Working as a solopreneur comes with a lot of responsibility that you might not have expected, but having the right freelancer tools at your disposal can go a long way toward making your work easier.
Whether you’re looking for ways to stay organized, maximize productivity, or get the most out of your busy schedule, the following five freelancer tools are a great way to get yourself moving in the right direction.
After all, time is money, and as a freelancer, you understand the importance of making the most out of every minute throughout the workday so that you can maximize your time and earnings.
1. Freelancer Tools for Organization
For all business owners, organization is of vital importance. But it is especially important to those running a business as a solopreneur.
You are one person who is solely responsible for customer satisfaction, quality assurance, production, and billing. Without a service to help you manage those departments, it is all too easy to let something slip in one of them. No pressure.
At Spera, we’ve worked hard to develop a freelancer tool that will give clear organization to each aspect of your business. Spera helps you track and manage your projects from start to finish. You can populate and send unlimited invoices for each task, as well as track progress on everything you’re working on. When your clients are ready to pay their invoice, you can accept Spera to Spera transfers, credit card, and ACH payments. Our freelancer platform is your virtual office manager, tracking all your information in one convenient place so that you can focus your time and efforts on producing quality work for your clients.
2. Freelancer Tools for Social Media Management
In this digital age, all successful brands need a presence on social media. But how can you possibly be available on all your social media platforms while trying to run a successful business on your own?
That’s where a program like Hootsuite becomes a tremendous asset.
Hootsuite’s primary function is as a social media management tool. It allows you to monitor all your social media platforms on one screen so that you don’t have to log in and out of each program to post content. It also allows you to keep track of what your followers are talking about, whether or not they’re mentioning you and what is trending within your social media community.
Perhaps the most convenient feature of Hootsuite is that it allows you to schedule your social media content in advance. This scheduling gives you the freedom to attend to your social media channels when it suits your schedule.
3. Freelancer Tools for File Storage And Accessibility
If you’re running a freelance business where you provide content for clients, you’ll most certainly need freelancer tools that help you store all your work for easy access.
Google Drive is simple and the easiest way to store your work in the cloud. But beyond its convenient cloud storage, Google Drive has one other feature that makes it a must-have tool for freelancers and entrepreneurs. You can upload content and share it with your clients, where they can make comments, add suggestions, and request edits directly on the document. Give your clients access to a working copy cuts several steps from your editing back-and-forth process.
Any chance you have to streamline a process as a solopreneur is worth taking.
4. Freelancer Tools for Time Management
One of the hardest parts of being a solopreneur is conquering time management.
With so many responsibilities and tasks on your plate, it is all too easy to forget something while you’re multitasking or run over a deadline because you haven’t budgeted your time.
Fortunately, there are programs like RescueTime.
RescueTime helps you reclaim your work-life balance by analyzing your daily habits to tell you how much time you spend on any given task. You have the option to set alerts when you’ve gone over your allotted time for selected activities. These alerts will help you focus and stay on task to work more efficiently.
Another feature of RescueTime is the ability to block distractions during your working hours. For example, if social media is your concentration nemesis, then RescueTime will block it for you while you work. After using the program to budget your time for you, you’ll soon slip into the habit of doing it yourself, which will eliminate so much stress from your workday.
5. Freelancer Tools for Connectivity
If you hope to grow your business, you’ll need to network.
And maybe you won’t have the time to attend events and business mixers, but you can certainly take advantage of the opportunities to network online.
LinkedIn is your best bet for connecting with other business professionals, but, more importantly, with potential clients.
With almost 450 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is the largest network devoted specifically to connecting business people. If you are looking to attract high-level clients, your best bet is to create a detailed profile on LinkedIn, listing all your skills and experience, with a professional profile photo. The more connections you make on this networking platform, the more likely you are to acquire referrals from those connections.
It is the one social media platform that every solopreneur needs to take advantage of.
Whether you’re just getting started, or you’re a seasoned solopreneur, there are always new opportunities and useful freelancer tools to make your work day a little easier. Take advantage of the tools available to you to increase your productivity and efficiency, and improve your work-life balance.
And, if you are ready for an all-in-one freelancer solution, try Spera FREE for 30 days to see how we can help organize your business and put you on the path to success in the gig economy.
