…for Entrepreneurs & Small Business Owners
.
I am always collecting and trying new resources for doing things better, faster or easier. So I’ve decided to compile and share my favorites in one place. Best of all, most are free. Enjoy!
Get Systemized and Get it Done!
Systems aren’t sexy but they are the key to getting more done faster, easier and more profitably. Outrageously Effective Systems walks you through building one system a month–with flowcharts, tips and checklists so you can customize the system to your business.
You also get a monthly coaching call. I did the program for six months and was very impressed!
Tapping the Power of a Virtual Team
Building a virtual team is the key to getting more done in less time.
The Power of the Virtual Team is a multimedia book that tells you how to choose what to delegate, hire the right people to do it, and insider secrets for creating a highly productive team. You can even sample one chapter for free.
Or you can put your team-building on the fast track with Melanie’s Virtual Team Building Tele-Bootcamp in a Box. She’s included video, audio and a ton of templates, checklists, systems and procedures to help you build the best team (and how to fund it!).
Manage Your Money Like a Pro
No one is better at teaching you the ropes of managing the financial part of running a very small business better than Elizabeth Potts Weinstein, CFP.
The Money Tree System is her new step-by-step program to get over your fears about your small business finances, manage the income and expenses of your business, and effortlessly attract more money to you — in just 15 minutes per week!
Grow Up! Strategies: The 7 Legal & Financial Strategies You Need to Up-Level Your Small Business. I had an all-day coaching session with Elizabeth on these same 7 strategies and it was phenomenal.
She’s great at homing in on what you need to know and doing it in an an easy-to-understand and engaging way. Every solopreneur should have this book!
Fast, Safe Online Signatures
My Live Signature is a fast and easy way to add signatures to a web page or any type of digital document–and it’s safer too. Identity thieves are getting so savvy these days that using your real signature may not be a good idea.
My Live Signature’s free online signature wizard lets you create one that’s close but not identical in 2 minutes flat. There are hundreds of handwriting styles to choose from and it creates a file you can upload like any other image.
Download Multiple Files with Just One Click
Down Them All is my favorite Firefox plug-in because it cuts download times for just a single file almost in half. But even better–if you right click on the screen it will bring up a box listing everything that’s downloadable on the page. Simply check off the ones you want, hit download, and it does them all in one fell swoop!
For more killer Firefox add-ons to make life easier, check out my Internet Marketing for Entrepreneurs Collection at Firefox! I’m testing some new ones to add right now so the list will continue to grow and evolve.
Enter Passwords & Fill Out Forms with One Click
Passwords. Stop getting frustrated when you can’t remember your log-in– Roboform will remember them for you. When you go back to the page later, the name of the site will appear as a button on your browser toolbar–simply click Fill & Submit and you’re in.
Forms. You can also enter all your contact information just once–including credit card numbers–and use another toolbar button to fill out all those profile or order pages…again, with just one click. There’s a free account, but the pro is only $30 a year and worth every penny in saved time and frustration.
Shorten & Track Your Clicks
A URL shortener is a handy tool for any kind of online marketing. BudURL though is a shortener plus tracking and research tool all in one. It offers detailed information on who clicked your link and where both in real-time and over a period of time. The basic account is free.
Access Your PC Files From Anywhere
LogMeIn lets you use any computer anywhere to log into your desktop PC (you do have to leave it on) and get documents, run programs, just about anything I could do if I was sitting in front of it.
The LogMeIn software is only installed on your desktop–the computers you log in from only need an internet connection. It offers both free and pro version plans. At $69 a year, I think the Pro is well worth it.
Free Photos for Business Use
Just because photos are free doesn’t mean they’re free of licensing restrictions– especially for use on business sites. But Morgue File is one site where they always are and I can usually find a good quality image that works for me here.
Domain Registration
If you’re paying extra for private registration with your domains then you need to move over to 1and1 where it’s included in the $8.99 a year price!
Free Subscriptions to Trade Magazines
Get free sometimes trial, sometimes ongoing subscriptions to trade magazines and even some white papers from Trade Pub. I’ve signed up for B2B Magazine, Website magazine, Target Marketing magazine, and a book summary of Blue Ocean Strategy. (B2B is my favorite.) You do have to “qualify” for the subscriptions by providing some info about your business, but I’ve only been turned down once.
Ezine and Autoresponder Service
Twitter Me This!
I’ve posted a bunch of handy Twitter links in A Round Up of Twitter Resources.
Green Your Marketing
An Eco-Friendly Font
Tired of going through ink like it’s water? Try Eco-Sprang, a font for your office printer that uses up to 20% less ink.
Green Printer
GreenerPrinter.com did a fabulous job on my business cards and prices are in line with the better internet printers.
Press Releases
If you’ve really got a hot, newsworthy topic, then PRNewswire is top choice because it’s the first stop for most journalists and your release will go out over the Associated Press newswire to media around the country. But with a high per-release fee and an annual fee (though small businesses can often get that waived) it’s not for the faint of wallet.
A more affordable alternative is PRWeb.com. It starts at $80 a pop and goes up to $360 for their service featuring AP wire distribution. They also tend to crush PRNewswire in getting valuable backlinks to your website.
Search Engine Rankings & Web Traffic
PR.com has a relatively professional appearance and their releases rank fairly well. Their $29.99 releases are often included in Google News–unlike most of the low cost/free sites. That level also provides an active link within the release back to your website.
If you need free distribution, 24-7 Press Release tends to get you better links than most free sites. Their free option does NOT include a link within the release, but although they will include one in the contact information box on the page.
Pitch Engine lets you create snazzy-looking social media releases and share them via the social networks. It’s not a distribution or newswire site per se, but journalists and bloggers can subscribe to RSS feeds. And Google News will usually pick up the release within in a few hours. Basic service is free to use.
Finding Media Contacts
Enter your topic and brand new MatchPoint will search more than 3 million articles then list and rank writers based on relevance of articles they’ve written in the last six months. You can either download the list or contact them through the service. It’s $65 a month for the basic service after the free trial.
MyPRGenie will create a list of 25 names for you for $49 ($2 a name for more) and track any release you send them so you’ll know who actually read it. You will have to pay $49 each time you want to use that list though–downloads are not available. But you can also upload your own list of media contacts free of charge and get real-time tracking as well.
Travel Resources
A Crystal Ball for Air Fares
Trying to decide when to buy your ticket that that seminar? Farecast is lets you set up travel alerts like Travelocity does. BUT it goes a step further to tell you whether you should buy today or wait–based on whether it expects the current fare price to increase or decrease over the next seven days. (It uses a ton of past data to predict trends.) It has a similar service for hotels too.
Flight & Hotel Price Tracker
Most U.S. airlines have “guaranteed airfare” policies that enable you to claim a travel credit if the price of your flight drops after booking it. But who bothers to check? Yapta will. Just enter your flight info at Yapta and it will email you if the fare for your flights drop, along with info on how to contact the airline for a refund or voucher for the difference!
They have also started a hotel alert service much like the one airlines have had for years. Tell Yapta the exact hotel you want and it will alert you when the price drops.
Online Trip Organizer
After you make air, hotel or car reservations, simply email the confirmation receipts to TripIt! — a free tool that electronically reads those emails and consolidates them into one travel itinerary, available online. You don’t even have to register first, once you send an email to the address above, it will send you back a link to your schedule and new account.
You can also “clip” web pages to add to your trip (such as restaurant reviews), share travel plans with others, and get your trip info on your mobile phone by simply emailing a command to the site. It’s a terrific free tool for organizing your trip.
Yes, a few of the links above are affiliate links. I hope you don’t mind. If you do, feel free to go directly to the site itself. In many cases, there are alternative resources that offer affiliate programs but I’ve always been a Consumer Reports type of girl–I’m only going to list what I’ve used and would recommend to my own mother.
