Blog
I Spent $500 on QuickBooks Online: Was It Worth It?
I migrated a 4-person consultancy from spreadsheets to QuickBooks Online Plus with a $500 budget. Bank feeds saved 6 hours a month. The bookkeeper saved 10 more. Where it falls behind Xero.
Tested: Surfshark, My Honest Review (2026)
Ran Surfshark VPN for 60 days across 4 devices. Unlimited simultaneous connections is real and rare. Speeds trail NordVPN and ExpressVPN. The audit history and the budget pricing decide for or against.
Case Study: How I Used ClickUp to Scale a Mixed Team
Ten months on ClickUp Business for a 19-person cross-functional team. The hierarchy that survived two reorgs, the automation cap that hurt us, and why we eventually moved a slice of work to Linear.
I Tried Canva Pro for 30 Days: Here is What Happened
Designed 84 social posts, 6 presentations and a brand kit in Canva Pro across 30 days. Where it beat Figma for speed, where it lost, and the brand-kit feature that pays for the subscription.
Evernote Teardown: Where It Stands in 2026
Three months back on Evernote Professional after years away. The Bending Spoons era brought real changes. Search is still the killer feature. The export friction explains why people leave.
My Experience with Midjourney v6: Pros and Cons in 2026
Eight months on Midjourney Pro. The Discord-to-web move that improved my workflow. Where v6 outperforms DALL-E 3 and Stable Diffusion XL. The licensing trap I almost stepped in.
Step-by-Step Guide to Zendesk (2026)
I set up Zendesk Suite Growth for a 6-person support team in 5 hours and 40 minutes. Brand routing, macros, the SLA setup that saved us, and the AI agent feature that was less ready than advertised.
Case Study: How I Used Trello to Scale a Content Operation
Fourteen months on Trello Standard for a small content team. The 5-board structure that survived, the Butler automation that paid off, and the moment we outgrew it.
I Spent $500 on Stripe Billing: Was It Worth It?
I rebuilt a B2B SaaS billing system on Stripe Billing with a $500 budget cap. Real numbers on the 0.5 percent fee, the tax integration that paid for itself, and the migration that took 36 hours.
Tested: Malwarebytes, My Honest Review (2026)
I ran Malwarebytes Premium on 3 Windows and 1 Mac for 60 days. Adware and PUA detection beats most antivirus tools. Active virus blocking trails Bitdefender. Where it fits in a layered defence.
Real Results: Switching to AWS Lightsail After 6 Months
Moved a side project off Hetzner to AWS Lightsail in October 2025. The pricing simplicity surprised me; the storage and networking gotchas caught me twice; the AWS migration path saved future work.
I Tried Final Cut Pro for 30 Days: Here is What Happened
Edited 11 hours of footage across 7 videos in Final Cut Pro 11 over 30 days on a MacBook Pro M3. Magnetic timeline learning curve, render benchmarks, and when it beats DaVinci Resolve.