I wanted to write about some of the free to use software I’ve utilized in the past or implemented for a customer which helped run the business and I found useful. Admittedly not all of these will be good options for everyone, nor will they be the best option when it comes to business software, but that kind of comes with the price tag.
Invoice Ninja
I’ve written about this one before in one of my other articles. This is a web based software which helps you create quotes, invoices, and keep track of clients. One of the features I really likes was being able to have recurring invoices created and sent out on specific dates. This is useful if you’re running a service based business where you regularly bill out the same amount to your clients. It meant there was one less thing to worry about or have to remember. It also allowed me to create rules such as adding a late fee if the invoice isn’t paid by the due date. Some of my more problematic clients started paying on time when they saw these fees, and when they brought it up to me as a complaint, I could just say those are sent out automatically by my billing system and then decide if I wanted to forgive the late fee (I almost never did since this would defeat the purpose).
I also liked that I was able to integrate it into my payment gateway to accept credit card payments and that I could customize how my invoices looked. You can attach other external documents to your invoices and create accounts for all your employees, limiting access to only those sections they need. You can sign up for a free account on their website, or download it and install it on your own server and host it yourself. The latter option is nice as you can create unlimited users at no extra cost, and you can host it with cheap cloud providers, however you still have to pay an annual price to remove the Invoice Ninja logo from your self hosted version. Mostly, what I liked about this software is the simplicity. Everything is easy to figure out so you don’t need to spend hours learning how to use it or training your personnel on it.
Suite CRM
This is a break off or spin off from the Sugar CRM software. Much like Invoice ninja, you can create and track your clients with this software, you can also create products which you can use to quickly create quotes and invoices. While all this can be done with Invoice Ninja, Suite CRM can also do the following:
- Create, send and track email marketing campaigns
- Track leads
- Track opportunities
- It has a built in calendar for scheduling
- You can track phone calls
- Track emails
- Write notes to remember things about your clients
- Upload and track documents
- and you can create workflows.
The best thing however is that there is an entire community making what they call modules, which are basically add-ons to the software that allow you to add more functionality. You can purchase these from the Suite CRM store and installation only requires a few clicks from the software’s admin page. You can add features like integrating it to DocuSign allowing you to send documents for digital signature, SMS functionality so you can send your clients text messages directly from your CRM, and much more.
Google Docs
You already know you can create a free google email. I prefer paying a little and have a professional email that uses my business domain instead, however you don’t have to start there. If you are on a very tight budged just use the free Gmail account, and take advantage of the office suite that comes free with your account. Google Docs is a great word processor with nice templates you can use to make your documents look professional, and Google sheets is a great way to make spreadsheets. Which reminds me, never underestimate the power of a good spreadsheet. If you take some time to learn the ins and outs of this tool you can make some incredible documents to help you track just about anything. I recently used this to create a spreadsheet that a client used to track ongoing construction projects and with the use of a cheap lightweight PC we displayed this on a large flat screen at their office. This made it easy for everyone to know what projects were active, how far along they were, and much more. Since this was a shared spreadsheet, all of their project managers were able to update the information of their specific project so the office staff always had up to date information.
Canva
Unlike the well known professional suite of design software from Adobe, this design software is extremely easy to use. You can select from templates for your business cards, brochures, tri-fold, menu, etc. and modify them to your desires, or just start from scratch. Canva has some nice features that can be used to make your design look great and you can start with a free account.