Resources

Whether I'm teaching short men how to dress well, continuing my own education or running this blog, there are certain tools and resources that I can't live without.

From must read guides to custom clothing companies to blogging tools that help me earn a living online, everything listed on this page is an integral part of my life and business.

For your convenience, these resources are organized into categories and will be kept up-to-date regularly.

More Style Advice for Short Men

There is a LOT of bad style advice for short men on the web, but there are a handful of valuable articles out there that I want you to be aware of.

• Dressing Taller: 10 Tips for Short Men (Art of Manliness)
• Five Tips on Dressing to Flatter the Short(er) Body Type (Effortless Gent)
• Tailor-Made Swagger Featuring Adam Lampell (Articles of Style)
• Dress Shirt Tips for Short, Skinny and Small Men (Real Men Real Style)
• Trousers for Short, Skinny, or Small Men (Real Men Real Style)

All of these articles are worth reading. I reference them regularly when I'm writing posts for The Modest Man.

Best Custom Clothing Companies

I've tried all of the most popular custom clothing companies. Here are my all time favorite online made-to-measure clothiers:

Modern Tailor (shirts and suits) – Affordable, reliable, tons of styles and customization options. The best option for people new to custom clothing.

Blank Label (just shirts) – Slightly more expensive than Modern Tailor, but high quality and great customer service.

Blogging Resources

These are the tools that make this blog run like a well-oiled machine.

WP Engine – Premium quality managed hosting, perfect for any site getting more than 50k visits per month. Not necessary for a new site, but worth the upgrade once you start getting decent traffic!

Bluehost – By far, my favorite hosting company. Cheap, reliable, great customer service. Everything you need from a web host.

WordPress – If you're going to start a blog, you should use WordPress. It's free, and it's a no brainer!

Genesis – The framework on which this site is built. In my opinion, this is the best WordPress “theme” out there.

AdRotate Pro – A WordPress plugin I use to place banner ads on this site. It has a bunch of cool features that advertisers love, like auto-rotating different versions of their banners to see which ones perform best. Makes my life easier!

Marketing Tools

LeadPages – I use LP to create my landing pages (like for The Modest Man Style Guide). The pages look great, they're extremely easy to create, and they integrate with my other tools.

Aweber – This is the platform I use to build an email list and send emails to all of my subscribers. I've tried other email platforms like Mailchimp, but I think Aweber is the easiest one to use.

ConvertKit – My new favorite email service provider. It's more functional than Aweber and easier to use than MailChimp (which isn't actually very user-friendly, in my opinion).

PayPal – No explanation needed, right? PayPal is kind of necessary if you're going to do business online. It's also great for personal use.

Stripe – To accept credit card payments…the perfect supplement to PayPal.

Gumroad –  This is the platform I use to sell and deliver my The Modest Man Style Guide. I've tried a bunch of different ones, including E-Junkie and SendOwl, but I like Gumroad for its clean design and integration options.

Business and Marketing Blogs

Smart Passive Income – Run by a fellow man of modest height, SPI is probably the best (and most popular) online marketing blog on the web. If you're even slightly interested in passive income, starting a side business or internet marketing, you'll love this blog.

Fat Stacks Entrepreneur – This is one of the most practical blogs I've come across about creating profitable websites.

The Book That Changed My Life

The 4-Hour Work Week – Of all the books I've read, this one had the strongest impact on my life. If it weren't for this book, I wouldn't have started this blog.

If you've ever had the feeling that you don't belong in the 9 to 5 rat race, you should read this book as soon as you can.

Books That I Love

I enjoy nonfiction, especially business and personal development books. But at the end of the day, nothing beats a great novel.

Reading fiction is my favorite way to turn my brain off and get lost in something completely separated from work and all of life's obligations.

Sure, it takes a little more effort than watching TV, but it's worth it. My favorite fiction books are:

Game of Thrones – It's hard to explain how amazing this series really is. The TV show is great, but it doesn't do the books justice. The world of GoT is, by far, the richest fictional world I've ever been immersed in.

It's like Harry Potter times a million. If you like deep, rich fantasy worlds with endless characters and insane amounts of detail, you will love Game of Thrones.

Shantaram – This is one of the wildest, most entertaining and dramatic stories I've ever read. The crazy thing is that it's true.

Other Cool Stuff

Amazon Prime – For $99 a year, you get free two day shipping on a bunch of items AND free returns. As an avid online shopper (and someone who buys lots of shoes from Amazon), this is totally worth it for me.

Plus, you get access to Instant Video and Music (which is Amazon's on demand music app…kind of like Pandora or Spotify but without the commercials).

Click here to try it free for 30 days.