The Work at Home Woman

Hi, I'm Holly. I help women and moms find remote jobs, careers, and home-based businesses that feed their souls. If you're looking to work from home, this is the blog for you.

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A HUGE List of Free Resources to Help Run Your Home-Based Business

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A HUGE List of Free Resources to Help Run Your Home-Based BusinessBy Holly Reisem Hanna

Leaving the security of a steady paying job to launch a new business can be a scary endeavor. Even if you've planned and saved six months worth of living expenses, often it takes months to start generating income from your business.

And guess what?

Even if you don't have money coming in, your business still incurs expenses to run smoothly. But don’t despair, there are tons of free tools, resources, guides, and printables, so you don't have to break the bank.

Here's a massive list of free business resources so you can focus on making money instead of spending it.

1. Free Website. 

Since you won't have a brick-and-mortar location, the heart of your home-based business is your website. Having a site allows people to window shop your services and products, it helps them find you via the web, and it conveys valuable information. Personally, I think it's in your best interest to own your website (purchase your domain name and hosting), but if you can't afford a website right off the bat, I suggest using a free option until you can afford to switch to a more robust platform.

A few things to note about free platforms. Usually, you're limited to a small number of web pages, you'll have limited bandwidth and storage, and often you'll have a sub-domain. If you can spare $2.95 a month, I highly recommend setting up your own website with WordPress. Not only is it affordable, but it's also extremely simple to set up and use, and it will give you a professional looking website.

2. Free Online Productivity Tools. 

You'd think as much as I'm online, that I'd rely heavily on online productivity tools, but I don't. As you'll see below, I like to use real-world tools to help me stay organized. But if you prefer online time management tools – here's a great list to keep you on track.

  • Cozi – Simple family organizer
  • ClickBook offers free online appointment scheduling
  • Doodle – Scheduling application that will sync all of your calendars together
  • Evernote – Virtual to-do list
  • Google Calendar – Online calendar
  • RescueTime – Time tracker
  • Todoist – Task manager
  • Toggl – Time tracking app, free for up to 5 users

3. Free Printables. 

I'm old school when it comes to planning and organizing. For all of my personal and business activities, I use a physical planner, calendar, notebook, and tons of printables. From grocery lists and daily to-dos to packing lists, chore charts, and business goals. If you're looking for free printables to organize your business and life this list has you covered.

4. Free Finance Tools. 

When I first started my business, I used a spreadsheet for all of my income and expenses. Not only has the process manually intensive, by it made tax-time a nightmare. Save yourself the frustration and use a professional platform. The resources listed below offer invoicing, budgeting, planning, bookkeeping, and accounting solutions.

5. Free Business Templates.

When you're running a business, you'll find yourself searching for all types of forms and templates that you don't even know you need until a particular situation arises. When the time comes, here are some great resources to have bookmarked.

  • Frugal Entrepreneur – Business documents, templates, and forms
  • SCORE – Business planning, financial, marketing, and management templates

6. Free Content and Project Management Systems. 

When you're a service provider (virtual assistant, freelance writer, graphic designer, etc.), you're going to have multiple projects and clients to manage. The best way to stay on top of everything is by using a content or project management system to keep you organized.

  • Airtable – Free spreadsheet and data table management tool
  • FreedCamp – Free project management tool
  • Trello – Online collaboration and management tool
  • Wrike – Task and project management tool

7. Free Marketing Tools and Platforms. 

It's been said that you should spend at least 20% of your time marketing your business. With hundreds of ways to market your business, you should be able to find a formula that works for you. Here are a few free platforms and resources worth checking out.

  • BoardBooster – Pinterest scheduler (500 pins a month for free)
  • Clearstream – Free SMS marketing (25 messages per month)
  • Craigslist – Free online advertising
  • Facebook – Free social media marketing platform
  • Free Press Release – Submit your press release for free
  • EZ Texting – 250 free SMS marketing messages per month
  • Hootsuite – Manage your social media marketing efforts in one place
  • Hotcards – 100 free business cards (pickup at their Cleveland Headquarters is free, shipping elsewhere is extra)
  • HubSpot – Free email signature
  • Instagram – Free photo sharing media platform
  • LinkedIn – Professional social networking website
  • MailChimp – Free email marketing for up to 2,000 contacts
  • OneSignal – Send out unlimited push notifications for free
  • Pinterest – Visual marketing platform
  • SendInBlue – Free email marketing, up to 9,000 emails a month
  • Survey Monkey – Allows you to gather feedback, collect data, and analyze survey results
  • Tailwind – Pinterest and Instagram scheduler (free month)
  • Twitter – Free social media marketing platform
  • Vero – Instagram-like social media platform (free for the first million users)
  • YouTube – Video marketing

For more budget-friendly marketing ideas, check out these articles:

8. Free Administrative Tools. 

You may already have Microsoft Office on your computer, but if you don't, the yearly subscription can be pricey. Here are some other options that work great and they're free.

  • Cute PDF – PDF conversion tool
  • GoogleDocs – Word processing, spreadsheets, forms, slides, and more
  • OpenOffice – Word processing, spreadsheets, multimedia presentations, and more
  • PrimoPDF – Create PDFs for free

A HUGE List of Free Resources to Help Run Your Home-Based Business

9. Free Communication Tools. 

It's funny when you work in an office setting you don't even think about all the different methods you use daily to communicate with others – the technology and systems are already in place. However, when you run your own business, you'll quickly learn that you need a whole host of tools. Luckily, there are lots of free and reliable options.

  • FaxZERO – Fax documents for free, up to three pages, two times per day
  • FreeConferenceCall.com – Conference and video calls, up to 1,000 people for free
  • Google Chat – Talk to other people over the internet for free
  • Google Hangouts – Video chat
  • Hot Recorder – Record calls for free
  • IFTTT – A free tool to get all of your apps and devices communicating effectively with each other
  • LetterMeLater – Schedule emails to be sent in the future
  • Mikogo – Desktop sharing tool, ideal for web conferencing, online meetings, or remote support
  • Skype – Free call, video chat, and instant message for Skye to Skype users
  • WebEx – Free video conferencing free for up to three people
  • Zoom – Video and web conferencing service (free up to 100 individuals)

10. Free Design Tools and Stock Images. 

As an entrepreneur, you'll take on many roles. Quite frequently that role is a graphic designer. But no worries, you don't need any special training to create professional-looking images, presentations, and marketing materials; these tools are both free and easy to use.

11. Free Tools and Resources for Bloggers. 

If you run a blog, there's no doubt that you'll need some specialized tools to make your blogging efforts easier. Here are some that I use and recommend.

Are you ready to make money from home this year, but you're not sure what direction to take? Here are a bunch of FREE online courses that can help take the guesswork out of what work-at-home career path you should take.

One last note about business freebies. There will come the point where your time becomes more valuable than saving a few bucks. So as you grow, invest in the proper tools that will ultimately save you time and money; as freebies often have limitations.

Good luck with your new business!

Do you have a free resource or business tool that you can't live without? Drop us a note below, we'd love to hear what you're using.

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Originally published November 25, 2009. Content updated February 27, 2018.

This page includes affiliate links. Please be aware we only promote advertising from companies we feel we can legitimately recommend to our readers. Please see our disclosure policy for further information.

Are you trying to build and market your small business on a shoestring budget? This list is amazing! There are over 90+ free resources, guides, and tools for small business owners and bloggers that can help you take your entrepreneurial game to the next level. #free #business #tools #resources #guides #blogging #marekting #freebies
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Comments

  1. Yeah! Thanks for the mention, Holly!!! :)

    Reply

  2. GotFreeFax.com also allows user to send free fax online to the US and Canada. User can either upload a PDF/Word file or enter text to fax. Plus, it does NOT add Ads to user’s fax and is suitable for faxing formal documents.

    Reply

  4. Thank you for these !
    There are a few here that I have never heard of and have to go and check them out now ;)

    Organically Yours,
    Diana

    Reply

  5. Hi Holly!

    Thank you for listing Mikogo. If you would like to join us on LinkedIn to discuss Mikogo and desktop sharing, please feel free to join us. Thanks!

    Hsiang-Yi Cheng
    The Mikogo Team

    Reply

  6. Here are a couple more I have come across lately.

    Mint.com – a free money management/budgeting site. Super robust.

    Animoto.com – a free video production site. Upload your raw video footage and produce a polished video complete with transitions, labels and music. Easy to use. Very cool.

    Trish
    http://www.yourhomebusinessroadmap.com

    Reply

    • Hi Trish! Thanks for sharing these, I’ll have to check them out. Holly

      Reply

  7. thanks for sharing all of this stuf.. very usefull..

    Reply

  9. There are guys who work from home, too. Just saying

    Reply

  10. This is awesome. I know and use quite a lot of these, but of course, there is always more to discover! Thank yo so much. And I agree, setting up your own WordPress website is 100% recommended. I don’t see how anyone could regret that. :-)

    Reply

  11. Hi,
    When I try to share to FB it says that I don’t have permission? Confused?

    Reply

  12. Outstanding resource! I will share with my solopreneur clients and my clients who are Nonprofit CEOs! Thank you!

    Reply

  14. Hello Holly. This is my first time on your blog. This is an awesome list. Thank you. Check out IFTTT (If This Then That) to automate your workflow. My other favorite of TwitterFeed.com where you can automate curated content to your social media feed.

    Reply

    • Hi Fran, I haven’t heard of IFTTT — I’ll have to check that one out. I use PostPlanner to help curate content on FB and Twitter, however it’s not free.

      Reply

      • Check out GIMP, it’s an open-source image editor on-par with Photoshop, and even has a fork that looks and acts just like it for those used to that program.

        Reply

        • Er, that second one was meant to be on it’s own, not sure why it went here.

  15. This was probably the most helpful blog post on tools for and online business that I have come across. Thank you for sharing all the things you have learned from doing this yourself!

    Reply

  16. Awesome! Thanks for the list. I’ve already used some of these but there are a few new sites I have to check up.
    BTW I came across your blog on pinterests and I think I’m going to stay longer than for this one post.

    Reply

  17. Thank you so much for this loads of information, may God bless you, keep sharing :)

    Reply

  18. I am a new blogger too, and i found this post incredibly useful. Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

    Reply

  19. This list is amazing! Thank you so much. As a new blogger with a small budget, I love finding information that is not only really helpful but usually free or close to it.

    Reply

  20. As someone who has a huge interest in writing, I find your website both interesting and informative. However, there is one little problem – I’m a MAN! How does that tally with your guidelines? Am I allowed to subscribe?

    Reply

  21. Question is there anything that record a cell phone calls and/or conver. calls to text

    Reply

  22. Thank you for this amazing list of tools!!

    Reply

  23. Excellent blog. While i agree with many points I think it’s a mistake to go cheap all the way. Why? People sense it. For example, spend a bit of money on well printed business cards. The cost is negligible on such an important business tool. I love the fresh business card designs at http://www.PrintElf.com. Just my 5 cents worth.
    Keep up the great work,
    Talon

    Reply

  24. This list is excellent! Thanks for putting it together. I am a health coach who can really use these resources.

    Reply

  29. Thank you. Lots of information to check into

    Reply

  30. This post is great! Thanks for sharing this free tools. I’m a remote worker for quite some time and as a VA I also use free tools to make my work a lot easier and faster. Some free tools that I use are Asana, buffer, and Canva for social media. I love freelancing work, and the 3 platforms I use to get remote jobs are

    1) Upwork.com
    2) freelancer.com
    3) remote-work.work

    Reply

  31. Wow, lots of info in one place :)
    I would say that Pixteller.com can also be added to the Design section.

    Reply

  33. This is an AMAZING amount of useful information!
    I just can’t get over it! ……….and all in one place!!!!!!!!!!!
    Thank you so much for sharing all of this!
    I am doing my best to put as much of it as I can to good use :)

    Reply

  34. Thank so much for sharing! Really great resources listed here. As a new small business owner I am always happy to stumble upon great information that I can implement in my business plan.

    Reply

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