When you’re starting or running a small business, keeping your costs down is crucial to surviving & thriving. After many years of advising & supporting startups & small businesses across the UK, I’ve organised these special offers, deals & discounts from some of my favourite products & services for Members of our Startup Week Community:
Use Trello to get (& stay) organised
In my opinion, starting & running your own business is one of the most exciting & rewarding things you can do. It can also sometimes feel a little overwhelming when you think of all the many things you need to do on a daily, weekly & monthly basis as well as for any new projects. I use Trello (a handy online To Do List tool to manage both my own work & when working with clients through my ‘5 Star Focus Programme’ (1-2-1 business coaching). You can sign up for the free version (& get 1 month of Trello Gold perks) here.
Save time & effort with free HubSpot CRM & marketing tools
Since starting my business in 2016, one of the best things I’ve done is use online tools that automate my business development, marketing & sales processes. The most important of these is HubSpot which I use to collect contact details for all my new or potential customers, clients & partners into a single CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, allows me to segment them into multiple lists & send individual or bulk emails to. The HubSpot CRM is completely free to use & you only pay if you upgrade to the more advanced & professional Marketing Starter, Marketing Professional or Marketing Enterprise package. Get free HubSpot here.
(I love HubSpot so much I’ve even become what’s known as a HubSpot Solutions Provider so if you’d like to arrange an informal chat with me about the benefits of using HubsSpot, please read this blog).
Remember everything (& access it on any device) using Evernote
Google Drive is great for storing & sharing documents, spreadheets & presentations & Trello is great for helping you stay organised but Evernote is my favourite tool for making notes, jotting down ideas & storing information that I need to quickly access from my laptop, tablet & mobile device. Start using Evernote for free here.
Get 10% off Google Workspace for 12 months
If you want professional email, calendar, increased cloud storage & online tools like Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Forms & more, sign up for a free 14 day trial here & then email me at paul@newcastlestartupweek.com for a special promo code that will give you 10% off your monthly bill for your first 12 months.
Get 25% off your first order of business cards, stickers or other printed materials from MOO
Who doesn’t love professional business cards, stickers, postcards, notepads & other cool stationery? In my opinion, MOO provides the best quality products & the best service with fast, easy-to-order online templates, customisable designs & super fast (including next day) delivery. MOO prices are great anyway but you can get a 25% discount on your first delivery here.
Save money on your accounting fees with the Blu Sky ‘Startup Club‘
Blu Sky Chartered Accountants are one of the biggest supporters of startups & small businesses in the North East of England with particular expertise in supporting tech, digital & manufacturing businesses. (They’ve also been my accountant since 2018). Managing your finances properly can be one of the biggest headaches for new business owners so Blu Sky have created their ‘Startup Club’ which includes all the essentials you will need in the early stages of your venture for just £150 (+ VAT) per month. If you’re in your first year of becoming a Limited Company you can join the Startup Club for 12 months. Find out how here.
Want to do your own accounting or payroll? Save money with Sage software!
Sage is the UK’s biggest & best business software provider for many reasons & their accounting & payroll software is easy to use, great value for money & comes with the best customer & technical support in the land. Sign up for a free trial & get the latest discounts here.
Find relevant & lucrative public sector contracts with the OPPORTUNI platform
If you’re not already sourcing & bidding for public sector contracts you could be missing out on a valuable & income stream for your business. On average, 2,000 public sector contracts (from Local Authorities, NHS, Housing Associations, Emergency Services, Defense, Universities & more) are released daily on over 3,500 tender portals. It would take over 58 hours to search every UK portal making it humanly impossible (especially for a micro business). The OPPORTUNI platform uses smart robots, AI & machine learning to source the most relevant public sector contracts for your business from across the UK. Find out more & sign up for a free trial here.
Start selling online with an extended free trial of EKM
EKM is the UK’s no.1 online shop provider with an easy to use platform & first class customer & technical support from their UK-based team. A normal free trial is for 14 days but you can get one for 28 days here.
Get more nutrition, lose weight, save money & time with Huel
Huel is the world’s no.1 ‘Complete Food’ providing all the carbs, protein, fibre, fats & 26 vitamins & minerals you need from a meal. It’s vegan too! Used by some of the world’s top entrepreneurs, I’ve been drinking Huel’s ‘Ready-to-drink’ bottles for lunch every Monday-Friday (& sometimes weekends too) since 5th August 2019 & have lost weight, am much leaner, healthier & have saved money too as a direct result. You can get a £10 discount on your first order of £40 or more if you sign up here.
Save £10 off your first order from Adidas.com
If you’re in the mood to get fit(ter), you can get a £10 discount on your first order from Adidas.com if you use my special promo code here.
I hope you find these Special Offers valuable & I’ll be adding more soon. In the meantime, if any of the links or promo codes don’t work for you, please email me at paul@newcastlestartupwee.com so I can look into it.
Paul (Lancaster)
Founder & Director
Newcastle Startup Week