I want to help you save money and I am never going to ask you for anything in return.
Every year I save thousands of pounds by not spending any money on software. This whole exercise began when I was looking at NetSuite pricing as I needed one system to manage the key functions in my business. I now know it is entirely possible to run my business on free software. So here is a skill they won't teach you at business school. In fact I would be suprised if many experienced business owners know what I am about to share with you.
You need to do three things to make this strategy work for you.
- Ten minutes every day searching for a specific type of tool.
- A copy of Evernote or similar to help you record your findings.
- Ten minutes at the end of each day trying out what you find.
By the end of a month you should have all of the tools you will ever need to run your business. To help you get a head start here are some of the tools I have found and use on a regular basis.
To make this even easier for you I have listed each tool (on the right) with an equivalent (on the left) you will definitely have to part money for and may well have heard for or even purchased.
Here we go:
Just type the name of the free product to the search engines
One system to manage customers and accounting
salesorder.com pricing: free NetSuite pricing - really expensive
Sorry I couldnt resist this one...
Creating and writing Documents
Google Docs pricing: $0 Microsoft Office pricing - at least $100
Sharing ideas online
Bubbl.us pricing: $0 Mindjet pricing - at least $200
Making videos
Jing pricing $0 Camtasia Studio pricing - at least $300
My thanks to the NetSuite pricing for the inspiration to write this up
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