Running a small business means juggling a lot — marketing, admin, customer service, home-work balance, and much, much more. But you don’t have to do it all manually. The right tools can save you hours each week and help you focus on what really matters: growing your business.
Here are 10 useful FREE tools that can help you save time, from someone who has used these before:
This post DOES NOT contain affiliate links unlike other sites. We are providing you with our own opinions, and do not benefit from you signing up to these applications.
1. ClickUp – Organise Your Project List Visually
ClickUp is a simple, drag-and-drop task manager that helps you keep track of projects, deadlines, and team collaboration. Think of it as your digital whiteboard.
- Great for: Project planning, content calendars, team task tracking
- Free plan available
2. Square Appointments – Automate Appointment Scheduling
Tired of back-and-forth emails? Square Appointments lets clients book time with you based on your availability — no more double bookings or missed calls. We find this system amazing for us to track each client’s appointments, as well as payment integration and FREE SMS and Email notifications – to staff and clients.
- Great for: Consultants, professional service providers, and aesthetic/beauticians
- Free basic plan – paid option available
3. Canva – Create Professional Graphics in Minutes
Need a flyer, social media post, or presentation? Canva’s drag-and-drop interface makes design easy, even if you’re not a designer. We find Canva amazing for basic, on-the-go designing. It has amazing fonts, as well as thousands of free to use graphics
- Great for: Marketing materials, social media, branding
- Free with optional Pro upgrade
4. Zapier – Automate Repetitive Tasks
Zapier connects your favorite apps (like Gmail, Slack, and Google Sheets) and automates workflows. For example, automatically save email attachments to Dropbox.
- Great for: Reducing manual data entry – best for businesses with lots of documents and remote clients.
- Free for basic automations
5. Notion – Your All-in-One Business Hub
Notion combines notes, databases, task lists, and wikis in one place. Use it to manage SOPs, meeting notes, and even your business goals.
- Great for: Organising everything in one place, Task management – great for all!
- Free for individuals
6. Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for Business – Collaborate in Real Time
Docs (or Microsoft Word), Sheets (or Microsoft Excel), Drive (or OneDrive/Microsoft SharePoint), and Gmail (or Microsoft Outlook) — all synced and shareable. It’s the backbone of many small businesses for a reason.
- Great for: Team collaboration, document sharing
- Free tier available (with paid plans for more storage and more features)
7. Jetpack CRM – Free Customer Relations Management Software
Jetpack CRM makes it easy to send invoices, send quotes, manage interactions with customers, manage transactions and have a client portal — without the complexity of traditional CRM tools.
- Great for: Freelancers, solopreneurs, small teams. Best to be setup by a professional – based on WordPress system.
- Completely free (without added paid plugins)
8. Microsoft Copilot – Research, Write, Analyse and More
Whether you’re sending emails, writing blog posts, analysing documents or using Microsoft Teams for calls, Copilot helps you with everyday life. My personal favourite! I have Copilot ready to use on all devices, especially ones that I use Microsoft Teams on!
- Great for: Everyone! Especially business based online, or communicate via Microsoft Teams.
- Free with premium upgrade available
9. Microsoft Teams – Streamline Team Communication
Ditch the endless email threads. Microsoft Teams keeps your team connected with channels, direct messages, and integrations with other tools.
- Great for: Internal communication
- Free, but better with M365 for business
10. Google Chrome – Free Secure Browser
As basic as it sounds, Google Chrome is the best browser! Chrome allows you to connect your Google Account to sync tabs and bookmarks between devices, as well as storing and encrypting your passwords! It’s a no-brainer!
- Great for: Everyone!
- Free
Final Tip:
You don’t need to adopt all 10 tools at once. Pick one or two that solve your biggest time-wasters and build from there. Over time, these tools can help you work smarter — not harder.
Need more help?
We know technology can be hard, but don’t let that stop you from succeeding! We’re always happy to help! Drop us an email and we’ll get you sorted!
Email: info@ojmbusinesses.co.uk