How to Start Your Online Business for Free
Starting your own business can be challenging. Starting an online business can seem even more daunting. There are costs involved, a learning curve, technology to learn, marketing strategies and so much more that it can become overwhelming at times. But the good news is that you don’t need to spend your savings or shell out a lot of cash to start an online business.
Initially, I wanted to start my business with as little money as possible and work my way up to, later on, invest in services or platforms that will elevate my business. Here are five platforms you can use to get your business started with minimum fees or for free!
Invoices and Payments
Wave is accounting software that provides financial services for small businesses. You’re able to create customized and professional invoices, get unlimited income and expense tracking, and bookkeeping completely 100% free. You do have to pay the transaction fees, however, there is no way to get around that when you are receiving payments from your customers. The fee is 2.9% + $0.60 USD per transaction for credit cards or 1% for direct bank payments.
Contracts
PandaDoc is a platform that allows you to create, approve, track, and send unlimited contracts with legally binding eSignatures. They offer a free plan that allows you to upload unlimited documents and the signatures are UETA and Federal ESIGN Act compliant. If you are more advanced features like creating contract templates, adding custom branding, and creating workflows, then you can upgrade to their paid plans.
Build a Website in 5 Minutes
I’m an advocate for Squarespace and believe they make creating an intuitive website so easy, however they do not offer a free plan. If you want to get a website in minutes for free, then Milkshake is for you. Milkshake is a free iOS and Android app that allows you to create a Milkshake website all on your phone. It’s easy and fun to set up a beginner website where you can provide information to your customers. The downside is that the interface is mainly for people accessing the website on their mobile phones, but this is a great app to get you started.
Scheduling Meetings
Calendly is an appointment scheduling platform and their basic plan is free. The basic plan offers one person to create one meeting type that can be connected to Google, Office 365, Outlook, and iCloud calendars. You can customize your booking link, create unlimited one-on-one meetings, automate meeting notifications, and more.
Video Meetings
When you think of video meetings, then you immediately think of Zoom. However, let me introduce you to another video conference platform, Whereby. Whereby is a video conferencing platform that allows you to have easy and flexible meetings on the go. You can have a meeting on your website or on your phone wherever you are in the world. Why do I like Whereby? Honestly, it’s cute. You can have beautiful video meetings for free. The free plan gives the host 1 room URL and the host can host up to 100 participants with unlimited one-on-one meetings and group meetings for up to 45 minutes.
Sometimes the hardest step to starting your online business is just starting! Hopefully, these platforms can help you take that step without the pressure of you spending a lot of money. Go check out these platforms and let me know what you think!
