Assalāmu ‘alaykum and Good Afternoon'

Welcome to another Freshly Grounded email, the newsletter that works the intellectual kitchen, serving the news al dente - just right and always satisfying.

Here’s what’s on the menu today:

• Digital tools that efficientize up my work & personal life

• Meme of the week

• Job opportunity for engineers

🛠 Optimizing Life: The Digital Tools I Rely On

Here's a list of some of the digital tools that form the backbone of my routine. These tools have greatly enhanced my efficiency, businesses, and overall productivity. Each tool has a unique role, helping me tackle tasks effectively while also creating space for what truly matters. So, without further ado, let's delve into my personal digital stack. You might just discover some tools that can boost your life too!

I’ve not really listed out my go-to tools before so

• Calendly: Allows people to schedule appointments in your calendar so you don't have to play email ping-pong all day. Can also automate it with zoom so they get an automatic zoom link, sends SMS reminders to the person ur meeting + more.

• iOS calendar: with all these different calendar apps, i just like using the bog standard apple calendar. I sync it with my work, and my wifes calendar too so that for example my kids dentist appointments don’t get booked while i have a meeting. Saved many arguments!

• GPT4: as you know, i use this for a bunch of copy-related work, i’m dropping a video about my use-case this week, keep an eye out for it

• Midjourney: generate images with AI. I use this for newsletter thumbnails or FG backdrops. just be conscious of falling into image-making with eyes etc. Ask ur shaykh

• Beehiiv: the newsletter platform i use to send these emails. Best platform i’ve ever come across, and they’re only 18 months old!

• Discord: it’s a digital platform for communities. We use this for the FG paid community.

• Gsuite: whenever i launch a project, this is the first thing i set up. One of the many things it does it allows you to have custom domain emails but using Gmail as ur email provider.

• 1password: It's the digital vault for your passwords. Sturdier than a concrete bunker, it holds all your secrets safe and sound, making forgetfulness a thing of the past.

• Superhuman: An email client designed for speed, boasting features such as keyboard shortcuts and AI-powered sorting.

• Brex: Allows you to give corporate cards to your staff, add budgets, track expenses, all in their app.

• Typeform: create forms online that look and feel amazing

• Notion: An all-in-one workspace for note-taking, project management, and task tracking. It's like a Swiss Army Knife, but for productivity.

• Docusign: The platform that brought signatures into the digital age, giving trees everywhere a sigh of relief.

• Buffer: A social media management tool that allows scheduling of posts across various social media platforms. The digital social secretary that keeps your posts ticking over while you're out living your best life.

• Otter: A smart note-taking app that uses AI to transcribe spoken words into written text, useful for meetings, interviews, and lectures. Tbh i cancelled my subscription this week after years of using it tho.

• Pluraleyes: A video and audio sync software that aligns and synchronizes multiple video clips and audio tracks.

• Fireflies.ai: This AI-based platform attends your meetings for you (well, sort of), taking notes and making transcripts so you don't have to.

• Google Docs/Slides/Sheets: Google's suite of productivity tools, allowing for real-time collaboration and editing on documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.

• Apple Reminders app: theres way too many list apps. I stick to the OG. Apple lists. Done and dusted.

• Hunter.io: An online tool for finding and verifying professional email addresses, often used for outreach and marketing purposes.

these are the ones that just came to mind while i'm sat here vibing (that’s what cool people say right?)

hit reply to lmk if this benefited you, and also if you would like to see a similar list but for physical items like my monitor, mouse, or socks.

How you can make 💰💰💰 with your own newsletter:

Meme of the Week

posting cos this happened to my thobe this week and ripped it up

☕️ The Black Coffee Briefings:

Bullet-point rundown of news, updates, and caffeinated contemplations:

• I came across this company that offers security at events for segregation and to stop picture-taking. Pretty dope.

• We didn’t drop an episode of FG this week, but will try to get one out in the coming days, in shā’ Allāh

• Tarteel is hiring for engineers, apply here if you know that python isn’t just a type of snake

Another meme cos why not:

Join the Freshly Grounded Members-Only Community

Apply to join the members-only discord community of ambitious, like-minded & high calibre Muslims. Here’s some of the key deets:

• Membership is £7/ month (around $9)

• Each member is vetted for approval to ensure they bring value to the community.

• The community is segregated with brothers-only and sisters-only channels.

• Also get access to a weekly drop-in with Faisal on zoom

And there you have it, till the next rendezvous, keep your eyes peeled and your coffee strong.

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