The Enlightened Entrepreneur - Free and Low-Cost Tools and Resources for Small Businesses!

I remember when the first CRM system I used cost a one time charge of $30 – now it is more along the lines of $200 - $500 per month! Some of the more popular systems I am referring to include Pipedrive, Salesmate, Zoho, Clickfunnels and others.

I recently discovered a newer, full-featured business platform that has many newer and more advanced features -- similar to a $300/month program that I am currently using, but as I am explor...

If you have studied marketing for any period of time, you will know that the headline of your webpage or promotional material and the subject line of your emails is the most important element of your marketing.

Why?

Because if the headline or subject line does not grab your audience’s attention, they will move on without delving into your promotional materials -- or reading your carefully crafted email.

It is said that 8 out of 10 ...

I do have a simple “chat” widget on my websites that allow people to give me their contact information and ask questions and I am able to both automate responses to the most common questions they may have or I can reply to them by text on their phone. It’s a good system and it works for me and my particular business, but I have to admit that what I am about to show you is more impressive, is really slick and comes across as much mo...

These are two related tools that I am currently using for an upcoming event.

One is a social media tool that will allow you to create memes or images with text on them and the other is a companion program that will allow you to schedule them to go out to your social media channels on a schedule that you determine.

I have seen paid programs like this in the past, but for the limited amount of times I would probably use it, it wasn’t...

*** PLEASE NOTE: I CAN NO LONGER RECOMMEND "QR-CODE GENERATOR" FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

They automatically added me to the 14 Day Free trial (which I was fine with) and then instead of reverting me to their free option, cut off my access to the QR Codes I created which can NOT be reverted to free QR codes.  Their customer service was terrible and it took days before I got a response which was less than helpful.  ...

You can't put a video itself into an email, so instead,  the usual process is to have a static "still" image that people can click on that takes them to the video, but the closest thing to having an actual video embedded into an email, is to have a moving image – just 4-10 seconds of a video as a GIF image that can act as a teaser creating the illusion of a video with a button that encourages people top click on the image to g...

I really like this idea and although I have seen similar programs, I like what this service offers and I think the pricing is very fair.

It is a "gift service" designed to build customer loyalty and appreciation.

There products range from just personalized postcards and greeting cards, to Gourmet foods (personalized from you to your client), to gift cards that include Amazon, Starbucks, Best Buy, Home Depot, and more) -- to even mo...

I don’t know if you have tried creating a video course or promotional videos, but even at their best, there are pauses and transitions that you really wish weren’t there.

I was introduced to this online video editing software recently and I have to say I am very impressed. What it does is it takes your video and automatically eliminates the pauses, makes better transitions and even adds subtitles and background music to your video ...

I have been holding off on mentioning this software – not because is isn’t good, but because it is so good that I really want to do it justice.

I am in the entertainment business, but if you are in any service-based business where you work with clients offsite, this program is an amazing Godsend.  It’s a little hard to describe because it is not a “Contact Management Software” -- I would prefer to describe it as a “Client Proj...

Online learning is HOT!  Right now people are accustomed to online presentations and online learning. What used to be a $350 BILLION dollar industry has DOUBLED this year alone!

This e-learning platform is so good, so useful, so needed, and has so many advanced features, that it is worth talking about.  

The launch price is only $17 and although the launch has ended, the one-time $17 price is still available as I record t...

In my book  “ON YOUR OWN, BUT NOT ALONE: 50 FREE and Low-Cost Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses!” I dedicated and entre chapter to the benefits of Google applications – many of which are better than commercially purchased programs and many of which can easily replace expensive program you may be paying monthly for.

This is one Google Service I use, and it alerts you to any activity on the web that you want to ke...

This is an alternative to Zapier. If you are not familiar with Zapier, it is a service that allows you to integrate one software, program, tool, or service with another. For example, when you add a new contact to your Customer database, you can have Zapier automatically add them to an autoresponder series in your autoresponder system at the same time.

Prior to systems like Zapier, you would have had to hire a programmer to custom d...

So you want to try reaching out to a new company contact but don’t have their email address and can’t locate it (maybe the gatekeeper won’t reveal that email address to you), then you may have to take a guess at what their email address could be...

You might assume that their email address follows the same format at the previous person’s email address – perhaps their first initial followed by their last name at "companyname.com" – ...

Want to get people to spread the word about your company?  Want to get leads for your business? --  Have a contest and give away a grand prize!

It could be anything of value — an iPad, a “Dinner for Two” — maybe even a product or service you provide. It could be anything, but ideally, it should be something of value that your ideal customer would want and need and it should be related to your business so that you are targ...

If you are going to be branding your company with a name, you are going to be living with it for awhile and want it to be a name that is catchy, easy to remember, and is something you won’t want to have to change later. Changing your business name is almost like starting over since your past clients may not recognize your new company name!

A catchy name will help to brand your company and selecting the perfect name will allow you t...

If you ever needed professionally packaged CD’s or DVD’s — either as promotional items or as a product and you don’t want to have to order 500 of them at a time — you're going to love this service that will produce a professionally package your CD or DVD! 

And when I say “professionally packaged” — I’m not kidding! The CD’s arrive just as if you purchased them from a store packaged in a traditional “jewel case” with full color...

Most people don’t realize that if they have a webinar, a course, a training or a speech, they are sitting on a goldmine! It is not difficult to take those audios or videos and turn them into a powerful report or even a physical book that you can use as a lead magnet -- or even make it into a sellable product that you can monetize.

In the past, when I wanted to have something transcribed, I would hire someone to transcribe it for me...

I was told about this program from a Mastermind group that I attended, and it’s a free way to legally improve your website or your blog rankings and get the word out about your product or services – and it’s simple to use.

Now there are a lot of “black-hat” methods of improving your website ranking – black hat meaning that it is unscrupulous and goes against the rules and is possible illegal which could affect you and your business...

There are many instances where I want to put the image of a product or person on a different background in flyers, on business cards, on websites or just simply remove the background in the image itself and see just the image of the product or the person.  

Believe it or not, this program does it all without even clicking a button – and I was shocked at how quick and easy it was to use, and stunned that it did such a clean job...