Meet Tom Coe, the founder of new Aussie App Abodely.

“I do nothing by halves,” muses Tom Coe on the day he’s launching an App that marries what Australians love most – property and social media. “I keep reminding myself that persistence beats resistance.”

The 35-year-old from Sydney’s east is the brains, energy and money behind new App Abodely, a concept which he’s been developing since the start of the year. Almost fully self-funded from Tom and wife Hannah’s savings, Abodely is an App that tickles our national fancy to talk, share and obsess about everything property.

“It’s like Instagram for the house-proud and property crazies and for those who love their ‘house porn’, says Tom cheekily. “Abodely is about bringing property into the 21st century, utilising the best of social media.”

After working in Hong Kong and London, and a stint at Deloitte in Sydney, Tom spent two and a half years as a senior manager in Strategy at real estate portal Domain. This industry experience, along with his own personal experience buying and selling homes, led to him noticing gaps in the user experience and his entrepreneurial instincts started percolating.

“There’s a really poor user experience when it comes to selling, building and renovating homes. It takes too long and it’s expensive. If you’re thinking about selling your place, it will cost you around 3% by the time you pay the agent and all the other people taking a clip of the ticket. This doesn’t happen anymore with other assets for example when buying shares or currency. It’s ludicrous. You’ll always need some experts, like Real Estate agents as they add real value, but with the power of social media we have a huge opportunity to shake things up for all parties. We can improve the experience, build transparency, make it easier and reduce costs. Win, win!”

Tom used learnings from another App he’d built in London 10 years ago and tapped into the disrupter thinking honed while working at Deloitte.

“I was playing around with different concepts and then the answer came to me, standing out like a sore thumb. We get transparency, reduced costs and easy connection and communication from social media along with social validation from our network. If I can apply the best of social media to our homes, then my guess is we’re on a winner.”

But to win, you need not only the courage to act, but sometimes to fail. Tom Coe says he’s ready and unafraid thanks to the support of family and friends who have given him confidence and abundant support.

“It’s a one man show,” says Tom. “I have begged, borrowed and stolen. I’m not a tech geek. My background is in strategy and finance. So, when it comes to technology I am always learning. When I can’t do something myself, I’ll happily outsource it. I’ll speak to people I trust to get things done. Tech is hard in the sense that everything is binary. It’s either a yes or a no. There are no grey areas.”

“For me it’s just about being naturally interested in something. If I could build something without tech, I would probably do that because it would be much simpler, “admits Tom.

“But if you take property for instance, the low hanging fruit is gone. The advances to transform the way we look at homes whether it’s renovating, or building lies in technology. The future is tech.”

Tom jokes that Abodely was partly born from conversations he’d have with wife Hannah after they bought their first home. Hannah would try and explain what her ideas were for the house and garden and Tom would stare at her blankly unless she used visuals.

The App only focus’ on homes and enables you to connect with other users showing off your homes and renos and share advice on building materials, colours, furnishings and gardens.

“My wife had a vision for our house, and she’d tell me about it but I’m a visual thinker. I need to see examples. So, there’s the ability on the Abodely App for her to create a mood board and then share that with me. Simultaneously, we can then take that to a builder or a gardener and say this is what we want to do in a specific space.”

Tom is launching Abodely in Sydney with 100 homes ready to open their doors. After the inevitable fine-tuning he’s hoping to take it to Australia’s other capital cities and then to the UK and North America.

But his enthusiasm is matched with savvy awareness and humility.

“I obviously want Abodely to make a huge impact but it’s not going to happen overnight. The wheel is starting to turn on transforming this industry. I just want people to spread the word and give me feedback. The next peak to climb will be the product market fit. I am realistic enough to know that I haven’t nailed everything. I want everyone to tell me directly what they love and what they don’t. That’s what will keep people coming back. That’s what will make Abodely a winner.”

You can sign up to Abodely here: https://www.abodely.app/

Google Play users download here.

Apple users download here.

The post Abodely: An Aussie Insta For Our National Pride And Passion – Property appeared first on Women Love Tech.

Do you feel like your health and fitness hasn’t been a priority lately? You certainly aren’t alone! According to ABS, only 27.2% of people aged 15 years and over meet the physical activity guidelines in Australia, and nearly half (49.4%) of employed people aged 18-64 years describe their day at work as mostly sitting.

With the rise in sedentary behaviour from WFH, there has never been a better time to consider purchasing a fitness tracker. Like the name suggests, these wearables can help you stay on ‘track’ towards meeting your fitness goals and encourage you to live a more healthy lifestyle overall.

But with so many great products on the market, how can you be confident in choosing the right one? Here, we’ve rounded up our top 5 fitness trackers on the marketplace right now. Check them out below:

Fitbit Luxe

The Fitbit Luxe is perfect for those who want all the latest health features, without compromising on style and aesthetics.

This tracker offers a daily readiness score – which reveals whether you’re ready to workout or if you should prioritise recovery – as well as all day activity monitoring, real-time pace and distance tracking and menstrual health tracking. Other perks include 5 day battery life, a vibrant colour display, call and text notifications, and a stylish bracelet-like watch design.

Fitbit Charge 5

Another great tracker from Fitbit is the Charge 5. On top of the fitness features that the Luxe offers, the Charge 5 also has a blood oxygen sensor, and ECG sensor to measure heart health, and a built-in GPS tracker (so you can track outdoor workouts without having your phone nearby). The Charge 5 can also measure elevation through the altimeter, which is a feature you don’t get in the Luxe.

If you are looking for extra high-tech health features, the Charge 5 may be for you. However, if you want the perfect balance of style and fitness tracking, then the Luxe might suit you better.

Apple Watch SE

The Apple Watch SE has all the best health monitoring capabilities – such as heart rate and sleep tracking – with the bonus of nifty smartwatch features. The main advantage of the Apple Watch, is that it gives you access to a wide range of fitness apps, such as Apple’s Fitness Plus, Nike Training Club, Strava, and more. Using the wallet app, you can also store payment cards, boarding passes, movie tickets or rewards cards for easy access.

If you want a seamlessly integrated experience between your Apple devices, then the Apple Watch SE could be a great fit for you.

Huawei Watch GT 3 Pro

The GT3 Pro comes in a titanium (46mm) or ceramic body with a sapphire watch dial (43mm). With a long 14-days of battery life, this watch also has electrode technology for accurate health measurements. It can access over 100 personalised workouts – from golf to cross-country skiing to free training.

The GT3 Pro is has IP68 and 5 ATM ratings for water resistance so you can wear it in the ocean as deep as 30 metres with the Free Diving Mode6.

On top of this, the GT3 Pro has all-day heart rate and SpO2 monitoring. It has loads of customisation options so you can personalise it to your taste.

SUUNTO 9 PEAK

The Suunto 9 Peak is the thinnest and toughest from the Suunto line or sports watches so it’s a good choice if you’re looking for a watch which is lightweight and durable at the same time. The 9 Peak fits easily on your wrist and you can charge it fully in one hour, and with more than 80 sport modes, there’s hardly anything it can’t track.

Another nice feature is the ‘Resources’ setting which shows you if you’ve overextended yourself and you need to rest – or if you’re all good and ready to go.

The 9 Peak comes with all the features you’d expect from a Suunto watch, including screens you can customise to show you the most relevant data for your exercise, accurate wrist-based heart rate monitoring and in-depth weather insights.

Click here for our full review of this fitness tracker

The post Thinking About Purchasing A Fitness Tracker? Here Are Our Top 5 appeared first on Women Love Tech.

Books are our best companion. They’re accessible in all forms, keep us company on cold rainy days and are the perfect way to start a conversation with someone. 

And with the rise of the internet, authors are constantly looking to ways they can harness the power of the digital age. Whether it be through audiobooks, or social media promotion, technology has opened up endless possibilities for authors.

Now, authors can add a Book Link to their Linktree so their social media followers can find their book listings on Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Better World, and Books-a-Million. There is even an option to also manually add alternate booksellers if you want to support your local indie bookstore.

“Linktree enables its users to link everything they are in one place – whether it’s their favourite Spotify playlist, podcast episode and now, for writers, their latest book publication,” explains Anthony Zaccaria, Co-Founder and CCO at Linktree. 

Anthony Zaccaria, Co-Founder and CCO at Linktree, said the reason for the new feature came from the fact over half a million Linktree users identify themselves as writers so, he says: “It was a natural decision for us to create a feature that allowed our users to easily share and discover books on Linktree.”

So, how exactly does Book Links work?

• Book Links helps authors and publishers drive book sales and build a community across their platforms. 
• For publishers and authors, you’ll be able to link your books in your Linktree to drive traffic to wherever your masterpiece may be listed across leading online booksellers, making it easier to convert followers into fans of your latest book.
• The feature empowers authors to promote their newest release from pre-order status to publication day and beyond. For publishers, you’re able to share links to the latest BookTok viral sensation or the newest Lee Child release, connecting followers and visitors to their next good read, and building a community of book lovers.
• With Linktree Pro, if you’re an author involved with Apple Books, Better World Books, Books a Million, or Barnes & Noble affiliate programs, you can add your affiliate tokens to your Book Link. This means you can earn more commissions from visitors that purchase your book and keep track all through Analytics.

“From publishers who are promoting a new BookTok release to debut authors to fellow book lovers, they will all be able to link books in their Linktree from their preferred retailer, drive traffic and earn revenue directly from their Linktree,” Anthony Zaccaria, Co-Founder and CCO at Linktree told Women Love Tech.

“There’s also the opportunity for authors to earn affiliate commissions from book retailers through Linktree Pro – this means authors will be able to maximise their earnings as well as keep track of their engagements through Analytics. 

“Book Links empowers publishers and authors to engage with their audience in new ways and build a community of book fans. This is just another step forward for Linktree to continue supporting its users in sharing their content and monetising their passions across platforms.” 

Head to this link for a step-by-step tutorial on how to add your book with the Book Links

The post Authors Can Now Easily Promote Their Bestsellers Using Book Links From Linktree appeared first on Women Love Tech.

Today we welcome Elizabeth Woodson to discuss her new study, From Beginning to Forever. Many Christians today are daunted by the Bible, seeing the size and scope of Scripture as intimidating and overwhelming. The result is often a fragmented understanding of parts of the Bible, which leads us to view it through the lens of our individual stories, primarily looking for different verses or passages to help us live our everyday lives. But, in our search for personal truth, we fail to see how the entirety of Scripture works together to show a bigger story—God’s work to redeem and restore the entire world.

Elizabeth Woodson is a bible teacher, writer, and speaker, who is passionate about communicating the rich theological truths of Scripture. She loves helping people internalize their faith and connect it practically to everyday life.

Elizabeth works as the Institute Classes and Curriculum Director at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas where she teaches classes on the Bible, theology, and spiritual formation. She formerly worked as the Single Life Coordinator at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship under the leadership of Senior Pastor Dr. Tony Evans. Elizabeth is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary with a Masters in Christian Education and a cohost of the podcast Culture Matters. 

Show Notes:

From Beginning to Forever

The post MARKED | Elizabeth Woodson appeared first on Lifeway Women.

Today we’re sharing an excerpt from Elizabeth Woodson’s new study, From Beginning to Forever. Order your copy or view a free sample at lifeway.com/forever.

For generations, we have communicated the truth about our existence from the perspective of a character in a narrative whose plotline is continually unfolding. As humans, we “have a built-in narrative instinct, as if we have been designed to use stories to remember our past, make sense of our present, and shape our future.”¹ A collection of facts seen through the lens of our mind, body, and heart, stories are the means by which we interpret our life experiences. They help us make sense of the world and find our place within it, answering the three core life questions all of us ask—Who am I? Why am I here? Where do I belong?  

However, we aren’t born with these stories. Over the years, they are shaped by lots of different influences. The TV shows we watch, people we follow on social media, and our community all teach us how to view our lives and the world we live in.  

Sometimes these stories teach us that we are what we have, look like, or do for a living. They encourage us to find our purpose in “following our hearts” or “doing what we feel.” And most of all, they tell us that finding a place of belonging is easy—as long as we are doing the right thing to earn our spot!  

While popular and enticing, these stories simply aren’t true. In fact, only one can fully answer our core life questions—the story of the Bible! As the original and greatest Storyteller of all time, God gave us an epic story that explains who He is, who we are, and what He has for us to do in His world. It lays a foundation for us to build our lives upon and ultimately shows us that the good life can only be found in Jesus Christ!  

In From Beginning to Forever, you and I will walk through this story together.  

When we jump into the beginning of the story, we will see in the first verses of the Bible that God’s plan with creation was to establish His kingdom. But something went tragically wrong, and for the rest of Scripture, we will see God work to restore what He initiated at the beginning of time. With each session, we will take one more step toward the restoration of God’s kingdom. The kingdom of God is where we are able to live the good life, and it is the work of Jesus Christ that gets us into that kingdom.  

We don’t have time in the study to dig down deep into all the nitty-gritty details, so we will examine the story from a fifty-thousand-foot level, using the theme of kingdom to connect all the pieces of the story together. The goal of our journey will be to give you the tools to tell the story in your own words. Yes, YOU have the ability to not just know the story of the Bible but share it in your own words. We will work on your ability to retell the story a little bit each week, so by the end of the study you will have a summary of the entire story.  

My hope is that by the end of this study you will understand how the entire story of Scripture helps us know who God is, who we are, and what we are called to do in His world. The goal, friends, is not to just know facts, but to study information that will transform our motivation for living and love for God. 

1. Alister McGrath, Narrative Apologetics (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2019), 9. 

Want to learn more about the From Beginning to Forever Bible study? Watch the short video below or view a free sample and teaching video clips at lifeway.com/forever.

We’re excited to announce that the From Beginning to Forever Bible Study Book includes continual access to all 8 of Elizabeth’s teaching sessions. You’ll simply redeem the unique access code printed in the back of your Bible study book to access the videos.

And here are some fun wallpapers for your desktop and phone! Click the images below to download!

The post New From Beginning to Forever Bible Study | Read an Excerpt appeared first on Lifeway Women.