Being self-employed has many pros and cons. It takes a lot of organisation, learning from mistakes and keeping up to date with the industry’s goings-on. Having a clear, succinct process and management system is paramount to not feeling overwhelmed when you are juggling many projects on the go. It also means that you know where you’re at with each client and are able to give quick, professional answers to their queries regarding deadlines.
It took me a few years of heavy-duty research but I’m finally happy with the process I have in place to make sure that everything behind the scenes is running smoothly. Most of the management tools I use are free(!!). Please note that I am only recommending these programmes because I love using the products, I have not been paid to advertise.
So without further ado…
Timekeeping Apps & Software:
Managing your time as a freelancer is suuuuper important, especially when you’re starting out so that you can time projects and get a rough feel for how long a task will take you. It also helps you regulate how many clients/tasks you can manage at one time.
Klokki Slim (free but on the Apple Store only) –
Klokki Slim is a free version of the Klokki app on the Apple Store. It hangs out at the top of your screen in the menu bar, where you can really simply and easily time multiple tasks at the click of a button. There’s no bells or whistles, just a good app that does exactly what it says on the tin. The UI is pretty simple and minimalist so doesn’t distract you from the task at hand. You can easily switch between tasks but just clicking the Play button on the left-hand side of the task.
Asana (free but paid plans available to suit your needs) –
If you haven’t used a Project Management System before then now is the time! It’s great for not only managing your personal tasks, but also help to keep your client accountable too. It also helps illustrate to your exactly what goes into a project and what their money is being spent on. You can invite up to 15 team member on the free plan and also invite collaborators (your clients) so that they are able to clearly view the tasks they have to complete for the project to keep moving. There’s nothing like a good checklist to motivate completion!
Contract:
Eversign (free version allows up to 5 signatures per month, more paid plans available)
So as we’re in the era of technology (and currently in the middle of a pandemic), much of freelance work is done online. This also means that you can reach clients who aren’t local to you, who you wouldn’t have been able to cater to without! Great stuff – we love the internet! There are a couple of things however that are just easier to do in person – like signing your service agreement/contract. Eversign allows you to upload Contracts, which you can then send to a client for an online signature. It’s easy to use, and takes the pressure off of your client having to download, print, sign and scan your contract before beginning your work together.
Project Sharing:
Continuing on the whole “technology is king” point I was making above… Project sharing on the internet has so many pros, but here are some apps/website that makes presenting even easier.
I Love PDF (allows PDF’s up to 200mb)
When you’re sharing your work online and live somewhere that doesn’t have fibre-optic broadband yet (hello rural Scotland), then emails or uploads with brand presentations, brochures, pdfs etc can take DAYS (or at least 30 minutes sometimes) to send. Compressing your PDFs vastly reduces the file size by removing all the pixels that are can’t be seen by the human eye. As you might guess, this means that the upload time is cut way down. This is best for pdf’s that will be sent over and over again such as Pricing Guides or Information Packs. You obviously need to upload the large PDF to the compressor in the first place but it makes it oh-so-quick for all the times thereafter. They also offer a tonne of different PDF conversions so if that’s something you need then be sure to check them out!
Google Drive (free, with paid plans for more storage)
I started using Google Drive when I was in College and kept forgetting my pen drive to save out all my work on to. It just kinda stuck and I know there are many others out there that prefer Dropbox or Onedrive, but basically my point is CLOUD STORAGE is great. I present all of my brand presentations via Google Drive. You can easily share a folder with a client by just grabbing the special ‘share’ link and they don’t even have to sign up for a Google Account to view it.
I also have it synced straight to my laptop and other devices. So everything I work on, Google Drive automatically saves and sends it straight over to the cloud without me having to lift a finger. This generally means that by the time I’ve written out my email to my client, the file I’m going to show them has uploaded and it’s there ready and waiting to be shared.
Flipsnack (free!)
Have you ever wanted to present a multi-page brochure to client, but don’t want to send over the flat digital spreads? Flipsnack’s got your back. You can simply upload multi-page pdfs and it will convert it into an animated digital brochure for your client to flick through and get a good feel for how it will look in the real world. Perfect!
Accounting/Invoicing:
Zipbooks (free, with paid plans)
I’m soooo pleased with this discovery! I used WaveApps up until the end of last year for invoicing. Sadly they don’t offer support to customers outside the US and Canada anymore so it was time to find something new. I had a really good look at lots of free accounting apps and tried a couple out but finally settled on ZipBooks and I’m so glad I did! A really important feature for me that a lot of the other (paid) apps didn’t offer was being able to switch easily between two businesses on one account. This is because Zipbooks was made with accountants in mind. It means they are able to switch easily between multiple clients all from 1 login.
I actually used to use a spreadsheet to track my incomings and outgoings but I do everything (invoicing, money tracking, estimates) through Zipbooks now as I love the user experience so much. The invoices look super professional, are easy to set up and I believe you can even hook payment channels up to your account such as Paypal too! Total win!
Obviously, freelancing and self-employment are a totally personal experience and I’m just sharing what works for me. Hopefully, you might find some of this useful, but I’d love to hear about what apps you swear by to make your freelancing process as smooth and easy as possible!
