Must-have tools for entrepreneurs

5 Must-See Tools for Start-ups

We know now that anybody can become a great entrepreneur. Some of the greatest business people of our generations came from poverty and many of them have little education to speak of. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba came from nothing and worked his way to being one of the wealthiest men in the world. Like many others he succeeded through hard work, grit, and a little bit of luck. You can do this too but it is not an easy task. The early phases are often the hardest which is why you need to ensure that you have all the right tools to succeed when starting up.

Here are 5 cool websites and services that will allow you to start your business on a budget.

GretaThemes

Even if you get most of your work and clients from freelancing platforms, you will need a website to represent your business. GretaThemes offers a huge library of fully customizable Wordpress themes that are fast & responsive, SEO optimized, very lightweight and easy to use which makes for a smooth and effective user experience. This allowed me to build a stunning website that showed off my portfolio and helped convert my leads. Personal websites are very affordable and start at only $49. Their selection of Wordpress themes has a variety of templates that will suit just about every business.

Dribbble

Design is more important than ever and there are no signs of that changing. Apple has led innovation not only when it comes to products but also design and user experience. Dribbble is one of my favorite sites to gather inspiration, find design strategies for products and websites and find the talent to help you get it done. There is a charge for posting jobs but you can search designer portfolios and contact them free of charge. Dribbble has by far the most talented designers anywhere on the web.

Slack

As your company grows you will see how important communicating effectively really is. Keeping all of your internal communication organized is more challenging than many anticipate and Slack built the perfect solution. Slack functions as a chat room for your entire team, designed to replace email as your primary way of communicating and keeping your information safe. All the files and messages can be organized by user and category while keeping confidential information safe.

MailChimp

The effectiveness of email marketing is hard to overstate, not only has it proven to bring some of the highest conversion rates but it is a great tool for keeping existing customers engaged and building trust among your followers. MailChimp is a great option since it is affordable and extremely easy to use. Mailchimp allows you to design beautiful email templates and easily set up campaigns to target subscribers based on location, time and previous engagement. The low end of their service is absolutely free but as you scale you pay based on the numbers of subscribers. Even as your list grows, the benefit far outweighs the cost!

Dropbox

Everybody knows Dropbox. Their file storing and sending service is known around the world for its safety and efficiency. It is very simple to use and can be set up for your entire team. It is especially helpful if you need to send confidential documents or large files that cannot be sent via email. This tool is also free when starting out and they offer low monthly subscriptions if more space is needed.

Conclusion

These tools will help you navigate through your journey as an entrepreneur. And although most of them can be used for free, do not hesitate to spend money on services that will make your process more efficient. I have found that anything I can do to streamline a process efficiently has helped me free up time and resources to focus on growth and strategy.