Gmail

Your going to need an email to run your business online and my preferred choice is Gmail. I love the new filters it has to offer, while even before it filtered most of my spam and with labels I can sort my messages into categories I create for easy locating.

 

Bommerang 

I also love the apps you can attach to Gmail like Boomerang. This awesome tool allows you to delay sending an email and scheduling it at a convenient time. Because some of us may be on email and see it right away, but we don't want to send an email the instant it is received, so Boomerang allows me schedule them out a couple hours or even the next day or week. Another great feature is you can have an email reminders set up. Here's what I mean, say you receive an email on Friday, but your getting ready to take off for the weekend, you can schedule to have it re-sent to your inbox on Monday at 8am when you return. Cool, huh, check out Boomerang* here.  

 

Rapportive

This is another great app to link on your Gmail account because let's say when you receive an email from a potential client, you can have access to their social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and easily click the follow or like button on the right of your screen. You will have access to their latest updates, location and website as well. Read the full scoop on Rapportive. 

 

SaneBox

Link this awesome app to most email account you have like Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, ect. It is a filtering system that appears in your label section for SaneLater, SaneBlakcHole, and more to easily sort mail from anyone. Once you train this particular sender, you'll never see it in your inbox again- unless you want to.  The best part about SaneBox is you'll always keep your clutter, junk and read later mail separate from your VIP like clients, close acquaintances and family. Get SaneBox to sort maintain your inbox sanity!

 

Wise Stamp

Wise Stamp is a sweet email branding tool that allows you to add an element of professionalism to your online business. By creating a signature with Wise Stamp, you will be able to promote your brand to everyone you email with clickable social icons, direct status updates, website information, and so much more. This is a great way to promote yourself and your brand to gain a following and update your email contacts with your latest content. To get Wise Stamp CLICK here!!     

 

 

 

Asana

No matter who you are, you are going to need a centralized place to manage your projects and the individual tasks you assign others. Whether it’s a cloud system, a journal or calendar, it doesn’t matter, if it works for you. My recommendation is to use Asana. It has tons of great features to use on a no cost plan with up to 29 team members. It allows you to have team members join you to help out with projects through by delegation. Its simple interface allows unlimited projects and lots of space. You're not going to find many fancy features, so for file storage and team member profiles you may opt for Central Desktop, which has a free account up to 3 members. Check out more reasons why I love Asana so much!

 

 

 

Mail Chimp

Mail Chimp is a list builder I cannot live without. Email marketing using Mail Chimp can help build your list for free. By creating forms and inserting them on your blog or website, you can offer whatever you’d like to get people to “opt-in.” By implementing Mail Chimp into your business you can gain a following and offer any product or service to suit that market. 

 

 

 

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a centralized dashboard that allows you to manage up to 5 social networks, schedule your status updates, track analytics, manage contacts, and view your social media accounts all on one dashboard. That is all on a free plan! Can you believe it? This is something I use on a daily basis, and I find it highly beneficial for all my needs and my clients needs too. If you would like to explore your social media potential in the near future then hop on over to HootSuite and see how your social networking will become more manageable.

 

 

 

 

Pic Monkey

Well, maybe this is the most awesome resource on the planet! Pic Monkey allows you to edit photos at quite a vast range for free. Now, to use some of their royale features you do have to pay something but I don’t know what it costs because I’ve not needed those features yet- and probably won’t. You can add text, crop, resize, texture, buttons, boarders and more in just a simple click of a button. You don’t need to know anything about graphics just click and drag. Access it Pic Monkey here…

 

 

 

 

Freshbooks

This is a cloud accounting system that tracks time, manages client information, creates estimates and projects, and analyzes reports anytime (especially handy for tax season). You are able to accept various forms of payment via PayPal, Google Checkout, Checks and more. On their free plan, have up to 3 free clients or pay a small fee monthly for more clients. Join Freshbook* to start billing accurately!

 

PayPal

This is an absolute must and another bonus because it’s free you only have a small portion of your funds deducted automatically from each payment you receive.  If you are going to run a business, you need a way to accept payments. PayPal is great because you can use it with Freshbooks or invoice directly from PayPal. To register your account click here.

 

 

 

Dropbox

With Dropbox, you can share files with not only with your clients but with family and friends as well, which is an added bonus for me. You can add pictures, spreadsheet, and documents to transfer from all your devices too via this cloud storage system. Dropbox allows you and your client to have access to the information that you are collecting or using for client projects. It is free and with referrals you get bonus space for even more storage. So, to help you out Sign Up Here* and give us both 500MB of additional storage.

 

 

 

 

Doodle

Doodle is an appointment scheduler. It’s free and highly beneficial because of its simple navigation and structure. When a client wants to communicate with you direct them to a link, which will show your availability via your Outlook, Google, or iCal Calendars that you set up to Sync. For questions about more resources, follow the link below to set up a time to talk about additional information to start you out on a path to success- for free- visit http://doodle.com/oliviaoharasolutions to get scheduled.