Resources for new entrepreneurs

(This post was imported from my other blog - the road less traveled)


This is a list of online resources for entrepreneurs. I use this stuff on a daily basis and find it extremely helpful.

• Office tools:
• Quickbooks Online - 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.
• AnswerConnect - 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 really want to take care of.
• Harvest - Great for time tracking, but there's got to be something free out there that does the same thing. Plans start @ $5 / month.
• Vonage - 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.
  
• Advertising:
• Google Adsense - top of the list, of course. Great for PPC advertising.
• Overture - Google's main competitor
  
• PayPerPost - a cool site that will get your product / service mentioned in blogs
• SEO Tutorial - this how I got myTeks.com first for the search "virginia computer repair" on Google.
  
• Site analytics:
  
• Google Analytics - all I can say is, wow. I can't believe this is free.
  
• Alexa web traffic - a great way to evaluate the traffic of your competitors
• Site publishing / hosting:
• OSWD - 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.
  
• NameCheap - 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).
  
• EveryDns - When I create custom DNS records, I use this place. It's free & reliable.
• Mosso - great hosting solution, if you have the money. Otherwise, use DreamHost.
• If you're interested in running your own servers, I love gentoo. Almost all my sites are run off my own servers, but fair warning: don't try this if you don't have time & money.
• BluWiki 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 @ http://ncstate.bluwiki.org/.
  
• News / other stuff:
• techcrunch - web 2.0 blog. A must read for any web startup
  
• paulgraham - 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.
• Young Entrepreneur Journey - a cool blog of one entrepreneur's experiences
  

Welcome entrepreneurs!

I intend this blog to be a source of advice, tips and tricks for struggling tech startups. I'll cover everything from:

• Daily business operations for small startups
• Startup strategy decisions
• Common startup mistakes (including those that I've made...)
  
• How to live the startup lifestyle
• Anything else I think of

Enjoy!