If you are setting your sights on the launch your own business, you’ll need some great tools to manage it. Most think that it costs tons of money to be organized and operate the basics but it’s not!   Since the operation of your business is on your own dime the first few years, you need to manage costs and get the most bang for your buck. These free or budget friendly tools, software, and sites can help a small operation compete with the big guys easy peasy.

FreshBooks

This accounting software is wonderful and lets you create invoices, track the average time your clients take to pay you, and make a profit and loss statement instantly with just a few clicks. This is a popular tool for new business owners.

Cost: For a plan that lets you bill up to 25 clients is $19.95 a month.

Grasshopper

This is a virtual phone system that routes calls from your business’s local and tollfree numbers to your cellphone. This means you can be away from the office while letting clients reach you wherever you are. You can add extensions as you build out as your business grows too.

Cost: $24 a month (for 500 minutes total a month).

Haiku Deck

Need to spice up your graphics game? No need for an in-house designer now! Make wonder, professional presentations with this easy-to-use program called Haiku Deck. You just upload your own photos or choose images that are stock on their site. You can simply search their system and recommended based on keywords in your text come up.

Cost: $10 a month.

Expensify

This simple app might change your life!  It makes easy work of tracking your business expenses. It allows you to create digital images of receipts, and submit reports of all your expenses. You can reimburse your employees via payroll or even PayPal in just a couple clicks.

Cost: $5 a month per active user.

ScheduleOnce

To keep networking organized and not overwhelming, you can send business contacts a link to your calendar so they can see when you’re free and pick a meeting time. This way you can better manage connections and insure that you schedule time off for yourself.

Cost: $5 to $49 a month.

Globafy

This really awesome service lets you set up conference calls without having to create an account unlike Skype and others. Plus, your international clients can get a local number to call in to, while you use your domestic number. It saves money and time for sure.

Cost: free.

Slack

Slack puts all your communications in one place, making it easier to collaborate with your team in real time, search your inbox, and share files. It’s perfect for those that get that sinking feeling when dealing with virtual document and email management.

Cost: Free for basic service; $6.67 per user per month for unlimited messages and searchable archives.

15Five

If you want to keep track of your employees in a simple way give 15Five a try. Employees spend 15 minutes each week answering simple but telling questions. Managers take five minutes to read and respond. This way you can hear ideas, give your employees a chance to voice ideas and more.

Cost: $49 per month for the first 10 people.

Buffer

If you are struggling with your social media posts, give Buffer a try. You can even schedule LinkedIn Posts. They have a free version but the $10 upgrade gives you more social channels and analytics so you can keep track of what’s going on with your social media.

Cost: Free

Canva

If you need help with your images including making social media headers, try Canva. You can make images based on size (poster, Facebook header, Album Cover, etc) and even use their huge library of images to keep things fresh.

Cost: Free