Business Model Generation: 8 Free Tools in 2024

Business Model Generation: 8 Free Tools in 2024

Business Model Generation: 8 Free Tools in 2024

Abhik Shome

Founder and Editor-in-chief
The Starting Idea

Have a spur of the moment business idea? A lightbulb moment? Do not let it hang around in your head and disappear into nothingness.

Use these 8 completely free business model generation tools in 2024 to write your idea, list the assumptions, draw the funnels and share it with your team members.

Free Business Model Generation Tools

Quickly create a business plan with all its assumptions and criteria with this free tool by Ash Maurya.

The Lean Canvas is based on Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas, so you know it’s bound to be good.

2. Awwapp

In a hurry?

Draw a quick business plan on this free whiteboard tool.

Map out your funnels and traffic strategies with this free tool.

Another free alternative to Funnelytics.

Test your idea based on 3 goals:

a) identify customer needs,

b) validate new products,

c) reach product market/fit.

6. Germ

Turn your ideas into project plans.

7. Skitch

Convey your ideas effectively with annotations, shapes, and sketches.

Express ideas through animation.

Abhik Shome

Abhik helps entrepreneurs shorten their path to online growth with conversion marketing. He is a leading conversion marketing expert and online marketing thought leader. As CEO of Brand Bridge Solutions, an online marketing agency, Abhik's content has been featured in mainstream media outlets like Inc Magazine, Business Insider, Inc ASEAN, YourStory, and Influencive among others. Abhik is the Founder of The Starting Idea, a business growth magazine focused on giving fast-paced actionable marketing strategies to the modern day entrepreneur. He is also the founder of Product Know, an exclusive library of business software and resources. He has recently authored the book The Growth Toolbox covering 210+ tools to grow every aspect of a modern day business. Get it for FREE here. His blogs and articles have been shared and appreciated by top industry experts including Larry Kim, Founder of Wordstream & Mobile Monkey.

12 Free Stock Music Sites to Get Free Background Music in 2024

12 Free Stock Music Sites to Get Free Background Music in 2024

12 Free Stock Music Sites to Get Free Background Music in 2024

Abhik Shome

Founder and Editor-in-chief
The Starting Idea

Music is essential to make your product and ideas captivating.

Use these 12 free stock music sites to find the perfect tune that will infuse life and beat into your product.

Stock Music

Browse and download free music for your videos from YouTube’s own library.

Bensound is one of the leading websites providing a huge collection of royalty-free stock music.

Another huge collection of free stock music.

Free stock music with attribution requirement.

Royalty free and Creative Commons music by musician Kevin MacLeod.

Free download of music for personal use. Just credit the site.

Credit the creator and use the awesome tunes for free personal use.

This collection boasts of freely downloadable/streamable, often Creative Commons-licensed catalogs of virtual record labels. I heard a few of the tracks. They sound really good.

A straightforward list of free music tracks that are free for commercial use.

10. Musopen

As a free member of this site, you are allowed to get 5 music downloads a day, which is more than enough for most content creators.

11. Octave

A library of free UI sounds.

If you want a high-quality podcast mic that doesn’t break the bank, go with the Blue Yeti.

Make your videos into ebooks by transcribing them with this cheap service.

Abhik Shome

Abhik helps entrepreneurs shorten their path to online growth with conversion marketing. He is a leading conversion marketing expert and online marketing thought leader. As CEO of Brand Bridge Solutions, an online marketing agency, Abhik's content has been featured in mainstream media outlets like Inc Magazine, Business Insider, Inc ASEAN, YourStory, and Influencive among others. Abhik is the Founder of The Starting Idea, a business growth magazine focused on giving fast-paced actionable marketing strategies to the modern day entrepreneur. He is also the founder of Product Know, an exclusive library of business software and resources. He has recently authored the book The Growth Toolbox covering 210+ tools to grow every aspect of a modern day business. Get it for FREE here. His blogs and articles have been shared and appreciated by top industry experts including Larry Kim, Founder of Wordstream & Mobile Monkey.

Free Business Software: 450+ Small Business Software and Resources

Free Business Software: 450+ Small Business Software and Resources

Free Business Software: 450+ Small Business Software and Resources

This is a hand-picked list of 450+ best free business software to grow a small business in 2024.

Starting a small business can be a difficult thing for a brand new startup founder and entrepreneur. Based on that, we have written the ultimate guide for free business software for small businesses.

The list consists of more than 450+ free startup tools with links and explanations on what each tool does.

The problem small businesses and startups face

There are so many aspects of a small business that need to be managed to move the cogwheels of growth.

With managing multiple departments, bearing tons of overhead costs, and with little to no guarantee of success in an ever-changing scenario, most of these startups fail even before they start.

To combat this, a small business needs automation tools and resources to growth hack its business, and match the speed of already established players in the market.

But most of these business tools and software are considerably expensive for a new startup or small business to afford.

This can lead to managing all the complicated business activities alone.

The result: a catastrophe of half-baked efforts, naive mistakes, and a backlog of tasks so huge, it can give Goliath a complex.

But there has to be a better way.

There must be affordable small business tools out there that a startup can use to succeed and grow their businesses without losing time, money, and a ton of energy.

There must be ways a busy entrepreneur can automate their backend activities with pocket-friendly software, which in turn can allow them to focus all their energy on core business activities.

These are the questions we asked ourselves when first starting our media startup.

At that time, we were entering the information business market with very limited resources.

The competition, on the other hand, had multi-million dollar budgets.

We were in dire need of free growth hacking tools and strategies to get this off the planning stage and into the real world.

Pondering over it, I and my design head, Weronika Wysocka, hatched a strategy.

We listed down all the different business activities that are involved right from the starting stage to the growth stage of a startup.

Next, we started to look for free business software to do all the activities listed in each of these stages.

That was it!

We searched the entire web for the best free business tools and resources that are ideal for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs.

We had one clear condition in mind, all the free business software we pick should not be free through a “free trial” option but be free with a free forever option.

Finding the best free business software 

We were pleasantly surprised to find so many amazing online business software available for free on the web.

So much so, that it became somewhat of a guilty pleasure for us, exploring the high seas of the world wide web and finding these brilliant free small business tools for startups and entrepreneurs.

We would now like to share the fruit of our labor with you.

Here are 450+ free business tools covering every aspect of starting, running, and growing a small business and startup successfully.

These free online business apps and resources are simple to use and ideal for newbie entrepreneurs and small businesses that are tight on budget.

We have arranged them to cover everything from the business initiation phase (free business model generation tools, free business name generator tools) to content phase (free content research tools, free competitor analysis tools, free content creation tools, etc.) right up to web security and web storage.

At the time of making, all the tools in the list have a free-forever option. I arranged them according to their order of use in your business life cycle.

What is the benefit of using these free software for your business?

The main benefit of using these small business tools and resources is that it will help you take your business off the ground and make it run.

Also, with these many automation options, you can play on equal ground with the major players in your industry.

These free business apps will make your work faster, smarter, and better.

How to get all these free business tools?

To get these free business tools for your small business and startup, simply go to each section and click on the tool name you want to access. It will open the dedicated website of the tool.

From there, you can sign up for their free plan and get things going.

How to use these tools?

Use these free business software to get your business off the ground and running, without worrying about funds and budget. This will help you start your business without stalling it for the lack of funds.

Once you start making enough money, you can go for the paid versions of these tools.

Now, without further ado, here are 450+ best free business software for small businesses and startups.

Free Business Software for Small Business

Business Model Generation

8 free business model generation tools to help you project your business idea in 2024. Tools include business model canvas inspired apps.

Stock Music

12 free stock music sites for your YouTube videos and startup projects in 2024.

Web Development Tools

7 free web development tools to help freelance programmers and startup developers make great applications in 2024.

Free Conversion Rate Optimization Tools

13 best free CRO tools to convert site visitors into leads in 2024. A guide updated with the latest links of top conversion rate optimization software.

Content Research

22 best free content research tools to create amazing marketing campaigns in 2024. The guide includes the latest links to top content research software.

Free SEO Tools

60 best free SEO tools to make your blog content rank on the 1st page of Google in 2024. Tools include free SEO analysis tools, SEO audit tools, and more.

Team Collaboration

27 free collaboration tools online to manage work with remote teams in 2024. A guide updated with the latest links of best collaboration software.

Business Name Generator

7 free business name generator tools to help you find the perfect business name for your brand in 2024. Tools include Naminum, Domainr, and more.

Cloud Storage

3 free cloud storage services and apps to help you store, secure and share files effectively in 2024.

Web Security Tools

7 free web security tools to protect your application from vulnerabilities and threats in 2024. 

Content Creation Tools

17 free content creation tools to help you create great content in 2024. A guide updated with the latest links of best content creation software.

Content Marketing Tools

42 free content marketing tools to help you market your product online in 2024. A guide filled with the latest links of best content marketing software.

Lead Generation & Sales Software

30 best free lead generation software to get high-quality leads in 2024. Free lead gen tool examples include prospecting tools, lead capture tools, & more.

Legal Tools

6 Free Legal Tools to cover your basic legal groundwork for your startup and small business in 2024.

Personal Branding Tools

15 free personal branding tools to help entrepreneurs and experts create a magnetic personal brand in 2024.

Graphic Design Software & Resources

170 free graphic design software & design tools to make your content stand out in 2024. Tools include free fonts, icons, stock images, videos, & more.

Website Building Tools

4 Free website building tools that will help you make a professional looking website in 2024. Perfect for non-techie entrepreneurs.

Free Web Hosting

8 free web hosting services to help entrepreneurs and startups create a web presence for their product/service for free in 2024.

Competitor Analysis Tools

15 free competitor analysis tools to swipe your competitor’s strategy in 2024. A guide updated with the latest links of best competitor analysis software.

Free CRM Software

9 free CRM software to help manage customer relationships in 2024. Free CRM software examples include live chat tools, knowledge base apps, and more.

Productivity Software

28 free productivity software and mindfulness apps to help you get more done in 2024. Tools include note-taking apps, browser productivity tools & more.

Ecommerce Tools & Software

10 best free e-commerce tools and software to help you set up your online shop in 2024. Use these e-commerce software to growth hack online store.

18 Personal Branding Tools to Rapidly Grow Your Personal Brand in 2024

18 Personal Branding Tools to Rapidly Grow Your Personal Brand in 2024

18 Personal Branding Tools to Rapidly Grow Your Personal Brand in 2024

Abhik Shome

Founder and Editor-in-chief
The Starting Idea

“Keep posting great content on social media and they will come.”

I bet many of you tried that, I did it too. Raise your hands if just posting great, remarkable or amazing content brought you any results?

Ya…that’s what I thought.

See, to stand out in your industry, of course, you need to post great content, but it’s just half the work done. What you really need to do is apply your strategies along with a set of specialized tech hacks that no one in your industry is currently using.

These tech hacks can instantly boost your brand and have a magnetic effect on your intended audiences.

Based on that, here are 18 handpicked personal branding tools to rapidly grow your Personal Brand in 2024.

A screenshot of Fiverr Workspace website

Add a sleek professional touch to your proposals using this FREE tool brought to you by the guys behind Fiverr.

The tool will help you present your proposals in an uber-professional manner and also track them, send follow-ups, etc.

A great personal branding tool for the cost-effective freelancer.

A paid alternative to And Co. Use this to create some sleek world-class proposals for your clients and be at their top of mind.

This is my go-to tool for infographics.

My Design head prefers Adobe Creative Cloud, but if you are a non-designer like me, Visme has us covered. I use this to create rich visually appealing infographics in a matter of minutes.

Brian Dean from Backlinko suggests highly of using infographics as a great link building tool, as it lets you distinguish your content in a much more appealing manner. 

So go ahead and brand yourself in the industry with this valuable visual content tool.

A free alternative to Promo Republic. A great app to start your designing game if you are not a designer.

As a brand, it’s important to monitor the email marketing strategy of your industry leaders. After all, in the world of internet marketing, it’s the email where the majority of the sale happens.

Use Owletter to monitor the newsletters of your industry leaders and immediate competitors.

Lemlist is an email outreach tool with proven templates to personalize your cold emailing.

I especially like their image personalization feature where you can upload an image of you holding a blank piece of paper and their software will add a custom name based on the company or person you are sending the mail to. You can also schedule follow-ups based on link clicks.

A great relationship building tool.

Adobe Creative Cloud is the holy grail for creating brand assets. It needs a bit of expertise, but if you master it, it will almost be the only tool you will ever need to create assets for your personal brand.

Use Promo Republic to quickly get thousands of content pieces readymade to post for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

A great way to generate awesome personal branding content on the fly.

Ninja Outreach is the go-to tool of the industry to search, find and reach out to influencers in your niche.

Make your brand “Stick”. Literally. Give your brand a physical and iconic presence with these high-quality stickers with some awesome designs to boast of.

No wonder, top companies like AppSumo endorse this brand!

11. Zoom

Doing video interviews with experts in your industry is a great way to have the influencer rub off on your own brand.

A great free tool for doing these interviews is through Zoom.

If you want a high-quality podcast mic that doesn’t break the bank, go with the Blue Yeti.

SSL certificate is a must for adding credibility and authenticity to your online presence.

Think about it, would you trust a site with a not secure message showing up in the address bar?

Use SSL for free to generate free SSL certificates for your site.

14. Ahrefs

Out of a ton of uses of this great SEO tool, a great one is checking out your competitor’s backlinks and social shares.

You can actually get the list of people sharing and linking to your competitor’s content.

Actionable Tip: 10x the content of your competitor or repurpose it into an infographic and reach out to the people who are linking and sharing the competitor article, asking them to link to your article instead.

Use this tool to spy on ads and promotions of your industry leaders and craft paid promotions for your personal brand accordingly.

A LinkedIn lead generation and outreach tool to connect with people in your industry.

Use this to connect with experts and audiences in your industry.

Another great SEO tool which can be used for personal branding goals.

Use this tool to make SEO rich articles in your niche and rank high on Google.

18. Rev

Make your videos into ebooks by transcribing them with this cheap service.

Hope you got a lot of value from the article and now feel equipped to grow a stellar personal Brand in 2024.

Here’s what you can do next:

I have put together a collection of bonus content for you to take action right away.

BONUS 1

You get the 60-second Personal Branding implementation checklist which will make you stand out in your industry and get leads in automation.

The implementation checklist is filled with many actionable steps written in crisp to the point execution sequences.

  • Learn how to never again be confused about what to say to your audiences and what stance to take while communicating your sales message on Social Media (Point 1 and 2)
  • Set your social profiles to speak your brand without any daily efforts from you (Point 3 and 4)
  • Discover the 1 method which will put you in front of millions of target customers and help you generate leads on autopilot! (Point 5 and 6)
  • The 1 smart tactic which can help you build relationships with influencers and even get promoted by them on their own platforms! (Point 13).  ← This is my personal favorite (word of advice – Please be genuine and honest while using this).
BONUS 2

Get the Exact 4 Personal Branding Character Types experts are using to create million dollar businesses.

  • The character type tools are perfect especially if you are a newbie and do not know what positioning you should have.

Get all of this by simply clicking the image below.

Abhik Shome

Abhik helps entrepreneurs shorten their path to online growth with conversion marketing. He is a leading conversion marketing expert and online marketing thought leader. As CEO of Brand Bridge Solutions, an online marketing agency, Abhik's content has been featured in mainstream media outlets like Inc Magazine, Business Insider, Inc ASEAN, YourStory, and Influencive among others. Abhik is the Founder of The Starting Idea, a business growth magazine focused on giving fast-paced actionable marketing strategies to the modern day entrepreneur. He is also the founder of Product Know, an exclusive library of business software and resources. He has recently authored the book The Growth Toolbox covering 210+ tools to grow every aspect of a modern day business. Get it for FREE here. His blogs and articles have been shared and appreciated by top industry experts including Larry Kim, Founder of Wordstream & Mobile Monkey.

3 Personal Branding Growth Hacks That Will Make You Influential in 2024

3 Personal Branding Growth Hacks That Will Make You Influential in 2024

3 Personal Branding Growth Hacks That Will Make You Influential in 2024

Abhik Shome

Founder and Editor-in-chief
The Starting Idea

With every passing year, building a solid personal brand is becoming a quintessential ingredient in the recipe for business success.
Anyone who tactfully applies proven personal branding strategies is set to gain a lot in 2024.
Based on that, here are some very innovative personal branding growth hacks that I learned from some of the biggest marketing experts in the world today.

1. The Frank Kern Newscaster Method

I learned this dead simple but highly effective trick from one of my Internet Marketing mentors, Frank Kern.

But don’t let the simplicity of this method fool you on how effective this can be. 

So here’s what you do:

You simply pick up a video (can be educational, can be a discussion) based on your niche and make a blog article commenting on it.

For example, if you are in the niche of teaching lead guitar, then simply go on YouTube and look for videos of people teaching the same. Find one of the best videos and ask the permission of the video creator if you can share it on your site (most will say YES immediately).

Put the video on your site with a write up on the technique being used, any alternative methods you suggest, etc. The idea is to make your post an extended read accompanying the video. 

That’s it! This will showcase your knowledge in a very simple and easy manner and also help build a relationship with the video creator who might as well give you a shout-out in front of their audiences. 

A double whammy for your personal branding!

2. Working for your Dream 100 or the Inception Tactic

This one can be frowned upon as it needs a bit of work. But trust me, the results will be awesome. 

A lot of people, especially freelancers get upset at the idea of working for free.  I get you on that, as I have been there myself. But there is a great benefit of working for free IF (and the IF is important) you work for the RIGHT PEOPLE.

Seek out influencers in your niche, or as Russell Brunson calls it, the Dream 100. Seek them out from YouTube, Podcasts, FB groups, etc. Then request them to let you work for them for free in return for a video testimonial and a shoutout to their well-built audience base.

Now here’s the GOLD part. After you get the video testimonial, package it attractively and run ads on them targeting the very audiences of the influencer.

This way you will incept authority and create favoring emotions in the minds of audiences interested in your niche.

3. Ryan Levesque’s ASK Method Hack (fine-tuned for personal branding)

When you speak the language of your audience, you strike that special cord with them. Ryan Levesque’s ASK method teaches precisely that. Basically, you just put up a survey asking people what they want. Then you build it. 

At its core, there are two questions you need to ask your audiences:

a) What is the no.1 challenge right now in their business?

b) What all have they done till now to solve it?

When you get these answers and then build consistent content to solve this pain point, you will be seen as their ideal solution provider. 

As you highlight their frustrations and failures in their own language, they will feel that you understand their problem better than anyone else.

Next, when you present your solution in an easily consumable way, you will instantly be seen as a problem solver. This will magnetically pull people to your brand.

Now, here’s to you implementing them and taking action.

Hope you got a lot of value from the article and now feel equipped to grow a stellar personal Brand in 2024.

Here’s what you can do next:

I have put together a collection of bonus content for you to take action right away.

BONUS 1

You get the 60-second Personal Branding implementation checklist which will make you stand out in your industry and get leads in automation.

The implementation checklist is filled with many actionable steps written in crisp to the point execution sequences.

  • Learn how to never again be confused about what to say to your audiences and what stance to take while communicating your sales message on Social Media (Point 1 and 2)
  • Set your social profiles to speak your brand without any daily efforts from you (Point 3 and 4)
  • Discover the 1 method which will put you in front of millions of target customers and help you generate leads on autopilot! (Point 5 and 6)
  • The 1 smart tactic which can help you build relationships with influencers and even get promoted by them on their own platforms! (Point 13).  ← This is my personal favorite (word of advice – Please be genuine and honest while using this).
BONUS 2 Get the Exact 4 Personal Branding Character Types experts are using to create million dollar businesses.
  • The character type tools are perfect especially if you are a newbie and do not know what positioning you should have.
Get all of this by simply clicking the image below.

Abhik Shome

Abhik helps entrepreneurs shorten their path to online growth with conversion marketing. He is a leading conversion marketing expert and online marketing thought leader. As CEO of Brand Bridge Solutions, an online marketing agency, Abhik's content has been featured in mainstream media outlets like Inc Magazine, Business Insider, Inc ASEAN, YourStory, and Influencive among others. Abhik is the Founder of The Starting Idea, a business growth magazine focused on giving fast-paced actionable marketing strategies to the modern day entrepreneur. He is also the founder of Product Know, an exclusive library of business software and resources. He has recently authored the book The Growth Toolbox covering 210+ tools to grow every aspect of a modern day business. Get it for FREE here. His blogs and articles have been shared and appreciated by top industry experts including Larry Kim, Founder of Wordstream & Mobile Monkey.