I recently heard someone say: “Entrepreneurs don’t fail – they just run out of cash.” And indeed, that’s very true. Everything costs money – your website hosting, website design, namecards, stock photos, software. Even invoicing your customers cost money! But thank God for the Internet! With free resources abound, all you need is to know where to look. Our newest guest contributer, Garry Huang brings us a list of free stuff online that will make your bootstrapping easier! Who says that starting up requires that much capital?
For building your website or collateral:
- Free stock photos from Microsoft and stock.xchng
- Free web hosting (even Ruby on Rails!)
- Free fonts from DaFont and FontFreak
- Free icons from FamFamFam, InterfaceLift and Maxpower
- Free business templates from HP
- Free wordpress plugins
- Free wordpress themes
- Free email from Gmail, naturally
- Free photo hosting from Flickr
- Free comprehensive web statistics from Google Analytics
- Free forms for your website to collect data
- Free Adwords Optimization reports from Clickmuse
- Free content management systems from Mambo or Joomla
- Free Search Engine Optimization lessons from SEOMoz
Tools for routine work or administration:
- Free label templates from OOo
- Free office suite that works (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations etc)
- Free collaborative spreadsheets from Google
- Free document collaboration (like Word) from Writely
- Free remote backup from Mozy.com
- Free business forms (most can be adapted for local use)
- Free file compression by Krunch
- Free efficient file sending on YouSendIt, DropLoad or DropSend
- Free online file storage at Box.net
- Free RSS to your email
- Free RSS aggregators at Bloglines and Netvibes (which is really more than just that)
- Free web-based call conferencing
- Free fax/voicemail to your email from K7
- Free invoicing from SimplyBill, FreshBooks and BlinkSale
- Free debt tracking of social money
- Free superb project collaboration from Basecamp
- Free online chat by Campfire Now
- Free personal organization tool from BackpackIt
- Free personal and collaborative time tracking by Slimtimer. Similar Firefox extention, too.
- Free email lists from either Google Groups or Yahoo Groups
- Free meeting planning app from Meet With Approval
- Free collaborative Wiki from Peanut Butter Wiki
- Free collaborative Writeboard from 37Signals
Even more free stuff!
- Free namecards at VistaPrint.com
- Free online courses of all sorts for SMEs!
- Free viral movie marketing on YouTube
- Free podcast music for you
- Free business consulting even, courtesy of Score
- If you sell something, there’s a free sales distribution channel
- Free professional social networking on LinkedIn
- Free alternative social networking on BikNik
- Free collegial and professional social networking on Facebook
- Free Subversion and Trac for Software developers
- Free competitor tracking with Google Alerts
Admittedly, some of these free isn’t really “freeâ€, as you find that you outgrow their free services pretty fast. Still, they’re pretty affordable even if so. So, what are your favourite free online resources? Drop a comment on Garry’s blog and he will add it to the list.
Editor’s note: This article has been reproduced from Garry’s blog, check it for updates to this list.
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