Business owners know that they need to manage their businesses effectively in order to be successful. However, if you own a small or home-based business, you may be working on a tight budget. You may not be able to afford to hire professionals to manage basic business tasks such as bookkeeping, taxes, simple legal paperwork, business planning and budgeting. The good news is that with today's online and technical advances, you can handle most of these jobs yourself. Downloadable software programs and even websites can help you through business management tasks that ten years ago you dare not tackle.

As long as you are willing to put in some extra time and effort to set up these programs, you can save yourself a significant amount of money. Getting software that can handle your personal and business tasks will save you even more money. But what type of software do you need, and what will it cost you?

Bookkeeping / Accounting Software

Rather than pay a bookkeeper every month to keep track of your business income and expenses, you can pay a one-time fee for accounting software like Quick Books Pro and do the job yourself. The newest versions will cost you around $150, but a version a few years old still has lots of capacity and can save you money. If you operate a small business from home with no employees, you can get Quick Books Simple Start instead for less than $100.

Home and Business Tax Software

If you are familiar with doing your taxes and want to tackle business taxes, companies like Turbo Tax make home and business tax software that will let you complete both your personal and business income taxes with one piece of software. If you have used tax software before, you know that the program walks you step by step through form completion, providing tips on how you can pay less in taxes. At less than $100 for the home and business version, you can be saving hundreds of dollars every year on this task alone.

Business Planning and Goal Setting Software

Business planning and goal setting is important both in business and your personal life. Software makes business planning easy, using a format similar to fill-in-the-blank. With professional legalese and plan structure, you can confidently submit your completed business plan to lenders or business associates for financial support. You can download business plan software off the internet for as little as $100 and avoid having to hire a business plan writer.