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Copyright 2006 Invent Your Future Enterprises All rights reserved Privacy Policy Conditions of Use |
| SMALL BUSINESS RESOURCES |
Top Tools for New Business Success (Page 2)
Continuing in the tradition of great things you need to know about if you are building or growing a business,
here are some additional great tools and sites you should check out.
There are so many great tools out there that we don't know about, we certainly don't mind if you send your
suggestions for things to include. BUT, these have to be tools, websites, etc. that you use and recommend.
Send an email to our editor, Denise Brosseau.
Personal Radio Station
OK, we were getting just a bit too serious here - how about a little music to liven things up? My favorite way to
enjoy music now is with Pandora. This FREE web service allows you to choose your favorite musician or song
and then creates your very own customized radio station (without commercials) based on the characteristics of
that selection. I don't really know how they do it, but it works. Each song they play gives you the option of a
thumbs up or thumbs down (the song is immediately eliminated from your play list!) and you can also choose to
create a new station based on any song or new musician you discover. And I have discovered a LOT of great
music this way. I play this in the background at night when I am working and I have truly expanded my music
preferences for probably the first time since the 70's. :-) And now they have a cool portable internet radio
product that plays all your Pandora stations. Check this out!
OK, we were getting just a bit too serious here - how about a little music to liven things up? My favorite way to
enjoy music now is with Pandora. This FREE web service allows you to choose your favorite musician or song
and then creates your very own customized radio station (without commercials) based on the characteristics of
that selection. I don't really know how they do it, but it works. Each song they play gives you the option of a
thumbs up or thumbs down (the song is immediately eliminated from your play list!) and you can also choose to
create a new station based on any song or new musician you discover. And I have discovered a LOT of great
music this way. I play this in the background at night when I am working and I have truly expanded my music
preferences for probably the first time since the 70's. :-) And now they have a cool portable internet radio
product that plays all your Pandora stations. Check this out!
Selling on the Web
There are unlimited numbers of products out there to help you sell on the web. Yahoo! Small Business,
mentioned earlier, has some shopping cart tools, but I was looking for a bit more sophisticated set-up when I
started out. I needed to have an autoresponder - which is an easy technology that lets you set up an
automatic email or series of emails to go to someone once they've bought a certain product. So when I started
out, here was my configuration:
KickStart Cart: a feature rich shopping cart product with autoresponders that comes in a variety of reasonably
priced configurations. Not the most beautiful interface, but there are simple tutorials to get you started. It
worked just as advertised. You can even manage your (basic) mailing list with this product. Please use our
referral code! $29-$79/month depending on which services you buy.
PayPal: You need to have a payment processor with any shopping cart and PayPal is really the best basic
solution out there. You can easily add "Buy Now" buttons on your site, create email invoices, issue refunds,
take credit cards or PayPal payments, download reports, take credit cards over the phone, etc. Standard cost:
2.9% of each transaction + $0.30 for up to $3000/month in transactions.
There are unlimited numbers of products out there to help you sell on the web. Yahoo! Small Business,
mentioned earlier, has some shopping cart tools, but I was looking for a bit more sophisticated set-up when I
started out. I needed to have an autoresponder - which is an easy technology that lets you set up an
automatic email or series of emails to go to someone once they've bought a certain product. So when I started
out, here was my configuration:
KickStart Cart: a feature rich shopping cart product with autoresponders that comes in a variety of reasonably
priced configurations. Not the most beautiful interface, but there are simple tutorials to get you started. It
worked just as advertised. You can even manage your (basic) mailing list with this product. Please use our
referral code! $29-$79/month depending on which services you buy.
PayPal: You need to have a payment processor with any shopping cart and PayPal is really the best basic
solution out there. You can easily add "Buy Now" buttons on your site, create email invoices, issue refunds,
take credit cards or PayPal payments, download reports, take credit cards over the phone, etc. Standard cost:
2.9% of each transaction + $0.30 for up to $3000/month in transactions.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System: Once you're ready to upgrade, the next step
is a full-blown CRM system. This costs more but it also has a lot more features. The one we chose is:
InfusionSoftware: We did a lot of homework to find a CRM system that we liked. There were a lot of basic
ones, but we wanted a system that could handle all of our follow-up with sophisticated autoresponders, had
great contact management, included the ability to create custom web forms, linked to a payment processor
and gave us full, customizable shopping cart functionality. Infusion Software does all that and more. And I
can't say enough about their tech support. It's fantastic. Please use our referral link to learn more.
is a full-blown CRM system. This costs more but it also has a lot more features. The one we chose is:
InfusionSoftware: We did a lot of homework to find a CRM system that we liked. There were a lot of basic
ones, but we wanted a system that could handle all of our follow-up with sophisticated autoresponders, had
great contact management, included the ability to create custom web forms, linked to a payment processor
and gave us full, customizable shopping cart functionality. Infusion Software does all that and more. And I
can't say enough about their tech support. It's fantastic. Please use our referral link to learn more.
Sharing Files Among Your Team: There are basic, free ways to do this and then there are far more
sophisticated ways to do this. It really depends on your needs. If you just want to share a simple
spreadsheet or word file, then use:
Google Docs: Simple, straightforward and free. You can import a Word or Excel file and share it with others.
You can set permissions so they can just view or also edit a file. The features are very simplified.
Microsoft FolderShare: This is the next step up in the file sharing world. You can use this free service to
share a folder on your hard drive with others. You can also use this to view a file when you are on the road.
Microsoft Groove: When you need to get more sophisticated, there are a few good options out there,
including Microsoft Groove. I really like this product as it offers a number of file sharing, idea sharing and
contact/calendar sharing features for groups. It is now in a 2007 version for about $200 from Amazon (as of
April 2007).
BaseCamp: We haven't used this product, but others we know love it. Provides online project collaboration
and calendars. It is from a company called 37 Signals that seems to have a lot of inexpensive web tools.
There's a free version and then it scales from there based on what level of services you need.
Central Desktop: This is a sophisticated online collaboration program that allows you to share calendars,
project files, to do lists, and much more. Again, we don't use this but several people we know love it.
sophisticated ways to do this. It really depends on your needs. If you just want to share a simple
spreadsheet or word file, then use:
Google Docs: Simple, straightforward and free. You can import a Word or Excel file and share it with others.
You can set permissions so they can just view or also edit a file. The features are very simplified.
Microsoft FolderShare: This is the next step up in the file sharing world. You can use this free service to
share a folder on your hard drive with others. You can also use this to view a file when you are on the road.
Microsoft Groove: When you need to get more sophisticated, there are a few good options out there,
including Microsoft Groove. I really like this product as it offers a number of file sharing, idea sharing and
contact/calendar sharing features for groups. It is now in a 2007 version for about $200 from Amazon (as of
April 2007).
BaseCamp: We haven't used this product, but others we know love it. Provides online project collaboration
and calendars. It is from a company called 37 Signals that seems to have a lot of inexpensive web tools.
There's a free version and then it scales from there based on what level of services you need.
Central Desktop: This is a sophisticated online collaboration program that allows you to share calendars,
project files, to do lists, and much more. Again, we don't use this but several people we know love it.
Calendar Sharing
Unless you have an Outlook Exchange Server, group calendar sharing can be a pain. Here are a few options:
Google Calendar: A FREE calendar where you can overlay your calendar with others on your project team.
Can also get your Google Calendar to synchronize with your Outlook if you have simple $29 synchronization
program from Companion Link. This is an incredibly reliable little piece of software. They also have other
synchronization tools for other programs.
Office Calendar: If you're willing to spend a bit more, this product (available for $99) will give you all the
features of Microsoft Exchange Server without the cost of Exchange. Share calendars, contacts, tasks and
more. There's a free version you can try before you buy.
Unless you have an Outlook Exchange Server, group calendar sharing can be a pain. Here are a few options:
Google Calendar: A FREE calendar where you can overlay your calendar with others on your project team.
Can also get your Google Calendar to synchronize with your Outlook if you have simple $29 synchronization
program from Companion Link. This is an incredibly reliable little piece of software. They also have other
synchronization tools for other programs.
Office Calendar: If you're willing to spend a bit more, this product (available for $99) will give you all the
features of Microsoft Exchange Server without the cost of Exchange. Share calendars, contacts, tasks and
more. There's a free version you can try before you buy.
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