tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-360483612011-04-21T16:49:51.329-07:00Sam Odiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065540890829360379noreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36048361.post-1160890558650415672006-10-14T22:34:00.000-07:002006-10-14T22:35:58.656-07:00<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">(This post was imported from my other blog - <a href="http://odioworks.com/sam/blog">the road less traveled</a>)</span></span><br /><br /><br />This is a list of online resources for entrepreneurs. I use this stuff on a daily basis and find it extremely helpful.<br /><ul><li>Office tools:</li><ul><li><a href="https://accounting.quickbooks.com/">Quickbooks Online</a> - I do all my business accounting using QBOE. It's a cheap way to use the Quickbooks software. Downside: $20 / month & only works on Windows / MSIE.</li><li><a href="http://www.answerconnect.com/">AnswerConnect</a> - I get a lot of calls. I'm not always around to take them, but I want don't want the customer get the impression that no one is here. For $100 / month, AnswerConnect answers my calls 24/7 when I'm not around. Best part: when they pick up the phone, they act like they're OdioWorks employees. It might not be worth it unless you have high-paying customers that you <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> want to take care of.</li><li><a href="http://getharvest.com/">Harvest</a> - Great for time tracking, but there's got to be something free out there that does the same thing. Plans start @ $5 / month.</li><li><a href="http://vonage.com/index.php?ic=1">Vonage</a> - I use vonage for business phone, comes with an toll free number for $30 / month. Today, you might be able to use skype for a lot less - although it doesn't have as many features. Downside: you need a rock-solid ISP.<br /></li></ul><li>Advertising:</li><ul><li><a href="https://www.google.com/adsense/">Google Adsense</a> - top of the list, of course. Great for PPC advertising.</li><li><a href="http://www.content.overture.com/d/">Overture</a> - Google's main competitor<br /></li><li><a href="http://payperpost.com/">PayPerPost</a> - a cool site that will get your product / service mentioned in blogs</li><li><a href="http://www.seo-guy.com/tutorial.html">SEO Tutorial</a> - this how I got myTeks.com first for the search "virginia computer repair" on Google.<br /></li></ul><li>Site analytics:<br /></li><ul><li><a href="http://www.google.com/analytics/">Google Analytics</a> - all I can say is, wow. I can't believe this is free.<br /></li></ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=reddit.com">Alexa web traffic</a> - a great way to evaluate the traffic of your competitors</li></ul><li>Site publishing / hosting:</li><ul><li><a href="http://www.oswd.org/">OSWD</a> - Open source web design. It's where I get all my web templates these days. When making a new site, I start with a free template from OSWD and modify it in photoshop. Works great, costs nothing.<br /></li></ul><ul><li><a href="http://www.namecheap.com/index.asp">NameCheap</a> - I use them for all my domain name hosting. They're cheap ($8.88 / yr) and have a ton of features (like URL / Email forwarding).<br /></li><li><a href="http://www.everydns.net/">EveryDns</a> - When I create custom DNS records, I use this place. It's free & reliable.</li><li><a href="http://www.mosso.com/">Mosso</a> - great hosting solution, if you have the money. Otherwise, use <a href="http://dreamhost.com/">DreamHost</a>.</li><li>If you're interested in running your own servers, I love <a href="http://www.gentoo.org/">gentoo</a>. Almost all my sites are run off my own servers, but fair warning: don't try this if you don't have time &amp; money.</li><li><a href="http://bluwiki.org/">BluWiki</a> is great if you want to make a quick site for free (of course I had to put this in there!). See an example of what you can do @ <a href="http://ncstate.bluwiki.org/">http://ncstate.bluwiki.org/</a>.<br /></li></ul><li>News / other stuff:</li><ul><li><a href="http://techcrunch.com/">techcrunch</a> - web 2.0 blog. A must read for any web startup<br /></li><li><a href="http://paulgraham.com/articles.html">paulgraham</a> - a great resource for undergraduate entrepreneurs. This guy is my idle - he funds early stage startups, like reddit.com & wufoo.com. I suggest you start with his articles.</li><li><a href="http://www.successmanifesto.com/blogs/young-entrepreneur/">Young Entrepreneur Journey</a> - a cool blog of one entrepreneur's experiences<br /></li></ul></ul><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36048361-116089055865041567?l=starvingstartups.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sam Odiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065540890829360379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36048361.post-1160890438182139072006-10-14T22:29:00.000-07:002006-10-14T22:33:58.186-07:00I intend this blog to be a source of advice, tips and tricks for struggling tech startups. I'll cover everything from:<br /><ul><li>Daily business operations for small startups</li><li>Startup strategy decisions</li><li>Common startup mistakes (including those that I've made...)<br /></li><li>How to live the startup lifestyle</li><li>Anything else I think of</li></ul>Enjoy!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/36048361-116089043818213907?l=starvingstartups.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Sam Odiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16065540890829360379noreply@blogger.com0