Streamlined Solopreneur: Helping Solopreneurs Take Time Off Worry-Free · Joe Casabona, Business Systems Coach

The Best Gifts for Small Business Owners (2025 Edition)

·20 min·2 clips

Joe's coaching client Laura saved more than she spent by simplifying her tech stack—discover how his free tool can do the same for you.

This episode is a curated gift guide for small business owners, hosted by Joe Casabona of the Streamlined Solopreneur podcast. Casabona, a coach who helps solopreneurs simplify their operations, shares his personal tech and tool recommendations for 2025. He explains he has moved away from a comprehensive annual list to highlight items he found genuinely useful in the past year. The first highlighted gadget is the Kindle ColorSoft, which he appreciates for its color display and multi-color highlighting feature. He also recommends the Terminal, a programmable e-ink screen that cycles through data like calendar schedules, weather, and sports scores. For audio gear, Casabona strongly endorses the Soundcore Sleep A20 Earbuds by Anker as comfortable sleep buds that work without a proprietary app. He frequently uses the DJI Mic Mini for its compact size, good sound quality, and convenient charging case. Another audio pick is the portable Zoom PodTrack P4 recorder for on-location podcasting, and the Bose SoundLink Max Bluetooth speaker for its sound quality and durability. In smart home, his favorite is the Philips Hue Indoor Outdoor Holiday Lights, which can be left up year-round and programmed for different holidays or sports teams. He also uses the Aqara Zigbee Motion Sensor P1 to automate his office lights based on occupancy. For charging, he likes the Gitrin 10-in-1 Desktop Charging Station with retractable cables and the portable Anker Nano Charging Station for travel. A notable office item is the Hover Bar Duo from 12 South, which he uses as a adjustable stand for his iPad in a reading nook. He mentions switching to a Post-it super sticky easel pad for brainstorming and praises the Analog Card Bar by Ugmonk for organizing index cards. For mobile accessories, he relies on the CalDigit E5 Thunderbolt Hub for extra ports and the SanDisk 2TB Extreme Portable SSD for rugged, high-capacity storage. All his tech accessories are organized in a Bellroy Tech Kit Organizer pouch. The episode concludes with quick app recommendations, including Tella.tv for video, Obsidian for notes, Gling.ai for editing, GoodLynx for reading, Masterclass.com for courses, and Senja for testimonials. A surprising claim is that his blog post about returning Oslo Sleep Buds became his most popular post over three years. An interesting insight is his requirement that any Bluetooth device should not force the use of a proprietary app to function. He reveals a personal heuristic for using different colored highlights in the Kindle ColorSoft to categorize information. A memorable detail is programming his outdoor lights to display New York Yankees colors during baseball playoffs. The episode is sponsored by Stellar Sites, which he presents as a balanced platform for building business websites and online courses. The tone is conversational and direct, as a solo host sharing personal experiences and preferences with his audience. The style is educational and recommendation-focused, structured like a curated list with brief explanations for each item. Listeners interested in productivity tech, gadget reviews, and tools for streamlining a small business will enjoy this episode. Those seeking deep business strategy, interviews, or narrative storytelling might want to skip it.

As heard by us

A practical gift guide for small-business owners centered on simpler tools and less busywork.

This episode works as a gift guide for small-business owners, but the real value is in the advice tucked behind the picks. The recurring idea is simple: cut the clutter.

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Why you'd press play

You get a yearly gift guide for small business owners, with a useful side quest into simplifying a tech stack that has gotten too crowded.

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