Being a freelancer means being a one-man company.
You have to deal with everything yourself. On your own.
You have to be your own employee, manager, HR manager, accountant, as well as bidder.
Sounds daunting, doesn’t it?
Well, it doesn’t have to be.
The following best tools for freelancers will make freelancing look like a piece of cake for you:
For Automated Meeting Scheduling
If you are a freelancer or have worked in a company that deals in the services sector, you’d understand how important meetings are.
A huge chunk of a freelancer’s time is spent having meetings with clients.
How can you make it easier for yourself, though?
Well, the most efficient way is to borrow some help from some of the best client management tools for freelance marketers.
Let’s take a look at some freelancer tools that you can use to automate your meetings seamlessly:
The Best Tool: Calday
If you are a freelancer who cannot seem to align their meetings no matter what tool they use, then Calday is exactly what you have been waiting for!
This interview scheduling tool will make your life easier with its user-friendly interface and never-ending features, which, by the way, are truly one-of-a-kind.
Features
Calday offers a vast variety of features to make it easy for you to manage your freelance schedule while saving your time. It comes with an intuitive interface that allows you to set meetings across multiple time zones. This feature especially comes in handy for freelancers who have clients all over the world.
You also get calendar synchronization with it that lets you sync multiple calendars with Calday, including Google Calendar and iCloud Calendar. Besides, if you don't want to miss out on any meetings with clients, you can always turn the Instant Notifications feature on.
Benefits
- Calday's personal booking page makes it easy for your clients to schedule meetings with you.
- Manage your clients easily by creating lists on Calday.
- Expand your reach with its sharing option by posting your link on Facebook and Instagram.
Pricing
Calday offers both a free plan for small businesses and a premium plan for growing businesses. At $12 per month, the paid plan is nothing but a steal!
Notable Mentions
While Caldays takes the win for us when it comes to the best free tools for freelancers, here are some other options you can look into:
- Calendly
- Doodle
- Google Calendar
For Writing and Paraphrasing
Writing and paraphrasing tools act as game changers for freelancers.
Whether you are a content writer or not, it is important to leave an impression on your client. A writing tool can help you ensure that your communications are free of any grammatical errors.
Plus, these tools enhance productivity by speeding up content creation, ensuring plagiarism-free work, and increasing client satisfaction.
Ultimately, the best SEO tools for freelancers can help you handle your projects more efficiently and boost your income potential as a result.
The Best Tool: Grammarly
If you are a content writer, you must use Grammarly.
If you are not a content writer, you must use Grammarly.
See what we did there?
Grammarly takes the crown when it comes to the best SEO tools for freelancers.
It can help you improve your grammar, punctuation, as well as spelling. As a result, you will be able to send the perfect prompts, drafts, blogs, and web content to your clients.
Features
Grammarly also helps improve your content's clarity and structure by offering you the right suggestions. Its different modes also improve the readability of the content accordingly.
The best part about Grammarly is the plagiarism checker it comes with that allows you to perfect your grammar and make sure your content is plagiarism-free at the same time.
Benefits
- It automatically detects grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
- Grammarly improves clarity and engagement with style suggestions.
- It also ensures originality by checking your content against billions of web pages.
Pricing
You can use Grammarly for free with its free plan. The free plan offers basic grammar and spelling checks with some clarity and structure suggestions.
Plus, you can also buy the paid version if you want advanced punctuation checks, as well as the plagiarism detector, at only $30 per month.
Notable Mentions
If you think Grammarly is not your cup of tea, don’t worry! We have got some more amazing options for you to try:
- QuillBot
- Hemingway Editor
- ProWritingAid
- Copyscape
For Team Communication
When we talk about freelance project management tools, we cannot overlook the tools that make it easy for you to communicate with your team or your client’s team.
Team communication tools make it easy for freelancers to collaborate by streamlining their project discussions and file sharing. Plus, they also make task management seamless with real-time updates.
The Best Tool: Discord
Discord is one of the best freelance management platforms that doubles as a team communication platform too.
You just need to know how to use it for your purpose and objectives.
Features
As a freelancer, you should definitely look into Discord for communication management because of its versatile, real-time chat and voice features. You can easily create multiple channels for different projects like writing, designing, voiceovers, HR services, etc., and enhance your collaboration.
Moreover Discord streamlines workflow with its robust file sharing and integration options. You can even integrate different bots in it as per your taste and requirements. In addition to that, its user-friendly interface and customization options make it adaptable to different freelance team needs.
Benefits
- Discord enables freelancers to join or create communities for networking and support.
- It also offers extensive features at no cost. This makes it super budget-friendly for freelancers.
- Discord is available on various devices, including laptops, web, and mobile phones, thus ensuring seamless communication on the go.
Pricing
Discord comes with three main pricing options. Its free plan offers basic features such as text, voice chat, and file sharing with a 25 MB limit. Its Nitro Classic package comes at the price of $4.99 per month.
Lastly, the Nitro package is priced at $9.99 per month and offers all Nitro Classic features with additional customization options.
Notable Mentions
Do you want to look into something else? Worry not; the following Discord alternatives are just as good as the one we just discussed:
- Slack
- Microsoft Teams
- Trello
For Task Management
Freelancers get multiple projects at the same time, and when those projects are from different clients, it becomes very easy to get lost in them and confuse their requirements.
If you want to save yourself from falling into that mess, you must look into task management tools.
Why?
Task management tools can help you stay organized, prioritize your tasks, and meet deadlines efficiently. Plus, they offer better visibility into project progress and individual responsibilities. As a result, they decrease the risk of missed deadlines or overlooked tasks, especially when you are working with multiple people.
Let’s look at the best tool you can use for managing your tasks:
The Best Tool: Google Sheets
If you are looking for the best tools for freelancers that make your work easy for you then you do not need to look farther than the tools Google offers you.
Among those tools, you will spot Google Sheets, your savior in task management!
Google Sheets can facilitate your collaboration with your clients by centralizing communication and feedback in the same place. You just have to share the link with your clients, and the rest will follow.
Sounds like a win-win situation to us.
Features
Why should you choose Google Sheets as your preferred tool for task management?
Google Sheets offers real-time collaboration, allowing you to share and edit your tasks at the same time as your clients or their teams. Moreover, it offers customizable templates to streamline task organization and improve task tracking. No matter what niche or mode of work you work with, it can easily adapt to various project workflows.
Benefits
- Google Sheets offers integration with other Google Workspace tools, such as Google Drive and Google Calendar.
- You can access Google Sheets from any device and manage your tasks anywhere.
- It offers functions and charts for analyzing project data.
Pricing
You can use Google Sheets for free with a Gmail account. Or you can get a basic plan at $6 per user per month or a Business Standard plan that starts at $12 per user per month.
Notable Mentions
Here are some alternatives for Google Sheets:
- Asana
- Monday.com
- Zoho Sheet
For Sending Proposals on Gigs
Submitting proposals on gigs and projects makes up a huge part of a freelancer's work.
The right proposal ensures that you get the project from a sea of hundreds of other freelancers bidding on the same project as you.
Using tools that help you create proposals can make it easy for you to stand out to potential clients. Plus, these tools often come with customizable templates that can save you time and ensure consistency in your submissions.
The Best Tool: Better Proposals
A tool like Better Proposals will make your life easier with its integration options, such as e-signatures and tracking. Moreover, streamlining your proposal process will also skyrocket your chances of securing gigs.
What else can you ask for?
Features
Better Proposals comes with more than 200 professionally designed and customizable templates that you can access and edit with its intuitive Editor.
How can these templates help you as a freelancer?
For starters, these web-based documents make sure that your proposals are consistent and have an appealing appearance across all devices. Besides, it offers digital signatures, contracts, and payments through multiple integrations such as PayPal, Stripe, as well as GoCardless. As a result, you can streamline your proposal process and get paid efficiently from anywhere in the world.
Benefits
- It streamlines the entire proposal process, from creation to payment.
- You can connect with clients all over the world with its web-based documents and payment integrations
- Better Proposals can boost your client's confidence in you with its professional templates and digital signatures.
Pricing
Better Proposals comes with three subscription options. Its least expensive package starts at $19 per month only. Its Starter plan is perfect for freelancers who are just getting started. If you have a large team, then the Premium plan, priced at $29 per month, is perfect for you.
Notable Mentions
Don’t want to use Better Proposals?
Look at the following tools and see which one floats your boat the best:
- Proposify
- PandaDoc
- Qwilr
- Bidsketch
For Managing Finances
Another important part of the freelance lifestyle is handling expenses.
We have got that correct, right?
We understand how tedious it gets to handle all the expenses, send invoices, calculate earnings, pay taxes, and keep track of savings.
If you can relate to these struggles, then you need to look for a tool that helps you manage your finances.
Here is the best invoicing tool for freelancers:
The Best Tool: FreshBooks
FreshBooks is one of the best accounting software designed specifically for freelancers. It helps them manage their time tracking, invoicing, as well as expenses.
You get many features with it including financial reporting, automated invoicing, and expense tracking to streamline your financial management processes.
In other words, if you are looking for something to simplify your accounting tasks and improve your overall business efficiency, then FreshBooks is made for you.
Features
One of the best features of this tool is its intuitive and user-friendly interface, which makes it easy for freelancers and small business owners to navigate through the platform, especially if they are using it for the first time.
It allows users to design professional-looking invoices. All you need is a few clicks, and you will have an invoice sent directly to your clients. In addition to that, this tool also creates financial reports to offer you insights into your performance metrics.
Benefits
- It stores client information, making it easy for you to track interactions.
- FreshBooks also categorizes expenses to ensure accurate financial reporting for freelancers.
- Get different metrics such as revenue, cash flow statements, expenses, and profit margins in one place.
Pricing
FreshBooks is a paid tool that you can get at $17 per month. It also has another plan called the Plus plan, priced at $30 per month.
Notable Mentions
While FreshBooks took the red ribbon for us, these three tools are just as good as it, if not better:
- QuickBooks
- Wave
- Xero
For Time Tracking
Time tracking tools can help you monitor your work hours accurately. As a result, they can make project management and billing easy for you.
Plus, they offer insights into productivity patterns, thus optimizing your workflow for you. Not to forget how the records they store can serve as valuable documentation for you during client invoicing and accountability.
The Best Tool: Toggl Track
When talking about the best time tracking tools for freelancers, we cannot forget Toggl Track because it has made a name for itself when it comes to helping freelancers with time.
Features
Toggl Track offers time tracking across various devices, with features such as manual and automatic time entry, project & client tagging, as well as reporting.
You will love its intuitive interface that delivers seamless tracking, as well as the integrations it offers with various apps. In other words, Toggl Track is perfect for you if you are looking for a tool to enhance your productivity and streamline your workflow management.
Benefits
- Its time monitoring leads to better time management and increased productivity.
- You can bill your clients accurately with its accurate billing.
- Toggl Track also provides detailed reports on time usage and project estimation.
Pricing
It comes with three pricing plans, including a Free plan, a Starter plan priced at $10 per user per month, and a Premium plan priced at $20 per user per month.
Notable Mentions
Don’t want to pay for Toggle Track but want the same options?
Take a look at the following free alternatives:
- Clockify
- Harvest
- Clockodo
Concluding It Up
In conclusion, navigating the freelance landscape can be nerve-wracking!
However, with the best tools for freelancers, you can make it manageable. From streamlining your meetings with Calday to managing your finances efficiently with FreshBooks, you can utilize the resources mentioned above and thrive in your independent ventures.
Best of Luck!