Macpreneur

Running a Global Writing Community From Her MacBook with Leigh Shulman

• Damien Schreurs • Season 6 • Episode 131

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In this episode, you'll learn how Leigh Shulman, a seasoned writer and mentor, uses her MacBook Pro to run her solopreneur business seamlessly.

Links and video version at https://macpreneur.com/episode131

Connect with Leigh:


Highlights:

  • [00:00] Teaser  
  • [00:34] Introduction to Leigh Shulman  
  • [01:34] Leigh's Mac Setup  
  • [04:29] Writing and Productivity Tools  
  • [07:15] Community Platforms: Discourse vs. Discord  
  • [14:24] Backup Strategies and Solutions  
  • [25:33] Tips and Tricks for Mac Users  
  • [30:37] Leigh's Wishlist for Apple  
  • [37:21] Where to Find Leigh Shulman Online  
  • [39:09] Applying to be a guest too  
  • [39:33] Outro  


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Running a Global Writing Community From Her MacBook with Leigh Shulman


Teaser

Leigh Shulman: My backpack has always been my office. Whether I'm traveling, on a flight, at a café, someone’s house, or going to a retreat, my backpack is my office. Having one computer, one keyboard, and one of everything, all in a really thin, lightweight package, is necessary.

Nova AI: Welcome to Macpreneur, the show for seasoned solopreneurs looking to streamline their business on a Mac. Unlock the secrets to saving time and money with your host and technology mentor, Damien Schreurs.


Introduction to Leigh Shulman

Damien Schreurs: Hello, hello! Today, I have the pleasure of introducing Leigh Shulman. Leigh is a writer and writing mentor with two decades of experience under her belt. She founded the Inspired Writer Community, an online mentoring community for writers at any stage in their writing lives. Her bestselling book, The Writer's Roadmap: Paving the Way to Your Ideal Writing Life, helps thousands find their way in the writing world.

Her international writing retreat and website are listed in Write Life's top resources for writers. Her words have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Longreads, and Guernica, among others. Leigh, welcome to the show.

Leigh Shulman: Thank you for having me here, Damien. It's great to be here.

Damien Schreurs: I think you are the first writer I've interviewed.

Leigh Shulman: I'm happy to hear that. 

Damien Schreurs: Yes, a writer who's using a Mac.


Leigh's Mac Setup

Damien Schreurs: And so the first question is, what is your current Mac setup?

Leigh Shulman: My current Mac setup is a MacBook Pro. I think I got it about two years ago. And I don't have to say, I'd have to look to see how much power it has, but I don't actually need that much for most of what I do. But yeah, I mean, I've used Mac since I haven't always worked as a writer.

So yeah, I used to work as a film editor for online video editor. I was using Premiere, things like that, but I've always loved Mac for that. I'm definitely one of those people who, if you made me go to a PC, it would be a punishment. So,

Damien Schreurs: And so your MacBook, do you primarily use the main screen? Do you have a secondary screen attached?

Leigh Shulman: I use the main one. I just use that.

Damien Schreurs: So no external keyboard or mouse or something like that. No?

Leigh Shulman: No.

Damien Schreurs: Just the laptop.

Leigh Shulman: And that also makes it very portable. So, the room I'm in now is my office, but it's a relatively new office. My backpack has always been my office. Whether I'm traveling, on a flight, or want to go to a cafe, someone's house, or a retreat, my backpack is my office. So, having one computer, one keyboard, one of everything, just in one thin, light package is necessary.

Damien Schreurs: And have you ever had a Mac desktop at one point?

Leigh Shulman: Years ago, I used to work for MTV where I was doing their website. I did a lot of live events with them. And then I did have a laptop at home, mainly because at that point, laptops were much cheaper than desktops. And I also had a lot of stuff connected. I had my writing pad. I had, because I was doing more graphics and video. So, I liked having a huge station. It was nice to have that. I

Damien Schreurs: And so, which screen size do you have now for the MacBook?

Leigh Shulman: I think it's 13 inches. It's either 12 or 13 inches. I always liked a bigger screen, but these days I'm happy. The lightness of the computer and the size of the computer is more important to me, so I usually go with the smaller one.

Damien Schreurs: You mentioned that it's not that powerful because you don't really need it.


Writing and Productivity Tools

Damien Schreurs: So maybe let's talk about you and what you are doing the most on your Mac.

Leigh Shulman: Most of what I do involves writing, Zoom meetings, and conferences. I conduct all my one-on-one meetings, group meetings, and community meetings through Zoom, as well as podcasts like this and any other podcast platform. Quite frankly, I don't use graphic software very much anymore. This year, I finally got rid of the Photoshop desktop app because I just don't need that level of power as I used to.

I rely heavily on Google Docs because they are great for sharing text with others, whether I'm collaborating with a client on the same document or sharing edits with an editor or an agent.

As I mentioned, I like to keep things simple with as few moving parts as possible.

Damien Schreurs: In today's age, most of the things we do are web services, so they usually go through a browser or have dedicated Mac apps. Regardless, those apps synchronize through the cloud. You're using Google Docs, for instance, and Google Sheets, etc. Do you use Chrome, or do you still use Safari?

Leigh Shulman: I use Chrome for almost everything. The truth is, I typically use Safari when something isn't working on a website, and I want to check it, or if I need to troubleshoot an issue. For example, I use Discourse for my community platform, so if someone can't log in or is experiencing a technical issue, I'll switch to Safari.

I'm not usually signed in on most things in Safari, which allows me to troubleshoot more easily. I don't often mention specific apps because, in response to one of your questions that I've heard in other podcasts, I don't really use many Mac apps. I do use some, but they aren't the staples of my work.

Most of what I use is browser-based, as you mentioned. I can say it's seamless; I love that Mac allows everything to integrate smoothly at this point. Whether I'm using a Mac product or something else, like Promo Republic for my social media or Google Docs, it all works very seamlessly for me and when I'm collaborating with clients. 

Damien Schreurs: Yeah.


Community Platforms: Discourse vs. Discord

Damien Schreurs: If I circle back to Discourse, I'm wondering if my audience is familiar with Discord but not necessarily with Discourse. Could you elaborate a little bit? What is the difference between Discord and Discourse? And what do you like about Discourse?

Leigh Shulman: Well, Discourse is more of a community platform, while Discord is more of a chat app. You can share different things on both, but Discourse allows for a wider range of topics and discussions. For my writing community, the Inspired Writer community, I want a place where I can have various topics, people responding, and specific links to everything I need. I actually started using Discourse because I took some classes with Seth Godin, and he was using it.

I've tried lots of different community message boards, and most of them are clunky, or you have to pay for membership, like Mighty Networks. I do pay for Discourse, but I pay a yearly fee, which gives me control over how it looks and how I want to put it together. There are lots of different options, and it's more of a tool than a platform, so I can really shape what I need. The idea of not building your house on someone else's land resonates with me; I feel like I'm not doing that with Discourse. With most community-type platforms, there's often a lot of information, and people can get lost, which can happen with Discourse. However, the way I have mine set up is relatively straightforward.

It's easy for me to send out an email every week at the beginning of each week to say, "Okay, here are our accountability posts, and here are the events for the week." You can link directly to it, see the schedule, and find ongoing discussions you might want to join. This allows me to guide people to where I want them to go, making the process easier.

Damien Schreurs: That rings a bell. I'm listening to MacPower Users, another podcast, and their community is also on Discourse. I joined a few years ago, but I'm not super active. I just realized this is the platform. So, if I understand correctly, it would be the equivalent of a Facebook group or a forum, but one that you have control over.

It's a bit like WordPress. There’s Facebook, where you have little control and don't own the platform, and then there's Discourse, which is more like self-hosted WordPress. For your community, is it totally free for members? Is it a freemium model? How does it work for you?

Leigh Shulman: My community is a paid community. Just to clarify, saying that Discourse is like using WordPress on your own host is exactly right. I used to host the discussion part of my community on Facebook, but it's someone else's platform completely. With Mark Zuckerberg's recent announcement about going back to their roots, whatever that means, I wanted a place that was mine and that I could control.

I also wanted to add other features because Facebook has limited options. You may start out discussing something specific on Facebook, but most times you'll end up somewhere else. Two hours later, you might find yourself arguing about something that's a complete waste of time. I avoid that completely by using this forum. People don't waste time there; they are either sharing something, reporting what they've done that week, picking up a resource, giving feedback, or seeking feedback. There’s no reason to waste time on it.

Damien Schreurs: If I recall correctly, there is a kind of reputation or point system, so the more involved you are in the community as a member, the more permissions or capabilities you have.

Leigh Shulman: Yes, but as the administrator, I don't lean too much into the gamification aspect. I want people to have access to what they need from the beginning because it can be confusing to ask, "Why can't I access this?" I don't want to require someone to post 30 times just to gain access. While it does have a gamification component designed to keep you on the platform, I’m trying to move away from that because I don't think it's healthy. I don't really use it, but yes, it exists. Just so you know, I'm a high achiever in my community; I spend a lot of time responding to everyone and supporting people.

Damien Schreurs: Very good. Now, in terms of apps, which native apps do you still rely on for your Mac?

Leigh Shulman: I would say Notes and Photos are the ones I use most. I don't store things in Notes; I have my own system for organizing. I use Drive for many things and Google Docs for most tasks. However, if I'm in the middle of a meeting and something comes up, I’ll jot it down in Notes. For example, I have a trip coming up in the U.S., and I’m keeping track of the things I want to buy and do while I'm there in Notes. It's easy to access everywhere, whether on my phone or computer. Everything I have on my computer, whether it's Drive or something else, is accessible on my phone, but Notes updates automatically, making it much easier. The same goes for Photos, where I have access to all my pictures, no matter where I am or how I'm trying to access them. Those are the two apps I use the most.


Backup Strategies and Solutions

Damien Schreurs: Yeah, now, when we have a laptop and it's our only computer, the usual difficulty or the thing that I see missing with my clients is a backup system, right? So, what's your strategy? I know you store a lot of things in the cloud, so you already have at least two copies of your files. But for what is local and for the setup of your computer, how do you handle that?

Leigh Shulman: I back it up in the cloud. For a long time, I had a separate hard drive that I would also back it up on, but I haven't been doing that as much. I do have automatic backups because everything I use daily is on Drive. So the backup that I need on my computer is mainly for the apps and anything that comes through the different apps or my various settings. But the reality is, if I lost them all, it wouldn't matter that much because it's very easy to recreate. That happened to me during the pandemic because my computer would no longer charge, so I had to send it back, which was actually great.

It happened really quickly. I went there, and I don't know if there is a licensed Mac dealer where I live anymore. At the time, there was one, and they took care of it. They were great. It took two months. I did not believe them when they told me it would take two months, but it really only took two months.

Things getting to Argentina tend to slow down, but it was great. When they saw my computer, because I type so often, you can see my keyboard now; my space bar is worn down, and the letters I use the most no longer have numbers on them. You can see straight through to the keyboard.

So they basically replaced everything. I sent it back to fix the charging mechanism. They fixed that, gave me a new screen, and a new keyboard. It felt like I had a new computer.

When that was happening, my husband, who has the same Mac, let me use his because he wasn't working at that point. He didn't need it. So he gave me his, and I used it for two months. It was a matter of just downloading Zoom and whatever I needed, logging into my different accounts, and once I got into Drive, I had access to everything. I also have Drive backed up in the cloud in my Apple account.

Damien Schreurs: For Macpreneurs who have important files that are too big to be on the cloud, such as those doing video editing or podcast editing, these can be very large files. Yes, we could put them in Google Drive, but then it would take a lot of time to synchronize, so it doesn't make sense.

For laptops, the solution I recommend is called BackBlaze. It's a true cloud backup system in the sense that it's a one-way street; it's from the computer to BackBlaze. There is never synchronization, and there is no risk of deletion from BackBlaze. If something gets deleted on your computer, it cannot be deleted from BackBlaze.

What I like about BackBlaze is that you can configure it to run continuously, or, in my case, I don't do that because when I'm in the middle of a recording, I don't want it to start pushing a few gigabytes. It's also possible to schedule it to run only once a day, and you can specify what time of the day you want it to kick in.

Leigh Shulman: Got it. So the types of large files you have are recordings, or are there other large files that you keep backed up?

Damien Schreurs: Yeah, actually, almost everything that is locally on my computer is backed up to BackBlaze. It's slightly different from Time Machine because Time Machine allows you to restore a complete system, including settings and so on, which is not the case with BackBlaze. It's more about restoring files and folders.

But the beauty is that it backs up almost everything. There are a few file types that it doesn't back up, such as some temporary files and virtual machines. I'm running Windows on my MacBook Pro, and this is a virtual machine. It doesn't back up. I don't know; it's 120 gigabytes, and it's a big blob.

For that, I have Time Machine. In fact, I have two Time Machine backups of my MacBook. But for the MacBook, the tricky part is remembering to plug the hard drive in.

Leigh Shulman: Alright, the other thing with Time Machine is making sure you have enough space on your hard drive so that it doesn't overwrite backups you want to keep.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah.

Leigh Shulman: I hate to say this, but everything I've learned about backups, I've learned the hard way. So I'm very specific about backups, but that's only because I lost things along the way. In my community, I'll occasionally remind people to back up their stuff because it really sucks to lose them.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah, the rule of thumb that I'm using now is at least twice the size of the internal disk. So if you have a 1TB hard drive in your MacBook, you need at least a 2TB external drive for Time Machine. Nowadays, with the prices of SSDs falling, I actually recommend going with an SSD as a Time Machine backup drive.

Yes, it's still a little bit more expensive than a rotating hard drive, but when Time Machine kicks in and performs a backup, it's much faster. Additionally, when you need to restore the computer, it's also much faster than a rotating hard drive.

Leigh Shulman: Yeah, that makes sense. I think I'm sort of in the market right now for checking into and upgrading my backup system because it is backed up, but like I said, when you lose something, you want to back it up more than once and ensure that doesn't happen again. I'm happy to say it's been a while since I've lost everything.

Damien Schreurs: Another thing that is important to realize, especially with the Google platform, is that if you are dealing with native Google Docs files, you don't really have a local backup because what is synchronized locally is actually a shortcut—it's a link to the file that is in the cloud.

Leigh Shulman: Yeah, no.

Damien Schreurs: For that, there are two options. Either you manually decide to download the file as a Microsoft native version or as a PDF version. That's one option. Another option, which I finally implemented, is using a Synology disk system, a Network Attached Storage (NAS) system.

It's like a big box, and I have four hard drives in it, with redundancy. It only uses the capacity of three of the four drives. The fourth drive is distributed across all four drives, so there is redundancy in the system. I could lose any of those four drives and still access the files without losing anything. Synology offers different applications that run on the Synology itself, and one of those applications is Google Workspace Backup. It converts all Google Sheets, Docs, and Slides into their Microsoft equivalents. This process is fully automated; I think it runs once per day at midnight, pulling everything from Google Drive. If it's a PDF, Word, or Excel file, it just makes a copy. But if it's a native Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides file, it will make the conversion and store the converted file for me. It does more than that because I also have backups for Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Contacts, so it's a more comprehensive backup than just Google Drive.

Leigh Shulman: Got it. That's a good idea. I'm probably going to contact you after this just to get all that information. The other thing about Google is that if, for some reason, you're ever disconnected from your account, it's almost impossible to get back in. You can't really contact Google; they won't respond.

There was something that happened relatively recently where I wasn't disconnected from my account, but I needed to get in touch with Google, and there was no solution for it. So, yeah, I'm going to do that, too, because I have this underlying fear of losing everything I've done for the last 20 years. I have it backed up in different places, but you never know exactly what you have until you've lost it.

Damien Schreurs: To really have everything backed up, we need at least three copies of everything, ideally on different mediums as well.

Very good. So let's go to the next section of the show.


Tips and Tricks for Mac Users

Damien Schreurs: What tip or trick did you discover on your Mac recently that you wish you knew before?

Leigh Shulman: Ugh, that's a tough one because I'm trying to think, what was it? I don't know. I had one for you, but I can't remember what I was going to say because there aren't that many tips and tricks that I use. I mean, the shortcuts I've been using for years. The one thing I hadn't been using and only started using recently was getting rid of duplicates, especially in Photos.

Just to clean things out and keep everything as organized as possible.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah, I think that's one of the newer features that came last year, right? It was iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma that introduced duplicate photo detection natively in the Photos app. It's a good reminder that this feature is built in now.

Leigh Shulman: Yeah, especially if I sometimes send something to my phone to ensure I have it there because the search function in Photos seems to have changed recently. I find it harder to locate things the way I used to.

So often, I'll just email something to myself or keep it here, and then I end up with all these duplicates everywhere. When things are backing up and so on, it can get messy. I wish my computer was as clean and organized as I want it to be, but the duplicate file feature makes it easier.

If I'm not 100% sure about something, I'll just keep it. That helps me know, "Oh, you have four of these; why don't you get rid of some?"

Damien Schreurs: Yeah. If we go back to Photos on the iPhone, since iOS 18, they completely revamped the Photos interface. My youngest daughter even asked, "How do I go back to iOS 17?" It's not that she hates her iPhone, but I sense she was really upset about the changes. She's 15 and will turn 16 this year.

Leigh Shulman: Yeah, a lot of software does this. Different platforms will change something, and as a user, you just have to deal with it. You don't know what's coming; you suddenly realize, "Wait, why isn't this working the way I usually do?"

That's frustrating. I tend to be very good with interfaces and how things work, so most of the time when people say they hate the changes, I barely notice them because the logic stays the same. That has not been my experience with Photos. I can't understand why last week I could find something easily, and now I can't find the photo that I located through a search just last week. So I'm on the same page as your daughter.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah, well, it's normal. I would say that within a week after upgrading from an old version of iOS to a new version, there is usually a process of re-indexing. So it's common to see posts like, "Oh, my iPhone is heating up," or "The battery life of my iPhone has been cut in half."

I just upgraded; don't upgrade, and so on. That's normal, right? When we upgrade, it’s as if it has to rebuild some databases behind the scenes. You're not the first person to tell me they have issues finding photos. Searching for photos using keywords has become much more difficult since iOS 18.

Leigh Shulman: Mmm.

Damien Schreurs: How long ago did you upgrade your phone?

Leigh Shulman: Well, actually, I got a new phone about a year and a half ago, but I updated the software not that long ago. I don't remember exactly how long it was, but the searches I was doing definitely occurred in the last couple of weeks.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah, if it was an indexing issue, it should have been resolved by now.

Okay, so we're almost at the end of the show.


Leigh's Wishlist for Apple

Damien Schreurs: If you were in charge of the Mac division at Apple, what would be your first priority?

Leigh Shulman: Alright, so my first priority would be to keep things standard across all the different technologies. I think this is something that has started to happen, especially after a lawsuit in Europe regarding USB types and connectors. I don't want to have a different cord for my phone, my laptop, and my other devices.

I also recently bought a new pair of earbuds because my old ones, which I had for years and loved, stopped charging. They lasted longer than most, but the new ones don’t fit my ears; they’re too big and fall out all the time.

The thing I loved about my old ones was that they never fell out, no matter if I was going for a walk or moving around the house. When they do fall out, it’s frustrating, especially since they are wireless. While I appreciate the convenience of being wireless, I would ask for the option to have what worked well for us before, so we can continue using them seamlessly.

Right now, I am having issues because I don’t like using the wired ones that you see me using now. The current pair I have doesn’t work that well. Someone lent me a different, non-Mac version of earbuds that I like, except for the fact that they have little buttons on them. When I accidentally touch them, I cut everything out.

Basically, suddenly nobody can hear me. I just want the tools that work to continue functioning as they were. If something doesn’t work, then find a solution. Obviously, different things work for different people. The old size of the earbuds worked really well for me, but they didn’t for my husband because he has larger ears, and the new ones work for him.

So, give us the option. When I went to get my new earbuds—maybe in July—they offered me the option of engraving little icons or emojis for free, which is lovely. I love it. It’s great to be able to tell my earbuds apart from others. However, I would much rather have them fit in my ears than have little emojis on them. I have a unicorn; it's really cute, but I still would rather they fit. Function over form.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah, they kind of boasted about using machines to scan the ears of people from multiple countries and continents. They claimed that now the earbuds should fit more people because they are optimized across a broader spectrum. However, as you said, the alternatives would be the AirPods Pro, which have a little rubber tip. They come with three sizes, so the chance of fitting better is greater.

The disadvantage is that I have both the AirPods 3 and the AirPods Pro 1. I absolutely could not live without the AirPods Pro because of the noise cancellation, but at the same time, I can't wear them for too long because of the rubber tip. You can really feel it, while the AirPods are lightweight and you almost don’t feel them—unless they fall out.

Leigh Shulman: Exactly, as long as they stay in. When they fall out, and you lose one, there’s nothing you can do. That happened to me when Noah, my husband, lent me his AirPods on an airplane. One fell out and went under the seat. I was worried, but I found it pretty easily once I got up to look. However, I sat there for two hours on a flight hoping I could find his AirPods. I can't really replace them in Argentina; I haven't found anyone nearby who has them in the city where I live. Any Mac technology here is three times the price.

So, when my computer stopped charging during the pandemic—right at the beginning—I thought, what am I supposed to do? I can’t just not work at all. I looked into how much it would cost to replace it here. A $2,000 computer was $6,000 here. So, I would have had to switch to a PC if I hadn't been able to get my computer fixed. Thankfully, it worked out, and I didn’t have to switch to a PC.

Damien Schreurs: Now, to return to the AirPods, the closest alternative to Apple-branded headphones would be the Beats, since Apple bought Beats. They have the same technology, including the same chips. You can find them with Find My; when you open the lid, they appear on the iPhone screen, making pairing seamless. They may have different models; I haven't looked into them, so I can't really say, but I would suggest checking them out. They also have models that attach behind the ear, which is better for sports, as they will stay in place.

Leigh Shulman: I will check it out. Thank you.

Damien Schreurs: My pleasure.


Where to Find Leigh Shulman Online

Damien Schreurs: So where can people find you online?

Leigh Shulman: The two best places to find me are on my website, which is leighshulman.com. That's where you'll find access to and information about everything I do. There's a contact form on the main page, and I will send you all the links so people can access it directly. I also have a specific contact page just for your podcast, so if anyone listening wants to find out more about writing, my community, or anything related, they can write to me directly. The other great place to connect with me, have discussions, ask questions, or talk about whatever is Instagram. I’m TheLeighShulman on Instagram, so those are the two places I check the most.

I respond to everything on those two platforms. If it’s Facebook, I’ll get to it later, and it doesn’t always reach me. On Instagram and my website, I’m on it daily.

Damien Schreurs: Yeah, I will put links in the show notes for everyone who is interested in contacting you.

Leigh Shulman: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Damien Schreurs: My pleasure. I think you are also the first one from Argentina.

Leigh Shulman: There you go, the first writer from Argentina. But the truth is, when you said that, one of the things I thought is that a lot of writers just don’t really think about the technology because much of what I do is help people get used to it. A lot of that is simply saying, "Here’s the platform, here’s my community, learn how to use it."

It’s relatively simple; it’s just a matter of if you want it, you need to learn it.

Damien Schreurs: So thank you very much.


Applying to be a Guest Too

Damien Schreurs: And so, if like Leigh, you would like to share how you are using your Mac to run your solopreneur business, it’s simple. 

Just visit macpreneur.com/apply. 

If you are already on Podmatch, click on the button, and you will land on the show profile.

Otherwise, fill out the application form, and I will get back to you within a few days. Once again, it’s macpreneur.com/apply.


Outro

Damien Schreurs: If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a fellow solopreneur and tag both Leigh and myself on Instagram.

And until next time, I'm Damien Schreurs, wishing you a great day. 

Nova AI: Thank you for listening to the Macpreneur Podcast. If you've enjoyed the show, please leave a review and share it with a friend right now.