33 Free Business Resources for Work at Home Moms
Whether you`re starting your business as a work at home mom or already have an established company, there are a lot of great resources that we can take advantage of. I`ve listed the 33 best resources that I`ve come across, but I`m sure I`ve missed some great ones, so please feel free to link to any that you know of in the comments.
Getting Started
1. One thing that every new business should have is a business plan. SBA offers a business plan outline plus some samples of real life plans.
2. Here are more free business plans . . . these are created with a paid software, but you can still use them as inspiration, even without the software.
3. Get 250 free business cards to start your new venture out. VistaPrint gives you the first batch for free, all you have to pay is the shipping . . . not a bad deal if you want professionally done business cards.
4. Figure out whether or not you`ll be making a profit with these easy to use business calculators on Action Coach.
5. If you don`t have a business website yet, you definitely need to get one. Having a web presence is something every business needs . . . you can`t afford not to have one. Show Mom the Money has several different free courses that you can sign up to receive in your email to help you build and improve your business website.
6. Need a way to accept online payments? Paypal is the site of choice for many. There are alternatives, but none have yet to compare significantly.
Productivity
7.Skype might seem like a simple chat/video application, but it`s invaluable for contacting people long distance for your business. You can chat, phone or video conference and it`s very handy for keeping records of everything you`ve discussed with business associates if you`re chatting, since it records everything. If you call computer to computer, Skype is free, but you can also get monthly plans where you can call from your computer to a real phone.
8. When you have an online business presence, it`s important to know what people are saying and thinking about you. That`s where Google Alerts comes in. You can set it up to email you a list of websites and blogs that are talking about your business, or use it to find out when someone is talking about your keywords. I`ll be doing a blog post on this in the near future because it`s a seriously useful tool.
9. Set your productivity goals and make sure you get where you`re going with these free downloadable business forms.
10. If you`re at all like me, you probably don`t have much time for keeping your house organized and neat while you`re focusing on your business. FlyLady has some very useful tips and a formula to make it very easy to keep your home clutter free.
11. OpenOffice is a good alternative to Microsoft Office. It`s also completely free, so definitely worth using! This program does everything Microsoft Office does and in some cases, better. For example, turning a text document into a PDF is literally one click. No hassle. I used it for my ebook.
12. We`re all more productive when we take breaks and make sure to get the blood pumping again. The problem is, if you`re working online, it`s easy to lose track of time. There are lots of free programs to help you out, but I like WorkRave for it`s annoying persistence.
13. Managing more than just yourself? Make sure clients and subcontractors know when their deadlines by using Monkey On Your Back to email reminders.
Boosting Your Business
14. Learning to build your online presence is something every work at home mom should know, but it`s not always obvious how to go about it. MomMasterminds has a free 9 day email course that will help you understand online publicity, link building and more.
15. The more links you have to your business website, the better. Especially if they have high PageRank. Use Squidoo to create useful webpages that link to your site for more information and you`ll be amazed at the results.
16. Press releases are a good way to go if you want to give your business a head start on growth. You can write your own or hire a freelancer to do it for you, then submit for free here, here or here.
17. StumbleUpon is a very valuable resource for anyone with a website or blog and it`s 100% free. My friend Mihaela Lica is writing a series on how to use SU more efficiently. You can see the first post in the series here.
18. Want to earn more with your home based business? 6 Figure Work at Home Mom is offering a free audio course and special report titled, “How to Reach 6-Figure Success in Your Home Business”.
19. Tracking your visitors is a must if you want to work out your conversion rates and improve them. An excellent free statistics tracker is StatCounter.
Specifically for Blogs
20. We know that blogs are a good way to boost SEO, but if you are struggling with finding something to blog about on a daily basis, then Blog Energizer is a good option. They have monthly free downloads that will give you some great ideas for your blog. I`m a Premium member, but the free membership is awesome, too!
21. Looking for a good free Wordpress theme to set up on your blog? While it`s a good idea to get a custom one at some point, a free theme can really help you save money in the beginning. Try WPSkins , Free WP Themes or this list of 100 great Wordpress themes.
22. Get your posts and your business out there and increase search engine ratings by registering your blog with Technorati, totally free.
23. When you have multiple blogs, it really saves time to be able to post to all your blogs without having to log into each one. ScribeFire is a Firefox plugin that lets you blog from any webpage on the internet (makes blogging about an event so much easier!) and you can even insert photos. Best of all? All your blogs are available, you just have to select which one you want to post to.
24. Every little thing helps when it comes to gaining blog traffic, which in turn means gaining potential clients. Pingomatic makes sure all the search engines know about your blog.
25. BlogCatalog is a mix between networking and blog resource. Basically, you can join groups and support each other`s blogs.
Networking
26. Work It, Mom! is one of my favorite places to hang out when I have a minute. It`s the best free place I`ve found to network with other work at home moms.
27. Out of all the social media sites out there, just a few are really worth joining. One of those is StumbleUpon. If you work with this site properly, you`ll end up with a lot more traffic to your site and some serious networking skills.
28. I personally use Twitter quite successfully. It`s been called a micro-blogging platform and it is a great way to connect with people. Read up on my views on Twitter.
29. Set up your own social network, specific to your niche, on Ning. There is a paid option, but the free one works just fine as long as you don`t mind a few ads.
Misc.
30. Need to scan documents but only have a digital camera? Snapter lets you turn those digital shots of documents and cards into images that look as if they`ve actually been scanned, even making curved book pages look like they`ve been pressed flat.
31. Nothing looks less professional than spelling errors. Make sure you aren`t sending out typos in your email, blog comments or even on your own websites. This handy Firefox extension will automatically spellcheck everything you write while in the browser.
32. Flickr is a good way to share your photos, host them off site and also to get a minimal amount of traffic. Putting your URL in the description can actually get people to click through, particularly with a great photo. I`ve used this technique successfully to gain a little traffic for Gourmet Mama, a food blog I run with my sister.
33. Working at home, particularly if you work at a computer, can mean some unpleasant side effects, like weight gain. To help motivate you to lose weight and stay fit, why not sign up for this free ebook and course at The Mojo Coach?
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Thank you very much for the mention, Genesis. This is a very good list – I bet it took a lot of time to put it up together.
I am trying to do a similar thing in my industry, but a blog post is seldom enough to cover the basics – so I created a new blog with all new categories and I even plan a directory. LOL – incredible how busy we make ourselves.
Most of these aren’t specific to Mothers, except maybe your hang-out site. I’m not a Mum but I work from home and some of these are new to me also – thanks for the list!
I tend to do the same thing, Mihaela! I can`t count how many times I`ve thought about writing another blog and had to stop myself. Four is enough!
Ricky, true, many of these are just as useful for non-moms, I just used that in the title since my blog is aimed at wahms. Thanks for coming by!
Thanks! I had never heard of Snapter or WorkRave. I just became a personal assistant last week, and holy cow they have got me keeping busy. I’ll have to try to use WorkRave to remind me to take a break before I kill the boss. He’s so absent-minded these days with stress.
Amazing list. Usually with things like this, I’ve heard of everything, but there are quite a few new ones for me to checkout. Excellent job.
Great post, made me want to subscribe but unfortunately your RSS Feedburner link seems to be broken!
Michael, I`m glad there`s some useful tools for you. I tried to include a large range. Don`t get too stressed out!
Hayley, I just tested the link again and it seems to be working on my end, I`m not sure what the issue is.
Genesis, I clicked the link from your Tweet to read this article and find it very helpful since I am a mom working from home as well. I’m going to try a few of these suggestions today. Thanks!
I`m glad you found it useful, Dana!
Thank you for these wonderful tips.
Thanks so much for this list! This is exactly the list I have been hoping for to try and drum up some more resources for myself.
Thanks for all the tips Genesis, I’m bookmarking this list and some of the websites you mention! Another great product is GoEverywhere, which gives you access to their common software titles and utilities, as well as their free applications and services on the internet (like Zoho and Google Docs). You don’t have to upgrade your operating system or migrate to Vista, so purchasing an expensive desktop or laptop isn’t a necessity. Another great feature is the ability to access your files from anywhere – so if you need to go visit a client, you don’t need to have a laptop to enter data or display files.
I`m glad you found the list so useful! Thanks for the additional resource.
Whether you`re starting your business as a work at home mom or already have an established company, there are a lot of great resources that we can take advantage of.