I've been selling online since 1997. And in all of those years, I've tried and tested an insane number of tools, desktop software and apps and online services, as you can probably imagine. And today, it's just absolutely crazy to think that I depend on so many of these tools on a day-to-day basis, yet I've never had to pay for most of them. All of these are either completely free, and/or open source, or offer a free tier that I can pay to get additional features - basically a freemium (free + premium) service.
So here are some of the greatest free and freemium tools most of which I couldn't - and wouldn't want to - live without.
You can also listen to this list in audio, via my podcast, embedded further below in this post.
It's crazy to think that I depend on so many of these tools on a day-to-day basis, yet I've never had to pay for most of them. All of these are either completely free, and/or open source, or offer a free tier that I can pay to get additional features - basically a freemium (free + premium) service - like Auphonic, for eg., which has a free tier, but I've paid for to get extras).
So here are some of the greatest free and freemium tools most of which I can't - and won't - be without.
Let me what you think, and if you would like to add some of your own to the list. I'll be continuing to update this list as I think of many that I've missed the first time around.
I want to keep the main list short, but I will be adding extended commentary and thoughts in my podcast episodes where I cover this list in greater detail. So be sure to give the episodes a listen using the audio players above.
Audio Jungle: Royalty-free music
Auphonic: Audio Optimization
AutoHotKey: Keyboard Shortcut creator
Calendly: Scheduling meetings
Canva: Online image creator
Discourse: Online forum software
DropBox & Google Drive: Online storage & Sharing
FileZilla: FTP to upload files to a website
Gimp: Image editor (a la Photoshop)
Google Docs, Forms, Sheets
Headliner: Video editor for creating social videos
LastPass: Secure password management &and sharing
Notepad++: Text editor for Windows
Pexels.com & Pixabay.com :Free images
PodcastReviews.me: Download Apple Podcast Ratings & Reviews
PushBullet: App to share content between your own devices, or others'.
RescueTime: Task monitoring that helps you track activity time (like ScreenTime for iOS)
ReStream.io: Video Multi-streaming Platform
ShareX: Screen capture, file sharing and productivity tool for Windows
Skype: Instant messaging
Slack: Instant messaging
Trello, Asana, AirTable: Project management & Collaboration.
UberSuggest: Keyword research & SEO
WordPress: World's #1 Content Management System
Microsoft To Do: To-Do List Manager (was WunderList) (Also see Todoist)
Xmind: Mind-mapping and brainstorming
Zoom: Web conferencing & screensharing
Honorable Mentions:
Audacity: Audio editor (free & open-source)
Anchor.fm: Podcast hosting and distribution
Discord: Voice & Text Chat
FreshDesk: Customer Service & Support
Openoffice.org: MS Office Alternative
PowerPress: WordPress Podcasting Plugin
PayPal and Stripe: Online Payment Processing
And if you go to SubscribeMe.fm/tools, you will see *everything* I use in my business, both free and paid - like electronics, software and hardware, WordPress plugins, desktop software, browser extensions, online services, etc - and that will be a mix of both free and paid tools.
Did I miss any great tools? Anything you want to add to this list? Let me know in the comments below.
Listen to this list via my Podcast
Part 1: Greatest Free & Freemium Tools I Can't/Won't Live Without
01/11/2020
00:00:00
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Part 2: Greatest Free & Freemium Tools
01/21/2020
00:00:00
00:00:00
Part 3: Greatest Free & Freemium Tools
01/31/2020
00:00:00
00:00:00
Part 4: Greatest Free & Freemium Tools
04/18/2020
00:00:00
00:00:00
I use (or have used) all of them, so these are my recommendations based on my needs and preferences. Do your due diligence before signing up for them. Some of these are affiliate links. But that's not why I'm recommending these. But you probably already knew that. 🙂
