9 Must-Have Tools for Small Businesses

Top Must-Have Tools for Small Businesses

“If I had nine hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first six sharpening my axe.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

Entrepreneurs always have their plates full; let it be the sales, accounting, marketing of their business, or personal life. Since everyone has a limited number of hours in any given day, it is critical to use your time strategically. Smart money always suggests using tools for day-to-day business operations. Our team decided to list top 9 small business tools that can make an entrepreneur’s life a little more easy.

Quickbooks

Quickbooks has been around for at least a couple of decades, and there are good chances that you’re already familiar with the software. It is one of the best accounting software for managing the sales, expenses, and tracking financial transactions of a small business.

QuickBooks for Small Business

What you can do with Quickbooks

  • You can manage sales and track business income.
  • It offers an intuitive module for tracking bills and expenses.
  • It helps you generate financial reports, such as balance sheet, profit or loss statement, or cash flow statement.
  • Inventory management.
  • Payroll management and execution.
  • Accept payments online.
  • Manage taxes.

Aweber

Email marketing is a crucial aspect of your marketing strategy, offering compounding returns. Email marketing is the third most influential source of information for the B2B audience. Similarly, more than 80% of the professionals in the B2C segment find email marketing critical for customer retention.

AWeber Email Marketing for Business

Aweber is a rising star in the email marketing industry. Aweber provides a fully-managed service, leaving their clients with one task, growing their email lists. Some of the best features of Aweber include:

  • Easy setup and customizable solutions for every marketing requirement
  • Flexible scheduling and email sequencing feature, allowing you to use different types of content
  • Impeccable round-the-clock customer support
  • Automatic email generation from blog posts and advanced content management module
  • Affordable pricing for small businesses.

Fiverr

Do you need a new website or perhaps would like to upgrade your existing one? Are you in need of killer content to boost your sales? Small businesses often do not have sufficient financial resources to hire top talent. However, with freelancing gaining momentum, it is possible to get the work done at a fraction of the cost of hiring a full-time employee. 

Fiverr Business Tools

Roughly 36% of the American workforce partakes in the ‘Gig Economy,’ and these numbers are likely to rise in the coming years.

Fiverr is one of the top online talent marketplaces. Freelancers provide services in more than 150 different categories. Fiverr allows you to:

  • Hire professionals on a per-project basis, thereby saving full-time hiring costs
  • Choose among thousands of freelancers, based on reviews, pricing, and delivery time
  • Work with a competent customer support team in resolving any problems
  • Get quality results at affordable prices.

Equifax

Unlike what most people know, Equifax offers a slew of professional services for businesses. Since businesses rely on them to learn about risks associated with certain transactions.

Equifax’s Business Credit Monitor service allows small businesses to monitor the credit profile of multiple companies. Any change in the credit profile  partners, suppliers, and customers to stay profitable, it makes perfect sense to monitor the credit health of the monitored partners is sent to your business. You can receive alerts for bankruptcy filings, derogatory actions, new credit inquiries, and any change in the credit score of the selected business.

Business Risk Monitor module from Equifax keeps an eye on any potential risk your business faces because of your partners, customers, or suppliers. It includes monitoring credit reports or filings available under public records, keeping track of any changes in the credit profile of the firm, and alerts for any change in business-related scores, such as Payment Index, Business Credit Risk score, Business Failure, and Delinquency score.

Grammarly

Have you ever heard the saying, “The first impression is the last impression?” It turns out that this rule applies to businesses as well. Imagine how you would feel about a service provider who made grammatical mistakes in their website copy or email? Pretty bad, right! Anecdotal research and several reports indicate that lousy grammar can hurt the credibility of your business.

That’s why Grammarly makes perfect sense for your company. Not only does it remove spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes from your writing, but it also helps adjust your tone in accordance with your target audience. Grammarly allows you to adjust your message based on multiple factors, such as Clarity, Engagement, and Deliverability.

Shopify

Research suggests that more than 1.8 billion people shop online globally. The growing internet coverage, access to smartphones, and ease of purchasing goods or services online are some of the primary reasons behind the eCommerce boom. There are multiple ways to get on the eCommerce bandwagon; you can become a seller or create your online store. We recommend the latter, as most of the online retailers charge commissions and have strict seller policies.

Shopify for Small Business

Shopify allows you set up an eCommerce store within a couple of minutes, or hours, depending on your branding requirements. There is an eCommerce suite that allows you to add different features to your eCommerce store. It comes with thousands of custom themes, and it takes less than a couple of minutes to personalize a Shopify store. Shopify offers:

  • Quick setup, installation: You don’t require any technical knowledge or web design experience. You can install and setup your eCommerce store with a couple of clicks.
  • Easy backend administration: Shopify offers an easy-to-use backend panel. It comes with quick guides for adding products or making other changes on the frontend.
  • Multiple payment gateways: You can integrate different payment gateways with your Shopify store without paying any additional charges.
  • Professional support: The professional support Shopify offers makes it one of the best eCommerce platforms online. You can ask anything on their forum or raise a ticket for help.

uShip

Transportation and shipping are critical aspects of a business. If you ship goods worth $10 million annually, a mere 0.5% transit damage could cost you over $50,000 annually. It is crucial to work with a transporter who guarantees protection from transit damages while ensuring the safe delivery of your goods.

uShip

uShip is a transportation company that services clients with different shipping requirements. Let it be your business furniture, personal items, or industrial equipment; uShip has the right shipper to match your needs. Some features of uShip’s freight movement service include payment safety (you pay on safe delivery), an extensive support network to handle any on-road issues, low insurance plans for damage protection, and guaranteed compensation in case of disputes or damages.

If you do transport goods domestically or internationally then we encourage you to review our Export Guide where you’ll learn about the important responsibilities of an exporter, Canada’s sanctions on goods and the ins and outs of foreign trade.

Vistaprint

Sending promotional products or merchandise to your customers is an excellent strategy for boosting customer retention and loyalty. People are likely to keep stationery or coffee mugs for a while, giving your brand massive outreach at low costs.

Vistaprint Custom-Printed Products for Small Business

Vistaprint is a one-stop-shop for all of your promotional requirements. You can order custom business cards, merchandise, coffee mugs, signs and posters, brand calendars, different types of corporate gifts, embroidered clothing, custom invitations, stickers, laptop mags, and pretty much any kind of promotional product you need for your brand.

Turbotax

Any income you generate doing business is liable to taxation. However, it is possible to reduce your net taxable income through qualified tax deductions. The government allows companies to reduce certain expenses from their taxable income, and as a business owner, it is your duty to ensure you take every single one of them.

Turbotax - Taxes Filing for Small Business

Turbotax is a tax-filing service from Intuit Inc. that helps you claim all the eligible tax deductions for your business. Turbotax:

  • Checks your business for more than 350 qualified deductions
  • Provides complete verification of your online tax filing form
  • Provides protection from any IRS penalties for mistakes
  • Offers an Audit Support Guarantee for your tax filing
  • Makes it easier to track your tax returns.

The Bottom Line

Running a business means encountering new challenges every single day, and with the right tools in your hand, you can manage your business efficiently. The best part about high-quality business services is that they allow you to focus on what you love the most; running your own business hassle-free.

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 5 / 5. Vote count: 5

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Jenna West

Jenna West has built up a list of published work on various global recognized websites like RE/MAX Canada, Freeman Audio Visual Canada and now carries the title of Freelance Content Manager for Smarter Loans. Jenna adds creative value and fresh perspectives on all things finance, especially pertaining to millennials, and has a natural knack for turning a page full of words into a visual reading experience.