10 Best Apps for Freelancers
Millions of people around the world today are making a steady living as full-time freelancers. Among the many benefits of freelancer careers are having more freedom and enjoying a stable work-life balance. Those two benefits are the probable reasons why countless individuals are taking the plunge to freelance. Some of them are fresh graduates, and some are former traditional employees who quit their day jobs. If you plan to follow their path, you’re about to experience a unique career choice with vast opportunities. Before you indulge in freelancing, let us introduce you to 10 apps that could come in handy once you start your freelance work.
10 Best Apps for Freelancers
For Financial Management:
Sighted
Sighted is a free invoicing software that can help you manage your finances. It can provide you with a regular profit and loss report without you having to calculate your revenue manually. The main feature of Sighted is that it can create invoices in just minutes. After that, you can send them to your clients through email, and they’ll be notified of their payments promptly. You should know that tracking your income is an essential practice in freelancing. Sighted can definitely help you with that.
For Project Management:
Hubstaff Tasks
Throughout your freelance career, there will be times you’ll be handling multiple projects simultaneously. It would be a challenge to keep tabs of your progress on each project in that situation. For that reason, you should consider using Hubstaff Tasks. Hubstaff Tasks is designed for teams and groups, but that doesn’t mean solo freelancers aren’t suitable users of the app. This app has a dashboard feature that can show you which of your projects are completed, in progress, upcoming, and backlogged, all in just one glance at your phone or computer screen. You can try Hubstaff Tasks for free for the first two months.
Google Tasks
If you want a simple and more accessible app to manage your projects, Google Tasks should be your primary choice. First of all, Google Tasks is free to download from the Play Store. You just have to install it on your device, register your Gmail account, and start creating your to-do checklist and work schedule. Because this app is made by Google, you can expect it to be user-friendly. Moreover, Google Tasks is the go-to choice for most freelancers who can’t afford to spend on management apps monthly. That shows that Google Tasks is clearly a reliable tool.
Evernote
If you’re the type of person who’s very particular about taking important notes, then Evernote is the app that’ll delight you. Every critical information, reminder, or instruction concerning your clients’ projects can all be recorded in Evernote. You can sync Evernote between your PC, smartphone, and tablet. So, wherever you are, whether on the go or at home, you can check on your projects at any time. Plus, Evernote also allows you to grant your clients access to your files in case you need to collaborate with them. So, give Evernote a try and discover for yourself if it indeed suits your preference.
For Time Management:
Focus Booster
Focus Booster is a time management tool that lets you adopt the Pomodoro Technique. The Pomodoro Technique is a time management tactic wherein a person works in intervals; 25 minutes between each short break. So, if you’re the type of worker that takes quick breaks in the middle of a job, Focus Booster should work into your favor. You can also consider Focus Booster as your personal DTR because it enables you to budget and monitors your working hours in realtime.
Freedom
You can say goodbye to your procrastination and your habit of browsing social media and playing games during working hours if you use the Freedom app. Freedom is a unique time management app. How so? Well, it blocks your access to social media and games for a maximum of eight hours per day. In that way, you can focus your mind on your work more efficiently. At the end of the day or week, you might see an improvement in your productivity. The more work you can accomplish, the more you’ll obtain trusted clients, which means you’ll enjoy a steady income.
Experiment using the Freedom app and discover for yourself how it can help keep distractions away. The first several trials are free.
For Data Backup:
Backblaze
Backing up files is extremely important for every freelancer. You can’t afford to lose them. If you do, all of your progress will be lost and unretrievable. Of course, your clients wouldn’t like the news that you lost all the data on their projects. So, make sure to back them up using Backblaze.
Backblaze is a cheap cloud storage app that lets you save vast gigabytes of data. The upload speed of Backblaze is like lighting, no matter how big your files are, as long as you have a consistent internet connection. You can use Backblaze for $6 per month or $60 per year. It’s very affordable, so why not give it a go.
Google Drive
Back in 2018, Google Drive hit an estimate of 800 million daily users, storing trillions of data owned by people around the world, according to an article from The Verge. That analysis suggests that Google Drive is the primary backup tool by the majority, which means it’s reliable.
Google Drive is instantly accessible if you have a Gmail account, and it’s totally free and user-friendly. This Google-powered backup tool has no limits. You can upload videos, high res images, and multiple-page documents with no worries. The sky’s the limit if you utilize Google Drive as your data backup tool. So, we encourage you to use it.
For Learning and Development:
Coursera
When you become a freelancer, you need to expand your skills and knowledge to increase your market value. You have to learn continuously and discover new things to progress your freelance career. Coursera can help you with that. Coursera is an online learning app with courses that are accredited by multiple U.S universities, such as the John Hopkins University.
There are courses for marketing, social media strategies, and courses related to your freelance niche. You can obtain college-level knowledge in the comforts of your home through Coursera. Some courses in Coursera are free, so you should grab the opportunity.
Skillshare
Skillshare is another excellent online learning platform with affordable courses that focus on skills enhancement. Certified professionals from different industries teach online classes in Skillshare. For $10 a month, you’ll be able to enhance your raw competency as a freelancer without leaving your residence. Skillshare contains many courses from various fields. All you need to do is choose those related to your niche and enroll yourself.
Freelancers and aspiring freelancers like you should feel blessed that you were born in this generation. The abundance of accessible freelance tools and resources is everywhere, thanks to today’s digital technology and the internet. So, go ahead and prepare the things you need to start freelancing. Visit several freelance websites, meet clients, present them a work proposal, and commence your freelance journey officially. And, remember to try the freelance apps we’ve discussed to you here.
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