If you’re not currently using a freelance platform in your business, you’re missing out on the opportunity to save yourself some serious time (and cash).
As you dive into the world of freelancing and business ownership, you’ll quickly realize there are two types of tasks that your company requires:
1). Money-making deliverables for your clients.
2). Tasks that are necessary for your business to run properly but that aren’t billable hours.
As a freelancer, it can be tempting to focus only on your client’s deliverables, but in order to really gauge where your time is being spent and accurately budget for your business, you also have to keep a pulse on the administrative side of your gig, too.
Independent contractor software is the solution designed to help solopreneurs and small business owners track all of the important (but sometimes mundane) administrative tasks that can otherwise slip through the cracks while they’re cranking out content for clients. By implementing project management tools into your business, you’re able to seamlessly stay on top of things like client invoicing, time tracking throughout the work week and even client communication.
More than that, though, you can use these tools to streamline your processes, giving you back your precious time. Time that you can then use to book more contracts!
Explore 5 ways using an online platform in your freelance business can make you more money this year.
1. Land More Competitive Freelance Jobs
One of the most rewarding aspects of freelancing is being able to decide which types of clients you want to work with, and for how long.
While we’d all like to be choosy when it comes to who we work with, I don’t need to tell you twice that, sometimes, finding new gigs can be a challenge.
The great news is that a freelance platform can make this process much easier.
Finding new clients in the freedom economy is about presenting your work experience clearly and professionally.
Your prospective clients want to know:
1) Who you’ve worked with,
2) What you were able to do for them and
3) The benefits and strengths that you are able to bring to their team.
Having project management tools in place allows you to show off your streamlined processes, and superior level of organization.
After all, a great system allows you to automate project proposals, invoice more professionally with killer templates, easily track project progress and more.
Finding a way to stand out in a sea of other qualified freelancers can seem overwhelming, so if you’re looking for additional ways to find more clients for your freelance business, explore our tips for success to get started.
2. Eliminate Hours of Work Trying to Juggle Clients
As a freelancer, it’s easy for your workday to become filled with client communications. From answering emails about recent deliverables to questions on a project’s time frame, your level of communication and attentiveness to a client is crucial to the success of their account.
But time spent chatting back and forth with them is not usually billable for most independent contractors. Therefore, how – and how often – you communicate with your clients is very important!
Choose a freelance platform that allows you to:
- Contain your communication with your clients inside one independent contractor software system.
- House their contact information like email, Skype info, mailing address and billing address in one convenient location.
- Allow you to message back and forth about project deadlines and specific tasks (and avoid bouncing back and forth between a variety of messaging systems and your inbox).
- Grant them access to their account overview, so they avoid checking in with you and your team multiple times on project progress.
- Upload, store and share files right within your freelance platform. Say goodbye to logging in and out of Google Drive a hundred times a day trying to find a specific file or folder.
- Attach notes within specific projects and tasks as necessary and skip the back and forth on email.
- Send client project proposals.
- Send and manage their invoices, too.
Choose an independent contractor software program that lets you spend more time on the things that make you money rather than on managing administrative tasks. You’ll be amazed at how keeping all of your client proposals, invoice templates and client info in one place will end up saving you hours in non-billable tasks.
Feel free to thank me if you stop getting those after hours “where is the project at?” calls from clients, too.
3. Easily Facilitate Collaboration with Other Freelancers
Ultimately, the more easily you’re able to communicate with your coworkers, partners and other freelancers, the more efficiently you can get conversations started and new work flowing together!
The benefits of working with other freelancers include:
- A new, fresh perspective on a project or task.
- The opportunity to offer complementary services to those that you already provide.
- The ability to partner for exciting contests, initiatives or pieces of content.
- The chance to create an exciting event with another business owner or solopreneur.
- The ability to execute advertising methods with a greater total spend.
As I previously mentioned above, juggling communication via multiple apps and project management tools isn’t a great use of your time — time that could be spent getting more done for your clients and growing your business.
Or, you know, just relaxing.
Avoid messages getting missed and wires getting crossed by facilitating collaborations within one central freelance platform system. If it’s a system created and used by other freelancers, chances are they may already be familiar with how it works, which makes conversations that much more seamless.
4. Offer Your Services in One, Comprehensive Package
Being able to offer your freelance services in one convenient place allows you to present a more complete package for your clients vs. making your clients go somewhere else.
For example, if your current project management tools don’t allow you to create project progress reports, Gantt Charts and analytics reports that your client is looking for, then they either miss out on getting that important information or they find someone else who can offer it to them instead.
Rather than lose a sale, why not upgrade to a superior freelance platform that offers a variety of features?
Also, be sure you’re not toggling back and forth between an unnecessary number of apps and websites to provide your clients with the information they need.
Remember, your time is money, so the more efficiently you’re able to execute your tasks, the more money you’re saving your business.
Hours spent per week on non-billable hours and various administrative tasks like logging in and out of Google Analytics, Google Search Console, a project tracker and others begin to add up quickly. If your goal is to make more income in less time – a la our favorite 4 Hour Work Week mantras – being cognizant of your daily business processes is key.
5. Become a Master at Automating Tasks
Speaking of the 4 Hour Work Week, ever heard of automation?
My guess is, yes.
The more aspects of your business that you’re able to automate, the less time you’re spending on administrative tasks that aren’t bringing you a profit. The good news is that the internet provides a slew of project management tools to make your life significantly easier.
Consider how you can streamline in the following ways:
- Time management: This is crucial to understanding how much time is being spent on each of your clients, and for which specific tasks. You may be surprised at which projects are taking up the most of your time.
- Elimination: As I mentioned above, unnecessary back-and-forths can be a huge time-suck, so the quicker you figure out a better freelance platform to chat with your clients, the better.
- Standardization of processes: Get a (documented) system down pat so you’re not reinventing the wheel every time you bring on a new teammate.
Explore additional reasons why automation is key to mastering the digital nomad lifestyle to begin maximizing your time even more and implementing effective tools in your freelance business.
Start Using a Freelance Platform to Easily Increase Your Income
Choosing a full-service freelance platform like Spera allows you to streamline your business processes, keep important client information straight and get a better grasp on your projects.
At Spera, it’s our mission to equip independent workers with everything they need to manage their freelance work as efficiently, and seamlessly, as possible. Our project management app and tools let you handle multiple projects at once, organize your client information, manage your time spent on tasks, send professional invoices and track payments, as well as a large variety of other administrative tasks.
