Everyone loves the idea of being their own boss, but when it comes to taking the reins and starting your own business, many change their tune. And why wouldn’t they? Starting your business is anything but easy. Your own money and reputation are on the line. You have decisions to make and each one can impact the success of your startup. With limited resources, you’ll find yourself asking again and again if the expense you’re planning is justified. You’ll be on the lookout for cheaper options, you’ll lose sleep at night thinking how you can raise more funds and sometimes you’ll just have to make do with what you have. In this scenario, it is important that you use the free tools available to you. Here are seven must-have tools to help budding startups grow.
Trello
Managing different projects is difficult. Setting deadlines, keeping abreast of all the updates, making sure everyone is on the same page can be draining. This is where Trello comes in. Used by freelancers around the world, this tool allows you to create to-do lists, delegate tasks and more. The project and task management tool’s visual Kanban boards are flexible and easy to share. A ton of detail can be packed into each card.
Honestly, even if you’re not running a start-up, we’d still recommend that you download it. It can organize just about anything, even your life.
Dropbox
Collaborating online becomes easier with cloud storage, especially if you’re dealing with time-sensitive information. While getting cloud storage can be expensive, with Dropbox, you won’t have to pay a dime. This free platform lets you store data and share it with your team with ease. Sure, you won’t get some of the premium features, but for a startup, it does more than what you could ask for. Just be sure to have a high-speed internet connection so that your documents can sync in real-time. Spectrum services might be your answer depending on your area so giving them a call could prove worth it.
Google Trends
There is no business out there anymore, that doesn’t have an online presence. You can’t just go without it. Consequently, if you want to learn about how your business is doing, or how your competitor is doing, the internet has the answer to that. This tool tells you what people are talking about and what they search online. It can help you understand what niche your product can cater to or what gap it can fill. Similarly, it can also tell you how your competitor is doing in the market. If you’re planning to make some noise to tell people what your company is about, it can tell you if there is enough web traffic and interest in the topic to build an SEO campaign around. Pretty neat, right?
Canva
The artistic splendor each company makes sure to splash on the screens of their potential customers might feel intimidating. After all, it’s a lot to compete with. But luckily, there are tools out there that can give your designs a boost. Canva is a popular choice among people for these tasks. It offers a free suite of design tools that help you create PPC ads, social media ads, beautiful slides, infographics, and even magazines! That is not all. It comes with free built-in stock photography for you to work with. Using these, you can create custom filters for all your images. What more could you want? For someone just starting off, it’s a godsend.
Google Analytics
To make well-informed decisions, it is important that you have reliable data to work with and to aid you in this endeavor, Google Analytics is the guy. No tool can better guide you on who your customers are than this platform. It can give you a quick overview of your audience as well as help you analyze what your customers love about you and what it is that is turning them off. It can help you optimize your conversions and guide you on how to send you marketing money wisely.
Hubspot CRM
With limited resources, customer relationship management (CRM) can be a nightmare. Give bad service once and you lose a customer forever. For a company starting out, that is just not acceptable. Luckily, you won’t have to spend a penny to manage it. This tool by Hubspot helps you keep track of your customers and vendors. It also has all the communication history including calls, emails, and meetings compiled on the platform. Additionally, you can assign tasks to your team and set deadlines and since it is integrated with Gmail, it also tracks and logs your emails to them.
Zapier
Juggling different apps can be time-consuming. Also managing so many apps and sites on your small smartphone might slow it down. To get it all on one platform, download Zapier. This online automation tool connects your favorite apps like Gmail, G Suite, and Trello and lets you stay on top of things with ease. You can automate tasks like sending an email or assigning a task at a later date so you can free up your time and do other activities, including getting decent hours of sleep.
Final Words
Managing a startup can be hard, but it doesn’t make it harder than it needs to be. There are a ton of tools out there that you can use to aid you in your tasks. They not only help you save time but also allow you to work effectively in limited resources. For a company starting out, it can prove to be a life-saver. So, work smarter, not harder and use these tools to build your idea. Till then, best of luck!
