So you want to start a startup. You have been thinking about all the logistics and all the everyday challenges that you might face in your new endeavor.

There are certain tools out there that will make your life as a startup entrepreneur much more manageable. All of these are all tools that we have used at some point in our startup lives. Some have withstood the pressure of growth and others were just a stepping stone to move onto better things.

Here is our list, in no particular order:

1.  Stripe (www.stripe.com)
In today’s market, every customer wants to pay by using a credit card. Some accounting firms will actually go out on a limb and say that you might lose up to 60% of potential business if you are not accepting credit cards. Enter Stripe. Stripe is an online payment collection portal that directly competes with PayPal. It boasts features such as: Invoicing, refunds, coupon codes, prorated charges, monthly re-occurring charges, etc.

Unlike PayPal, they don’t hold on to your money. You charge a credit card and the money is transferred to your bank account within 2 days. The online portal to charge cards is super easy to use. If you are a website developer you can integrate Stripe into your website as your payment portal.

Cost? 2.9% of the total amount plus .30 per successful charge.

2.  Google Apps for Work (www.google.com/Business)
E-Mail perception is everything. If you are already this deep into your startup then you need to forego the free e-mail address and get professional. You know that one friend of yours who is a plumber and his email address is perfectplumber@yahoo.com or thebestplumber@gmail.com – don’t be that business.

Google Apps for Work allows you to have your professional e-mail address: mike@perfectplumber.com – see the difference? Professional. Credible. Trustworthy.
With your professional email account, you also receive: 30GB of storage, freedom to work from anywhere utilizing the gmail interface, business grade security and spam filtering, and many more features.

Cost? $5 per month. Totally worth the investment.

3.  Asana (www.asana.com)
The tagline here is “Teamwork without email”. We use Asana for projects that we have going on and need more than one person to collaborate with. This web based project management tool allows you to create multiple projects and invite multiple team members to join specific projects. Easily allows you to create, assign, and comment on tasks. Now you always know who is doing what and at what stage of the project.

You don’t always have your laptop with you. Sometimes, ideas or tasks strike in the middle of a ball-game or in the middle of dinner. Asana has developed mobile apps for all of your devices that sync seamlessly with the cloud to always give you and your team the knowledge edge you need to stay working.

Cost? Less than 14 team members? Free!

4.  Dropbox (www.dropbox.com)
Think of it as your server on the cloud. It’s a perfect spot for you to put your photos, docs, videos, and files. Dropbox syncs across all computers and mobile devices. I start off working on a document at the office and save it to Dropbox. I continue working on it from home and save it back to Dropbox. On my way to work, I remember I forgot to send it – log in and send it via iPhone. (I know, what a fantastic scenario … right?)

Additionally, Dropbox allows you to share specific folders with specific friends, clients, or co-workers. Example: My business partner and I have an Excel sheet that tracks new unforeseen expenses. We share an Excel sheet in the Dropbox folder that we both have access to; which allows either one of us to make changes and edits. Once we save, it is almost like we saved it on each other’s computers.

Computer meltdown? Phone went for a swim? Latte all over laptop? Don’t worry – everything is on the cloud!

Cost? 2GB of storage… Free!

5.  Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics/)
Running a new business means keeping tabs on the numbers. Does your new website generate enough traffic? Where does the majority of the traffic come from? What are the demographics of your visitors? These are all questions that you, as the new business owner, must be able to answer.

Google Analytics uses all sorts of reporting and charting features to give you the power to make decisions based on your results.

Cost? Free!

6.  MailChimp (www.mailchimp.com)
Email marketing. Without the marketing budget. Any business you start will require you to get the word out and get it out fast! MailChimp allows you to email the right person at the right time. You can send automated emails based on your clients and their preferences. MailChimp even recommends the best send time within 24 hours of your selected delivery date, determined by your specific list’s engagement data.

Busy on the go? No problem! MailChimp is available on your mobile devices. Now you can send anytime, anywhere, to anyone. No more e-mail marketing excuses. Get those newsletters out!

Cost? 12,000 e-mails to 2,000 subscribers …. Free!

Related Business Startup Articles: 
Why Instagram is Essential for Your Business Marketing Strategy
The Top 7 Tips for Starting Your Own Business

The idea of starting your own business seems attractive at first. You begin the process of thinking, pondering, asking questions, note taking, lining ducks, investigating ideas, and convincing your friends. You spend weeks putting everything together, and then you get busy.

You put your business ideas on hold because….. Well because you are busy! Everyone should understand how busy you really are!!

Why?
Really tackle the why. Why do you want to own your own business? Is it because you do not want to work for someone else? Is it because you want to make a difference? Is it because it seems like a good idea? Is it because you want to do whatever you want, whenever you want to do it?  This is the part of the process that I warn you about the time and commitment you would need to invest to make your new business a success.

Where?
Where is this business going to take place? In a retail store? In an office? In your living room? On the internet? It is critical to know what direction you are going to go with the business; even more, look ahead and also figure out where you would want to be in 2 years.

SIDE TIP: Get clients first. If you have clients lined up, it’s easier to justify the start of a new business and answer the Why.

With Who?
Who are you doing business with? Identify your partners. Identify your vendors. Identify your clients and shoppers. Identify your industry. Identify everyone who might have even a .01% chance to interact with your business. The more you identify now, the easier the plan becomes. Don’t do it alone.

Double Employment.
Some people will argue this point.  (They are the ones who have investors and financial backing to start a new business)  Start your business while you are still employed. It might takes a few months, a few few months, or a few years until your business actually makes a profit. Maintaining employment while you are starting your new business allows you to make money while you go through the process of becoming a CEO.

Business Plan.
On my first business startup, I didn’t believe in this process. What a waste of time. Who needs a business plan? If you Google business plan, it looks like a 30 page document of your business blues.

Enter second and third startups – business planned.

You need direction. You need deadlines. You need to be able to look at your business from a bird-eye-view. When you write all of the critical stages and your targets down it makes the goal more real. If you look at your notes and find you need to mail out 1,000 post cards by Monday – you might not plan that weekend get-a-way and actually work on Sunday.

SIDE TIP: Most people spend so much time dotting every “I” and crossing every “t” until their business plan is nearly perfect that they never have time to start the business. It all changes anyway – go ahead and jump in!

Logo.
A Logo will help distinguish your business (your new brand) from its competition. Be clever.
A Logo will help reach a specific audience and identify your new business. Understand your brand.
A Logo may convey the wrong message by using the wrong color. Color is big.
A Logo may consist of two characters. A word a symbol or both.  Choose wisely.
A Logo will take time to gain popularity. Keep it simple and easy. Recognition will come with time.

Go Get Customers!
Nothing else matters if you can’t do this. You will spend the majority of your time and effort focused on a sale or a sales process. Spend time (After business hours) working on your marketing process. Build your pipeline. Build your lead structure. Convert leads into prospects. Convert prospects into clients.

Create a list of leads that might be interested in your goods or service. This list should have 50-60 names with phone numbers. Start making calls and sell your business.  (I hope you have somewhere to write down the outcome of your calls and your newly formed appointment times)

Avoid the Headache Client. (Bonus Tip) 
Entrepreneur Magazine defines the Law of Discounting: The deeper the discount or the more generous the favor we give, the more unrealistic client’s demands will be. The clients who demand and continue to demand discounts will never be happy with your work. They are not worth the time and aggravation.

What are some tips you would like to share about starting your own business?

We go to college with aspirations of becoming President & CEO of a company.  We study business.  We study marketing.  We just study, and study, and study.  We all have that one economics class that assigns us that group project to go build a company from scratch and watch it grow over the course of the class.  Eventually, we graduate and go into the world of entrepreneurship.  However, we enter that world unprepared.  

I asked 9 of my closest CEO friends to list their top 5 lessons they would teach if they were to teach a course on Small Business Entrepreneurship.  Here are theirs answers:  

1. Budget.
In college, your budget decisions were spun around food, entertainment, and school supplies. If you had extra money, you splurged; if you were low on money you ate fast food for the next three weeks.

A Business won’t be as forgiving.

The ability to read and understand a balance sheet or a profit and loss sheet is critical. You need the ability to plan for the next 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months. During that planning, you need payroll, operating expenses, daily expenses, and unforeseen expenses.
A slight change for managing your college budget…..

2. Customer Service.
College students deal with teachers, counselors, deans, teacher aids, and fellow students. In theory, all of these people are there to help you through the process.

A Business won’t be as helping.

The ability to take a beating from a client and continue to find ways to “make it work” are vital for your business to bloom. How do you react to a customer who will always be wrong and be able to pivot the situation to make it appear as though they are always right?

3. Network. Network. Network.
Your engagement with your dorm buddy, drinking buddy, roommate, or test cheating buddy is not the same as your interaction with the world of business. These people were crucial to your success in college, sadly, they won’t matter when you are struggling with your Business.

A Business is not a college reunion.

As much as we love Joe, the former roommate – he is not right for your new Business. Prepare yourself to create meaningful relationships with the right people who can help move you along the corporate walk. Get the right people in your corner, possibilities become endless.

4. Salesperson(ship)
The only thing you ever sold in college was your used textbooks and that one report about your fictitious business plan and how you plan to become the next Business tycoon.

A Business won’t sell itself until you do.

Here is who you sell to: Everyone.

People need to buy into your company mission. People need to buy into your solution. You sell the ideas and vision to your employees. You sell the vision to your clients. You sell the vision to anyone who will listen. Sell. Sell. Sell. Over time, the experience you gain from this process will allow you to read and anticipate client’s needs in order to get them hooked onto your Business.

5. Time Management. Productivity.
In college, you got to pick that 11:15am class to allow you to sleep in. You got to get off school at 2pm so you could make it to your part time afternoon job.

A Business won’t allow you the luxury of a schedule.

Free time will not exist. You work 24x7x365.

You will have those friends who will make fun of you when you are still working at 10pm while they are out at the bar watching the local baseball team drop another game. You will have friends who will disown you because you are ALWAYS working. It will be completely normal to work on a business proposal or finish one more invoice before you call it a night. Welcome to owning a Business and the title of CEO.

What business lesson would you want to see added to a college curriculum?