If you want to compete in today’s marketplace, you have to put forth every skill and tool that you have at hand. Escapingthe9to5.com’s Maren Kate released a post detailing the tools an entrepreneur should use if they want to meet their potential success.
Maren says, “…start ups allow debt to pile up without thinking about it” and advises them to use Mint.com to track their expenses. Entrepreneurs will be kept aware of their expenditures and more conscious of their budget. Another management tool that Maren recommends is creating your own blog. This blog will help brand your company more personally by giving your brand more depth. After posting your first blog post, you can update all your contacts on Ping.fm. Maren Kate offers Ping.fm to entrepreneurs as an easier way to manage social media accounts. It’s a one-step process that posts to all your accounts and when time gets harder to come by, it can come in very handy.
Maren also suggests other tools that can help spark creativity and drive up your morale. She recommends using Mixergy.com for wisdom, encouragement, and mentoring. It always helps to have a support group and peers that you can turn to when in need and Mixergy.com can offer this support. Maren also says that business professionals should carry a notepad, a moleskin to be exact. This “legendary notebook of artists, writers, intellectuals, and travelers” is the notebook of choice for Maren Kate. Maren says they’re perfect for ideas, notes, and sketches. Another slightly unorthodox item that Maren says is perfect for entrepreneurs is an mp3 player. She recommends keeping audio books and podcast streams on it to stimulate your mind and keep you current when you have time to listen. Maren says, “I can honestly say that I’ve learned more from reading in the last 2 years than I ever learned in 5 years of ‘higher education.’”
Lastly, Maren offers ways to keep your employees and partners connected. She recommends using Google Docs. Google Docs is linked to your Google or G-mail username and enables you to upload, store, and edit documents on the web. You can grant access to other users, making the doc easily accessible for those whom need access. After your employees have put their spin on the Google Doc, they can log in to Basecamphq, a platform that allows management and employees to be in touch on all of their projects. It effectively tracks productivity. Maren Kate stands by the product arguing that “Basecamphq is priced for a song compared to other ‘project management’ software.”
Starting a business can be difficult when there are so many different avenues that require attention and maintenance. Maren Kate has simplified some of the processes by offering us affordable resources that make business building easier.
