Often short on time, sleep, and money, new business owners need all the help they can get.
Thankfully, there’s no shortage of free online tools designed to help streamline and simplify day-to-day tasks. By taking advantage of these resources and improving your workflow, you’ll get more done, and spend less.
Below is a list of our favorite free tools for new business owners.
1. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
Your business has gone mobile, so why shouldn’t your office?
With Google’s suite of cloud-based office software, you can create and edit professional-looking documents, spreadsheets and presentations from your computer, phone, or tablet.
Why new business owners need it:
- Create and store documents, reports and presentations in the cloud for easy access
- Files saved for offline use can be edited with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Collaborate in real time with simple, yet powerful sharing and editing capabilities
2. Buffer
Social media is important. Really important. But for new business owners who are short on time and resources, tweeting just isn’t a priority.
With Buffer, you can schedule posts and interact with your audience across different accounts, plus get valuable analytics on how your social media campaigns are performing.
Why new business owners need it:
- Connect and streamline your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts
- Create and schedule a day, week or month’s worth of tweets, posts and updates
- Track the performance of your social media campaigns and gain valuable insights
3. Zoho
Though the age of the Rolodex has long passed, the need for a comprehensive, annotated database of customers and leads remains. In 2015, many businesses use Customer Relationship Management tools — CRM for short — to do just that.
Zoho is just one of many CRM tools available online, but it comes with the added benefit of being free for up to ten users — forever.
- Store and manage customer data, contact info, sales progress and social interactions
- Capture customer info on your site and automatically add them to your list of leads
- Automatically sorts high-priority activities and leads to help organize your day