best free tools for small business & startups

FREE AND COST EFFECTIVE TOOLSFor Startups and Small Businesses

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I have a confession about

These pants- 10 years old

This shirt- bought for 80% off

These shoes- 15 years old

…myself- I’m cheap!

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By the end of the presentation

Over 15 Free tools to manage (and grow) your business:• Manage your finances• Manage your customers and relationships• Organize and Manage your to-do’s• Organize and Manage your thoughts, anywhere• Access your files, anywhere• Edit Photos• Protect your computer• Market your business through email • Manage your social media• Advertise your business online

• Tips for finding your own free tools

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Skeptical?

You should be…a little bit

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A lesson about free from Seinfeld

• http://youtu.be/ie1XGTYueHw

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Free, How do they do it?• Ads- They have an audience and have data that

businesses are willing to pay to get in front of

Familiar Examples: Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

• Freemium- You have to pay for additional features

Familiar Examples: Pandora, Dropbox

• Open Source- A community of developers willing to contribute to something free.

Examples: Firefox, GIMP, Linux, OpenOffice

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Manage your finances- AccountingWave, My Fave!• Make sure you get paid!• Categorize your income• Categorize your expenses• Creates Financial Statements (balance sheet, income statement)• View reports

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Wave- Connects With Your Bank Accounts

Automatically imports data from your bank account(s)

Make sure you account for all your:

• Income- Stay out of jail!

• Expenses (i.e Tax Write-offs!)

Having a bank account that you allows you to remotely deposit check is a time saver!

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Wave- Easy Invoicing

Connect Payments with Invoices!

Upload your company info- Wave automatically adds it to every invoice

-Email or Print Invoice

-Set payment due date

-Add categories, keep track of where you’re making your money

-Easily keep track of money owed to you!

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Wave- Good Reporting

View your financial health• Balance Sheet• Income Statement

See where money is coming from• Money Paid to you• Money Owed to you

See where money is going• Money you’ve spent• Money you owe

View Historical Data

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Wave- Ad based model• Free Version

• Get everything, except for Payroll and Credit Card Payments• No limits

• Unobtrusive Ads

• Only shortcoming- mobile applications

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Mental Intermission, Number 1I became an Uncle this weekend!

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Manage Your Contacts

Zoho

Insightly- I prefer the interface• Manage your Contacts

• Manage your Opportunities/Leads

• Manage your Relationships

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Insighlty- Integrations• Gmail Integration, easily create an Insightly record from

an email:• New Contact• New Task• New Opportunity• New Project

• Google Drive Integration:• Link Insightly contact, task, opportunity or project to a file in Google

Drive.

• Evernote Integration:• Link Insightly contact, task, opportunity to an item in Evernote.

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Insightly- Manage Your Opportunities

Keep Track off all your leads, prospects, and opportunities

• Assign a $ value to your leads

• Assign a probability of winning to your leads

• Put a forecasted close date

• Create tasks & events to nurture your leads

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Insightly- View Data/Reports

Get insight into data you’ve entered into Insightly:

• How many leads do we have?

• What’s the estimated value of those leads?

• Why did we lose leads?

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Insightly- “Freemium” Model

Free (Gratis) Version• 2,500 records• 200 MB storage• 10 custom fields• 3 users• Export Records

Paid (Standard Version)- $7/user/month, paid annually• 10,000 records• Unlimited Storage• 25 custom fields• Automatically Syncs Google Contacts & Calendar• MailChimp Integration

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Organize It• Google Keep, Evernote• Wunderlist

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Organize It – Google KeepThe back of the napkin, in the cloud.• Don’t lose a good idea!• Search your notes• Picture Notes• Color Code

Evernote- a similar tool that may be better for iOS users

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Organize It- Wunderlist

Reduce Your Anxiety!

• Set Reminders

• Organize into folders

• Access anywhere

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File Storage- Google Drive• Access your files anywhere• Document Syncing• Backup your files• Integrates well with other Google Products (e.g. Gmail)

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Photo Editing- Open Source Tools• GIMP• Inkscape

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Protect Yourself

AVG• AVG Antivirus Free- Antivirus, Link Protection, File

Shredder

• AVG Internet Security 2015- Everything in Antivirus Free + Online Shield, Data Safe, Anti-Spam, & Firewall

Your Internet Provider• Comcast Constant Guard with Norton Security Suite

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Email Marketing

Mail Chimp• Send professional looking emails• Maintain relationships, market to existing customers• Good Automation Features

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Mental Intermission, Number 2

Buster Wrigley The 1103 Marketing Mascot

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Manage your social life (the online portion)

Hootsuite• Manage your Social Profiles from 1 spot• Reporting/Analytics• Schedule Messages

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Hootsuite

Streams• Organize your social activity• Keep tabs on what’s going on

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Hoosuite- “Freemium” Model

Free Version• Only 3 social profiles• Only 1 login• Basic Message Scheduling

Paid Version (Pro) starting at $9.99/month• 50 social profiles• Advanced message scheduling• Enhanced reporting• An additional login• & more

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Digital Advertising

Bing Ads- Create Webmaster Accounts• Get $50 in free credit

Google Adwords- New Account• Spend $25, Get $75 free credit

LinkedIn- Create a business page• Spend $5, Get $50 free credit

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What’s Better Than Free?

Sometimes paying

Initially a sad realization for me

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Paid Options- Google for Work

I originally used a free email that came with my website hosting.

Switched to Google for Work- $5/user/month• Access on any device• Business Email Address• No Ads!• Collaboration Tools• Security and Admin Controls

I have coupons! Save $10/user per year.

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Paid Options- Constant ContactPreferred the user interface• Saved me time creating and sending emails

Additional Features/Capabilities• Creates HTML version of email to share on social media• Option to create feedback and surveys

Offer a free 60 day trial

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Find free tools that meet your needs

• Google it, if you need something. Others probably need it and someone has probably built it

• Promo Codes or coupons- If you’re going to buy something online, search for promo codes first.

• Check Reputability• Reviews or mentions quality sites/sources• Try and identify why it’s free• Be particularly wary of downloading anything

• Check Out Features• Know what you need• Plan for growth, simplified- Look for a tool that integrates with other tools you use.

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My own set upStaying Organized• Wunderlist- ToDo’s• Google Keep- Ideas

Google for Work• Gmail • Google Drive- File Storage, Backups• Google Calendar

Managing Finances• Wave• Chase Bank

Photo Editing• Gimp• Inkscape

Managing Contacts• Insightly & Insightly

Google AppManaging Social Media• Hootsuite

Email Marketing• Constant Contact

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My Own Setup- An ExampleStored my ideas/thoughts in

Google Keep Sent email to my contacts using Constant Contact

Posted to my social media profiles using Hootsuite

Added event to Google Calendar

Interacted with Sue using Gmail

Stored presentation in Google Drive

Edited Photos with GIMP

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Other Free Resources• SCORE- Free Small Business Mentoring/Counseling

• ISU SBDC- Free Seminars and Resources

• This Meetup Group!!!

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Now What?

Get this list of free toolsI will post a link to the list of tools in the Meetup group by noon tomorrow.

Try them out!If you saw something that looks like it might be beneficial, try it out...it won’t cost you anything!

Share your thoughts and free tools you use!