com/tiffany — and use code TIFFANYNAPPER for 25% off your first year. (Love a sustainable system and a sustainable price.) If you want a deeper dive into whether Flodesk is right for your specific situation, I've got a whole post on whether Flodesk is right for your small business.
2. Adobe Acrobat: Your Collaborative Command Center
Now, I know what you're thinking. "Adobe Acrobat? Isn't that just for signing documents?"
Oh, friend. It's so much more.
Adobe Acrobat for business has become my go-to for creating collaborative PDF spaces where my team and I can review everything from social media metrics to quarterly strategy documents and brand guidelines. Instead of sending 17 different versions of a file back and forth (and inevitably losing track of who made what changes), we can all work in one shared space.
Here's how I use it: Every month, my team compiles our social media analytics and strategy recommendations into a collaborative PDF. We can highlight, comment, and have actual conversations right there in the document. No more "see my notes in the email" or “find that email from 31 days ago” chaos. Everything lives in one beautiful, organized place.
It's especially clutch when you're working with contractors or team members in different time zones. They can add their input when it works for them, and you can review it when it works for you. Async collaboration at its finest.
3. Fathom: Never Take Notes on a Call Again
Can we have a moment of silence for all the coaching calls where I was so busy scribbling notes that I missed half of what was actually being said?
Enter Fathom, and suddenly I'm present, engaged, and actually coaching instead of playing secretary. If you want to test-drive it, grab my invite link here: https://fathom.video/invite/dW5qhQ
Fathom records all of my coaching calls and provides thorough overviews and notes automatically. We're talking summaries, action items, and even timestamped highlights so you can jump back to specific moments. It's like having a personal assistant who has perfect recall and never gets tired.
For my 1:1 consulting clients, this has been transformational. After each session, they get a comprehensive summary of everything we discussed, complete with their next steps. They feel supported, I feel organized, and nobody's trying to remember what we talked about three weeks ago.
The sustainability factor here is huge. When you're not exhausted from trying to capture every detail manually, you show up better for your clients. Period.
4. Notion: The Client Portal of Your Dreams
If you've been looking for a way to create high-touch client experiences without building a custom app, let me introduce you to your new best friend.
Notion (https://www.notion.so) has become the backbone of how I deliver value to both my 1:1 consulting clients and my mastermind, Yacht Club. I use it to build shareable portals and workspaces that feel premium, organized, and incredibly professional.
For my consulting clients, their Notion workspace includes:
Session notes and recordings (thanks, Fathom!)
Custom resources and templates
Goal tracking dashboards
A direct line to message me with questions and give me updates on our task list
For Yacht Club, the mastermind portal is basically a one-stop shop for everything members need: call replays, community guidelines, travel resources, pod groups, and curated resources based on where they are in their business journey.
The magic of Notion is that it grows with you. Start simple, add complexity as you need it, and create an experience that makes your clients feel like VIPs without you spending hours on custom development.
(I build fully branded, custom Notion portals for my clients. Reach out if that’s something you’re interested in!)
5. The Ultimate "Tech": A Human (AKA Your NexusPoint VA)
Okay, here's where I'm going to get real with you.
You can have the most beautiful, streamlined tech stack in the world, but if you're still the one managing all of it? You're just a very organized hamster on a wheel.
The most sustainable "tool" in my business isn't software at all. It's my NexusPoint virtual assistant.
NexusPoint connects entrepreneurs with highly trained virtual assistants based in the Philippines, and let me tell you, the quality is exceptional. You can start with 20 hours per month or go all-in with 40, depending on where you are in your scaling journey.
Here's what delegation for entrepreneurs can look like in practice:
Your VA manages your Flodesk campaigns and monitors email performance
They compile your monthly metrics into that gorgeous Adobe Acrobat collaborative space
They organize your Fathom notes and upload them to your clients' Notion portals
They handle the admin tasks that are slowly stealing your joy
They edit your videos if you’re on Youtube or Instagram
the list goes on and on
This is where business systems and processes actually become sustainable. Because the goal isn't just to have great tools, it's to have great tools that someone else is running so you can focus on your zone of genius.
I talk a lot about how help supercharged my business journey, and honestly? Getting support was the single best decision I made for my sanity and my revenue.
The Bottom Line: Systems Should Serve You
Building a sustainable tech stack isn't about having the most tools or the fanciest setup. It's about creating business systems and processes that actually give you your life back.
When your email marketing runs itself (Flodesk), your team collaboration is seamless (Adobe Acrobat), your calls are automatically documented (Fathom), your clients feel like rockstars (Notion), and someone else is keeping all the plates spinning (NexusPoint)... that's when you get to be the CEO you actually want to be.
Not the exhausted, overwhelmed, doing-all-the-things version. The clear-headed, strategic, joy-filled version.
Ready to Stop Doing It All Yourself?
If you're reading this and feeling that little spark of "yes, I need this," I want you to take one action today.
Check out NexusPoint and explore what having a dedicated virtual assistant could look like for your business. Whether you start with 20 hours or dive into 40, having a human in your corner who can manage these tools for you is the ultimate scaling hack.
Because teamwork makes the dream work, baby. And you deserve to build a business that lets you breathe.
Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this blog post, which means we may receive commissions for purchases made through these links. We wouldn’t recommend them if we didn’t personally believe in them and use them for our business. Thank you in advance for your support and we hope you find our suggestions valuable as you grow your business!