Whether you're an "solopreneur" or an entrepreneur with a team, you'll need the right tools to make your life easier.
When you're working online (or working from home) you need resources to get things done. Here are some of my favorites.
Blogging & Web Hosting Resources
Bluehost - Hosting services. I use them for my self-hosted Wordpress sites.
GoDaddy - I get my domain names here and have a free landing page here as well. (GoDaddy offers promotions when you buy domain names.)
Blogger - This blog runs on Blogger. Use your Gmail login to create an account.
Blogging class - Jessie on Journey teaches you how to create a blogging business so you can get paid to travel.
Restored 316 - Wordpress themes (featuing the Genesis framework) and support. (They recently added a business planner to their offerings.)
Georgia Lou Studios - Feminine Wordpress themes and Blogger templates. She created the template for the Secrets of Success blog and the themes for this blog and this one.
Business Start-up Resources
IRS.gov - The Small Business & Self-Employment section has a wealth of documentation and resources.
Legal Forms - Get 5% off legal documents tailored to your specific needs when you go through the Legal Forms page of this site.
FTC - List of resource guides for disclosures.
17 Hats - All-in-one system to manage business applications.
FreshBooks - Software to track your expenses, send invoices, manage clients and more. Read a review of FreshBooks Cloud Accounting software to find out about the options and features.
Shopping Carts & Payments
Paypal - Popular portal to set up payments, transfer funds, send invoices, etc. Accept credit cards anywhere using Paypal Here's card reader.
Square - Accept credit card payments anywhere. They'll provide a card reader to use with your mobile device.
Stripe - Accept online payments.
WooCommerce - Ecommerce platform. Use plugins to integrate into your website.
Payhip - Sell digital downloads.
Shopify - Ecommerce platform. Free trial available.
E-junkie - Sell digital downloads.
SendOwl - Sell digital downloads.
Gumroad - Ecommerce platform.
Selz - Ecommerce platform that you can use as a storefront for your products - including digital downloads.
Create Graphics for Marketing & Branding
Canva - Free online graphics software.
Adobe Photoshop - Adobe suite of products can be purchased as a subscription using Creative Cloud. Free trials available.
Gimp - Free graphics software.
Uplevo - Free online design platform.
Photopea - Edit Photoshop files online.
Audio Editing & Podcasting
Audacity - Open source audio editing software.
Wavepad Sound Editor - Free audio editing software.
Adobe Audition - Audio editing software. Free trial available.
Podomatic - Podcast platform.
Libsyn - Syndication for podcasts.
iTunes Connect - Submit your podcast feed to iTunes.
Graphics, Printables & Other Useful Things
Creative Market - Design assets and resources.
Etsy - Online marketplace.
Design Cuts - Design resources.
Graphicdome - Design resources.
Blend Images - Royalty-free stock photos.
Lucid Press - Online Print and Design Publishing Software.
Colorstock - Diverse stock photos.
Her Creative Studio - Styled stock images.
Haute Chocolate - Styled stock library.
50 Shades of Black Stock - Styled stock images of women of color.
SmartMockUps - Free online sofware to create computer and mobile device product mock-ups.
Unsplash - Royalty-free images.
iStockPhoto - Royalty-free images and videos.
Writing & Editing
Chicago Manual of Style Online - One month free trial available.
Grammarly - Free grammar checker.
Smart Edit - Software for editing creative writing. Free trial available.
File Storage
SmugMug - Create your online photo sharing site.
Dropbox - Online file storage. You can also use this to send files.
Copyright © 2017 Deborah A. Bailey
Deborah A. Bailey is a writer, coach, blogger and author of several non-fiction books, novels and a short story collection. She's the creator and host of Women Entrepreneurs Radio™ , a weekly podcast featured on iTunes and Podomatic. For more information about Deborah visit her site: http://DeborahABailey.com.
Disclaimer: This post contains some affiliate links. Resource recommendations are based on my personal experience and my policy is to only promote products and services that I can safely recommend to my readers. Read about the blog disclosure policy.
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