Budget-friendly online small business tools I use all the time

I’ve been using many online tools to help me stay organized, sell products, and create from for a while at this point. I’ve tried many tools, but I want to share the ones that have been good go-to’s. I’m writing this in the middle of the social distance efforts to flatten the curve of coronavirus thinking of ways I can not only help myself but help others make a living from online resources. None of the following resources are sponsored but do have affiliate links to the services.

What’s great about many of these tools is that you can access them on a computer and mobile device.

Webhosting

I started using Wordpress for my tech site, which works great for those who like to have full control over their sites. However, time is just as important to me and saving time is what I like, which is why I have used Squarespace for my JoshuaBane.com and EvergreenCreative.co sites. The templates are easy to use and don’t take long to get going.

Squarespace has been a one-stop-shop to list products, share work, and information about my businesses.

Affiliate Marketing

When you click on my affiliate links, I make a commission from that sale. If you have any sort of online presence, you need to add affiliate marketing to your strategy. For example, I use Amazon and Skimlinks for most of my links because when I am doing a YouTube video, I will post my affiliate links to anything I refer to. Bane Tech, if I am talking about a phone, I will post the affiliate link to the product page.

I love using Skimlinks because so many online retailers are supported and there is an easy to use Chrome Extensions to quickly grab links to share.

Creative Services

Graphic Design

My stronger points are photography and videography, but graphic design is not my best skill. I can do some design work and I have found Canva to be a nice tool for social media posts and even some graphic design work. There are some designs and templates you can use without many adjustments and there are also tools to go a little deeper into editing images.

Music

There are two music sites I love to use for professional and personal projects. I’ve used Soundstripe and MusicBed for a few years now. Depending on the project will determine what kind of use you’ll use the sites for. For me, I use Soundstripe for just about everything including corporate and personal projects. The great thing about SoundStripe is the music is not restricted to just social media use with their subscription service. The choices are pretty vast and get updates often.

I like to use MusicBed for my wedding films. They have the vibes and styles that match my films the best. For professional work, I do have to fork over money for each song. They do have subscription plans. I am a MusicBed Ambassador which comes with a YouTube plan that I end up using for my Bane Tech channel.

Stock Video and Editing Elements

Evanto has been nice budget-friendly options that are worth the yearly subscription service. I use the stock videos, video templates, and transition for my video editing needs.

Business Tools

Google’s G Suite has been my go-to for my business ecosystem. The ability to access email, files, calendars, documents, etc. all with one service is amazing. G Suite has unlimited storage options, which is crucial to deliver products to my clients.

G Suite Basic
US Code | Expires 09/2020

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G Suite Business
US Code | Expires 09/2020

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Wave Invoice - There are many free features to use and there are some amazing accounting resources.

Support Local

There are many creatives in my local area that can take care of many of these services as well. Such as photographers, videographers, graphic designers, musicians, accountants, etc. Time is my biggest commodity and while these options above can help the DIY types, but sometimes it is just best to let a pro help out.