9 Must-Have Freelance Tools for a Better Business

Freelancers have no shortage of tools to serve their clients. Personally, I thrive on Asana, Google Docs, and Ubersuggest. But there’s a world of other tools out there that can help freelancers run a better business. I recently asked the freelance community: What is your must-have business tool or software and why can’t you work without it?

The results are in: here are the 9 must-have freelance tools and how other freelancers are using them.

Jump to section:

Calendly

Booking calls via email can significantly delay project start dates. Availability can change quickly, and email replies can take hours or days. Switching to Calendly allows constant and immediate schedule access to customers and business partners. The call booking happens on a self-service level and can be instant after sharing the link.

Michael Sena, SENACEA

Trello Boards

We get value from using Trello boards. When our clients give us edits, we want a place to keep track of them. Often, edits given in emails are in different email threads and hard to keep track of. However, Trello boards have an app integration that adds email communication to your boards enabling you to review all communication at a glance. You can even share the board with the client or your team members.

Janice Wald, Mostly Blogging

Basecamp

Basecamp is a veteran of the project management world. The software replaces several other paid monthly services, from Slack to Dropbox. While it's not always a complete replacement, the software does take many of the features of those tools and rolls them all into one system. Scheduling and calendars, real-time chat, private messaging, file storage, and more are included.

Basecamp is a shared online space for projects. You can communicate with your team members, share files, and project updates and create team discussions. Basecamp has the advantage of providing a flat fee that doesn’t increase when you add more users to the system. That’s valuable for freelance businesses that intend to grow.

Alex Shute, FaithGiant

Quickbooks

My must-use business tool is Quickbooks. Quickbooks is a fantastic accounting software built for growing small businesses. All within Quickbooks, I can keep track of expenses, send out client invoices, track payments, reconcile my balance sheet/P&L statements, etc. It provides me with a granular overview of the health of my business, where I’m overspending, and areas I need to improve/invest in.

Nick Cotter, Growann

Parpera

As a freelancer, I use a financial tool called Parpera that helps me do everything on one app. I can:

  • Use my debit card for purchases

  • Get set up with a bank account in 10 minutes

  • Send tax compliant invoices which reconcile automatically

  • Set aside money for taxes

It helps keep everything nice and tidy and makes completing my tax return very easy!

Araminta Robertson, Mint Studios

MailTrack

My favorite freelance tool is MailTrack. Before using MailTrack, I was unsure if my cold pitches were read or if my clients saw the latest email I sent them. It caused a lot of worries because I wasn't sure if my cold pitch was terrible or if someone just hadn't read it yet. I love the insights I get from this tool on opens and clicks. It comes in handy whether I'm sending an invoice link or a blog post idea.

Amanda Cross, Amanda Cross

Notion

I'm a one-woman business in the content marketing and copywriting field. Since I discovered Notion, things have been simpler in terms of planning and keeping track of projects. My clients are in various industries and it can be overwhelming to keep track of everything if you don't have a project management tool in place. 

With Notion, I can easily design my workspace and customize it as per my clients' projects. I have my timeline and reminders on important deadlines as well. I can easily share it with my interns and input comments wherever required. Notion is my productivity tool!

Neha Gunnoo, Luova Digital Ltd

Hemingway App

As a writer freelancer, I would argue that by far the most important tool that helped me on my way was Hemingway. It provided me with a great amount of feedback and allowed me to learn and grow as a writer. Hemingway was invaluable when improving the overall readability of texts I produced, highlighting each part an average reader might have struggled with reading. Checking pretty much everything I wrote in Hemingway very quickly became the key part of my writing process. The tool acted as my digital editor.

Micha Laszuk, PhotoAiD

ClickUp

I've been an online entrepreneur for 16 years, and having a solid project management tool is essential as a freelancer who is working with and juggling multiple clients. Your project management tool, if used and set up properly, can make your entire business flow better and save you so much time.

ClickUp is my project management system of choice. I use ClickUp for everything. It is my main business task hub that holds all of my automations and workflows, and is a client onboarding tool. It is my content calendar, my to-do list, and my calendar all in one.

Tara Reid, Tara Reid Marketing

Your turn: What’s your must-have freelance tool to help you run a better business? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and help our fellow freelancers grow!

By the way, this post was made possible by the Terkel community. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published.

Previous
Previous

The 9 Best Places to Find Freelance Jobs Online

Next
Next

The Best Freelance Advice You’ll Ever Read