You have to spend money to make money, as the old adage goes. But even if you do have a genius business idea, what happens long before the venture-backed funding comes flowing in? It might take a few PB&J sandwiches and kitchen table meetings before your startup becomes solvent.
Fortunately, entrepreneurs are known for being a scrappy bunch, and a ton of free (or nearly free) apps and websites exist to help out entrepreneurs and freelancers who are beginning to grow their businesses.
Check out the five helpful apps below to turbocharge your business even before your angel investor arrives.
1. Wi-Fi Finder
Traveling for client meetings, or just need a change of pace for the day? For entrepreneurs who love working out of coffee shops or other friendly city locales, the Wi-Fi Finder app is a godsend. The free app tracks your location and points out nearby hotspots where you can take advantage of complimentary Wi-Fi. The app is supported on both iPhone and Android, and its non-existent price tag is perfect for freelancers and startups wanting to grow their business out of their bedrooms.
2. Canva
Canva provides an innovative suite of tools for social media managers and content creators, who can then create free graphics to share with their company’s followers. The app comes with pre-existing templates and dimensions that are optimized for each unique social media site—be it a pin, a ‘gram, or a status update—as well as the option to create completely original designs.
Some of the more in-depth design options are paid portions of the site, but Canva allows unlimited uploads of personal photos to use in its graphics. The site is a great alternative for growing businesses and budding graphic designers with neither the skills nor the cash to pay for Adobe Creative Suite.
3. Rapportive
Rapportive is a useful Chrome plugin, allowing you to view a Gmail contact’s LinkedIn profile in a window next to his or her message. Not only will the program show a photo of the person you’re connecting with, it also displays relevant social media profiles and the opportunity to add the person to your LinkedIn network, all within your email viewer. The plugin also displays the contact’s job details and the members of their network that you share in common. The tool is an amazing step forward in integrating relevant details into personal relationship management, and is a great, free way to establish common threads with clients.
4. Zoho Surveys
A key part of growing any business is getting feedback early and often from clients. With Zoho Survey’s easy-to-use interface, entrepreneurs can create unlimited free surveys to host on company websites or in marketing emails, each with up to 15 questions and up to 150 responders. If you choose to expand beyond that limit, it’ll cost you, but the service’s baseline offerings are still a great tool for startups that are just beginning to grow. Using real-time consumer feedback to reintegrate into updated versions of a product, especially in the early days, is invaluable.
5. magicApp
Having a separate business line is a crucial aspect of preserving work-life balance. With magicApp, entrepreneurs can add a second business line to their existing iPhone or transform an iPad or other Wi-Fi device into a phone line for just $1.99 per month ($14.99 per year). The app provides a new U.S. phone number, as well as unlimited calling and texting using VoIP (Voice over IP) technology. Use this app to separate work and play, so those important client calls don’t get mixed in with happy hour requests from friends and co-workers.