8 Home Business Tools worth the Investment

It’s hard enough running a home based business yourself. The constant struggle to cut costs, minimize work time, and other burdens can crush your success.

You need to find the correct resources and tools to aid business development. The best business plan entails prioritizing your workload and investing in the necessary technology or tools that progress your vision farther than you imagined.

These tools assist and upgrade your ability to run and manage your home business.

1.      Social Media Marketing

Don’t worry about not having much capital for an advanced marketing plan and advertising. Start small with free resources for a marketing plan. Your biggest allies go by the names of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

Create accounts on one, two, or all of the major social media sites. See what you can handle and invest time in them. It’s easy to develop your growing business image, values, and products through simple tweets, status updates of new sales, or pins of new images of product designs that reach potential followers and customers.

Social media allows for an intimate and human connection to customers. It’s your greatest home business asset.

2.      Mobile Devices

Mobile devices are necessary tools to every small business. The uninterrupted ability to access your business is invaluable. Investing in mobile technology may cost more, but it’s worth it. The evolving and constant growth of online applications creates an easier and faster way to always connect to social media, email, and your customers.

I highly suggest investing in a tablet. Having the flexibility to work remotely pays dividends. You can access your home desktop or laptop computer from the tablet on the go. A tablet not only offers you the remote access, but it’s small and light unlike a bulky briefcase. When presenting your home business to potential investors, seeing the use of a tablet shows you’re organized, efficient, and constantly connected to your business and customers.

3.      Voice over IP and SIP Trunking Providers

Running your business on a home landline or cell phone could slowdown your communication and potential growth.With the progress of your home business it’s a great idea to examine Voice over IP providers that adapt to small businesses. Providers such as Megapath provide affordable phone and internet services over one line. It’s cost effective, manageable, and it enhances your business’ ability to handle expanding communication across a large secured network. Simplifying communication increases productivity.

SIP trunking providers simplify business communication even further, save money, and you purchase the “trunks” necessary for the amount of calls your business uses. If you expand your home business to another location you can purchase more trunks through your SIP provider with enterprise trunking. This unifies communication and creates a more fluent operation system that allows for better customer contact and service. Usually if you purchase VoIP and SIP trunks it’s through a company that maintains a large, secure, and fast network over the US.

4.      iGoogle

Simple and organized describe two key components to running a successful home business. iGoogle offers another unique feature of Google that allows you to customize and organize reminders, emails, sticky notes, apps, and other tools on your Google homepage. This free and user friendly tool could assist with staying updated and efficient with your home business.

5.      Create a Blog or Website

If you want to take a step forward in advertising and marketing your home business a blog or website is on the right path. Create a free blog on Blogger or Wordpress. You can connect a blog or website with social media. Whenever a person clicks on an image from Pinterest, a tweet from Twitter, or an update from Facebook, it links directly back to your blog or website. You can design and manage the website or blog by yourself or if the funds are available in the budget check out Topcoderdirect.com. On the site describe what you envision for your website, offer an amount for design and coding plans, and web developers will compete for a design of your website. It’s a neat tool that could help build the foundation of a better marketing plan.

6.      LuckyCal

LinkedIn rules the online business networking world, but it’s great to see innovative and interesting tools like LuckyCal. This app, if accepted by others, combines your work and personal schedule with friends, clients, or customers. LuckyCal sends emails when you and another person might be in a similar area to possibly schedule a time to meet. Instead of constantly bugging possible investors and customers to meet in person for a cup of coffee or beer to discuss business, this app improves your business’ communication that’s convenient for all parties.

7.      Demandbase

Do you want to see who visits your business website? Demandbase allows you to see visitors and provides contact information of those individuals. This could improve your marketing, networking, and outreach to possible clients who could invest in your home business or purchase products. It’s a cool tool, but it does charge a flat rate for leads. Is it a tool worth investing in? If you’re willing to reach every possible lead and it fits the budget, then maybe yes.

8.      Toggl

Implementing this application could possibly make running your home business easier and more efficient. Toggl lets you create and manage projects. You and clients can see how long each project takes. A more efficient home business helps growth and looks better to clients. The free price tag fits into the home business budget.