What Works for Business is constantly on the lookout for the most helpful products, services and solutions for small business and startups. Many are brand new; others just haven’t been widely discovered yet. Here are my latest favorites, in 10-second bites:

Put Your Receipt Shoebox Online:  Shoeboxed.com is one of those simple, super-practical solutions that can make a busy business owner’s life easier — and save money, too. Send Shoeboxed your receipts and business cards.  They will scan and automatically categorize them so you can track spending, run reports and export data to accounting software. Great for tax organization, expense reports, returns and exchanges, insurance claims and more. Plans start at $9.95/month.

Make Your Phone an Office:  QuickOffice is quickly becoming a “go-to” app for turning smart phones into complete office productivity devices that can view, create and edit Microsoft Office documents, conduct ecommerce transactions and more. See their full suite of apps at QuickOffice.com.

Read your Voicemail:  Hate listening to voice messages? PhoneTag will convert your voicemails to text and send them to you by email or text message so you can review them more quickly. Save time by reading your voicemail from your mobile, home and work phones, all in one place.  Nothing to download, and there’s a free trial.  Pay 35 cents per message; or $29.95 monthly for unlimited.

Place Ads Easily on Cable:  Bid4Spots is a new online marketplace for cable TV advertising that organizes cable advertising down to neighborhood level and offers new ways to get local TV airtime at a discount.

Try Web-based Order Fulfillment: Shipwire is an on-demand, web-based order fulfillment service that can take some of the hassle out of shipping, transporting and logistics. Scale up or down easily, and maybe save money on shipping over your current methods.

Get Easy Tax Answers Online:  Need quick, expert answers to your specific business tax questions, 24/7?  The e-Tax Hotline is a web-based service offering professional tax advice on a subscription basis at $29.95 monthly. Tax professionals will answer your toughest tax questions and offer money-saving tips.

Guard Your IP Assets:  ProtectedPDF Small Business Edition, just out from Vitrium Systems, is a terrific way to guard valuable information your business has in PDF form. ProtectedPDF is a web-based app that lets you limit the number of computers a PDF can be viewed on, disable printing or set a variety of permissions.

Organize and Share Travel Plans More Easily:  TripIt helps turn business travel chaos into order. Send your travel details — airline tickets, hotel bookings, rental cards, restaurants — and TripIt will organize it all into one master online itinerary that you can use yourself and easily share with others. They also throw in maps and directions. There’s an iPhone app, too.

End Phone-Menu Frustration:  Hate those endless big-business phone menus that make you wade through mind-numbing lists of options? Fonolo.com can help you avoid phone menu frustrations. They’ve compiled the phone menus from hundreds of big companies into a system that gets you directly to the department you want. Use any phone; no software needed; and it’s free.

Find Franchises by State:  As franchise ownership gains popularity, some of the big chains are selling out of available territories, while many newer brands are available only in select states, making it hard for prospective buyers to find what they want. State Franchises is a new franchise portal that lists franchise opportunities by state.

Buy or Sell a Business Online:  BizGopher.com is a new social networking type site that aims to bring business buyers and sellers together. What’s different about this one? “We use the latest technology such as Google maps, analytical charting and raking systems,” says Christian Screen, Pres.

Compare Small Business Credit Cards:  A credit card isn’t just a convenience, it’s a vital business tool for many entrepreneurs. But the Credit Card Reform Act of 2009 will radically change terms and payment rules on many cards.  CreditDonkey is a site that helps small business owners compare card terms and find the best ones for their business.

Try Free Online Bookkeeping:  Outright.com and oDesk.com have teamed up to make free online bookkeeping easily available to self-employed professionals. Some 220,000 professionals who use oDesk now get easy access to Outright.com’s simple web-based bookkeeping software.

Get a Free LLC Agreement:  MyLLLagreement.com is a new legal site offering customized LLC operating agreements for free. “Our philosophy is that entrepreneurs deserve to have law firm qualify LLC agreements without having to spend thousands of dollars in legal fees,” says Adam Bergman, President.

Find Clean & Green Products and Services:  ThomasNet just launched a new way for companies and nonprofits to find products and services that are cleaner and greener, including earth-friendly products, manufacturers building “green” parts into their machines, and more.

Take an Online Class in Social Networking:  Seems like everyone’s tweeting today. And more professionals are on LinkedIn. Facebook is just as important as your own website. But how can business owners and sales professionals best use social media networking to their advantage. SellMoreStore.com has a new online Social Networking for Business Development course that can show you how.

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If your small business is hurting and needs help, the free money starts flowing on June 15. And yes, it really is free — as in interest-free and with no SBA fees attached.   Starting June 15, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will guarantee newly-authorized America’s Recovery Capital (ARC) small business bridge loans created under the economic stimulus and recovery act.

ARC bridge loans are deferred-payment loans of up to $35,000 available to established, viable, for-profit small businesses that are suffering hardship right now and need short-term help to make principal and interest payments on existing debt.  These loans are interest-free to the borrower (you), and 100 percent guaranteed by the SBA. Here’s how it works: Read the full entry

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The Sam’s Club Membership Warehouse for Business, a Wal-Mart division, is revamping its membership rules to make it easier for small business owners to join the “club” and get discounts on goods and services. Qualifying for a Sam’s Club Business Membership once meant you had to produce documents or licenses proving your business status. Now it’s simpler:  Online, just sign up and you’re in.  In person, merely show a current business card, letterhead or something you use to promote or manage your business.  This will make it possible for freelancers, home-based businesses and other independents to tap Sam’s Club savings for the first time — a welcome advantage in a recession.

The basic Sam’s Club small business membership is $35/year; or $100 for the “enhanced” version that gets you bigger discounts on everything from health insurance, websites and check printing, to merchant accounts, credit lines and shipping. Here’s more insider info on saving money on your small business buying at over 500 Sam’s Club locations nationwide: 

Read the full entry

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Attention startups and existing small businesses looking to raise money by selling stock.  This is huge!  You may soon find it easier to attract investors thanks to a largely-overlooked provision in the economic stimulus law that lowers capital gain taxes for individuals who invest in “qualified small business” (QSB) stock. 

But suddenly it looks like that tax break could grow from merely good to downright golden under an Obama proposal just issued. Obama aims to completely eliminate capital gains taxes on qualified small business stock held at least five years. Yes, that’s right.  Zero.  It’s a game-changing shift.  Startups are already salivating at the prospect of putting together stock deals where individuals (but not corporations) who invest — owners, employees, angels, etc. — can exit and pay no capital gain taxes.  Here’s what’s already changed, what may soon change, and what types of businesses and investors qualify:  Read the full entry

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Fewer flights, higher costs, longer lines and delays galore. That’s the reality of travel today. No wonder many small business owners are choosing web and video conferencing as a travel alternative.  But travel is still a part of conducting business for entrepreneurs who are constantly on the lookout for ways to skirt delays, save time and cut costs.

Here are seven things you can do to make business travel a littler easier on you and your business budget:  Read the full entry

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Online video is booming, and savvy small business owners are moving aggressively to tap video as a way to increase website traffic, position products and services, communicate with customers and prospects, market via social media, and more. But hiring a video company to produce videos takes time and money. And most video editing software is complicated.

Instant Video Presenter, just introduced, is a new kind of video software that lets you create quick, simple and affordable business videos — literally in minutes.  This is the kind of affordable, hands-on tech that can help more small businesses start to realize the marketing potential of online video.  Instant Video Presenter lists for $259, and all you need is a web cam, someone to talk into it (like you, maybe) and a “green screen” to hang behind you (included).  Cool stuff for small biz…here’s how it works:  Read the full entry

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Ever called someone’s cell but hoped you’d get voicemail…got finger cramps tapping out a terribly long text message…or disturbed a client or prospect too early in a different time zone? Slydial is a hot new service that entrepreneurs and small business owners are using to avoid sticky phone situations like these and go directly to someone’s mobile voicemail without them knowing.

The Slydial service connects you directly to  the voicemail of any U.S. mobile user, regardless of their carrier or location.  And it works from any phone, land line or mobile (but it doesn’t connect to land line voicemail).  It’s free if you don’t mind listening to a brief (but annoying) ad each time you use it.  Or buy the service for $29.95 per year and skip the advertising aggravation.

But Slydial isn’t foolproof. When I tried it, the system said it was unable to connect me to voicemail.  But moments later I received a return call from the person I was trying to leave a message for, saying his phone rang once and my number showed up. So be aware this might happen.

Here’s how it works, plus some user tips and “Slydial Situations” where you might find it handy for your business:  Read the full entry

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Even as credit card terms move from bad to worse, more small business owners are counting on plastic to finance their ventures.  In December 2008, 49 percent of business owners surveyed by the National Small Business Association (NSBA) said they’d used a credit card in the past 12 months to finance their business. Now that figure has jumped to almost 60 percent. And entrepreneurs are paying dearly for the privilege.  An eye-popping 75 percent of business owners say their credit card terms have worsened in the last six months.  Read the full entry

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Postage rates just went up – again – in what is now an annual rite of spring for the U.S. Postal Service. The latest round of postal rate increases boosts prices across a broad spectrum of business mail types, including first-class letters, flats, postcards, flat rate priority mail envelopes and boxes, single-piece parcels, as well as presorted letters and flats. The cost of each additional ounce, however (currently $0.17), did not go up.

Check out this super-handy Quick Guide to USPS Prices, from postage meter leader Pitney Bowes. It has details on new rates for all of the key mailing categories, including first class, standard mail, express mail, package services and extras such as registered and certified mail.  Here are nine tips for turning the price changes to your advantage: Read the full entry

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Want to connect with other small business owners and entrepreneurs to pursue business buying or selling opportunities outside the U.S.? Remember the name Alibaba — you are about to hear it more often.  Alibaba.com is a kick-ass B2B web portal that makes it easy for millions of buyers and suppliers around the world to do business online — including small businesses and startup entrepreneurs.

Since I first selected Alibaba.com five years ago to my inaugural list of the “100 Best Resources for Small Business,” the site has exploded in both its capabilities and popularity. The company went public to considerable fanfare overseas. But in the U.S., Alibaba has remained largely unknown. Read the full entry

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