Guide to 3 Free Recession Solutions for Small Business

Succeeding in small business today requires a solid grip on your finances and an arsenal of tech tools to help you collaborate with colleagues, schedule your time, manage customer relationships and leverage the Internet. And guess what? You can get all of that – and more – absolutely free from some of the nation’s top tech companies that support small business.

The free products, services and solutions from these three organizations alone have already helped millions of business owners succeed. They represent some of the “core competencies” any business needs to survive and prosper, including finance, technology, information and customer relationships. Here they are – free for the taking:

1) Free Financial Software from QuickBooks: QuickBooks became the world’s most popular small business financial software because it understands what a small business needs, is easy to use, comes loaded with useful features and can almost instantly make your business more profitable. Best of all, you can download a QuickBooks “Simple Start” free edition 2009 – with no forms, registration or credit card information required – at the Intel Business Exchange Software Store for small business.

QuickBooks Simple Start Free Edition 2009, from Intuit, is not “trial” software. It’s fully-functional and never expires. Here are some of the things it will do for you:
Track sales, sales taxes and customer payments
Create estimates and invoices
Print checks, pay bills and track expenses
Manage payroll and payroll taxes
Track up to 20 customer and vendor contacts
Create 14 different financial reports with a single click
Import data from Excel
Of course, Intuit hopes you’ll upgrade to its more powerful products as your business grows. But that’s up to you, and starting with the free, Simple Start version is a great way to organize your finances at zero cost and get more time to spend on other facets of your business.

2) Free Online Applications from GoogleThink Google is just a search engine? Think again. The global Internet giant has morphed into a multi-faceted tool that you can use to help launch and grow your small business. Here’s some of what you can get:

No matter what size business you operate, Google Apps can help you stretch resources and work smarter. Google Docs, for example, enhances productivity and eliminates the need to collaborate with attachments. You can start a project with software like Microsoft Office, and use Google Docs to share files with others for collaborative editing. Everyone accesses the same online copy of the file in Google Docs, so there are no attachment compatibility problems, inbox storage quota issues, or versions to reconcile. When the group is done editing, you can keep the file in Google Docs, or export it back to the original format.