There’s a saying “you have to spend money to make money”, and while that’s true sometimes, there are also many ways to do things for free until the business takes off.
This blog details all the companies that give free tools and services (not a 7/14/30 day free trial). This allows the solopreneur time to build their brand and business without worrying about additional costs. The companies that have done this have a true understanding of the mindset and needs of a solopreneur. They understand that building a business takes time and it’s a journey. Having these free tools accessible in the early stages is a tremendous help and makes solopreneurs into loyal customers so when the time comes they will become paying customers.
Marketing Tools for the Solopreneur
Mailchimp – Mailchimp let’s you send up to 2,500 emails to 500 contacts a month. That’s a great way to start off your email marketing for free. They also have many integration platforms, allowing for easy sync between platforms.
Google Analytics – one of the most powerful tools for monitoring and analyzing traffic on your website. It provides data about site visits, paths, referrals, sources, and more. This information is invaluable in making business decisions. Analytics can help you decide where to promote and what channels to invest in. Additionally, you can see how your activities are affecting traffic. There are plenty of articles on google explaining how to set up google analytics so we won’t go into that.
Search Console – Another free tool by Google, Search Console helps index your site on google. When you upload a new blog, it’s good practice to enter it in the search console and tell google to crawl the page. Additionally, the console helps you understand what search queries people are using organically to get to your site. Lastly, if google crawlers had any issues when crawling your site like the page is not mobile optimized, or the page is not indexed, the errors would show up here and prompt you to go fix them.
WordPress – Yes, WordPress has a free version. Freedom has its cost and in this case, you’ll be giving up on your own domain. Website costs can range from $4 a month to $40 a month. So it’s understandable why some people delay buying a WordPress plan till they feel they are ready for it. As mentioned, you can have a free website but the URL to your site will include WordPress in it. It will look like this: https://YOURWEBSITENAME.wordpress.com/. In cases where you’d like your website to have a personal URL, you’ll need to purchase a plan.
Design tools
Canva – There are so many great designs that can be done for free on Canva. It makes it easy for anyone to achieve their design goals and create professional designs with ease.
Snapseed app – Available only on play and apple stores, snapseed allows for professional photo editing, with a user-friendly interface. It has very powerful editing capabilities.
RemoveBG – an easy way to remove photo’s background when you want to create logos with a clear background, or if you want to change an image’s background. The free version limits the size of image, but in many cases will suffice.
Financial tools for the Solopreneur
ZipBooks – Zipbooks is a simple accounting software that gives you the tools and intelligence to take your business to the next level. It has nice tools to help you manage your clients and vendors, send invoices, and much more. It’s nice that it gives so much on the free plan.
Square – Square provides merchants with a suite of services and products to help fulfill sales transactions, employ marketing tactics, and manage inventory, staff, and finances. It also hooks up to other platforms such as ZipBooks, WooCommerce (WordPress Ecommerce) and many more as a payment gateway. While Square itself has a free plan, any time payments are actually made, a processing fee in the form of a percent of the payment will go to square.
DocHub – DocHub streamlines document signing, distribution and form completion. It offers an easy way to create contracts, assign signing requests, and share it with relevant people. Additionally, DocHub integrates with Google Workspace. It also tracks if the contract has been opened and viewed by the receiver.
Operations and Admin Tools
Monday.com – Monday.com free version is sufficient for the solopreneur needs of managing a few projects. It has a flexibile workspace and allows you to set up your projects in versatile ways.
Calendly – Calendly saves a lot of back and forth trying to figure out when to schedule a meeting. By sending a person your calendly link, they can browse through the dates and choose a time slot that is convenient for both parties. Calendly sends auto reminders and connects to your favorite meeting space such as zoom or google meet.
Kai – Kai is an app that helps you take control of your feelings. It can help you feel more empowered, less stressed, and happier. Kai works by asking you daily structured questions based on ACT Therapy. It is a great way to maintain your mental health and start your day.