Family is looking to start a new business
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My Dad-in-law is looking to start a new business in home inspections. He will, of course, need email, calendar, and a website at least.
I am wanting to get him started in the right direction. My initial knee-jerk reaction is to go to O365 and purchase a domain. However, I also want to consider other alternatives that will help to lower his costs and keep him flexible into the future as he'll be the only one in the company. I'll probably work under consulting and get paid in shares/unmanaged partnership into his company.
Not looking for a brick & mortar office with physical servers and such. Maybe vultr with an email server or such? What would you recommend for somebody just starting off in a new business?
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@NerdyDad O365 would be my initial reaction as well.
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Also start him off with cloud based accounting/invoicing software. (eg not Quickbooks)
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@brianlittlejohn said in Family is looking to start a new business:
Also start him off with cloud based accounting/invoicing software. (eg not Quickbooks)
Any recommendations? Square maybe?
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Here's the big question. Has he used any thing for email in the past? Use what he is comfortable with. O365, Google (not gmail) etc.
Plus one for @brianlittlejohn's suggest online accounting. Xero is great so is Wave.
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@NerdyDad I was thinking more like Xero, don't know what all Square offers.
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@Minion-Queen said in Family is looking to start a new business:
Here's the big question. Has he used any thing for email in the past? Use what he is comfortable with. O365, Google (not gmail) etc.
Plus one for @brianlittlejohn's suggest online accounting. Xero is great so is Wave.
Consumer level, he's used both gmail and hotmail. As an employee and student, he's used O365.
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I use Zoho Mail for email, it gives you 25 free users and up to another 25 with referrals.
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Then to chose I would go with O365.
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@brianlittlejohn said in Family is looking to start a new business:
@NerdyDad O365 would be my initial reaction as well.
Only $4 with only one user!!
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@Romo said in Family is looking to start a new business:
I use Zoho Mail for email, it gives you 25 free users and up to another 25 with referrals.
Zoho is nice for email. We tried it out and really liked it.
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@scottalanmiller said in Family is looking to start a new business:
@brianlittlejohn said in Family is looking to start a new business:
@NerdyDad O365 would be my initial reaction as well.
Only $4 with only one user!!
If he has any file storage needs, the slightly higher cost accounts are worth it.
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I would never use O365 first. I recommend Zoho all the time to people like this.
We have a bunch of clients using Zoho free level as it suffices for their needs.
Why buy Office 365?
- He can buy a domain with GoDaddy or so other registrar for next to nothing for the first year.
- Then go to Zoho and setup an account and get email for a few users.
- For the computer(s), buy something simple from retail that meets the needs for the first year.
- Stick with Windows because that is what comes on almost everything you buy retail, but reinstall clean.
- Install Chocolatey to manage applications.
- My recommended package list:
- sumatrapdf.install
- vlc
- greenshot
- libreoffice
- 7zip
- zerotier-one (if remote access is desired to machine)
- My recommended package list:
- select a hosted accounting product that works for him.
- purchase a subscription to CrashPlan for $50/year to backup his one machine
- Use Veeam Endpoint Protection to create a local image backup to a USB drive
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Look at JB with a complete package...
Nice!
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@Dashrender said in Family is looking to start a new business:
Look at JB with a complete package...
Nice!
Been there/done that a time or two.
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Really, the only thing I cannot recommend is a solid Windows email client, because Almost everyone uses Outlook or web based.
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@JaredBusch said in Family is looking to start a new business:
I would never use O365 first. I recommend Zoho all the time to people like this.
We have a bunch of clients using Zoho free level as it suffices for their needs.
Why buy Office 365?
- He can buy a domain with GoDaddy or so other registrar for next to nothing for the first year.
- Then go to Zoho and setup an account and get email for a few users.
- For the computer(s), buy something simple from retail that meets the needs for the first year.
- Stick with Windows because that is what comes on almost everything you buy retail, but reinstall clean.
- Install Chocolatey to manage applications.
- My recommended package list:
- sumatrapdf.install
- vlc
- greenshot
- libreoffice
- 7zip
- zerotier-one (if remote access is desired to machine)
- My recommended package list:
- select a hosted accounting product that works for him.
- purchase a subscription to CrashPlan for $50/year to backup his one machine
- Use Veeam Endpoint Protection to create a local image backup to a USB drive
I think he's going to like Wave. Would you recommend Zoho books over Wave because of integration with their email?
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@NerdyDad said in Family is looking to start a new business:
I think he's going to like Wave. Would you recommend Zoho books over Wave because of integration with their email?
I have not used either, so I cannot recommend there.
I will point out that I would never choose a product only because of an integration. Vendor lock in sucks later.
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The integration with email isn't a thing I would worry about. Wave is very easy to use and setup and their support is great as well.
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@Minion-Queen said in Family is looking to start a new business:
The integration with email isn't a thing I would worry about. Wave is very easy to use and setup and their support is great as well.
Exactly. If you review both products and find the features and such to be identical for your needs, then an integration may be the deciding factor. Absolutely nothing wrong with using multiple services from the same provider. As long as you are not locked into them because of it.
