5 genius tools that will amp up your freelancing game
Freelancing can be an exciting and potentially lucrative way to make a living. But it comes with a lot more admin and responsibilities than a conventional permanent role. If you are new to the solopreneur lifestyle, you might find managing yourself, your productivity and your money challenging. Luckily there are a myriad tools available aimed at helping freelancers excel and eliminating some of the stress. Here are five we love.
1. PayPal
Many freelancing jobs can — and are — done remotely, with many South Africans landing jobs for overseas clients. This is great, but it can be an administrative pain receiving money paid from international accounts. This is why having a PayPal account is so useful. You will need an FNB account, but once you do, your payment can be released into your bank account for your spending pleasure.
2. Canva
Whether you need to create a stand-out portfolio, a rates card, an up-to-date CV or a professional-looking invoice, Canva is your one-stop-shop for all your design needs. It is free, easy to use and comes with a host of fun and formal templates, which means that you don’t have to be a designer to produce something that looks legit.
3. Grammarly
Not just for wordsmiths, Grammarly can be downloaded as an extension to your browser so that all your written communication (and work) is tight. Even if your work doesn’t involve words, it’s important that you sound professional at all times. Grammarly will point out any spelling and grammatical errors so that every piece of copy you submit or email you send reads like the professional freelancer you are.
4. Clockify
If you are dealing with a number of clients or have a handful of projects on the go (lucky you!) but are struggling to manage your time, Clockify can help. This free time-tracking software offers timesheets that can help you to keep track of how long each task is taking you and to log your hours spent on each one. This will help you not just to plan accordingly, but bill accordingly as well.
5. Cold Turkey
Are you easily distracted and prone to procrastination? There’s an app for that. Cold Turkey helps by blocking you from your favourite distractions so that you can get on with your work. You can set it to block your access to apps, time-wasting programs and social media for certain periods of time so that you can’t fall down the cat-video rabbit hold on YouTube. You can also toggle the settings to allow you access only to programs and sites you need for your job, so that you get more work hours into your day. It’s for your own good.
