As concerns about protecting people from the coronavirus continues, some young entrepreneurs want free business tools to work from home. We have some good news and bad news about that.
First, the bad news. Many tools that can help you work remotely cost money. You didn’t have a lot of money to spend on your business before the coronavirus pandemic. And you definitely don’t have much money to spend on expensive tools now.
The good news? Some companies are offering free tools for young entrepreneurs during the coronavirus pandemic.
Here’s a list of 28 tools to help you work from home.
Staying Connected: Free Tools for Young Entrepreneurs
- Zoom: This online meeting service is very popular now that many people are working from home. The app lets you host free meetings online with up to 100 people for up to 40 minutes. You can also do unlimited one-on-one meetings.
- Google Hangouts Meet: Sure, you probably already know you can do free research on the world’s largest search engine. But did you also know that Google is offering its Meet app as a free premium version of its workplace video chat tool now through September 2020? The video chat lets you have up to 250 people per call. You can also record your meetings and save them to Google Drive.
- Comcast: The company provides free Xfinity WiFi, with hotspots available to everyone, including non-Xfinity subscribers. To access the service, look for the “xfinitywifi” network name in a list of hotspots.
- Intermedia: This service is offering free video conferencing for the rest of 2020.
- Discord: The screen sharing app has free, enhanced Go Live streaming service that supports up to 50 simultaneous users per stream.
- Rev: This free recorder app can be used by anyone. It’s especially useful for bloggers, podcasters, and other content creators who need to convert audio interviews/recordings/meetings into print form, such as a transcript. You can order transcripts or recordings directly through the app.
Email Services: Free Tools for Young Entrepreneurs
- ConvertKit: This email service provider lets you create free landing pages promoting your products and services. You can also send email messages to up to 1,000 of your email subscribers for free when you refer people to ConvertKit.
- Mailchimp: This email service provider lets you send email messages to up to 2,000 of your email subscribers for free.
- Chamaileon.io : This service offers a free plan for its email design editor tool.
Staying Organized: Free Tools for Young Entrepreneurs
- Rising Innovator business plan generator: If you have a business and want to get better organized, we recommend our own free tool for generating a business plan.
- Zoho: This service is providing a free collection of Remotely apps until July 1, 2020. The collection’s 11 apps include apps for online meetings, training sessions, storage, project management and day-to-day work (such as word processing, spreadsheets and presentations).
- Docusign: Need to sign a form? Need a customer to sign a contract? This online tool provides free access for managing electronic agreements.
- PandaDoc: This service is similar to Docusign’s services. PandaDoc’s free eSign plan also allows for unlimited users, unlimited document uploads, unlimited eSignatures and payment processing.]
- Calendly: The popular online calendar/scheduling service has free features that connect with Zoom And GoToMeeting for appointment scheduling available now through June 30, 2020.
- Evernote: Entrepreneurs and small businesses can use Evernote’s free basic plan, which allows you to share and store information such as taking notes, keeping a journal, and clipping content from the internet.
Marketing: Free Tools for Young Entrepreneurs
- Hootsuite: Hootsuite’s has a limited plan of social media management tools for free.
- SurveyMonkey: This service has a free plan that lets you do online surveys with your customers and clients.
- Ubersuggest: Popular online marketing guru Neil Patel offers this free keyword research tool for entrepreneurs, bloggers, podcasters and other people creating online content.
- Adobe: Students and educators can get 60% off Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps.
Education: Free Tools for Young Entrepreneurs
- Linkedin: The social media site for professionals is offering 16 free courses on topics including productivity, networking with others online, and using virtual meeting tools.
- Amazon: Middle school and high school students, along with their teachers and parents, can get free online access to sponsored computer science courses in the United States, through Amazon.
- Epic: Students can access the company’s digital library, which has 35,000-plus books, read-to-me and audiobooks, videos and quizzes.
General: Free Tools for Young Entrepreneurs
- Shopify: You can try out this online retail service during a free 90-day trial, if you’re a new customer.
- Peloton: Yes, that Peloton. The exercise equipment company is offering a free 90-day trial of its subscription workout app. No Peloton-branded equipment (not even one gifted from or to a misunderstood romantic partner) is required for the free subscription. You can choose from the app’s different classes for yoga, meditation, strength training and more.
- Zencast: Podcasters can use the recording tool’s free Hobbyist plan to record podcasts with no limits on time.
- Headspace: This service is offering free meditations that you can listen to anytime.
- Calm: Need to relax? Try Calm’s free resources to help you meditate, fall asleep, and otherwise feel calm during these strange times.
- Audible (Amazon): Kids and teens can get free stories and listen to them on a desktop, laptop, tablet or phone.
Final Thoughts on Free Tools for Young Entrepreneurs
Running a business is already challenging, even during good times. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to manage your business while you work from home.
We hope these free tools for young entrepreneurs will help you and your business stay strong, and even grow, during the coronavirus quarantine and beyond.
Photo by Christopher Gower on Unsplash
