The Free Entrepreneur Starter Kit We Wish We Had
Starting From Scratch: The Free Entrepreneur Starter Kit We Wish We Had
Launching a business is an exciting leap but let’s be honest, it can also feel overwhelming. Between managing finances, building systems, and trying to look professional from day one, it’s easy to get stuck before you’ve even started.
At Hibret Solutions, we meet entrepreneurs all the time who are brilliant, motivated, and ready to grow but they’re unsure how to set up the business processes that will actually support their vision.
We understand that feeling, because we’ve been there too!
When we first built Hibret Solutions, we didn’t have a big software budget, a tech team, or a neat operational blueprint. What we did have was the determination to make things work and a willingness to piece together the right tools until we built strong, scalable systems.
To help other entrepreneurs avoid the confusion we faced, we’ve put together something we wish existed when we first started:
The Free Entrepreneur Starter Kit! These are the tools we personally used to build our business—each offering a free forever version, so you can remove any financial barriers and start today!
These tools cover everything from project management to finances to automation. They’re accessible, user-friendly, and powerful enough to grow with you. We are not affiliated with any of the companies, and we are not receiving any benefits from recommending these to you.
1. ClickUp — Your Digital Command Center
When you’re juggling ideas, tasks, deadlines, and clients, you need a home base. ClickUp’s free version allowed us to organize projects, track progress on tasks, and stay aligned long before we had a fully developed operations system. It’s flexible, visual, and perfect for new entrepreneurs building order from chaos.
2. Zoho Books — Your First Accounting Partner
Money management shouldn’t wait until your business grows. Zoho Books helped us handle invoicing like pros, a customer portal, track income/expenses, and maintain financial clarity early on. The free plan is ideal for small businesses getting their footing and is still the version we use today!
3. Zoho Expense — Keep Track Before It Adds Up
Receipts pile up fast. Zoho Expense made it easy for us to track spending, categorize expenses, and maintain accountability before we had a complex financial workflow in place.
4. Zoho Sign — Handling Documents Without the Headache
Contracts, agreements, onboarding forms… they pile up quickly. Zoho Sign made it possible for us to send, sign, and manage documents securely without paying for an entire e-signature suite right away. Their free forever plan offers you 5 docs per month which is plenty when you are still starting out.
5. Odoo — Free Website Hosting to an All-in-One System
When you’re not ready for a full enterprise software package, Odoo’s One App free forever plan allowed us to build professional looking websites for our clients with free hosting forever. Once you are ready to build out the rest of your operations, they offer you all of their apps from CRM to inventory to email marketing bundled at a low price per user.
6. Zeffy (For Nonprofits) — Fundraising Without the Fees
For nonprofit clients and founders, Zeffy is a game changer. It’s 100% free and lets you manage donations, campaigns, and events without platform fees. We used it for our nonprofit clients and still recommend it today. The way they make it work is by giving the option for people donating to include a tip that can go to Zeffy so they can keep the platform free for the nonprofits that use them.
7. Figma — Elevate Your Look From Day One
Branding and visuals matter, but new entrepreneurs don’t always have the budget for a designer. Figma’s free plan helped us create clean graphics, wireframes, logos, and brand visuals that supported our message from the start.
8. Make (formerly Integromat) — Automate the Repetitive Stuff
Automation isn’t just for big companies. Make allowed us to connect platforms and streamline repetitive tasks early in our journey, from automatically creating customers in our billing system to importing customer records into our make-shift CRM, saving us hours each week.
9. Linktree — Make Your Digital Presence Clickable
Before you have a full website, or even after you do, Linktree gives you a clean, simple way to direct followers to all your important links. We used it on our social media pages and still recommend it to new founders building visibility.
10. Google Accounts — The Non-Negotiable Base Layer
Gmail. Drive. Calendar. Meet. Voice. Docs. Sheets.
Many entrepreneurs underestimate how powerful the basic Google ecosystem can be. We leaned heavily on the free Google tools when building documents, managing communication, and aligning schedules.
11. ChatGPT — Your 24/7 Thinking Partner
When you’re building a business from the ground up, having a place to brainstorm, write, plan, and problem-solve makes everything easier. ChatGPT’s free version became that support for us early on. It allowed us to draft emails and proposals, brainstorm content, outline processes, and get quick answers when we were stuck.
With the free plan, you get access to powerful writing help, idea generation, research summaries, and everyday business support. It’s like having an extra (free) teammate on call to help clarify your thinking and move your ideas forward.
You may be wondering, why do these tools matter? Because at the beginning, what you need most is clarity, structure, and momentum, not a long list of subscriptions draining your budget.
This Free Entrepreneur Starter Kit gives you the structure to build processes, automate the repetitive tasks, manage money responsibly, and collaborate with clarity, all while keeping costs low as you grow! You also don’t know what you don’t know when you start. Using the free versions of these tools gives you the time to figure out what features are crucial to your business and which ones are simply nice to have with minimal risk.
Entrepreneurship is hard but the systems that support your busines don’t have to be.
If you’re feeling stuck, unsure where to begin, or overwhelmed by the tools available, Hibret Solutions is here to guide you. We’ve walked this path ourselves and now help entrepreneurs build smart, efficient, sustainable processes every day.
Ready to take the next step with confidence?
Book a consultation with Hibret Solutions today and start building the systems your business deserves.
