Like it or not as business owners we have a lot of back-end work that needs to be done. The cost of a lot of the software required to do that is often outside the price range of the average start-up.
This usually means writing everything down in a notebook or typing notes and reminders into our phones and then trying to get a free hour to collate all the information in one place.
Usually most of us fail at the last part, unless administration is our speciality.
In this post I will talk about free business tools that are available to make the life of a Mumpreneur that little bit easier.
Accounting
GnuCash www.gnucash.org
GnuCash has the all the features that anyone would expect to be included in any accounting software plus there is also a list of advanced features that are available including multi-currency which would be handy if your business deals in more than one currency.
Double entry
Income/Expense accounts
Scheduled transactions
Statement reconciliation
Cheque book style register
Office Software
Open Office www.openoffice.org
Open Office is the next best thing to Microsoft and is free. It contains
Writer, which is their word processor
Calc, their spreadsheet software
Impress, the presentation software
Draw, which is handy for doing up brochures and flyers
Base, their database management software
Email Marketing
MailChimp www.mailchimp.com
MailChimp has a completely free version. There is also the option to upgrade at a later stage. There are tutorial videos to help you get started in building your first newsletter or mailshot.
Basic Management
Shoeboxed www.shoeboxed.com
Shoeboxed is a great resource if you just dump all the receipts from your business into a pile along with all your business cards.
You can either post (free), scan or upload the lot to them and they will collate it all for you, saving you valuable time.
Graphic Design
Gimp www.gimp.org
Paint.NET www.getpaint.net
Gimp is great for editing a photo or re-touching it, especially where you want to remove the background or part of the picture altogether.
Paint.NET is a good alternative to Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. It started out as a project mentored by Microsoft.
Anti Virus/Security
Avast www.avast.com
Lastpass www.lastpass.com
Avast Anti-Virus Having used different anti-virus software over the last few years, I have found Avast to be the best one by far.
Lastpass is a fantastic resource for generating new passwords for sites as well as storing current passwords for the sites you already visit.
Website
WordPress www.wordpress.com
WordPress has a free as well as a paid version and the free version is perfectly fine for any Mumpreneur who needs to get up and running.
It can be used simply as a blog or as a website in its own right with blog pages. There are really hand features that come with the free version including stats.
These are just some of the many, many free software options to help any new Mumpreneur get up and running with her business, or an already cash-poor one get moving again.
There are many more, please do add others that you have used by commenting below.
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