All start-ups need to keep their cost down, just to stay alive. In honor of our frugal listeners we have compiled a this short list of software and services that, even though not all are free, will help you save money.
Zoho has a huge list of software and services available, including reporting, a CRM and Invoicing.
Dropbox is a virtual hard drive service.
Mozy we use to save important documents. It is a safe secure online backup service.
Google Docs is another great resource, as are all of the google tools.
Portable Apps allows you can carry your favorite computer programs along with all of your bookmarks, settings, email and more with you. Use them on any Windows computer. All without leaving any personal data behind.
Mail Chimp makes it easy to send email newsletters to your customers, manage your subscriber lists, and track campaign performance. It is a free online email marketing solution.
Fulfillment by Amazon is an innovative service, you send inventory directly to Amazon where it is stored and managed in a secure, climate-controlled facility. When orders are received, Amazon will professionally pick, pack and ship the product directly to your customer.
Skype you should already know about, but if you don’t it a free online phone service and chat application. There is a pay service as well. But primarily we use it to track and record conversations for free.
Business Nation has a library of free and fee based legal forms such as lease and sales agreements. It also has directories of services, opportinities and a business library.
Open Office is the Free and open productivity suite. It has software that mimics all of the Microsoft Office applications.
GIMP according to their website
GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc. GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.
This is by no means a comprehensive list, if you know of a valuable free tool for business users please share it by leaving a comment