Being an entrepreneur can be hard. There are many obstacles that can come in the way. Then on top of that there are the high costs of everything such as apps and business tools.
It can get very costly being an entrepreneur. You have so many expenses and it seems that everything is expensive. Even the small costs add up, you end up spending some here and some there and at the end of it all you are in the red in your bank balance.
You may already be broke before you start. To help you out I have complied a list of the best tools and resources for entrepreneurs. This article should aid you in finding free tools for your business.
Free Tools For Entrepreneurs
PicMonkey – This is another stunning free online graphic design tool allows you to make professional modifications to your images without the expensive costs. You can easily touch up your images including teeth whitening, red eye reduction, weight loss and much more. The best thing is you do not have to be a professional to do any of this.
PicMonkey is very easy to do and you can perform things like teeth whitening on pictures with the click of a button. Some features do require you to upgrade to the premium plan which includes additional features and PicMonkey being free of advertisements. However most the features are included in the free plan. The paid plan is $4.99 a month or $33 a year.
PicMonkey opens up in your web-browser so there is no need to install any software at all. I highly praise PicMonkey for its simplicity and ease of use and making graphics design available to everyone.
Morgue File – It can turn into a hassle when you’re trying to find images for your blog or website that are royalty free. If you plan to do just a Google search and take an image from there, don’t. This can be the worst mistake you can do and can prove to be really costly to you and your business.
If you put a copyrighted picture on your website and the copyright owner finds out you can be facing a legal case and the copyright owner can actually sue you.
Morgue File provides high resolution stock photos that are completely free to use and the best thing is that you won’t get into any trouble using the images.
This is an awesome website and you do not have to worry anymore about
RescueTime – All you have to do is install this piece of software and it will run quietly in the background and you won’t even realise it’s there. RescueTime tracks how much time you spend on websites and other applications and gives you a report of where you are actually spending your time.
The free version allows you to set goals, track how long you are spending in websites and applications and gives you a weekly report. Very handy for improving time management. The premium version is only $7 a month or $72 a year and comes with a handful of premium features such as the ability to block distracting websites.
Trello – A strange name to call a productivity tool/app, however this productivity tool helps you keep ahead with your projects. You can effectively and efficiently manage your projects with this tool without the headache. You can also effortlessly collaborate with your team using this tool.
Trello is interface is nice and simple and keeps your notes organised. Trello is compatible with all the latest devices and smartphones and runs on Android Phones and tablets, iPhone, iPad, Windows 8 and Kindle Fire. Oh, and did I mention that’s its free!
WriteMonkey – If you are a writer or someone who writes a lot of content then this is the perfect tool for you. It blocks out all the distractions and allows you to just focus on your writing. Once it’s activated on your computer you will have access to nothing else and it’s just you, your thoughts and your writing.
WriteMonkey has a nice distraction free layout which lets you focus on the task in hand.
It is very small and fast. WriteMonkey takes literally no space up at all. WriteMonkey is very simple and completely distraction free. You can also set timers so you don’t waste any time at all.
If you are someone who checks Facebook every two minutes then I highly recommend you use this free tool!
Riffle – If you want to connect with influential and successful entrepreneurs but you don’t know what to say to them or where to start, don’t worry! Riffle does research on that person or company for you so you don’t have to waste time. It brings up their social media accounts, hashtags, followers and much more.
Riffle provides you with some vital statistics that could prove useful to you.
Just Retweet – You can use this tool to get your tweets retweeted and liked more and also to get more followers to your Twitter account. This service is completely free and you can also use it with Facebook and Google Plus to get more likes and +1s.
A very helpful tool if you want to build up your social following.
Litmus’s Subject Line Checker – With this tool you can find out how your emails will look in different email clients and in different browsers. All you have to do is insert your subject line into Litmus’s Subject Line Checker and it will show you how it will look in various email clients. It’s simple!
This way you can find out if your subject line is too long, if it is your users and subscribers will not be able to read the complete subject line. It is completely free to check the subject lines however you have to upgrade if you want to check more features.
Project Gutenberg – Project Gutenberg offers an extensive digital library of over 46,000 books that are available in the public domain. All the books listed on here are free to use and read.
You can read them for yourselves or you can offer them along with your products that you may be selling. You can also offer them to readers of your blog for free.
If you want you can offer the books that you get from Project Gutenberg and offer them as a free bonus for signing up to your newsletter.
Wave – Wave makes all your accounting, payroll and invoicing simple. You can create unlimited invoices using Wave completely for free while also doing your accounting and bookkeeping completely for free.
Even if you are not an accountant Wave makes it simple to understand. You can even use Wave on your mobile device to access your accounts.
These tools are all amazing tools and resources and should help you to take your business to the next level.
If you would like to know of even more free tools, resources and apps that can take your business to the next level check out our book Don’t Work Hard, Work Smart: Tools, Apps and Resources that Every Blogger an Entrepreneur Should Use (That Are Completely Free and Awesome).
This books contains hundreds of tools and apps that will help you to grow your business and save you hundreds of dollars. The apps and tools featured in this book are used by many successful entrepreneurs like Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki.
What tools and software do use for your business? Do you think any of these tools are good and have you tried any of them? Are there any other tools that you find helpful? Leave your comment in the comment section below.
