Being a startup you worry about every dollar spent. Software is the last on your list. You assumed it would come with your computer. And now you have to write this first invoice, you look at start, programs… where is this Microsoft Office? Nowhere to be found. And it was always there in your corporate office…

Well… you’re on your own now. How to find all these ‘tools to run the business’ and not spend a precious cent?
Believe it or not, there is a lot out there that will make you look like a Pro, a BIG Business you want to be.

First of all – what basics do you need?

You would need a word processing package to type up documents going out to your clients and vendors, you need to be able to invoice clients and write a cheque, you need a spreadsheet to gather your income and expenses data. A place to keep customers and vendors information, and of course calendar – you have so many things in your head, you don’t need to look unprofessional forgetting an appointment you made.
Then, if you’re trying to do your own promos, you need a graphics program and a presentation software. You may even make up your own web page, to be able to send ‘cool’ email to your prospective clients. To round a package, PDF writer is a must if you are emailing out any attachments. And of course, you need email and Internet access. I will not discuss this, since if you are reading it, you’ve got it already. By the way – don’t forget about the backup… After all the nights spent typing, researching and gathering documents, including contracts and contact data, you don’t want to lose it in one minute, because the power just went off and something happened to your hard drive.

Where to find it all free or for next to nothing: have you heard about Open Office? Don’t be afraid, download and install it. It will give you an edge of the whole office suite. You can even transform word documents to web pages.
It’s free and very easy to use if you dealt before with Microsoft software. You can even save a document as MS Word format, so your client will never know that you don’t have a brand software.
For invoicing you have a choice. It’s fairly easy to type up an invoice in a spreadsheet and make it a template for all your invoices. You can even insert a logo, sum up items on the invoice and print it without the grid, so it looks like ‘real’ invoice from an accounting package. For those of you who can’t be bothered to figure out a spreadsheet, FreshBooks has a very nice solution. Make up professionally looking invoices online and get paid by PayPal, Authorize.Net, & more. Great solution for freelancers, one-person professionals offices, lawyers, virtual assistants, web designers, writers and anyone who does business globally.
If you’re into doing your own graphics, Paint.net will do ‘photoshop’ wonders for you.
For your calendar and contact management you can choose Active Desktop , CRM-Express or one of the online applications offered with free Google account.

You know how hard it is to keep track of ever-changing email addresses and your contact’s new gigs? People change companies and move around – without notifying you about it. You may loose three quarters of your contacts/clients in a year if you’re not able to keep up with it. There is a rescue – sign up with Plaxo! This free, non-spaming service allows you to keep up-to-date with all your contacts in a non-invasive way that everyone likes. You can even show either business or private info, depending on your choice, and a mini-promotion piece, introducing your business. All backed-up while you sleep, so you never lose a contact.

Don’t even think about sending your customers files, that they wouldn’t be able to open. How do you know if the person on the other side of the email has the same program as you do? You don’t and you don’t need to know. Send pdf only – it’s a standard! Creating pdf documents is as easy as printing to the ‘pdf driver’. Treat it as your regular printer. PDF Creator is easy to use, small and free. You can’t underestimate it’s importance.

Wow! I just made you a few thousand dollars savings! Hang on… to hear about Brilliant Outsourcing next.