Our ultimate list of recommendations for everything and anything we can think of that may be useful to you
Well, as it pertains to working at home or self-employment, anyway.
We don’t really know much, about, say, elephant grooming, for example.
This page will be constantly updated so feel free to book-mark it!
Last Update: 7/12/18
FTA Required Disclaimer: Links to products and services throughout the site, videos, and blog may or may not contain affiliate links. This means, we may or may not earn a small commission from sales originating through this website. We would not recommend any product that we wouldn’t use ourselves, regardless of whether we earn commission or not. There you go: complete transparency at it’s finest!
Small Business Resources
Accounting and Money
- Less Accounting: Accounting software that is way LESS complicated than Quickbooks.
- Quickbooks:
- Quicken:
Financing
- Prosper: is a peer to peer lending organization where you can find funding at rates much lower than credit cards or traditional banks.
- Lending Club:
- AmericanExpress Small Business Loans
- CreditKarma:
Government and Legal Resources
- SBA.gov: The Small Business Administration
- SBA’s WBO: The SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership
- Score.org: Run by the SBA, they have classes and mentorship programs for wannabe entrepreneurs
- IRS.gov: For US tax reporting information
- Non-Profit Resource Center: If you’re planning on starting a non-profit.
- Copyright and Trademark Protection: To protect your name, phrase, image or work.
Networking
- Chamber of Commerce: Small Business Networking through local and national events
- Linked-in: Post your resume, job search, and connect with Linked In groups.
- Meetup.com: Meeting others with similar interests through local, in-person events.
- Toastmasters: If you’re wary of public speaking, this supportive community will coach you to success.
Networking-Online (Forums)
- Abestweb.com: Affiliate Marketing Forum (closed in 2016)
- Amazon: Yes, Amazon has forums too. Login to your profile, and click the Community Discussions link in the “More to Explore” section at the bottom of the page.
- HomeBusinessOnline.com: For home based business professionals
- RichDad.com: Discussions on building wealth and money
- Scam.com: Learn about scams!
- Talkfreelance.com: For freelancers of any kind
- WAHM.com: for Work at Home Moms
- Warrior Forum: The place to go for Internet Marketing discussions
- WorkfromHomeBoard: Exploring work at home options
Website Resources
Advertising
- BuySellAds.com: Advertising options for your website
- Google Adsense: You can earn income by placing ads on your website run by Google. (I do this on QRJ)
- Google Adwords: For advertisers. Just select keywords, decide on your daily spednding amount, and only pay each time someone clicks on your ad.
- Newsletter Directory: If you run an e-newsletter, you can find sponsors who will pay you per impression or per click on their ad. A subsidiary of BuySellAds.com
- WordAds.co: WordPress’s solution to Adwords. Only works on WordPress sites.
Blogging, Themes, WP Plugins, Security
- WordPress.com: The #1 open source platform for blogging. I use it for QRJ as well as many of my clients. It’s free and easy to create your own site.
- CatchThemes: The ultimate resource for premium looking WordPress themes.
- ThemeIsle: WordPress premium themes
- Envato/CodeCanyon: A great marketplace for themes, plugins, and other must-haves for your WordPress website.
- WordFence: Security for your WordPress Site
- JetPack: All sorts of tools and goodies for your WordPress site
Domain Registration
- MyDomain: Where you can register your domain names. (I’ve used them!)
- NameCheap: Where you can register your domain names. (I’ve used them!)
Hosting
- GreenGeeks: Wind-powered hosting. I currently use them for all of my sites.
- HostGator, BlueHost, GoDaddy: Other common hosting companies. I don’t recommend them as much as GreenGeeks, however.
Newsletters and Autoresponders
- Aweber: I currently am using Aweber to manage my subscription list on this website.
- MailChimp: I currently use MailChimp to manage my subscription list on smaller websites since the first 2000 contacts are free.
- Constant Contact: I have used Constant Contact with various clients.
Shopping Carts
- E-Junkie: Many marketers use e-junkie for their affiliate program and delivering their content (usually ebooks)
- Clickbank: The grandaddy of online content delivery. I use Clickbank to sell my ebook and downloadable video and run my affiliate program.
- Paypal.com: You can use PayPal to send and receive payments. Most shopping carts allow PayPal integration, so you might as well get an account.
- 1ShoppingCart.com: While fairly complicated, 1SC is a one-stop source for a shopping cart, autorepsonder and affiliate program software.
Find a Freelancer!
When you’re running a business, you can’t be all things to all people. I know, you think you can…but you’ll burn yourself out! It’s impossible to do web design and marketing and accounting, and sales, and training, and…y’know, actually run your business. Here are some great resources to help you get stuff checked off of your list:
- UpWork: Find freelancers of any kind, anywhere. I’ve found freelancers here for book cover design and web-help.
- Virtual Staff Finder I’ve used VSF to find dedicated VAs who help me with all the little things that need to get done throughout the day: researching articles, posting social media, follow-up emails, etc.
- 99Designs: You host a “design contest” and professionals will compete to win
Marketing Resources
Social Media
- PostCron: Scheduling social media posts
- Revive Old Posts: WordPress Plugin that re-posts old content to Twitter.
- HootSuite: Scheduling social media posts
Webinars, Teleseminars, Screen Capturing
- Camtasia: Screencapture and editing software for PCs
- Instant Teleseminar: For creating teleseminars and webinars
- ScreenFlow: Screencapture and editing software for Macs
Design
Stock Photos
- 123rf.com
- Allthefreestock Free stock images and videos
- Ancestryimages
- Befunky.com Photo editor and simple graphic design
- Canva Photo editor and simple graphic design (I use them for social media posts)
- Deathtothestockphoto Free and paid subscriptions
- Designerpics Free Hi-Res photos for personal and commercial use. Attribution not required!
- Dreamstime
- Everystockphoto.com
- FreeDigitalPhotos Royalty Free photos for your website or blog (I have used them)
- Freeimages
- Freepixels
- Freestock
- Freestockphotos
- Historicalstockphotos
- Imageafter
- ISORepublic High quality free photos for creatives
- LifeofPix Free Hi-Res photos
- Morguefile
- New Old Stock Vintage photos from the public archives. Free of known copyright restrictions.
- Pexels
- PicJumbo Totally free photos for your personal and commercial works
- Pixabay Free high quality images you can use anywhere
- Publicdomainarchive Vintage and modern free stock photos (link broken as of 4/2020)
- Public-domain-photos
- Photopin
- SmartShoot
- Stockvault
- Stokpic Free stock photos
- Unsplash Free (do whatever you want) high-resolution photos