With the steady rise of the gig economy, there are more freelancers and solopreneurs now than ever. A study by Freelance Union and Upwork found that over 50% of Gen Z workers in the USA are currently doing some type of freelance work, followed by 40% of millennials.
Perhaps the most important reason to start freelancing is the freedom you enjoy. You have the freedom to do what you love, work with clients that you choose, at a pace that you are comfortable with.
However, with great freedom comes great responsibility. As a freelancer, you are wearing multiple hats at work, and there may be days when you wish you had more than two hands too!
Whether you are motivated by extra income or being your own boss, you’ll need a helping hand or two. You’ll need freelancer tools to manage your time wisely, boost your productivity, and keep you on the track to successful freelancing.
One of the most popular organizing tools based on the traditional kanban method; Trello is one of the best apps for freelancers as well as agencies. Along with the Trello boards and events that make planning, managing, and sharing projects easy, you can also add more advanced functionality with the plugins.
Trello is free for individuals but offers a paid Business Class for enterprises.
Freelancers often juggle drawing up proposals, contracts, invoices, and more, all by themselves. Clientjoy makes it easier to get all of this done on a single platform. It is a fairly easy tool to work with, even for beginners. Furthermore, Clientjoy keeps track of your invoices and proposals to help you understand whether the proposal is accepted or whether the payment is done. It is the best freelance software that offer a complete system to support freelance business.
P.S. Clientjoy has a special free plan for freelancers who are just starting out. You get access to unlimited leads, proposals, invoices, sales pipeline, client portal and much more.
Remember those early days when you would frantically jot down important things in a notebook? If you’ve carried that note-taking habit to the tablet and laptop era then this freelance management tool is for you.
Evernote is used by 100 million people across the globe and is the most popular note-taking application. You can use it to take notes, keep track of your tasks, manage projects and stay on top of things you don’t want to forget. It is reliable and comes with useful features like web clipper, notebooks, inbox and so on.
Evernote is free for up to two devices and offers paid premium plans.
The good old to-do lists get an upgrade with Todoist; it's one of the best freelance tools. Manage your week ahead and never miss a task with Todoist. You can tally tasks, plan, manage and visualise projects in the pipeline, coordinate deadlines and more in one app. You can download Todoist for Web, Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows.
While the Google calendar is a useful tool that all of us have used some time or the other, freelancers may need to step up their game with an advanced calendar that does more. Calendly is a great tool that comes to your rescue. You can use it to schedule personal or group meetings and it integrates with Google Calendar, Office 365, iCloud and Outlook.
It also works with apps like Salesforce, Slack, Zapier and MailChimp. Perhaps its best feature is that it automatically detects different time zones, which is especially helpful if you’re working with clients from other countries.
Calendly has a limited free plan and a paid plan.
P.S. Clientjoy is a good alternative to Calendly with its native meeting scheduler. Not only that, you can do much more with Clientjoy like managing leads, proposals, conversations, payments, etc. from a single place!
Listing your tasks according to priority has never been easier. Monday.com is perfect for remote workers, agencies and freelancers who often have their hands full with big and small projects.
It has extremely customisable board layouts that add to your productivity with templates and viewing options. Monday is one of the best tools for freelancers to increase productivity & manage projects. It is available for download on Android, iOS, Mac and Web.
Finance Tools
Finance is one of the most important aspects of freelancing, and perhaps something that most freelancers struggle with. Here are some tools that can help you manage your invoices and payments.
Wave is one of the most popular freelance finance tools on the market. Simply put, it is a cloud accounting software that is helpful for managing income and expenses, calculating sales, creating and sending invoices to clients and collecting payments.
Its paid version comes with features like payroll and bookkeeping. Yet, the free version can be one best accounting software for freelancers and self-employed people on a tight budget.
Wave has both free and paid plans with a fee for payments collected via invoices.
An advanced accounting software suite, Xero is a step up for freelancers who wish to reconcile their bank transactions and liaise with accountants. Take control of your summarised accounts, create and view reports, send invoices and more with this accountancy grade software.
Do you charge by the hour? FreshBooks is a tool that keeps track of your billable hours and helps you manage your expenses. Like many other finance tools for freelancers, it helps you create and send invoices in any currency. This is a useful feature for those with multiple clients in different countries. It can also send automatic payment reminders to your clients post due date. FreshBooks integrates with apps like PayPal, Envato and Fundbox.
FreshBooks offers a free trial and paid plans.
Wrapping Up
The multitude of freelancer tools that you have to juggle may make it difficult for you to focus on the actual client work! That is why using an all-in-one CRM software like Clientjoy might be the best solution for you!
With Clientjoy CRM, you can -
Import and view all leads and divide them into stages such as New, In-conversation, Proposal sent, Closed, Lost, etc.
Create & send proposals to your leads or clients (there are 25+ built-in templates)
Make a personal meeting link and set availability for leads or clients to schedule meetings
Convert signed proposals into invoices in just one click!
Manage conversations with your clients by integrating my Gmail account
And a LOT more...
And even though the free plan has limitations, it wil help you get comfortable with the software and understand how Clientjoy is the best way to manage your freelance business!
With the steady rise of the gig economy, there are more freelancers and solopreneurs now than ever. A study by Freelance Union and Upwork found that over 50% of Gen Z workers in the USA are currently doing some type of freelance work, followed by 40% of millennials.
Perhaps the most important reason to start freelancing is the freedom you enjoy. You have the freedom to do what you love, work with clients that you choose, at a pace that you are comfortable with.
However, with great freedom comes great responsibility. As a freelancer, you are wearing multiple hats at work, and there may be days when you wish you had more than two hands too!
Whether you are motivated by extra income or being your own boss, you’ll need a helping hand or two. You’ll need freelancer tools to manage your time wisely, boost your productivity, and keep you on the track to successful freelancing.
One of the most popular organizing tools based on the traditional kanban method; Trello is one of the best apps for freelancers as well as agencies. Along with the Trello boards and events that make planning, managing, and sharing projects easy, you can also add more advanced functionality with the plugins.
Trello is free for individuals but offers a paid Business Class for enterprises.
Freelancers often juggle drawing up proposals, contracts, invoices, and more, all by themselves. Clientjoy makes it easier to get all of this done on a single platform. It is a fairly easy tool to work with, even for beginners. Furthermore, Clientjoy keeps track of your invoices and proposals to help you understand whether the proposal is accepted or whether the payment is done. It is the best freelance software that offer a complete system to support freelance business.
P.S. Clientjoy has a special free plan for freelancers who are just starting out. You get access to unlimited leads, proposals, invoices, sales pipeline, client portal and much more.
Remember those early days when you would frantically jot down important things in a notebook? If you’ve carried that note-taking habit to the tablet and laptop era then this freelance management tool is for you.
Evernote is used by 100 million people across the globe and is the most popular note-taking application. You can use it to take notes, keep track of your tasks, manage projects and stay on top of things you don’t want to forget. It is reliable and comes with useful features like web clipper, notebooks, inbox and so on.
Evernote is free for up to two devices and offers paid premium plans.
The good old to-do lists get an upgrade with Todoist; it's one of the best freelance tools. Manage your week ahead and never miss a task with Todoist. You can tally tasks, plan, manage and visualise projects in the pipeline, coordinate deadlines and more in one app. You can download Todoist for Web, Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows.
While the Google calendar is a useful tool that all of us have used some time or the other, freelancers may need to step up their game with an advanced calendar that does more. Calendly is a great tool that comes to your rescue. You can use it to schedule personal or group meetings and it integrates with Google Calendar, Office 365, iCloud and Outlook.
It also works with apps like Salesforce, Slack, Zapier and MailChimp. Perhaps its best feature is that it automatically detects different time zones, which is especially helpful if you’re working with clients from other countries.
Calendly has a limited free plan and a paid plan.
P.S. Clientjoy is a good alternative to Calendly with its native meeting scheduler. Not only that, you can do much more with Clientjoy like managing leads, proposals, conversations, payments, etc. from a single place!
Listing your tasks according to priority has never been easier. Monday.com is perfect for remote workers, agencies and freelancers who often have their hands full with big and small projects.
It has extremely customisable board layouts that add to your productivity with templates and viewing options. Monday is one of the best tools for freelancers to increase productivity & manage projects. It is available for download on Android, iOS, Mac and Web.
Finance Tools
Finance is one of the most important aspects of freelancing, and perhaps something that most freelancers struggle with. Here are some tools that can help you manage your invoices and payments.
Wave is one of the most popular freelance finance tools on the market. Simply put, it is a cloud accounting software that is helpful for managing income and expenses, calculating sales, creating and sending invoices to clients and collecting payments.
Its paid version comes with features like payroll and bookkeeping. Yet, the free version can be one best accounting software for freelancers and self-employed people on a tight budget.
Wave has both free and paid plans with a fee for payments collected via invoices.
An advanced accounting software suite, Xero is a step up for freelancers who wish to reconcile their bank transactions and liaise with accountants. Take control of your summarised accounts, create and view reports, send invoices and more with this accountancy grade software.
Do you charge by the hour? FreshBooks is a tool that keeps track of your billable hours and helps you manage your expenses. Like many other finance tools for freelancers, it helps you create and send invoices in any currency. This is a useful feature for those with multiple clients in different countries. It can also send automatic payment reminders to your clients post due date. FreshBooks integrates with apps like PayPal, Envato and Fundbox.
FreshBooks offers a free trial and paid plans.
Wrapping Up
The multitude of freelancer tools that you have to juggle may make it difficult for you to focus on the actual client work! That is why using an all-in-one CRM software like Clientjoy might be the best solution for you!
With Clientjoy CRM, you can -
Import and view all leads and divide them into stages such as New, In-conversation, Proposal sent, Closed, Lost, etc.
Create & send proposals to your leads or clients (there are 25+ built-in templates)
Make a personal meeting link and set availability for leads or clients to schedule meetings
Convert signed proposals into invoices in just one click!
Manage conversations with your clients by integrating my Gmail account
And a LOT more...
And even though the free plan has limitations, it wil help you get comfortable with the software and understand how Clientjoy is the best way to manage your freelance business!
FREE GUIDE
Get Access to our Battle-tested Resource Library
About Author
Yash Shah
Co-founder & Chief Executive
Yash owned and ran a Tech Agency that grew to 55 people team offering SaaS, FinTech and E-Commerce Web & Mobile app Development before founding Clientjoy. He currently serves as Chief Executive at Clientjoy - a platform that helps 16K+ Agencies & Freelancers in 90+ Countries grow their business and manage their clients.
About the Editor & Reviewer
Heading
Editor
What’s a Rich Text element?
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
Static and dynamic content editing
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
How to customize formatting for each rich text
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
Heading
Reviewer
What’s a Rich Text element?
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
Static and dynamic content editing
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
How to customize formatting for each rich text
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
Agency used righteously allows light to dispel the darkness and enables us to live with joy and happiness.
~ Robert D. Hales
Tip for you
bringing in complementary skills by engaging freelancers as agency members. This is the most common path for existing freelancers to take.
Insightful Fact
Open rates of cold emails increases when it’s highly personalised to leads.
We are on a mission to help agency grow, fulfil and earn. Check out our
Blogs
We write weekly on agency growth topics like Client management, Growth & retention, Client Payments etc.
Youtube videos
We create videos that Helps a Million Agencies and Freelancers Grow, Fulfil and Earn with Strategies, Tactics and Tools.
Podcasts
We write weekly on agency growth topics like x, y, z
Find Work
We have a marketplace that connects freelancers/agencies to clients. Go to marketplace
Client Portal
We have customisable client portal to share all deliverables, embed third party apps like project management. Book a Demo
Subscribe to Grow your Agency
Over 32,000 Agency Owners and Freelancers from 90+ Countries have subscribed to this blog to learn how they can Run and Grow their Independent Business. You should too.
Your Existing Clients will Bring New Clients - Give them a Stellar Experience
.png)
