Seven Tools and Resources for Bootstrapped Startups

Planning to start a business? Do you have very little capital to invest in the same? You need not lose your hopes, even if you do not have enough resources to manage your business. There is an array of free tools available on the market to cater to the needs of small business owners and entrepreneurs. Here is a list of some essential tools that will help you run your business better, without spending a single dime:

1. Evernote

When starting up, you are full of ideas about how to build and grow your business. You cannot always rely on sticky notes or bits of paper to record your thoughts and ideas. Saving them in your email is a hassle, and practically not possible – time is indeed precious when it coming to running a startup. With Evernote, you can jot down all the ideas that come to your mind and it will remember and keep them for you, for later use. Using this tool, you may also perform online searches, add images, photos, web pages and voice memos.

2. FreshBooks

When starting a business, you need to keep in mind that capital is considered the life blood of any business – and that the success of your business solely relies on smooth cash flow. You should keep a careful eye on invoices, monetary resources, payment details, collections and overdue payments, so that your business keeps running in the optimal condition, financially. This is where FreshBooks comes in handy. Moreover, this tool will eradicate the need of hiring accountants and book keeping sections, atleast for the short term. It also supports a host of other online applications such as Basecamp, Salesforce and MailChimp.

3. MailChimp

A business needs to keep in constant touch with its customers, and notify them about any updates and new releases of their product or service – in order to keep them connected with the brand. MailChimp helps you in managing your mailing list effectively, and sharing newsletters and content with the same. Also available are special features, like beautiful customized templates, spam-proof emails, and accurate analytics solutions.

4. Dropbox

You can now synchronize files between two or more computers with great ease – with a drag and drop action by using Dropbox as a part of your system. You may use your web browser to access the files in Dropbox as well. With their free plan, you can get 2 GB of storage for absolutely no charge.

5. Asana

Dustin Moskovitz, the co-founder of Facebook created Asana, a task management program. This tool is one of the forerunners in organizational technology, and enables you to stay connected with your team of professionals anywhere and at any time in an efficient way.

6. HootSuite

Businesses can now manage their entire social media network with HootSuite. The functions of this service are performed by tracking extensive data and message scheduling using a cross platform interface. As every platform is connected by seamless analytics, you can save lots of time – managing your business and social networks through a single interface.

7. Docstoc

Docstoc was created by Alon Shwartz and Jason Nazar to keep track of all your business documents. You can easily transfer all your documents, even if they are large in size, as well as different types of templates – with faster speed and a lower cost.

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