SUMMARY BY CHATGPT

Tom Antion discusses 25 gadgets that can improve productivity, organization, and efficiency for entrepreneurs. He notes that not every gadget fits every business, but many can save time and reduce frustration.
His top recommendations include:
• Stream Deck – Automates repetitive computer tasks.
• Wireless lavalier microphone – Better audio for videos.
• USB-C/Thunderbolt dock – Expands connectivity.
• Portable second monitor – Greatly improves productivity while traveling.
• UPS (battery backup) – Protects equipment and prevents data loss.
• Portable SSD – Fast backups and file transfers.
• Tracking tags (AirTags, etc.) – Helps locate luggage and equipment.
• Smart plugs – Control lights and devices remotely.
• Label maker – Keeps equipment organized.
• Stylus – More precise use of phones and tablets.
He also briefly mentions mobile card readers, receipt printers, webcams, LED lights, teleprompters, conference microphones, voice recorders, security keys, water leak sensors, and digital business cards.
Bottom line: Invest in tools that automate repetitive tasks, improve content quality, protect your equipment, and keep you organized. Even small time savings add up over the course of a business.

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Episode 1148 - Gadgets
[00:00:08] Welcome to Screw the Commute, the entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multi-millionaire Tom Antion.
[00:00:24] Hey everybody, it's Tom here with episode 1148 of Screw the Commute podcast. Today we're going to talk about gadgets that help you save time, prevent losing your stuff, and helping you make sales. How about that? And hope you didn't miss episode 1147. That was special effects for a beginner. And you can go to the show notes and see some of these easy to do special effects that will really grab people when you're shooting your videos. All right. Anytime you want to get to a back episode, you go to episode number. Special effects was 1147. All right. Let's see. Pick up a copy of my automation book at screwthecommute.com/automatefree. 3.0 is there, but 4.0 is hot on the press and almost ready to come out. You can get 3.0 and then 4.0 will add to it. And check out my mentor program, greatinternetmarketingtraining.com and my school at IMTCVA.org, certified to operate by SCHEV.
[00:01:21] All right, so we're going to talk about 25 gadgets. Now some of these won't make any sense for you based on your business model. For instance, number one is a mobile credit card reader. Well, that doesn't make sense for me. I do all digital online. Don't do anything in person where I got to take credit cards. Okay? Even when I spoke or when I speak, I run them just by typing numbers into my cell phone, you know? So it's no big deal. And another one that goes along with this, it doesn't make sense for me, but a portable receipt printer.
[00:02:00] That's number two. If you're doing anything Live. All right. Now, these other ones kind of apply to anybody. And some of them you say, well, what's that got to do with selling or anything? Well, number three is a label maker. I use this thing all the time. It's a handheld battery operated. You put a little cartridge in it and it makes labels to help me keep organized, which is one of my big trouble areas. Okay, that's number three. Number four, this is one, uh, kind of been replaced by AI. Now it's called a photo lightbox where you can put a product or your book or whatever you got in it and take a picture of it, but you can, you know, do pretty darn good if you watch my AI hacks thing about just telling ChatGPT to make your your thing into a product picture and it'll do it. So, but if you like taking pictures yourself, then a portable photo lightbox is handy. Next one a real must the wireless lavalier microphone. I use the DJI one. It comes in a little case that you can plug the case in. It charges the receiver and two transmitters. You can buy one transmitter if you want, but I got two because it wasn't much more money.
[00:03:20] So that's really important because audio is so important. All right. Number six is the stream deck. Now the generic term for stream deck is a programmable shortcut key pad. And so this has saved me so much time from getting up and getting down, turning my lights on for video, turning my teleprompter on and off, opening up stuff, putting emails in. I'm just all kinds of stuff. So that's called a stream deck, the programmable shortcut keypad, number seven, USB C or Thunderbolt docking station. You can't believe how many things I got plugged in here. I think it got 8 or 9 things, multiple monitors and the iMac would only hold so many in the back. So this. Expanded how many things I can plug in. So that's a USB or Thunderbolt docking station. Number eight is a portable document scanner. So a lot of times you can use an app on your phone for this. But sometimes still people, especially in mortgages and insurance are still doing stuff old school. So that could be good for you if you needed that. Number nine a standalone voice recorder. Yes, your cell phone will record audio, but I got to tell you, it's a pain in the neck to record a bunch of audio and then have to have your your phone out of service while you're trying to get the audio off.
[00:04:56] Or maybe you have an assistant, you have to turn your cell phone over to them and then you can't use your cell phone. So I have a $20 portable MP3 player recorder that I just keep in my pocket and make notes to myself. And then that way, it's not tying up my cell phone. All right. Number ten is a digital business card. This is where you can touch your phone to somebody else's. Again, I don't go to too many places anymore. And if I'm there, everybody knows who I am and how to get Ahold of me. So, um, but this allows you to tap your phone to somebody else's, that kind of stuff. The young people use a lot of that stuff. I don't, I don't really use that one. Let's see. Number 11. A portable second monitor. So if you're traveling, if you've listened to me a lot, you know how much I love second monitors, dual monitors. I got three here. I got four down in the lower office. And, uh, having one on the road can really make you more efficient. And they're small, easy to carry. Let's see. Um, number 12 USB pedal. This is something you can use to mute your microphone without using your hands to start and stop video recordings. Advanced slides in your PowerPoint control a teleprompter, all without having to use your hands.
[00:06:20] So I don't particularly use one, but I have seen people use them and they love them. All right, let's see. Number 13 is a good webcam and I did a whole episode on this recently. screwthecommute.com/1146 on what you should have, what's a waste of money and all that for your webcams. All right. Number 14 is a portable LED light. I've got one here. I think it's made by loom and it and let's see. Yeah, it's loom a loom cube. It's just a little tiny thing that can really light up stuff for you. It's again, it's travel compatible. It's bad. It's got its own internal rechargeable battery and it gives you some light when you need it. And you know, the lights in hotel rooms are terrible for stuff. So. So that's a portable LED light. Number 15 is a Bluetooth conference mic. Now again, this doesn't make sense for me because none of the employees or contractors work here at the house anymore. So but this is something you can just sit in the middle of a table if you happen to have one of the Yeti mics. It has a, a dial on it that you can dial it. To do this for you, just sit it in the middle of the table and it picks up everybody all around. But if you don't, then that and you have a need for something like that, where you have meetings around conference tables that could help you.
[00:07:50] Number 16 is a teleprompter. I've got an Elgato teleprompter, and I used to use it more when I was doing a lot of intros for public seminars to get people to sign up, but occasionally I need to use it now where I don't want to memorize a long thing. So, so that's a teleprompter. And and you got to practice using teleprompters. I'm in the actors union, Sag-Aftra, and we had extensive training. So you don't look like you're deer in the headlights. So I think I have whole episodes on that. Number 17 is a noise canceling headset. Now, I don't want you to use the microphone from these noise canceling headsets, other than for just simple non-important stuff. For important stuff, you need a good studio microphone and make it dynamic. You don't want a condenser microphone because dynamic or condenser picks up every little noise where somebody is cutting their grass four houses down. You don't want that. All right, let's see. Number 18 is an uninterruptible power supply and surge protector. Yeah. Because there's blackouts happen, thunderstorms and you know, electricity can go out and can kill your computers. I had $6,000 loss one time from from this. So I'm very sensitive to this kind of stuff. Number 19 is a high capacity power bank.
[00:09:18] They have ones now that'll stick right to the side of your phone and charge it, and it'll charge other things for you. And very handy if you're a place where you can't keep your phone charged. Number 20, a hardware security key. So I have this USB drive that it's super high security. And if somebody tries to crack the passcode on it so many times, it's almost like the old Mission Impossible. It's like it doesn't sizzle, but it kills everything on the drive. So so it's high security USB security key. Let's see. Um, a portable SSD. Ssd is a solid state drive. So if you need, if you go to hotels and you're working on big files and stuff and you you can't really send them to the cloud on their pitiful Wi-Fi, then this is something you can make quick backups on right there where you're at. Let's see, 22 is tracking tags. So you can put them in your luggage and you know all your important stuff in case it gets stolen or misplaced. You can find the stuff. So that's a handy thing. 23 uh, you know, this one you'd have never thought would have been on this list as a water leak sensor. So if you happen to work out of your basement or so then and there's flooding or heavy rains and or your hot water heater breaks or something, this alerts you that you've got trouble and you don't want all your, your great stuff to get waterlogged.
[00:10:59] And let's see. 24 is smart plugs. These are plugs that are very easy and cheap, where you can control things from your smartphone in different parts of the house. Turn lights on, turns lights off, you know, all that kind of stuff. So that's handy. You know, like I said, every time you have to get up and do something, it ruins your train of thought. So. And 25 is a stylus. And I just did an episode on this. screwthecommute.com/1145 and how if you got fat fingers or long nails or it just makes you so precise on, uh, doing stuff on your cell phones and tablets, and I just keep one in my pocket all the time. All right, so there we go. There's 25 gadgets that'll help you out if you want help with this. And I don't know the million other things that needs to be successful online, check out my mentor program, greatinternetmarketingtraining.com and my school and IMTCVA.org, certified to operate by SCHEV, the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia. But you don't have to be in Virginia because it's quality distance learning. All right. We'll catch you on the next episode. Go get some gadgets.