As a small business who serves other small and medium sized businesses, I’m always on the lookout for great tools that provide value without a serious impact to the bottom line. After all, capital is always a challenge when you’re starting out. There are a lot of free tools out there, but here are some of my favorites!
These free small business tools fit the bill!
Did I mention they’re free for small businesses?
Bitrix24 — Project Management+
This is a great collaboration tool for you and your staff. The interface is intuitive, and it includes internal messaging and video chat, project management, document management, client relationship management, calendar planning, and so much more. There’s even an option for adding telephone service. It even has a smartphone app that’s available for iPhone and Android users. All that functionality is free for companies with 12 or fewer employees!
Wave — Accounting
Accounting is something all small businesses have to do and most small business owners dread. Wave makes it easier. It’s real accounting designed by actual accountants for non-accountants. You can connect it securely with your bank and/or PayPal account and the system will automatically import entries for you. Wave generates great reports like balance sheets and sales tax (or GET) reports. It even handles your invoicing. And there are no limits – how great is that?
You can add credit card payment processing for 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction. They also have a very inexpensive payroll add-on.
Zoom — Web Conferencing
For online meetings and web conferences, Zoom is an intuitive teleconferencing application. It allows you to share a view of your desktop with others as well as video teleconference. That means you can do product demonstrations, train staff, review designs and documents, or whatever you may need even when the meeting participants aren’t co-located! The free version includes unlimited 1 to 1 meetings, and group meetings can host up to 100 participants with a 40 minute time limit.
Got Free Fax — Internet Faxing
With e-mail and instant messaging, you would think faxing would have gone the way of the dinosaur. However, even in today’s business world, there are occasions where sending a fax is the best way to get a document to someone. Got Free Fax allows you to fax up to three pages for free (limited to two faxes per day) to any number in the United States or Canada. There is also a premium pay-per-fax service in case you need more.
Remember The Milk — Task Management
Remember the milk is a great free task management tool for small businesses…or just disorganized people. You can use it to share and split tasks between people. It even has Gmail integration.
Although we’re talking about free small business tools, it’s worth mentioning that for just $25 per year you can upgrade to a Pro account that has some useful added features.
PRLog — Press Release distribution
Press releases are a great way to get your business out there. However, not everyone knows how to write them or where to send them. PRLog can help with that. This site takes care of distribution for you, and there are even instructions on how to write a killer press release in case that’s not your area of expertise! (Hint: You know those inbound links you’re in need of to help with SEO? Yeah, this will help with that!)
