Starting a business from scratch is never easy, especially if you have no capital to fund it. But now there are a number of free apps for small business owners which means your new company can save a lot of time and money.
There are many online apps that can help you to run your business easily. Free apps for business, online forms, document editors, invoicing software and CRM’s will make the job of a business owner easier and allow you to concentrate more on your core business activities.
Below, you will find apps to get you started in business.
Email Hunter
If you are trying to drum up business, you’ll quickly realize (if you haven’t already) that the last thing you want to do is send an email to some generic info@company.com email address.
This is going to get you exactly nowhere fast, but fortunately you can use Email Hunter to (hopefully) get around this issue.
Their service lets you input a domain (for example, businessinsider.com), and with that it will scan over 150 million records in mere seconds, giving you all of the email addresses that it can find that are associated with your search.
From there, you can parse this list and find the exact email addresses of the people who you’re actually trying to contact, giving you much better odds of getting in touch with them.
Like many of the other services on this list, Email Hunter is free, though you will be asked to sign up to see more than 100 email addresses per domain.
5Miles
You’re starting a new business, but don’t have a lot of money to spend, right? That’s an extremely common issue among entrepreneurs.
However you still need desks, tables, chairs, whiteboards, and more to get your work done. It’s an obvious yet underestimated cost startup CEOs tend to overlook, since they’re focusing on their ground-breaking ideas and hiring workers.
This is where the 5Miles App can help every new barebones operation. Using the GPS feature in your phone, the 5Miles app geo-locates where you are and shows what second hand stuff is on sale around you.
So any of the furniture or fixtures that you need for your new office (or garage-office), is only a few minutes away, and usually you can land quite a few deals.
On the other hand, if you need some quick seed money to get your startup running, it’s a very quick and simple way to sell unused things that are just sitting around.
The 5Mile app’s UI is heavily focused on images and is setup in a Pinterest fashion, making browsing and finding exactly what you’re looking for on your phone simple and intuitive.
Available on iPhone and Android.
Breather
As a startup, you can only take so many meetings in a coffee shop or in a client’s office.
It’s much nicer to do business in a space that you can call yours when you are trying to win over a new client or just relax and get some work done between meetings.
Breather is the app to let you do this. They offer Airbnb-style listings of a variety of spaces that you can rent by the hour in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Ottawa, and Montreal.
The app helps you find a meeting space on the fly and lets you choose a place based specifically on your needs, giving you filters for the available spaces by meeting time, the amount of seating available, and a variety of site-specific features.
Starting at only $15 an hour, and with a host of beautiful spaces that will blow the traditional conference room out of the water, Breather is a must-have for the founder who finds themselves frequently on the road.
Available on iPhone and Android.
Beckon
Clear communication is integral for any new startup that wants to get their ideas through to anyone who is willing to listen. It’s even more important if you have some international connections. That’s where Beckon can help out.
It’s a new app that allows for free calling and messaging that is also extremely clear and stable. It works across the globe or right down the street.
While it’s completely free to make calls to other Beckon users no matter where they are, in some cases it’s still free to call users not using the app when using the BeckonOut plugin.
Beckon even allows for big 100+ person conference calls, so you can collaborate with everyone you’re working with at the same time.
Available on iPhone and Android.
CamScanner
If you’re always on the go, then you give up certain benefits that come with having an office space. One of those is having access to a printer and scanner to help digitize documents for use internally.
CamScanner gives you a simple way to fix that. The app does exactly what you’d think from the name: it takes a picture, digitizes it, and uploads it to the cloud, where you can then manage your scanned files, convert them to PDF or JPG, share them with people in your organization, and keep better records on the go.
It may not be something that you’ll use on a daily basis, but when you have a set of documents that need to be scanned right away, you’ll be glad that you have it.
Available on iPhone and Android.
Xero
Nobody (that isn’t an accountant) likes talking about managing their books, but it’s a necessary aspect in running a successful business.
Xero makes bookkeeping easy by offering a web-based system that’s inexpensive, easy to use, and has a number of different mobile options to give you the ability to manage the financial side of your business from anywhere.
Xero integrates a number of great features like invoicing and payroll in their middle tier plan ($30/month), and they even offer multi-currency support in their higher end $49/month plan, all while enabling access to an unlimited number of users.
When compared to larger competitors like Quickbooks, it gets just as much done at a rate that’s easier to manage.
Available on iPhone and Android.
Meetup
While you might feel more comfortable behind a keyboard, getting out and meeting people is a key part of any startup’s success.
Meetup offers a great way to do just that, with a large variety of dedicated groups for almost anything under the sun.
Not only is Meetup a great way to connect with other startup CEOs and potential clients, but it’s also an excellent way to network when you find yourself in another city unexpectedly.
Given the size of the community, you should be able to find a Meetup group for any industry or need that you can possibly think of.
Available on iPhone and Android.
Headspace
One of the common complaints that you’ll hear from any founder today is the inability to just “turn off” and get some much-needed relaxation time.
While burning the candle at both ends is viewed as a badge of honor in the startup world, being able to quickly recover at the end of the day will help you to approach the next day with the same high level of energy that will be expected of you.
The goal of Headspace is to help you do exactly this, and they have the science to back it up. Headspace teaches you techniques that have been around for thousands of years on how to properly and mindfully meditate.
When this is done consistently, it can reduce the stress in your life, help you sleep better, keep your focus for longer, increase your creativity, and it can even help improve relationships, which are often an early casualty in the harried life of a startup founder.
Even if you don’t believe in the benefits of meditation (and you should, since leaders in almost every industry on earth attest to its usefulness), they do have a free version of the software for you to download and try out. What’s the harm in that?
Available on iPhone and Android.
To Do App
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Many of you might be familiar with Wunderlist, which is a cloud-based task management app. However, this app no longer exists. Therefore, if you liked Wunderlist and the options the app gave you, To Do App is the next best thing.
This app is the natural successor to the Wunderlist app. You can sync it across iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and the web. To Do App allows you to create a simple to-do list and share it with your team.
Download: To Do App (free)
Square
This is one of the best payment apps for small businesses. Whether you own beauty salons, food trucks, or retail shops, you will be able to benefit from the Square app.
Square is a free-to-download app. It comes with a free reader that allows you to swipe credit cards. This is a small reader attached to your phone or other devices, and it allows you to easily process payments.
However, the app will deduct 2.75% from all the credit card transactions, so you will have to pay extra for a reader that accepts chip and contactless cards. Square is only available in the App Store.
Download: Square (free)
PicMonkey
PicMonkey is a photo editing app that allows you to have a social media presence. With the app, you can easily crop photos for social media platforms, such as Instagram, or you can edit pictures to put them on your website. PicMonkey is a good app for small business marketing.
The best thing about PicMonkey is the fact that you do not need any graphic design experience to edit photos like a pro. It is a user-friendly app with great features, available in both the Google Play and App Store.
Download: PicMonkey (free trial + premium features starting at $7.99/month)
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You have probably already heard about this powerful business networking platform. But did you know that LinkedIn also has an app?
The LinkedIn app allows you to send updates on the go, recruit new hires, add new connections, follow inspirational people and companies, or just keep an eye on your competitors. It is available in both the Google Play and App Store.
Download: LinkedIn (free, in-app purchases available)
Evernote
In case you are searching for more effective ways to take notes at meetings, plan your content, and organize your thoughts, Evernote is a great option.
This is a digital notebook that lets you organize business information, dictate blog posts, keep track of ideas, take notes about client calls, etc. Evernote is only available in the App Store, and it does not require an internet connection for you to use it.
The Evernote app comes with a business plan that allows you to collaborate with your whole team. For example, with Evernote Business, you can invite your co-workers and team members to join specific notebooks and leave their notes.
Download: Evernote (free) | Evernote Business ($12/month)
TripIt
For small business owners who travel a lot, an app that tracks all the details of your trip and alerts you about any changes is a life-saver. TripIt is an app that can help you find the best flights and seats for your travels.
You will handle the booking, and TripIt does the rest. This app will organize your plans no matter where you choose to book.
All you have to do is forward your confirmation emails. In a couple of seconds, the app will create a master itinerary for all your trips. TripIt is available in both the Google Play and App Store.
Download: TripIt (free) | TripIt Pro ($49/year)
Shopventory
If you have a small business with inventory, Shopventory can be a useful app. With the app, you can easily check profit markings, see sales trends, and compare locations.
The Shopventory app will help you see what is not selling well to discount it and skip a restock. It will also send you an alert if there is any suspicion of theft. The app is perfect for small business owners who want to stay up to date on their inventory.
While Shopventory does not have its own payment processing system, it works great with systems like Shopify, Square, PayPal Here, etc. You can download the app from Google Play and App Store.
Download: Shopventory (Free) | Shopventory Premium (starting at $99/month or $240/year).
Conclusion
Business and productivity go hand and hand. Whether you’re managing employees or trying to complete a project you can use these free apps to help build your business.