10 Tools For Building Your Business On A Budget…
If you’re building your business on a budget then you’ll love this post because I’m going to share some of my favorite online tools and most of them won’t cost you anything at all.
I’m actually pretty stoked about this because I’m hoping you’ll share some of your favorite online tools too, and I’m always looking for the next coolest thing.
So Here’s 10 Awesome Tools For Building Your Home Based
Business On A Budget…
Google Docs: If you aren’t using Google Docs for collaboration then you’re really missing out. I remember when software like this was being sold for hundreds of dollars, but the guys at Google are letting you use this for free.
Essentially, It lets you upload and share documents with people all over the world. So you can actually work as a team. The cool part is that it lets you download and convert your files into almost all common file types.
Skype: If you absolutely have to chat with your team or prospects in real time then there’s nothing cheaper than Skype. The only real drawback is that you have to have a Skype account to participate, but it’s free for the most part. If you want more options like voicemail then you’ll have to pay. So far, I haven’t had to bother.
Google Calendar: Hani Mourra actually introduced me to Google Calendar. What a guy. This is hands down the easiest way to keep track of your schedule, events, launches and so on. Of course, like many of the recommended resources on this page – it’s free.
If you’re looking for a quick introduction, check out…
Hani’s Google Calendar tutorial video here.
Wordpad, Text Edit, Notepad: Mike Dillard, gave this practical tip to his list, but most people brush it off, which is probably why most people aren’t successful.
The idea is to use your basic text editor to keep track of your top priorities for the day, and slowly check them off as you complete them. It’s harder than you think.
Personally, I use Notepad to keep a running log of everything I do in the day. It’s the only way I can keep track of everything in one place without wasting time on fancy planning programs.
Google Reader: If you’re short on time then you’ll love Google Reader. It’s basically a free application that lets you subscribe to RSS feeds. I don’t want to confuse you here, because I’m throwing around a lot of nerd words, but this lets you read the headlines and content of all of your favorite blogs without having to click through to the actual blog. So it’s a real time saver. If you get a second, you’ll want to check it out.
Jing: Jing captures your screen with audio so you can communicate with your team, or share a brief tutorial. Some professionals use Jing to brief their designers, because it’s the perfect tool whenever you need visual clarity. The best part about Jing, as opposed to other software, is that it saves you time by uploading videos for you.
Similar tools:
Which is basically like Jing on Steroids
Hanni Mourra recommended…
Screentoaster.com
Screenr.com
Which I haven’t had time to look into yet…
Ilka Flood also recommended…
Goview.com
So that should keep you busy for a bit…
Share your favorite tools today…
I don’t know about you, but I can see this post growing into an amazing list of resources for home based business owners. So if you have a favorite tool, then by all means share it in a comment below. 
Talk soon,
Jason The “Better Networker”
The Jason Better Blog
P.S. I’ll have to ask you to avoid direct linking, because that will probably launch your comments into my spam filter. But I can’t wait to hear from you. See you soon.
42 Comments
Mitcehll Dillman on January 25th, 2010
Gmorning Jason,
Well, you know me…In my construction business I was old school. I’ve been keeping the books and the crews time sheets by hand for over 20 years. This Online computer world has me scrambling to catch up. Sometimes it feels as if I’m from another world.
I’m so new to all this Tech stuff it makes my head spin. I’ve been learning as fast as I can…Turns out, I’m getting up to speed with most of the tools you’ve mentioned.
I’ve been amazed at how many free tools Google offers and my new business partners are really helpful at teaching me the ropes with a few others.
Have you heard of Pearl Trees yet? I’ve just set up over there and will be experimenting with it to see if it helps simplify my daily activities.
Anyway, thanks for these tips. I’ll be sure to take a closer look.
Mitchell Dillman
[Reply]
January 25th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Hey Mitchell,
Pearl Trees…
You know, I’m going to google that
right now.
Interesting.
[Reply]
Dan on January 25th, 2010
Hey good information and notepad does make time management a snap that’s for sure.. Thanks for sharing the other ideas, will have to check into those.
[Reply]
January 25th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Hey Dan,
Glad to see somebody else who uses the
low-tech notepad approach. Works like a charm.
[Reply]
Richard Walsh on January 25th, 2010
Great tools Jason I love the google calendar and I’m checking out the note pad now. Thanks for the tips.
[Reply]
January 25th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Hey Richard,
Notepad should be on your PC already. If not,
just keep a handy text file nearby. I know it’s
simple, but sometimes the best ideas are brain
dead easy to use.
[Reply]
Volker Schaefer on January 25th, 2010
Wow, great post!
Thank you for that free tools!
I also use http://bit.ly for tracking all my links I leave in internet.
Have a great day
Volker
[Reply]
January 25th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Hey Volker,
Bit.ly is one of my favorite tools. Awesome. I like
how you can measure your clicks and see who’s
sharing your content on social networks too.
[Reply]
Chris Owen on January 25th, 2010
Hey Jason, great idea for a post. I love it when you do these posts that I can come back to and reference for cool resources, that people are genuinely promoting.
No worries of getting bad tips for someones affiliate commissions here.
I have a few things that are free that I like to use.
Filezilla is a free FTP software that I love for getting my files to my many, many domains.
Picresize.com is where I shrink all those pics I find in Google images for blog ideas. It is free, and you don’t download any software.
Gimp is a great replacement for photoshop if you like to make your own graphics and headers.
OpenOffice.org has a nice feature in the saving of documents to add a password.
I am looking for cool plugin suggestions for wordpress if anyone has any lesser known jewels.
Thanks Jason
[Reply]
January 25th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Hey Chris,
Awesome resources,
You know, Dropbox is another one
that’s pretty cool.
You might enjoy that… it lets you share
files from one PC to the Next.
This is great,
I’ll have to compile all of these resources into a
monster list for everybody to use.
Way cool.
[Reply]
Terry Crosby on January 25th, 2010
I use all of these tools. The most powerful tool is the Google Reader. Every morning I am able to keep up with the top blogs in my industry. Google Reader has gone social so I can now follow leaders in my industry. What a great way to find additional blogs to follow
[Reply]
January 25th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Hey Terry,
Isn’t it great?
I mean, I’m so used to clicking through to blogs, this
has shaved at least an hour off my nights.
I’m open to any other tools you use too.
It would be cool to build on this post and turn it
into a massive resource.
[Reply]
Jason on January 25th, 2010
Hey guys…
And Gals…
Here’s what we have so far. I have to thank everybody for sharing their ideas and I hope we can build this into a massive resource for business owners.
Dropbox – lets you transfer files from one computer to the next…
Bit.ly – shortens and measure your links
Pearl Trees – lets you organize the web in your own way
Odiogo – Transforms your text into audio – sweet
Filezilla – FTP software – way cool
Picresize – resizes pictures
Gimp – almost like free Photoshop
OpenOffice.org – free word processing and more
Awesome.
[Reply]
Jerome Ratliff on January 25th, 2010
Hey J
Happy Monday!
I’ve been using the Notepad idea for quite sometime. It’s one of those things I use to keep me on track. So, I definitely like that one.
Excellent tools you introduced here to us. I’ve only heard of about half of these, so thanks for that.
I’m for sure going to use these. I think I’ll start with the Google Calendar one.
Jerome Ratliff
[Reply]
Robert Friedrich on January 25th, 2010
I use Microsoft OneNote to keep me organised but for a similar free product you could use EverNote. It come in two forms, an online version and a desktop version. I’d be lost without this program.
I use RoboForm to keep track of all my websites, their password information, Facebook & Twitter accounts and so much more.
Great post Jason!
[Reply]
tim wizba on January 25th, 2010
Good Afternoon Sir
I think the running list thing is a great idea, I’m going to copy and save it right now. Once again, thanks for the always useful information.
p.s. I have to admit that I don’t even have (i work). I save everything to text edit because it’s so easy to find and quickly get to. Maybe word processing is going the way of the newspaper or myspace account.
Tim
[Reply]
Derek Alvarez on January 25th, 2010
Hi Jason,
I use Cyberduck (free) as my FTP client on my Mac.
I also LOVE:
-Adobe Photoshop (definitely NOT free)
-Adobe Acrobat Pro (not free) to make ebooks
-iMovie (free on Mac)
I just started experimenting with ScreenToaster (free) for screen capture videos — looks good so far…
[Reply]
Rebecca Geiger on January 25th, 2010
For keeping track of the “names” I personally signed up for Rebecca Geiger. I like
http://www.knowem.com I signed up for a free account and when I created an account somewhere I else I check it off that I have my own name.
I also like Ning.com if you also want to chat with a tight group of people (though google mail will do this too) but it is a bit more pretty and somewhat like facebook.
[Reply]
Ron on January 25th, 2010
I use CamStudio for recording presentation done on my Pc like training and webinars. Its free!
[Reply]
Ilka Flood on January 25th, 2010
Many of the above mentioned I already use. So I had to scramble (and digg deep into my gray cells…and ask my lovely husband…”hey what else do we use, honey?”) to come up with one more
Traffic Travis is free SEO Software. There’s also a paid version but the free version should just serve you fine in the beginning.
It has a Keyword Finder, Page Analysis, checks Backlinks and much more.
Hey, thanks for the mention above. I love seeing my name in “print”
[Reply]
Suzi Beech on January 25th, 2010
Hi Jason,
I love Google docs, calendar and reader already and Jing is one of my favorites!
How about MailChimp for managing lists and email campaigns? It’s very easy to navigate and has a great free version.
I also like ColorZilla Color Picker for sampling colors that I like so I can use them in webdesigns I’m working on. It’s a free Firefox add-on.
Thanks for the great list!
[Reply]
Peter Grimes on January 25th, 2010
Jason,
Another cool piece of free software is TeamViewer. Basically it allows you to remotely access the computer of another team member anywhere in the world. Great for helping newbies enter the wonderful world of marketing.
[Reply]
Barry White on January 25th, 2010
There is a great little tool in Windows Vista that is very similar to Jing but if you have a slow connection is quicker to use than Jing just no audio and is maybe missed by many people and I dare say it is available in Windows 7.
It is called the Snipping Tool. What it allows you to do is select a section on the screen and save it as an image in jpeg format. What I have found it good for when watching a webinar that the presenter may not save a permanent link to the webinar but you may want to be able to save it as a way of a reminder to review the information.
I just create a Folder and as the webinar progresses I do a snip of the screen and save it into the folder.
Another tool that I use and because since going into internet marketing and all the sites you need to keep passwords too is a program called http://www.AnyPassword.com It is free for XP but have to pay for in Vista + for more than 10 passwords.
[Reply]
Hani on January 26th, 2010
Hey Jason…
Another great post idea…I love the feedback from this group.
Here is my contribution:
1. Free Online professional image editor like Photoshop (you don’t need to download any software): http://www.pixlr.com/
2. Free High Quality Professional Wordpress themes: http://www.woothemes.com/themes/free/
3. Free tool to create PDFs for Free: http://www.cutepdf.com/
4. Host your own Free Web Conferences: http://www.dimdim.com/
Cheers,
Hani
[Reply]
lavinia on January 26th, 2010
Great blog, great comments! Thanks Jason!
Okay my two pence from London, UK….
1.Mikogo…I like to use this to do online webinars…as you have to pay for the audio facility I use skype.
2.For wordpress plugin – how about sexy bookmarks:
http://sexybookmarks.net/ It is different and fun!
So that’s my two pence!
Best,
Lavinia
[Reply]
Michael Cole on January 26th, 2010
Hi Jason,
I use Kompozer for html. It’s free and fairly easy to use.
Mike Dillard’s Notepad work’s great, if you use it. It takes a bit of discipline at first,but if you do it for 30 days in a row it becomes a habit.
Michael
[Reply]
Marcus Baker on January 26th, 2010
Hi Jason,
Excellent post! I use all of the free tools you mention. I’d like to add to these if I can. Firstly I find the Myspace Clickable Link Generator very useful which can be found at http://www.myspacegenerators.org/clickable-link-generator/ and another is a free online image converter which allows one to convert images up to 5Mb in size for free, at
http://www.go2convert.com
[Reply]
Jason on January 26th, 2010
Wow!
I’m going to be busy on the weekend…
Just checking these out.
I’m blown away by the cool suggestions
here… and hopefully… in the near
future I;ll put this all together into
a single article.
Now that would be cool.
[Reply]
Network Marketing Training Resources on January 27th, 2010
Fascinating blog! Your depiction is attention-grabbing. Thanks for sharing your valued vision.
[Reply]
Dee Light on January 29th, 2010
WOW! It’s a treasure of info here Jason. Thank you. Just like Mitchell I find my head spinning often. I will check these out. Wish I had some special something to contribute but I’m peddling as fast as I can to learn all this great stuff.
Thanks so much
[Reply]
January 29th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Hey Dee,
Still having trouble with your
picture?
http://www.gravatar.com is where you can
set that up.
Happy to see you back again.
Just showing up is a contribution here.
[Reply]
Ilka Flood on February 10th, 2010
Hi Jason,
I just found out about another tool that is a “must-have” for us network marketers.
http://www.attentionwizard.com lets you see what your website visitors are focusing on by creating a heatmap showing off the hot spots on your page.
Pretty cool! Try it out for free
[Reply]
February 10th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Awesome Ilka,
Thanks for sharing this with the group.
[Reply]
Best Of The Jason Better Blog…Network Marketing Business Blog on February 17th, 2010
[...] I know it’s more conventional to say that our industry has a “bad name” and that it’s all a buncha lies, but honestly there’s a lot of rotten eggs out there. It’s our job to push them off the wall. 10 Tools For Building Your Home Based Business On A Budget [...]
Hi J
Similar to the Notepad idea. I use the calendar on my blackberry to keep track of what I have done or need to do.
The night before I will prioritize 3 things which I must complete the following day. I set times for me to do these things and I get them done. I also set lesser priority task. Because I always have my blackberry on me it really easy to keep track.
For video production I use iMovie which comes free with any Apple Mac you buy. Soon I will be trying out Jing
I use Google docs – great tool!
I use Odiogo to turn my posts into podcast. This is free and saves me time doing it myself (although I will be doing my own podcast shows soon).
Dwayne
[Reply]
January 25th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Hey Dwayne,
I find that the priority list tip, although simple,
is probably the best thing I’ve ever done for my
life. It’s amazing.
I’ll have to look into Odiogo… first I’ve heard of it.
Hmmm…
[Reply]