So, after testing over a 100 AI tools for my business, I noticed something, which is that most of them are just noise or a fancy solution to something pretty basic. But there are seven tools that have actually changed how I run my business every single day, even though there are so many new tools popping up all the time. Now, some of these may sound pretty simple or even boring, but they have had a bigger impact on my business than I expected when I first started using them. So, today I want to talk about what they are, how I use them, and why you should, too. So, the first tool is not going to shock anybody. It’s actually two tools. It’s Cloud Code and Codeex. They’re AI agents that work right on your computer. So, they can read your local files, they can write code, they can build things, and all you have to do is talk to them in natural language. And for me, they’re the number one biggest lever in my business. If I had to only use one of these tools on this list today, it would be either Cloud Code or Codeex. I can use them to make slide decks or spreadsheets and Google Docs. I can use them as a brainstorming partner, as a council, and basically my entire operating system that my whole business runs on. My second brain lives in there. All my projects, my skills, all my knowledge, all my meeting transcripts, all of that kind of stuff. It drives about 90% of my daily workflow. It’s also helped me cut out a lot of other tools that I used to pay for because now I can just build them myself. So, I used to pay for something like Gamma to make slide decks or something like Poppy to help with content and now I can just build my own little custom apps instead. I’ve even built my own version of Loom that I use because once you can just describe the tool and that you want, you know, you don’t really need to rent someone else’s tool. Now, it’s not me saying it’s easy to build software that you could scale to hundreds of thousands of users, but if you’re just using it or you’re using it for a small team, it’s not as risky. So, if you guys run a business, a good place to start is a tool that you’re paying for every month, but only using one feature of. Or you can point something like Cloud Code at SOPs and client docs, and your team can ask it questions instead of asking you. Now, people do always ask me which one of these two that I use, and the answer is it’s both. I pay for both, and I use both every single week. You know, sometimes one model is ahead. Sometimes my usage just lasts longer on one, so I’m bouncing back and forth a lot. But in general, you know, I think Codex is a lot better at computer use, browser use, and cloud code is a better thought partner when I’m brainstorming. And right now, the usage lasts a lot longer. But that might not be true in 2 months. So, it’s not a matter of which one is best. It’s which one of them is best for the task that I’m doing right now. And how do I build my whole like AIOS, all my files and my folders and projects in a way where I can switch between the two and it’s not a hassle or it’s not a pain at all. But let’s move on to number two, which is Opener. Open Auto gives you access to over 500 AI models from more than 80 different providers through just one account. So everything’s in one place. You’re not having to manage a bunch of different separate keys or different billing information or different passwords for things like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, all the other AI model providers. So any automation that we’ve got running in production right now, whether it’s for my business or, you know, for one that we are putting in production for a client, it pretty much uses Open Router as the AI model provider powering it. you know, because I can also set up fallbacks so that if one model goes down or errors out, it just tries the next one, it falls back instead of the whole automation breaking. And I can create a separate API key per automation. So the analytics are showing me exactly which one is costing me how much money. So if you’re building automations for your own business, which I’m assuming all of you guys are, then you could have a cheap, fast model, sort your incoming leads, and then you could have a smarter model, write the actual replies or do different reasoning, and that can all happen in one dashboard from one provider. It’s a really, really simple tool, and that’s kind of why I like it. Everything is in one dashboard, like I said. And it can all be on one credit card. And switching models is basically just changing one line. Super easy. Real quick, guys, I’ve got this completely free kit that I want to give to you all on helping you build your own AIOS. Whether you need to build it or whether you need to scale it up, this is the full kit. It’s based on my actual framework I call the Herk Loop. Context, connections, capabilities, and cadence. This thing comes with six skills. It helps you set up a brain. It helps you set up your priorities in your business, and it interviews you. It is exactly how I built my own actual AI operating system, and it’s how I’m able to move so fast. So, if you guys want this, the link for this is down in the description. But anyways, let’s get back to the video. All right, so moving on to number three. Hostinger VPS. Now, Hostinger is sponsoring this part of the video, but I’d have it on the list either way because I actually do use it and I’ve been using it for a long, long time. A VPS is a virtual private server. So, basically, a computer in the cloud that stays on 24/7 and it keeps all your stuff on that private server running even if your laptop or your desktop is closed or turned off. Now, this one probably sounds the most boring on the list, but it’s where a lot of my stuff actually lives. I’ve got one running and an end. I’ve got one running, you know, Hermes agents and openclaw agents and all the other open source agents you might want to host later or even open source models you might want to host for yourself. You know, my Hermes agents can automate different parts of my business over here. Like I’ve got one that’s trading stocks for me and one that’s making Instagram reels and carousels for me 24/7. And then I use some just to test different cloud code setups. And the reason that I use Hostinger is because I can spin up a server really quickly with just one click of a button without worrying about the technical side like scaling or compute or you know running the different commands or whatever it may be because I don’t really come from a technical background or like a DevOps background. So because of all these one-click templates for trending tools like either Enidan or Hermes or OpenClaw or whatever comes next, it makes it so much easier and it also makes sure that I don’t have to worry about it when I’m trying to sleep at night that something’s going to shut down and I’m not going to be able to figure out what happened and why. And if you guys want to try this one out for yourself, you can go to hostinger.com/nateherkvps and that will be linked in the description. And one more quick thing on this guys, Hostinger told me that they’re having this Black Friday sale from pretty much now until about halfway through December. So there’s going to be lots of different sales and Cyber Monday and lots of different things going on. So I’ll let you guys go check it out and explore those deals. But anyways, let’s get back to the video. So number four is Grockbot. And I use this one a ton. Grockbot lets you set up bots that do work for you. And they all share a cloud computer with a browser, file system, and a terminal. So, they can basically do anything that you could do yourself on a real computer. And what I love about Grockbot is how fast I can set up an automation because it’s got connectors in there to all the apps that I already use. I have it on my phone and it syncs pretty much automatically. I can schedule routines super easily in there. So, basically automations that run on some sort of schedule or a web hook and they just keep going all the time in the background right from my pocket. So, for example, after every single Q&A call in my plus community, one of my Grockbots grabs the transcript, posts it in my community, and then it also puts it in the classroom so that members can find it later. Another one is posting in both of my communities every time I drop a YouTube video. So, it’s like these little repetitive things that I might forget or if I did forget, I’d have to like catch up on later. Grockpot can now just handle that stuff so I don’t have to be like perfectly consistent and there’s less room for human error for me to make a mistake. I’ve got another one set up that keeps me up to date on everything that’s going on in AI. It’s just pinging me little reminders and I’ve got all these little different Grockbot personalities set up and each one has a very specific job. The way I think about it is it’s like having a bunch of Open Claws in your pocket, but with way less technical setup. Because with OpenClaw, you’re kind of figuring out like the server side and the connection and figuring out the hosting and everything. But with Grockbot, you just describe what you want and it’s just an app that you would install on either your laptop or your phone. All right, so moving on to the next one. Number five, this is Glido. And full disclosure, I am a partner in Glideo. But that’s how you guys know that I actually do use it and trust the vision of it. So it’s a voice dictation app. So, you just hold a key, you talk, and then words get typed and pasted into whatever app that you’re actually in. So, I basically don’t type anymore. Prompts, messages, emails. I just speak into my mic and it’s there. But you can really customize all your settings in there. It’s also the fastest on the market and it’s completely private. But the reason why I wanted to put this one on the list is because of command mode inside of GLO. This means instead of just dictation, it can also take action for you. So, I can have it search the web, summarize a YouTube video, do deep research, find and open files and apps for me, or you can even look through all of the different things that I’ve said to Glido. And all of this is obviously stored locally. Like I said, it’s completely private. And what’s cool about the command mode is you can build custom tools for it. So, basically, you can build custom MCP servers on top of it. So, basically plugins. And you could have it like kick off threads into cloud code or codecs or sync to your notion or to your task app or whatever it is. Ultimately, the vision we have for GLIO is that you can control your whole computer with just your voice and get just as much done away from your desk as you would if you were sitting at it. And even if you only use the dictation feature and not the command mode, it still saves a ton of time when you’re writing emails or SOPs or whatever it is that you may be doing, just talking is faster than typing. Okay, moving on to number six. This one is key.ai and it’s basically open router but for images and videos. You get pay-per-use access to a bunch of image and video models in one spot like VO or Clling or Cance Nano Banana GBT image 2. Anytime that I’m making images or visuals for a carousel or for a thumbnail or for an Instagram reel or whatever it may be, I’m using Key.AI because you only pay for what you generate and it’s been the cheapest option I found when I’m making a lot of images and videos at once. So for you guys, that’s stuff like product photos, ad creatives, short videos for socials, you know, whatever it may be. And you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription. You’re just paying per usage. And the last one here, number seven, is trigger.dev. It hosts your TypeScript code and it runs on a schedule or whenever something kicks off like a web hook. So unlike a VPS, there’s no server that you have to manage. It’s just your code and it just gets executed. We use this all the time for all the automations in the business that are more deterministic, meaning they’re more predictable. They do the same steps every time, like processing documents or syncing data between two different tools. Those don’t really need a full cloud code agentic harness loop AI agent. and it would kind of be a waste to use something that powerful. It’d kind of be overkill for something that simple. So, we just build out a script using cloud code and then we put that script in trigger.dev for it to automatically process. And I don’t even have to open up trigger.dev. I don’t have to like it’s not very confusing because I just tell cloud code, hey, I want a TypeScript trigger.dev automation for this use case and it will build it. It will also deploy it. It will also test it and it can also update it for me. And because it’s just running code, it’s super super cheap as well. So, you basically just pay the second it runs. And the free plan comes with five bucks of credits every month, which will honestly last you quite a while. So, for your business or for your client’s business and you’re setting up a bunch of deterministic codebased automations, I would definitely recommend using trigger.dev. Okay, so now you have seen the seven tools that I use to run my business. And obviously, this is my list. You know, it kind of changes over time, but these are the seven that I keep coming back to and that I have been using consistently over, you know, a year and a half, two years now. Now, if your business is doing different things than mine, then this exact list might not be the best one for you, and that’s totally fine. But I know that learning some of them can feel pretty overwhelming at first, and that’s why I try to cover as many as I can on this channel and inside of my community. You can also find all the free resources I’ve ever given away inside of my communities, and you can ask questions about how other members of the community are using these tools or finding success. And if you are really serious about using AI tools to build a business or just earn some income on the side, then you can join my plus community with everything that you need for the business side of AI as well. So, both links are down in the description. But that is going to do it for this one. So, if you guys enjoyed, you learned something new, please give it a like. It helps me out a ton. And as always, I appreciate you guys making it to the end of the video. I’ll see you on the next one. Thanks everyone.