Part 2
Lever 3 — Modern SaaS Stack
Module 4
Module at a Glance
Reading Time
15–20 minutes
What You’ll Walk Away With
Your complete, configured starter stack — every tool set up, integrated, and ready to run your online business — for under $50/month in total tool costs.
L3M4.1
The Minimum Viable Stack
The minimum viable stack is the smallest set of tools that lets you run every income lever in this course without significant limitation. Not the cheapest possible option — the leanest option that doesn’t compromise your ability to build and earn.
The principle: start with what you need, not what you might eventually need.
Most beginners make one of two mistakes:
✗
Underinvest
Trying to run their entire business on free tools that create friction at every turn.
✗
Overinvest
Signing up for every tool ever mentioned in a YouTube video, running up $300/month in subscriptions before earning anything.
✓
The lean starter stack
Every tool on it is genuinely needed from day one. Nothing on it is speculative or aspirational.
L3M4.2
The Complete Lean Starter Stack
Organized by category, with setup priority, monthly cost, and the income levers each tool supports.
Tier 1
Non-Negotiables
Set up in Week 1
These tools are required before you can do meaningful work on any income lever. Set them up before anything else.
WordPress.org + Hostinger
$3–$8/mo
Role: Website foundation. WordPress is free — you pay for hosting only.
Day 1
All levers
→
Register domain on Namecheap ($12/year), sign up for Hostinger Premium, install WordPress via one-click installer.
Astra Theme
Free
Role: Website design framework. Pair with Elementor for page building.
Day 1
All levers
→
Install from WordPress theme directory immediately after WordPress setup.
Elementor
Free
Role: Page builder for homepage, about page, and opt-in landing pages.
Day 1
All levers
→
Install from WordPress plugin directory. Use to design homepage and opt-in landing pages.
Rank Math
Free
Role: On-page SEO.
Day 1
Levers 1, 4, 9
→
Install from WordPress plugin directory. Connect to Google Search Console during setup.
Pretty Links
Free
Role: Affiliate link management — cloaking and tracking.
Day 1
Levers 1, 3, 5, 10
→
Install from WordPress plugin directory. Create your first cloaked link during setup — before publishing any affiliate content.
UpdraftPlus
Free
Role: Site backup — infrastructure protection.
Day 1
All levers
→
Install, connect to Google Drive, set automatic weekly backups.
MailerLite
Free up to 1,000 subs
Role: Email marketing.
Day 2–3
Levers 1, 6, 8, 9, 10
→
Sign up, complete profile, create first subscriber group, build welcome email, embed opt-in form on homepage.
ChatGPT
Free
Role: AI brainstorming, research, and first drafts.
Day 1
All levers
→
Sign up at chat.openai.com. Bookmark it. Start using it for every content task.
Claude
Free
Role: AI long-form writing and document analysis.
Day 1
All levers
→
Sign up at claude.ai. Create your first Project with your brand context loaded.
Canva
Free
Role: Visual design.
Day 2–3
All levers
→
Sign up at canva.com. Create your brand color palette and save it. Build your first blog post featured image template.
Google Workspace
Free
Role: File storage, documents, spreadsheets, email.
Day 1
All levers
→
Create your AI Workflow Library folder in Google Drive. Set up your Keyword Research database in Google Sheets.
Zapier
Free (5 Zaps)
Role: Basic automation — up to 5 Zaps and 100 tasks/month.
Week 2
Levers 2, 7, 8
→
Sign up, connect WordPress, MailerLite, and Google Sheets. Build your first two Zaps from Module 4 of Lever 2.
Fiverr + Upwork
Free (commission on work)
Role: Freelance client acquisition.
Week 1–2
Levers 2, 11, 12
→
Complete profiles from Section 2, Module 4. Publish your first Fiverr gig.
Tier 2
Early Upgrades
Month 1–3, when triggered
Not needed on Day 1 — but likely within your first 90 days based on usage.
Canva Pro
~$15/mo
Upgrade trigger: When you’re producing 3+ visual assets per week.
→Unlocks: Background Remover, Brand Kit, Magic Resize, premium stock library
★Saves 30–60 minutes per week in design production — immediate positive ROI
Hostinger → Business Plan
~$3–$7 more/mo
Upgrade trigger: When your site traffic exceeds shared hosting limits — typically 10,000+ monthly visitors.
→Unlocks: More server resources, better performance under traffic load
MailerLite Growing Business
~$9/mo
Upgrade trigger: Approaching 900 subscribers.
→Unlocks: Unlimited subscribers past 1,000, advanced automations, A/B testing
Tier 3
Growth Stack
Month 3–6
Make.com Core
~$9/mo
Upgrade trigger: When you need multi-step automations Zapier’s free tier can’t handle.
→Unlocks: 10,000 operations/month, complex scenario building
ChatGPT Plus
~$20/mo
Upgrade trigger: When you’re hitting free tier limits during daily content production.
→Unlocks: Higher usage limits, DALL·E, Custom GPTs
Claude Pro
~$20/mo
Upgrade trigger: When Claude is your primary writing tool and you’re hitting daily limits.
→Unlocks: 5x more usage, longer documents, priority access
L3M4.3
Total Stack Cost at Each Stage
The honest monthly cost breakdown at every stage of growth.
Day 1
$3–$8
/month
Hostinger only — everything else is free
Month 3–6
$27–$32
/month
Above + MailerLite Growing Business
Month 6–9
$56–$61
/month
Above + Make.com + ChatGPT Plus
Year 2+
$130–$160
/month
Full scale stack — all of above + Midjourney + Jasper + RunwayML as needed
At the Month 1–3 stage you’re running a complete online business infrastructure for under $25/month. That is an extraordinarily low barrier to entry compared to any other type of business.
L3M4.4
Integrating Your Stack: The Connection Map
Having great tools means nothing if they don’t talk to each other. Here is every tool and what it should be connected to.
WordPress
→
Google Search Console
Connect via Rank Math’s Google Search Console integration. Gives you search ranking data directly from your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress
→
Zapier
Triggers automations when you publish new posts — social notifications, content repurposing workflows.
MailerLite
→
WordPress
Embed MailerLite opt-in forms in your WordPress pages using the MailerLite plugin or HTML widget in Elementor.
MailerLite
→
Zapier
Triggers when new subscribers join — backup to Google Sheets, CRM updates, Slack notifications.
Pretty Links
→
WordPress
Lives inside WordPress — automatically cloaks and tracks every affiliate link you add to your posts.
Canva
→
Google Drive
Save every Canva design to Google Drive automatically for backup and team access.
ChatGPT / Claude
→
Google Docs
→
WordPress
Your workflow: generate content in AI tool → copy to Google Doc for editing → paste final version into WordPress.
Zapier
→
Everything
The connector that ties the rest together. Whenever two tools need to pass information between them, Zapier handles it.
L3M4.5
Your Stack Setup Checklist
Confirm your starter stack is fully configured and integrated. Don’t move into Part 2 content work until every item here is checked.
Website Infrastructure
Domain registered (Namecheap or similar)
Hosting account active (Hostinger recommended)
WordPress installed and accessible at yoursite.com/wp-admin
Astra theme installed and activated
Elementor installed and activated
Rank Math installed, activated, and connected to Google Search Console
Pretty Links installed and activated
UpdraftPlus installed and configured with automatic backups to Google Drive
Permalinks set to “Post name” (Settings → Permalinks)
SSL certificate active (site loads on https://)
Homepage designed with Elementor (hero section + email opt-in)
About page published
Affiliate Disclosure page published and linked in footer
Email Marketing
MailerLite account active and approved
Sender identity configured with domain email
First subscriber group created
Welcome email written and set up as automation
Opt-in form embedded on homepage
AI Tools
ChatGPT account active
Claude account active with brand Project created
Canva account active with brand colors saved
Operations
Google Drive folder structure created (AI Workflow Library, Content, Client Work)
Keyword Research database set up in Google Sheets
Zapier account active with key apps connected
Fiverr profile published with at least one gig
Upwork profile published and complete
✅
When every box is checked — your stack is live, your infrastructure is running, and you are ready to build income levers on top of it.
Module Summary
Here’s What We Covered
- ✦The minimum viable stack principle — start with what you need, not what you might eventually need
- ✦The complete lean starter stack across three tiers: non-negotiables (Week 1), early upgrades (Month 1–3), and growth stack (Month 3–6)
- ✦Honest monthly cost breakdown at every stage — from $3–$8 at launch to $76–$81 at Month 9
- ✦The connection map — how every tool in your stack should be integrated with the others
- ✦The full stack setup checklist — 30+ items confirming your infrastructure is live and ready
Next up Lever 3, Module 5: Earning From SaaS — Affiliate Commissions From Tools You Already Use