This year has forced us all to take a good hard look at our finances. Yet before I decided to place the blame on the economy or politicians, I chose to look at where my money was being bled, closing gaps and start saving. I know it takes money to run a business, but no one has to break the bank.

It amazed me to realize all of the services I pay for yet, don`t use. I might as well use the money I used to pay them as kindle for a fire. Not only was I able to find lower cost alternatives for the services I was paying for, in some cases I found a free alternative. Here are some services making my life easier and putting money in my pocket

Email Marketing, Communication and Promotion

  • Mailchimp.com A great newsletter service, that allows you to have up to 1000 subscribers free.
  • Twitter.com A free marketing/broadcasting service
  • Yahoo.comI love Yahoo mail because it allows me to have free unlimited email storage as well as easy integration and management of different accounts I use, like Delicious.com and Flickr.com.
  • tweetdeck.com A free twitter account management software.
  • twitterfeed.com A RSS to Twitter service that will tweet any service you use that has an rss feed.
  • K7.net A free voice message service that not only gives you a free phone number, but it emails you any messages you receive to your email
  • Tumblr.com is a great visual blogging alternative to Blogger, as sometimes Blogger will not allow you to just post a picture and a link.
  • Blogger.com and WordPress.com are still the blogging standards and are free. They are so versatile, they can be used as a website if you can`t afford hosting or web design.
  • FeedBurner is still the best way to propagate your RSS feeds to the masses.

 Image Management, Protection and Storage

  • Umark A free watermarking service.
  • Aviary.com A great free image editor
  • ZumoDrive.com A free file storage service, that works with Yahoo.com. Great for sending large files up to 100 mb.
  • Adrive.com Free 50 gb storage service
  • Photorazor A free photo resizing software
  • Photobucket.com A great image hosting service, just make sure you make your account private. :)

Finance Tracking and Marketplaces

  • Outright.com LOVE this one!! It`s a free money tracking software for your business that will even create a tentative Schedule C for you! It is as super easy to use as click and go.
  • SampleWords.com Free business forms
  • MyOwnBusiness Free business courses
  • Ing.com A great no monthly fee bank
  • zibbet.com is the free alternative to etsy. Very competitive!
  • Projectwonderful.com is a great place to sell advertising space on your website. You can make money so sign up to one of their free accounts!

Freebies and Coupons

  • Sayvings.com a blog that posts what`s free on the internet as well as coupons.

    by | 4 Comments

    4 Comments on Run Your Business for Next to Nothing in 2011

    1. Jennifer @ Outright
      January 31, 2011 at 11:43 PM (14 years ago)

      Thanks for the shout out to Outright, Elaine! :) This is a great list you have here. I hope you continue to keep your business processes efficient and simple!

    2. Elaine Biss Designs
      February 1, 2011 at 12:17 AM (14 years ago)

      Thanks for your comment Jennifer! Seriously, Outright has saved me a lot of money. Thank you so much for such a wonderful service!

    3. SYOBO Works
      February 4, 2011 at 7:46 AM (14 years ago)

      Elaine, you’re so very right in making a connection between starting your own business and looking at where your money is being bled to close gaps and start saving, because without savings there is no chance of starting any business, particularly the small ones that can get someone out of a serious unemployment or underemployment bind.

      Long ago I learned about the cumulative impact of little trickles, by studying the effect that turning off electrical equipment that runs 24/7 has on my energy bill. It’s not so much that plasma screen that makes the bill so high, but the constant bleeding from every flashing gadget that never stop glowing all day, every day, every week, every year…

      That’s also how a little dime here and another quarter there drain us of our savings.

    4. Melissah from Scrapbook
      February 7, 2011 at 7:38 PM (14 years ago)

      I just discovered your lovely blog. I’m just new into blogging & have just finished off my own blog on fashion & interior design.
      http://scrapbook-melissah.blogspot.com/
      I had a lot of fun putting it together maybe you would like to check it out if you have a spare minute.
      x
      Melissah