DOTC: Free or Cheap Business Tools (Part 1)

I love cheap stuff.   I write a lot about it here, and I use every free or cheap service I can get away with.  I advise my marketing clients to do the same, as well as teach Abanico Workshops on the topic.

Fry is unclear on the concept.

Last week I talked about the tools I use in my business.  Most of what I use, I use the free version. 

I'd like to expand on that a bit.

Many of us do things the long and difficult way - or spend money we don't have - on business tools because we don't know what's out there.

By “tools” I mean things like:

• Network and cloud drives
• Productivity software, like a word processors, spreadsheet, presentations
• Email clients, contact managers and address books
• Notes and productivity tools
• Marketing tools and services

You may be a one-man-band but you need these things to run your business.  Lucky for us, living in the modern world, there are tons of tools available.

In my opinion, it’s best to look for solutions that don’t require you to enter the same information in more than one place, more than once.  If you have to manually insert duplicate information in multiple places, you’re wasting your time and you might want to consider a different tool.

I’m a huge fan of Google services: Chrome, Gmail, Blogger, Picasa, Google Calendar, Google Apps, Google Tasks, and Google Drive, just to name what I use most often.  I’m also an Android user - I have a Samsung Galaxy II smart phone and a Google Nexus 7 tablet - and by associating my Google account to my Android devices, all of the services/content I get on my PC are also available on my phone and my tablet, and I don't have to duplicate any work.

I am never anywhere without my contacts, my files, my email, or my tasks.

It's awesome.

And it's FREE!

Here’s the list of active Google services (scroll down to “Home and Office” to see many of the tools I mentioned above): http://www.google.com/about/products/

If you need a more powerful solution, Google Apps for Business is available at a crazy low price and offers more tools and bigger storage.  Learn more here: http://www.google.com/intx/en/enterprise/apps/business/

I know Apple has similar services for free or cheap , and I see that Microsoft is offering Office 365, but in my opinion, Google has cornered this space by providing free services that are worth paying for when you can afford it.

I didn't go into other popular (and free) services in this post; I will in Part 2.

Do you like something more than the Google tools I've mentioned?  Let me know!