Resources for Starting and Running a Small Business

Small Business ResourcesOperations and Running the BusinessMarketing
Written By Mollie Watkins

Tools, Info, Templates, and More

Small Business Resources Comprehensive Consulting solutions

From our experiences at Comprehensive Consulting Solutions for Small Businesses, we have found that starting and running a business can be much easier if the business owner uses the right tools. Those tools could help with various areas within the small business puzzle, such as operations, marketing, recruiting, customer management, social media, websites, and more.

Tools help improve processes, and we wanted to share a few new tools to help you start and/or run a small business. We have revised our original resource list, which was published in 2019. The list has helpful information, resources, tools, and templates about business setup, business management, and marketing.

This list is not an endorsement for any companies, individuals, or links listed – it is provided only as information. We were not paid by any of those listed.

 

Business Setup and Management Resources –

  • Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center – ASBTDC offers webinars, resources, and other events for those wanting to start a small business. 

  • Dream It Do It – Arkansas Business Startup Wizard with information on starting, opening, and operating a business in Arkansas.

  • U.S. Small Business Administration —This site has helpful information and templates for starting and running a small business. 

  • Score —Their website contains many useful templates, including business plan templates and templates for finance, marketing, sales, and management. Click here to view the templates.

  • IRS —Our Nation’s tax collector agency has a useful list of resources related to starting a small business by state, from doing business to taxation. Click here to view their site.

  • Fit Small Business – A digital resource for small business owners that includes various topics relevant to small business owners, including Marketing, employees, Finance, HR, Technology, and more.

  • Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — The CVFPB helps ensure equal credit opportunities by enforcing the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) and has lists of financial aid resources for small businesses. They also have sources for other government pages for funding, legal information for businesses, sources for researching banks and tax information, and your rights as a business owner. 

  • FinImpact – Digital step-by-step guide for 16 steps on getting your business from just an idea to a successful small business with growth opportunities. 

  • LLC University – Online education resource organized by state and includes steps and resources for starting an LLC.

 

Operations:

  • MileIQ – This program automatically tracks your mileage. It provides organization tools for personal and business travel times, saves time that would typically be used for manual tracking, and provides tax-compliant reports for when you need them during tax season.

  • Quickbooks – Quickbooks is a bookkeeping platform for small business owners. It is a paid platform with different plans to fit your needs. The prices for the plans range from $35-$235/month. 

  • Shift – A productivity tool that manages multiple email accounts, apps, social media, and more all in 1 platform. There is a free version of the software, but there are also two different versions you can pay to use for more features and connections. They also offer a 14-day free trial of their advanced version.

  • Vonage – VOIP phone service offering cloud-based phone systems for small business owners. There are three different plans you can pay for depending on what features you want. The prices for their plans range from $19.99-$39.99/month.

 

Website Marketing:

  • Squarespace — Squarespace is a web builder platform for eCommerce businesses. It offers business owners templates, resources, and other valuable tools to help them curate a personalized website for their specific business plan. Although Squarespace does not offer a free plan, it offers a free trial. The prices for their plans range from $16-$52/month.

  • Weebly — Weebly is a web builder owned by Squarespace that offers a free plan. You can also pay for three more plans to add domains, manage operations, and add more customization options for your website. Weebly also has three paid plans with access to more features, with prices ranging from $10-$26/month.

  • Wix — Wix offers a free website-building plan that allows people to create and host a website with hundreds of free templates, tools, and an editor. They also provide four paid plans with access to many more features, depending on your needs. The prices range from $17-$159/month.

  • Canva — Canva is another web-building tool that offers a free web-building plan. Its free plan provides over a million website templates, millions of stock photos and graphics, design printing and delivery, and much more for one-person usage. There are also three more plans that you can pay for with tons of other features. The prices range from $100-$120/year, with their $120/year plan being per person with a minimum of three people required. Their enterprise plan is not included in this range. 

 

Email Marketing:

  • Constant Contact — Constant Contact offers newsletters, sign-up forms, landing pages, and email campaigns. Three different plans are available, with prices ranging from $12-$80/month. 

  • Mail Chimp — Mail Chimp offers Newsletters, sign-up forms, landing pages, and email campaigns for different amounts of contacts depending on which plan you use. They offer a free plan but also have three paid plans with prices ranging from $13-$350/month.

  • Streak — Streak is a task manager that runs through Gmail. It can track sales, project management, staffing, business development, and other important features. Streak offers three paid plans, with prices ranging from $59-$159/month, and it offers a free trial for its pro plan. 

 
 

Other Blogs to Read:

Mollie Watkins https://www.consultingnwa.com
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