If you've decided this year is all about growth for your freelance business, you're in luck. These tools and web apps are amazing for speeding up processes, professionalising your pitches, and keeping your attention span in check.
1. Canva
Great for: Designing presentations and portfolios like a pro.
Non-professional designers can't go far wrong with Canva. You can make stunning presentations and portfolios in a few minutes. The web app is full of templates, icons, fonts, and design assets you can drag and drop. It's heavily customisable, but you can also choose from stunning pre-made designs if you're in a rush or don't have much creative flair. The free version is enough for most freelancers, so no need for a credit card.
2. Apploye
Great for: Knowing exactly how long you're spending on your freelance projects.
Apploye is ideal if you're working solo or part of a team. You can set tasks, time your work sessions, and reduce procrastination, as well as 'start and stop' tasks as and when you're working on them. This is an ideal tool for freelancers who feel like they're being pulled from pillar to post and have a never-ending to-do list. Prices start from $4 per user per month.
3. Proposify
Great for: Speeding up proposals for new clients.
Proposals are often an essential part of bringing in new clients, but it doesn't have to eat up all your time. With Proposify you can access a library of customisable proposal templates and add your own content, prices, and pre-saved assets. You can even see how your potential clients are interacting with your proposals, including which pages they're focusing on and when they've signed.
4. IFTTT
Great for: Triggering routine actions and connecting your apps.
IFTTT (If this then that) can make links between two or more third-party apps, such as smart home devices, Google services, and 500 other web services. For freelancers, that can mean automatically adding a card to Trello when you receive an email from a client, turning up the heat in your home office at a specific time, or triggering essential reminders. The possibilities are pretty much endless, IFTTT can do whatever you need it to do. Just try not to waste too much time fiddling with all the combinations...
5. StayFocusd
Great for: Keeping your monkey brain focused.
This Chrome plug-in does one simple but essential thing - it gives you a limited window to browse social media, Reddit, and other 'time wasting' websites, before kicking you off. You can choose which sites to block and how long you get to indulge in them. Once your time is up, they're blocked for the rest of the day.
6. There
Great for: Keeping track of your clients/fellow freelancers' timezones.
Freelancers work all over the world, so it's pretty normal to work with people in different time zones. This tool tells you who's working, who's asleep, and who's off the clock, depending on where they are in the world. There is currently only available on MacOS but versions compatible with other operating systems are coming soon.
7. Kolabtree
Great for: Putting your BSc degree to good use.
Become an expert on Kolabtree and get hired for medical and science-related research, writing, consultancy, and data analysis projects. This site is for medical and science specialists to do what they do best for an hourly or daily fee. The more advanced your qualifications and the better your experience, the more you can charge.
8. MailTrack
Great for: Freelancers in PR or media who send out a lot of emails.
Find out if people are reading, clicking, and interacting with your emails with MailTrack. This Chrome plugin is 100% GDPR compliant and can help you to understand open and click rates. It will even tell you how much of an attached document has been read by your recipients. You'll never wonder if someone read your email again.
9. Solna
Great for: Getting paid 3x faster.
Solna chases late payers for you, which could get you paid 3x faster on average. Automate your invoice reminders, track all your due dates, and create super stylish, professional invoices from a range of templates. You can even bulk send and choose specific templates for different clients.
Start invoicing for free, FOREVER.
in LND