Starting a small business could be quite overwhelming for most small business entrepreneurs. There are many start-up aspects to consider at first, and figuring out your financial projections is one of the most important and potentially overwhelming steps. However, you can alleviate unnecessary fears and find a financial planning tool that can help you make your initial financial projections until you get more experiential knowledge about your business finances.

There are many useful tools and resources for small businesses. Whether you need to make payroll easier, create a beautiful website, combine the management of your social media channels in one or become more efficient, you’ll find plenty of options to choose from—online platforms, CRM systems, phone apps, you name it. Being efficient in operating your business will not only save your staff and you time but will also provide better customer experience. Here are five affordable tools that will help you streamline your small business operations.

Securing the data of your business is extremely important regardless of the type of industry your business is in. When your business manages your customers’ private information, then data security becomes even more important. Providing a website building platform as a service to your customers, for example, and finding out that their login information was compromised, could lead to a complete disaster. There are countless similar examples where compromising the data of your business and/or customers could cost your business everything.

Many small business owners struggle with finding the best way to use social media for their business. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are gaining more popularity among various generations and the generational gap excuse isn’t valid any more. Small business owners don’t even need much expertise to learn how to leverage social media since there are multiple resources online on best ways to utilize it. The overload of information could certainly be overwhelming. Here are quick tips for using the top 5 social media channels for your business.

Getting bogged down in emails is a common mistake most professionals make. While being responsive via email is extremely important, spending most of your time checking your inbox and responding to emails can take away from important time you can use to work on other parts of developing and improving your business. There are simple ways to create systems and habits that improve email effectiveness. These methods can free up time to focus on other tasks. Here are five quick tips to optimize email systems specifically for your business.