Have you decided that you want to go into business for yourself? There was a time when only those who had the finances for it could do this, but today it is easier than ever for anyone to start their own business. There are loads of great tools that will help you save a lot of money, and the best part is, they are free! Here are some of our favorites.
1. Launchrock – This tool will help you create a “launching soon” web page. This lets potential customers know that something great is coming soon, and they can sign up to your email list now. This is a great way to get people interested in your new business before you even get started.
2. Madmimi – Here is a tool you need to use for all of your email marketing. It makes creating emails easy, and you can also easily send and track your emails. You can send unlimited emails to a specified number of contacts for free. As your business grows, you can upgrade to a paid account to be able to add more contacts.
3. SurveyMonkey – This survey tool is for anyone who wants to create surveys, and it is a good tool for small business owners to use. The interface is easy to use, and you can design, create, and publish surveys in just a few minutes. SurveyMonkey even analyzes the survey results, so you can figure out what is working for your business and what isn’t working.
4. Buy Used Laptop – You are going to need equipment, such as computers and other electronic devices. Why buy new when you can get top quality, used products for a fraction of the price? You can find exactly what you need, and you can even sell old gadgets to make money toward the new ones to save even more money.
5. Slack – If you have a team working with you, this is a great app to use for messaging between one another. You can use it to organize all of your work messages, as well as share files, spreadsheets, and images, not only with your team but also with anyone else.
6. Google Hangout – This is another great app for teams. Everyone who has a Gmail address can be added so you can enjoy video conferencing. Share it on your desktop so others can see your screen and you can demonstrate things.
7. Nimble – Customer relationship management tools (CRM) are necessary for today’s businesses, and this is a good one to use. It will automatically update with information about prospects and customers, using dozens of sources of data. It also keeps team contacts, calendars, email, etc. safe and up to date.
8. Trello – Here is another CRM tool that you may want to check out. You can use it for a macro view of any project by viewing the Trello “board”. You can check progress in real time, and your team will be able to add and assign tasks, add checklists, add labels, and a whole lot more. Organize the boards in whatever way works for your business.
9. Google Docs – When your team needs to collaborate on projects, this tool will make it a whole lot easier. Instead of sending files to teammates individually and then tracking their comments and questions, you can collaborate together to really get things done.
10. Dropbox – You can use this tool both for your business and for your personal files. You can have up to 2GB of free space on the cloud to store files. Store any file, from any device that you are using.
Jane Hurst, writer from San Francisco. Find her on Twitter!