While starting a business is a significant achievement for many entrepreneurs, the greater challenge is maintaining and expanding an existing one. Almost every owner of a small business must overcome cash flow issues, time management, and operating costs.
Despite the difficulties, there are a lot of low-cost and free online tools and resources available to small businesses that can help them cut costs, improve efficiency, and expand.
We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of some of our favorite funding, business management, marketing, advertising, education and training, and other resources and services to help you. You can save this list as a favorite or bookmark it for later use. Consider these useful resources and tools for your small business.
Funding There is no one-size-fits-all approach to funding your small business.
One of the biggest challenges you’ll face as an entrepreneur is figuring out how to get money. Each funding option differs in terms of availability, terms, funding amounts, and eligibility criteria, in addition to the distinct funding requirements of each business. There are a lot of resources to think about if you’re looking for investors, grants, or a loan or line of credit from a bank or online lender.
SBA Grants—SBA-backed grants for small businesses Challenge.gov—Public competitions to find innovative solutions to government challenges Fundbox—Working capital and spend management solutions for small businesses Small Business Administration (SBA)—Government agency supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses SBA 7(a) loans—SBA’s primary program for providing financial assistance to small businesses
Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) –
Government research and development program for startups and small businesses Kickstarter – Global crowdfunding platform You can run your business more effectively and cost-effectively by automating and simplifying common operational procedures with the help of administrative and business management tools.
Slack is a team collaboration tool; Calendly is a meeting scheduling tool; Zoom is a video conferencing and collaboration platform; Trello is a visual project management tool; Monday.com is an operations management and productivity application; Typeform is an online survey and form builder; Jira is an agile project management and quality assurance tracking tool; Wave is a small business accounting platform; Dropbox is cloud-based file storage; FreshBooks is a web-based accounting service; Quickbooks is a comprehensive online Social media, SEO, PPC, email, and a variety of other initiatives are included. Successfully developing, managing, and implementing marketing and advertising content and strategy takes time and effort. You can automate a variety of digital marketing initiatives with the help of these online tools, encourage and monitor growth, and ensure that you are not wasting valuable time on arduous tasks.
Canva is a simple graphic design tool;
MailChimp is an email marketing platform; Hootsuite is a social media management and reporting tool; HubSpot CRM is a customer relationship management platform; Buffer is a social media management toolkit for small businesses; Wix is a cloud-based website development platform; Google Analytics is a web analytics and reporting service; Google Ads is an online advertising platform; Unsplash offers royalty-free photos for designs and visual projects; Pexels offers free Fortunately, there are numerous free online communities and courses that will assist you in expanding your network, scaling your business, and growing as an entrepreneur.
r/Startups – Reddit online community and resources for startups r/Entrepreneur – Reddit online community and resources for entrepreneurs Skillshare – Virtual learning platform Khan Academy – Nonprofit web-based education platform The How – Free ‘How-to’ tutorials
