Must-have Tools and Resources For Small Business
Starting a small business can be challenging in many ways. If you want to succeed, you will need as much support as you can get, therefore I have put together a list of the 10 tools and resources that I think are essential to starting any small business hence let’s begin.
Not all of these tools are indeed applicable to all businesses but regardless of the industry, you’re in, you can certainly use several of them.
1. Google Analytics
We placed Google first because it has great features and is free. Google Analytics is a free solution that helps you see where and how your customers are coming from. By using this information, you can optimize your marketing strategy for more leads.
2. Slack
When an email is used, important messages often get overlooked, and its format doesn’t lend itself well to real-time communications. The primary advantage of text messages is that they’re a good way to discuss things right away, but it’s hard to locate a specific message from a few weeks ago. With Slack, you get the best of both worlds. Its beauty is that it streamlines business communications and adds a real-time element, making searching extremely easy.
3. QuickBooks
I think QuickBooks will save you the most time and hassle out of all the tools and resources mentioned previously (and probably quite a bit of money as well). It’s so easy to manage your finances with QuickBooks. The peace of mind you will get knowing every calculation has been correctly done, and you don’t even have to keep track of tax laws since QuickBooks handles it for you will be immense.
4. SCORE
SCORE has been supporting small businesses for more than 50 years and offers free online learning opportunities as well as in-person mentoring to help them succeed. You should try this resource for your small business.
5. Canva
Canva has pre-formatted templates for EVERYTHING hence you wouldn’t need to hire a professional graphic designer right away. It is easy to use and provides beautiful results! You can create so many things like social media banners, flyers, events, documents (presentations, letters, reports, etc.) and so much more!
6. Salesforce
It’s no secret that Salesforce is the most popular and powerful customer relationship management (CRM) tool. This platform integrates many different aspects of your business – including sales, customer support, marketing, and more. This allows you to customize your marketing and sales efforts to meet the needs of individual clients.
7. Loyverse
As its name suggests, this free POS tool is a loyalty program and POS system for small businesses including beauty salons and florist stores, as well as retail chains. It includes analytics and inventory management and can be downloaded from iTunes or Google Play for free.
8. Asana
With a larger team, it is harder to remain organized and on top of all the different tasks that employees, contractors, and partners are tasked with completing. The tasks may get lost and not completed, falling between the proverbial cracks of daily life. Here is an amazing tool for you, Asana. Using this simple task management software (up to 15 users) is easy, as it’s quite flexible. It lets you create repeating tasks, assign them to team members, and track progress from a single customizable dashboard.
9. MailChimp
MailChimp is a valuable tool to successfully run an email marketing campaign like sending drip campaigns to your customers. It helps you organize and compose email campaigns, social ads, and more, streamlining your company’s marketing efforts. Once you start using this tool you’ll wonder how on earth you managed without MailChimp when you try it.
10. Thunderbird
It’s a free all-in-one program that offers email, tasks, calendar, and chats; somewhat similar to the Outlook experience of old. If you don’t like Google’s services and prefer your email client and messages stored locally, Thunderbird may be the answer.
These were our suggestions for you. I hope this article helped you get a convenient tool for your business. As we know, there are many other resources apart from the ones mentioned in this article. And please do let us know if you have any other tools or resources to suggest. Your suggestion can be helpful for someone.
