Whether you’re an aspiring freelancer, or an established solopreneur, like a consultant, who is currently kicking-butt working independently, you may be wondering if implementing an online freelance portal is really worth it.

Is making the switch from your existing paper planner to an online scheduler actually going to make a difference? Do you really need to upgrade your freelancer payments invoicing process? And what’s wrong with your old-school technique of paper files for each of your clients, anyway?

In short: yes, it’s seriously worth it to upgrade your business and take your systems online.

Although these things each seem minor when you consider them individually, they end up chipping away at how productive your business is on a daily basis. It’s time to start working smarter, not harder!

Whether you have dreams of hitting the road as a digital nomad or are simply ready to ditch your overflowing filing cabinet (we don’t blame you), here are a few ways to start digitizing your work day.

How Can a Freelance Portal Help Me on a Daily Basis?

freelance work

We understand that researching new systems and processes for your freelance gig can be a scary and time-consuming task. There are so many apps, tools and websites to choose from online, it’s hard to know where to start and which will truly make a helpful difference in your business.

But let’s explore how a freelance portal can help you – whether you’re working from your home office or jet-setting around the world as a digital nomad:

1. You’ll remain consistently organized

Imagine a world (and business) where you never have to wonder where you put something or if you remembered to pencil in that meeting.

Keeping track of your client’s projects and the wide range of individual tasks you have due every week is challenging! Why not make it easier?

A portal with task management tools can help you keep track of every one of your projects, tasks and subtasks, due dates and more in one, organized location. You can prioritize every aspect of your work, too, making sure things are not only accounted for but done on time.

2. Your professionalism will proceed you

Whether you’re just starting to freelance, or you’ve been working independently for a while, it’s always nice to appear more professional in your business endeavors.

You are a businessman or woman after all, and your clients come to you for your hard-earned expertise. So, your communication – like your invoices and the messaging systems that you use to interact with your clients – should be branded and polished.  

Fortunately, no graphic design skills are needed. A freelance portal like Spera does the branding for you – so you can get back to work.

3. You’ll get paid more easily (and quicker!)

Let’s be honest, the more seamlessly you can get paid, the better. No one likes waiting for freelancer payments in the form of a paper check via snail mail. And the bottom line is, in today’s age of technology, it’s just not necessary anymore.

Upgrade your invoicing and payment processes today and you’ll be seriously glad you did.

Next, let’s discuss some of the simple, yet important ways you can take action and start getting stuff done in your freelance business easier.

Lose the Paper Trail, but Not the Tracking     

freelance portal

As a freelancer, or an aspiring one, chances are you spend a good part of your day online. Whether that’s using your favorite apps, social media or checking your email, most of our day is spent behind a computer screen.

So, doesn’t it make sense to shift your most basic business processes – like scheduling meetings and keeping track of priorities- online, too?

Say Goodbye to: your coffee-stained planner that’s seen better days, the endless notebooks that you’ve attempted to track the time spent on each client every week, and the dusty pile of client contracts.   

Make the Switch: Give your outdated paper planner a run for its money by upgrading to an online system that allows you to schedule important meetings, easily update clients on specific tasks and measure your overall productivity on projects. By migrating all of your project communication online, your clients are always in-the-know and they (and you and your team!) can access the info they need, anywhere at any time.

How to Start: Begin by researching online freelance portals that have the task management tools you utilize (or wish you could) in your business every day. For example, that may be sending alerts to your team for upcoming tasks, or easily pinging a client with an update on a specific project.     

Log Out of All Those Apps Once and For All    

log out of apps   

Managing a freelance business can be hard! You’re solely in charge of creating lists of deliverables, managing deadlines, and communicating effectively with your teammates.

Doing this via 10 different apps and random websites just adds to the stress. Trust us, we’ve been there and done that in the past.

Say Goodbye to: the paper filing system that lives in the corner of your office, the barrage of calendar alerts you’ve set up via Google that don’t sync to any of your projects, and the Excel sheet of your 102 usernames and passwords for the software programs you’ve piecemealed together.   

Make the Switch: Eliminate unnecessary work and effort being spent on trying to stay organized in your work and opt for one comprehensive system instead.

Sure, the free apps you’re using now might seem like a good deal, but how much of your time is wasted when they constantly crash and have kinks that haven’t been worked out yet, because you haven’t upgraded to the paid versions?

We love a great free-mium, but it should be eliminating stress, not adding to it. Just consider your energy spent managing all the different passwords and logins to your systems.  

How to Start: Evaluate your task management tools as they are now.

Then, make a list of what would make your life easier. Perhaps it’s being able to automate deadline alerts for looming tasks that are due soon. Or tracking time spent on each project, so you know the ROI of your efforts. It could also be the ability to quickly run reports on your income and expenses, or simply being able to par 50 tools down into 1 or 2.

A comprehensive freelance portal will help you do all of these things.  

Stop Sifting Through Emails and Start Automating Communications

freelance working on laptop

Better communication is the key to happy clients. Whether you’re updating them with the latest set of revisions on a task or letting know an invoice is overdue, it’s imperative to keep everyone in the loop.

Let’s not forget that creating project quotes and customized invoices is a frequent part of your business, too. It’s time to say goodbye with the endless email chains and say hello to more efficient communication via an online freelance portal.

Say Goodbye to: Confusing email chains (some with 10 different subject lines for the same task), all day instant-messaging (on the app that keeps logging you off randomly), and unnecessary phone calls about deadlines (you know, those calls that constantly interrupt your workflow for the very project they keep calling about).  

Make the Switch: Make your clients feel like they’re a part of your team by giving them set permissions for your online portal, access to their invoices and invite them to use your ticketing system. This way they can check in on tasks, projects and deadlines as often as they’d like – without your intervention.

How to Start: Think about the last time you used a service or worked with a company.

How do you wish they had communicated with you? What made communication seamless and convenient? Research a freelancing platform that allows you to touch base with your clients in a variety of ways- from notes, alerts, deadline updates and more.  

Digitize Your Work and Make Life Easier with a Comprehensive Freelance Portal

Wouldn’t life be so much easier if you could better organize client information (where’s their phone number again? On that random sticky note?), analyze all of your business expenses quickly, and grant clients varying access to projects so they can check their deadlines whenever they want?

It’s time to save some trees and say goodbye to your outdated processes

Start communicating more efficiently with your clients, tracking projects online and keeping everything organized in one place via a comprehensive freelance portal.

Being a digital nomad can be challenging, but your business processes don’t have to be! Explore a better, all-inclusive freelance portal today. 

Cristiano

Author Cristiano

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