Ditch the tools you don’t need

🧹 January doesn’t feel busy—it feels heavy. Same clients, same work, but somehow even more tabs open, tools humming, and little decisions draining your day before the real work starts.

This week’s focus: Shrinking your freelance app stack without losing power—cutting overlapping tools, collapsing workflows, and reclaiming hours by subtraction, not hustle. Fewer apps, clearer days, better margins. (3-minute read)

🔦 Week’s highlights:

• Tool Spotlight: Arc and Missive become anchor tools, so you can (maybe?) eliminate everything else.

• Sherpa’s Shortcuts: Two small January rules that quietly cut overlap and daily re-orientation.

• The Ridgeline: AI matures, handling admin, not judgment, and shifts from tool to infrastructure.

• 😝 Tools Gone Wild: “Just one more tool” multiplies into subscriptions, confusion, and zero trust by February.

AI tool spotlight:

Tool Sherpa explores the flood of new AI apps and carefully selects only proven tools.

🧭Arc browser: Your actual workspace

Why it matters:
Your browser is where work happens. But most freelancers treat it like a junk drawer: 37 tabs, three windows, zero idea what’s actually “active.” Arc browser offers one clean workspace where current projects stay visible, finished work disappears, and your brain stops reloading the same context all day.

Who’s it for

• Freelancers juggling multiple clients and research-heavy work
• Writers who live in tabs and hate tab guilt
• Anyone tired of reopening the same docs every morning

Best use case:
Running active client work from pinned Spaces (one Space per project) so research, drafts, and reference docs live together and close when the job’s done.

Pros:
Spaces, pinned tabs, and automatic cleanup are intuitive, and can save hours by cutting context-switching. (Download the AI “Dia” version to also chat with your tabs).

Cons:
It’s a mindset shift. If you hoard tabs “just in case,” Arc will gently (and repeatedly) call you out.

Pricing:
Free to use.

👉 Try Arc now

📬 Missive: The inbox that stops lying to you

Why it matters:
Your inbox pretends it’s just email. In reality, it’s decisions, follow-ups, half-made promises, and the fear something slipped past you at 11:42 PM. Missive turns email into a shared workspace where messages get owned, discussed, and finished—no Slack detours or task-app gymnastics.

Who’s it for

• Freelancers working with an assistant or biz partner
• Micro-agency owners managing client email as a team
• Anyone who’s ever said “I thought you replied”

Best use case:
Handling client communication like work, not vibes: assign threads, draft replies together, leave internal notes, and close loops where they start.

Pros:
Collapses email, tasks, and follow-ups into one honest system. Assignable threads, shared drafts and internal chat save time and kill the “did that get handled?” spiral.

Cons:
For solos, some team features may be overkill. Brief unlearning phase if inbox chaos is your comfort zone.

Pricing:
30-day free trial. Paid plans start at $18/month.

👉 Try Missive for free

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Sherpa’s shortcuts 🪓

Sherpa-approved hacks to streamline your workflow in today’s most popular AI apps.
 

⚡ Hack #1: Replace one app with a folder

Problem:
You’re paying for an app that mostly stores things.

Solution:
Pick one paid tool used mainly for reference or tracking.
Replace it with one simple folder-style setup in tools you already use.

Try it for one week. No migration. No drama.

This works especially well for:
• Notion (when it’s a filing cabinet); Evernote; ClickUp; Asana; and Trello

If it mostly holds links and context, it’s a candidate.

How to:
• Create one “Space” in the Arc browser
• Pin the docs and links you actually use
• Stop opening the app for a week

If nothing breaks → cancel.

💡 Sherpa Tip:
If a folder can replace it, it was never a system.

⚡ Hack #2: The two-places rule for January

Problem:
You don’t lose time doing the work—you lose it re-orienting. Tabs everywhere, docs reopened daily, notes in one app, tasks in another, email shouting from the side.

Solution:
For one week, work is allowed to live in only two places:

• Arc browser → one browser workspace where active tabs, docs, research, and drafts stay visible in a single view
• Missive → one inbox view where client messages, decisions, and follow-ups live until done

How to use it:
• Client inputs → Missive
• Active work → Arc
• Everything else waits

That’s it. No notes apps. No task managers. No “just this once.”

💡 Sherpa Tip:
If your work isn’t visible, it isn’t usable.

The Ridgeline news🏔️

The latest on how AI is rewriting the rules for solopreneurs and small teams.

Let’s trek:

🤖 Automate like a grown-up: A pro’s mantra for 2026: automate admin and prep—even sales leads, but not judgment. 🔗 👉 Automate smarter

🧠 Think less. Ship more: Five AI productivity moves to ditch “prompt hoarding” and reward action. Momentum beats brilliance. 🔗 👉 Do the work

📵 Kill the scroll: One writer replaced morning doomscrolling with Gemini summaries, and regained focus before inbox chaos struck. 🔗 👉 Try the swap

📬 Google inbox alert: Gmail’s AI now sorts, summarizes, and decides what matters. Helpful (until it’s wrong and you’re the cleanup crew). 🔗 👉 Read the fine print

🛠️ AI grows up: CES 2026 signaled the end of AI as a “tool.” It’s infrastructure now: quiet, embedded, unavoidable. 🔗 👉 See the shift

☕ Final Sip:
AI didn’t steal your job. It stole the junk. You keep the thinking—and the coffee.

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Tools gone wild! 😜

Let’s end with a laugh — when AI tools take a detour off the happy path.

Just “one more tool” January regret

A freelancer swore this new AI app would be the last one. It promised clarity and a fresh start. Instead, it duplicated three tools they already had, each billing monthly, each demanding attention.

By February, they were paying more, checking more places, and trusting none of them.

📌 Lesson learned:
If a tool overlaps, it owes you proof, not patience. January rewards subtraction. February sends the invoice.

🧭 What’s Next?

More calm. Fewer headaches. We’ll be back next week.

Until then, dip into past editions for proven fixes that actually stick.
👉 Catch up on Tool Sherpa AI back issues

Same mountain. Lighter pack.

—Your Sherpa team 🏔️