Joe Casabona [00:00:00]:
Hello. Hello. Welcome to another episode of the Streamlined Solopreneur. It's one of my favorite episodes. It's the Gift Guide episode, Recommended Gifts for Small Business Owners in 2025. Now, over on my personal website, I have a big old gift guide for small business owners, and I've been updating that for years. I have been doing the Gift Guide episode for about five years now, and honestly, not that much changes year over year. On that gift guide, I updated a new microphone or camera.
Joe Casabona [00:00:42]:
I add whatever coffee I'm drinking that year, some miscellaneous tech accessories. It's honestly a little bit more tedious than it's worth, but I do feel like I should update it and and further, these episodes based on the Gift Guide are pretty tedious to listen to. So last year I did mix it up. I would recommend you listen to that episode. I brought in my friend Kat, and we go back and forth, and we discuss the items that we recommend. And this year I'm changing it up again. So instead of an all-encompassing gift guide, which you can still find over at casabona.org/gifts, I want to highlight a few items that I have found truly useful in 2025. So that's what we are going to do today.
Joe Casabona [00:01:33]:
I want to start off with a couple of cool gadgets. The first is the Kindle Color Soft. So some people will say that the color Soft is not necessarily as crisp and clear as its monochrome predecessor. But I really like the colors. I love seeing the color on the book covers, and when you're displaying the book cover, like when the device is asleep, you do get to see that color as opposed to just a monochrome color. And then I also like that it has highlights, four different color highlights. So I've been kind of using this heuristic for what the different highlights mean, and I think those changes that trade off is worth it. So the Kindle Color Soft is something I've really enjoyed this year.
Joe Casabona [00:02:40]:
I'm very happy I traded up. And I should mention here that all of the links will be in the description below, wherever you're listening to or watching this. And you can find everything over at streamlined.fm. So that is the first cool thing. The second thing is the Terminal TRMNL. It's a programmable E ink screen that can show you various pieces of data on a cycle. So it'll cycle through a bunch of screens. I use it mostly for a calendar schedule showing the weather and stats during the baseball season.
Joe Casabona [00:03:18]:
I will have it show the next Yankee game. I'll show my analytics and my latest email sends, and the podcast schedule. So I really like this. I like having a simple screen that is not blasting light and color at you. It's just a really nice little device, and I think there's probably a lot more utility to it than I've really used it for. All right, so next I'll move into audio and recording gear. So I'm gonna breeze through a couple of these. There's again, a fuller.
Joe Casabona [00:03:49]:
A fuller. A fuller guide that I'll link to. But my favorite item in this category of the year is the Soundcore Sleep A20 earbuds by Anchor. I wrote about how I bought and returned the Oslo Sleep Buds. That has been the most popular blog post on my website this year, probably over the last three years, if I'm being honest. And I wanted a good set of sleep earbuds because I wake up really easily. Every noise gets me. We got a dog last year, and so the headphones kind of drown some of that stuff out.
Joe Casabona [00:04:25]:
My kids are old enough that they can come into my room and wake me up if they need something, so I don't have to worry about that sort of thing. And the AirPods, I would, you know, the AirPods Pro, I'd fall asleep in them, and I'm a side sleeper and they're just not very comfortable. So I ended up getting the Soundcore Sleep A20s. I love them. The biggest gripe I had about the Oslo sleepbuds was that you had to use their app. So my requirement is if it's a Bluetooth thing, I shouldn't need to use your app to use it. And the Soundcore Sleep A20s worked perfectly. I'll link to my full review for that.
Joe Casabona [00:05:04]:
The other piece of audio gear that I've been using a lot this year is the DJI Mic Mini. Now, I've had some version of this, but I like the two microphones and then the one receiver. I've been using these a lot. They're really compact and, you know, I like that it has a single charging case. That's really nice. So it keeps them charged all the time. I'll usually throw this in my bag when I travel, and then I can just take the one mic with me, stick it in my pocket. I think the sound quality is really good.
Joe Casabona [00:05:39]:
And at 99 bucks, that's how much it is on Amazon right now, you really can't beat that. So you've got two microphones, plug right into your phone, record a podcast or a Quick video. And I like the magnet clip too. So it's like a little magnet lavalier mic. So, really small, compact, the case is worth it for easy charging, and I've been a big fan of that. That's the DJI Mike Mini. I also picked up the Zoom Pod Track P4 Podcast Recorder. I won't spend a lot of time on this.
Joe Casabona [00:06:11]:
I've been recording podcasts on location lately, so it's got a bunch of inputs. It also works with Bluetooth and USB on the side here. So it does actually work with all of my microphones, the DJI mics as well. So it's a very versatile device. If you are looking for something portable yet powerful, I would highly recommend it. And then the last thing I'll mention here is the Bose Soundlink Max Bluetooth speaker. I was looking for an alternative to the Sonos speakers. I wanted great sound quality, portable, and pretty much weatherproof.
Joe Casabona [00:06:55]:
And the Bose Soundlink Max Bluetooth speakers, all of that. It comes in a really nice blue that I love. I use it all the time when I'm working in my shed, and I take it on family vacations, play music in rental houses or wherever it makes sense. Really, really great device. And I got it on a. You're gonna find this with a lot of things. I got a really great price on Prime Day for these, and so on Black Friday, I would keep an eye out for a lot of this stuff as well. All right, moving on to the smart home.
Joe Casabona [00:07:24]:
My favorite smart home purchase this year is the Philips Hue Indoor Outdoor holiday lights. I have wanted these since they've come out, and there was a great Prime Day deal for them. So the reason I wanted them since they came out is because we have bushes in front of our house, and I hate stringing up those bushes. Like you just have to get like dirty and in it. And we're usually only really putting up lights on Christmas around Christmas. And so it's also like cold and hard ground. And so I picked these up for Prime Day. I put them up, and we set them once.
Joe Casabona [00:08:00]:
We made sure they were really good, and now we can have different color lights for each holiday. We had really spooky Halloween lights. Now they're set for Thanksgiving as I record this during the playoffs. I set them to navy and white for the Yankees, so. So hang them up once, and never have to worry about taking them down. And we can do some cool, you know, Fourth of July. I'll do red, white, and blue or whatever. I.
Joe Casabona [00:08:24]:
I really love these. They're super easy to use. They're Philips Hue. So they're high quality and they're just very well done. I got the Akara Zigbee Motion Sensor P1. I've had mixed results with automating my lights in my office based on time, and so I decided to do it based on occupancy. I picked up this motion sensor. I've mounted it on my wall behind my desk, and now if it detects motion after 6 am, it will automatically turn the lights in my office on into my preferred settings. And then if it doesn't detect motion after 8 pm, it'll turn everything off.
Joe Casabona [00:08:59]:
So, just a really simple solution to that problem I was having. So those are my two smartphone picks, or smart home picks, I should say. I also picked up the Eve Aqua Smart Water controller. That's a home thing. You can read more about it in my longer post. So next up is the, this is charging devices. I love charging, and I love power, and I picked up the Gitren 10 in one desktop charging station. This is my favorite charging device of the year.
Joe Casabona [00:09:36]:
So it's got retractable charging cables, it's a nice-looking piece of equipment, and it's pretty compact for what it does. So I have mine in my Reading Nook and I use it to charge various devices, including my iPad, my AirPods Max, my terminal, my Kindle, and anything else that needs charging. So big fan of that. So there's also the Anker Nano charging station. It's a power strip with a five-foot flat cable and plug. It's got several ports and plugs on it, and I bring it with me when I travel. It's perfect for hotel rooms where the outlets are few and far between and poorly placed. And like the USB chargers that they offer are terribly slow.
Joe Casabona [00:10:22]:
This, I plug it right into the wall, and then I can plug all of my devices into it and charge all of my devices. So that's the Anker Nano charging station. I also have the nine-in-one charging station. That's more of a desk fixture, really. Just you really can't go wrong with Anker. So lots of charging devices this year. Something I didn't put on the list is the 12 South Butterfly Folding Portable MagSafe Charger, which I bring with me. I plug it into the Anker Nano charging station,. and then I can charge all three of my devices from one powerful USB-C port.
Joe Casabona [00:10:58]:
So now let's talk about office stuff. The hover bar duo has been my favorite item this year. I actually got this closer to two years ago, but I found renewed usefulness for the Hover bar duo in my reading nook. I clip it to the side table and mount my iPad in it. And then I have a little like heads up display where I can watch class like masterclass courses, or just take notes or read on my iPad right from there I do. I will include a picture in the show notes so you can get kind of like the full effect of it. But the Hover bar duo from 12 South 12 south is again one of these companies where you just really can't go wrong. I got a new NAS this year as well. A new network Area Storage.
Joe Casabona [00:11:47]:
I talk about that in the post. I don't really need to talk about that here, I don't think, because I think that's a very bespoke thing. I like it a lot. The U Green Nasync DXP4800, so if you're looking for a NAS, I'm enjoying this one. But a couple of things in the office that I think are not tech-related. I got a Post-it super sticky easel. You can see this behind me in my office here. And so I've got it mounted on my wall.
Joe Casabona [00:12:17]:
I used to have a really big, ridiculous-looking whiteboard. It was huge, and it took up a lot of space, and I finally downsized and got rid of it and got like a normal-sized whiteboard, and then, I picked up these Post-it super sticky easel pads, which have been really great for planning and brainstorming, capturing ideas. So I've really enjoyed that. It's a, it occupies a really nice space in my office on my planning wall. And professional gaffer's tape, I include that here. It's just there's so much utility to gaffer's tape that I just couldn't not mention it. So professional-grade gaffer's tape, you can use it for marking spots for videos, keeping equipment in place, or anything else you can think of. And then finally I have this.
Joe Casabona [00:13:11]:
It's the analog card bar by Uggmonk. So I like to write with index cards, and usually they're just strewn about across my desk. And this card bar is magnetic, beautifully designed. It's got a few slots and can also serve as a pen tray if I want. And I'm just so happy with this. It's a great addition to the rest of the stuff here on my desk. So if you're looking for a beautiful piece of equipment that can hold index cards or other card-sized things, I would strongly recommend this. All right, so now I'm going to go through a bunch of mobile accessories really quickly.
Joe Casabona [00:14:00]:
The Caldigit E5 Elements Hub. I got the Soho-like E4 version of this earlier this year, and it's no longer available, so I'm linking the E5. But if you travel a lot, you travel with an iPad or a MacBook Air, and you need more ports. The E5 Thunderbolt Elements 5 Hub is the way to go. The 12 South High Rise 3 Deluxe recently traded in my giant Belkin-like barbell charging 3 in 1 charger for the much more compact 12 South High Rise 3 Deluxe. It's next to my bed. I love it. It works beautifully.
Joe Casabona [00:14:40]:
The SAN Disk 2 Terabyte Extreme Portable SSD. This one really came in handy for me this year. I did a lot of traveling and was shooting a lot of video. Me and my friends we were recording podcasts in Kit's studio. And this is small. It is, it's 2 terabytes. That is a lot of storage, and it's rugged; it's got like a rubber exterior. So this has been, this is something that is now always with me when I am traveling because you never know when you need extra non-cloud storage and plug it into the Caldigit hub, and it works super fast.
Joe Casabona [00:15:25]:
Now I mentioned a lot of tech things, and you need a place to keep all of that. So my last physical recommendation I guess, is the Bellroy Tech Kit Organizer. I love just everything Bellroy does. This is one of those great companies and this is. It's thin, it expands, it holds everything I need. I can even put the surge protector from the anchor in it. It looks really nice, it feels really nice. Uh, and it, it again it fits just everything that I like to keep in my bag, and travel with me.
Joe Casabona [00:16:05]:
So big fan of that. The Bellroy Tech Kit. It's a tech accessories organizer pouch. You can find it at bellroy.com. The last thing I'm gonna mention here is just I wanna round things out with a few apps that I found incredibly useful this year. Tela TV. I use it for recording quick videos for sales, short-form, and coaching. Obsidian. Mike Schmitz convinced me to move over to Obsidian, and I did that late last year.
Joe Casabona [00:16:32]:
It's been a game-changer for me this year. Gling AI, which I use for editing videos. Steven Robles recommended it on this show earlier this year, and I've been using it ever since. Good Links is a great iOS and Mac app for reading and highlighting. It's been my go-to since leaving Readwise and readwise reader masterclass.com, that's not new to me, but I found renewed interest in it lately. I'm taking Herbie Hancock's course on jazz right now, and then send you for testimonials. Well-built, easy-to-use, easy-to-automate tool. Big fan of that.
Joe Casabona [00:17:07]:
So that is my 2025 gift guide for small abusiness owners. What did you like? What are you going to pick up? Did I give you ideas for people in your life? Let me know over at simplefeedback.com. All of the links are going to be in the show notes, or the description, or over at streamlined.fm.
Thanks so much for listening, and until next time. I hope you find some space in your week.