“You must learn to save first and spend afterwards.” — John Poole
Phillip Chichoni
Money is the talk of the town these days. Landlords are locking out tenants, lenders are taking borrowers to court, properties and movable assets are being auctioned on a daily basis.
For small business owners and new entrepreneurs, the situation is worse as they have nowhere to fall back on when they don’t have money. This week I am going to share with you a few ways that you can save money, with free online tools.
I know you may have heard it said many times that there is no free lunch, or you get what you pay for. However, in this instance, don’t let the word free put you off. There are thousands of business owners who are successfully using these tools. With the cost of broadband internet continuously going down, these tools will not add much to your internet expense.
Many of these tools are not totally free, but have free versions for the smaller businesses with the intention of creating appreciation so that they will become paying customers when they grow.
You likely have received a text massage on your phone from Econet saying “Congratulations you have been selected to receive free EcoSure cover for the month of February…..” The idea is for you to know about the product, weigh its benefits against the cost, then at the end of the month make a decision whether or not to enter into a full contract.
That is the same method used by large internet tools providers to attract clients. And if you do your research well, you can enjoy free usage of the tools for a long time without at all having to upgrade to premium. Here are some tools that you may find useful.
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a) Mailchimp: For marketers who send out regular emails or newsletters to their mailing list, Mailchimp provides a free email management service if your list is below 2 000. The service allows new subscribers to join your mailing list or for anyone to unsubscribe hassle-free. It also monitors emails that bounce and tells you the opening rates of your emails for analytical purposes.
b) Wave accounting: When you are still small your budget may not allow you to purchase commercial accounting software like Pastel or QuickBooks. That is where Wave accounting comes in. It is a completely free app that helps you manage your business finances from any place you can get online. For an entrepreneur or freelancer, it also allows you to separate and track your personal finances, too, so you can handle all of your financial management from one location.
You’ll find invoices, expense tracking, reports, and more. It has its limits, of course. It doesn’t track timesheets and some of the other features you’ll find in a paid app, but for those getting started or with a small business, it might be the perfect choice.
c) Project management: Trello. For entrepreneurs engaged in project management, such as real estate management, software project management, school bulletin boards, lesson planning, and law office case management, Trello is a useful free web-based application.
It is an efficient collaboration tool that allows you to organise your projects (completed, pending and in-progress) into simplified boards.
d) Website templates: WordPress. In this knowledge age, a business without a website is doomed to fail. In my line of business, as well as of many other entrepreneurs I know, clients first find us online then make contact. WordPress provides thousands of free website templates that allow you to easily set up a website for any type of business.
e) Networking: LinkedIn. This is a networking tool that allows you to make connections with professionals from all over. If you want to be taken seriously in your business, you need to set up a profile on LinkedIn immediately. As you make connections, your network will help you find employees and business opportunities.
The free version is all you need to connect and grow your small business.
There are plenty of other tools that you will find on the internet. As you use these tools, you will become more internet savvy and understand which ones work best for you and which ones are not so good. Always do your research to find out as much information as possible about internet tools and how best to use them.
This is the 21st Century, the age of knowledge. You don’t want to be left behind, especially by your own customers. And the best thing about these tools is that they are for free, and will not cost so much when you upgrade to premium, because these companies rely on a huge, global customer base for their revenue. Your only cost is internet bandwidth.
Let me know of any tools that you have found useful that can help SME owners.
Until next week, keep on accelerating your growth.
Phillip Chichoni is a business development consultant who works with SMEs and entrepreneurs. You may contact him by email, [email protected]. You can also visit http://smebusinesslink.com
