How ClickUp made me a better-paid freelancer
Here’s why I’m such a huge ClickUp fan
After years of trying to wing it, I reached a point where I was leaving money on the table because I wasn’t organized — I even had to say “no” to new clients for a while because I was overwhelmed. I’ve known for a long time that streamlined project management and CRM (customer relationship management) processes are an essential part of being a successful freelancer, but I still resisted the learning curve that comes with all these new apps.
Staying on top of task management and communication with your clients helps increase productivity and freelance success. As I learned the hard way, it can be difficult to do these things without systems, especially when your projects are complex and you’re juggling multiple clients.
Once I decided to bite the bullet and “appify” my freelancing, I’ve tried a bunch of different tools. For me, ClickUp quickly emerged as the clear favorite. It has the right balance of all the features a freelance writer like me needs while also being intuitive and easy to learn. It also helps that there is a robust free version and the paid options start at just $5/month (if paid on a yearly basis).
As an added bonus, after becoming a regular user, I noticed just how much less stress I was experiencing every day. ClickUp has allowed me to build healthy productivity habits, let go of the tasks that don’t add anything to my bottom line, and stop cluttering my brain by trying to remember everything I have to do. This is why it’s a keeper.
What Is ClickUp?
ClickUp is a CRM and project management software created with freelancers in mind. It helps you stay on top of everything you have to do as a freelancer, find the places where you can be more productive, and ultimately make a higher hourly rate with less stress.
While there are many options out there that can do everything ClickUp does, for me, ClickUp is the perfect choice because its learning curve is not very steep and it’s easy to get started. Moreover, not only does it help with task management, but it automates many aspects of your job to give you more time to focus on the actual work you have to do for your clients.
ClickUp’s Features
ClickUp’s freelancer-friendly features include:
- Task checklists
- Priority organization
- Custom status updates on ongoing projects
- Task templates
- Google docs and Wikis integration
- Goal tracking
- Workload reportsEmail in ClickUp
- Chat views
- Client communications
- Comments and assigned comments
- Clip for screen recording
- Different project views
- Mind maps for creating projects and brainstorming
There are many other convenient features, but the ones listed above are those that I find most important in a project management tool.
Pros of ClickUp
Once I became a fan of ClickUp, I started noticing that many other freelancers are singing its praises in various forums and articles, and the reasons people like it are quite diverse.
Free Version
First and foremost, unlike most project management and CRM software, ClickUp has a pretty robust free version that may be quite sufficient for your current needs. This version is wonderful because it allows you to get used to ClickUp and form an opinion about the platform before you pay for it (or you can decide that the free version is sufficient and there’s no need to upgrade at all).
if you decide to upgrade to one of the paid tiers (there are three), I believe that the cheapest paid version will provide you with everything you’ll ever need as a freelancer. That version of ClickUp costs $5 per month, if you pay for the full year in advance (or $9, if you decide to pay month-by-month). Compared with many other project management programs, ClickUp charges less while delivering far more in terms of features. To me, there’s no question that it’s great value for the money.
Custom Views
Many people take in information in different forms, whether it’s a checklist, a visual table, a Gantt chart, or a written overview. ClickUp allows you to choose different types of views and customize each feature to organize multiple projects concisely and in a way that makes sense to you.
Productivity Reports
As a freelancer, it can be tough to get a handle on just how much you’re getting done and at what speed. Knowing your productivity rates helps you know how much work you can take on and what deadlines you can meet.
The detailed and insightful productivity reports that you can get from ClickUp make it easier for solo users to plan out projects, establish recurring tasks and subtasks, and complete multiple projects by the designated deadlines without putting themselves under excessive stress.
Goal-Oriented Layout
ClickUp is a very goal-oriented platform that provides to-do lists, timers, and reminders to keep you on track and barreling toward your project goals.
It can be hard to take a step back and look at the big picture when you’re chipping away at projects. But these small features can help you keep your eye on the prize and achieve your long-term or short-term freelance project goals beyond just finishing a task.
Also, ClickUp allows you to create Gantt charts, one of the most popular tools in project management. It’s incredibly motivating because it shows activities vs. time and allows you to work backwards and figure out everything that needs to be done — and by when — in order to achieve the overarching goal.
Centralized Inbox
ClickUp uses a centralized inbox, so client communications, project reminders, and collaboration information all go to one convenient inbox. This alone saves hours of rummaging through different communications systems to fish out that one client missive that you know you received but can’t seem to find.
Easy Program Integration
One of my favorite features of ClickUp is integrating other apps and programs to keep everything in one place so nothing falls through the cracks. No more double-booking yourself because you’re using Google calendar while your clients send you meeting requests in an Apple calendar or in Outlook.
User-friendly Interface
Even though ClickUp has an extensive amount of features, they are simple to get the hang of once you spend some time on the platform. Also, many tables and features are fully accessible via a convenient mobile ClickUp app.
Plenty of Automation
ClickUp has many automated features that can make a freelancer’s life easier. When you have to spend time plugging in projects and numbers into an Excel sheet, crafting templates, writing standard communications to clients, and providing customer support, you have less time to get projects done.
You can automate all of these tasks and more with ClickUp, so you have more time to focus on generating money and completing projects.
The one con of ClickUp that I’ve found so far.
ClickUp doesn’t have many cons, but here’s the one that bothers me the most.
While the ClickUp mobile app has many wonderful and functional features, the app does not have a table view available, which is one of the most popular features for tracking your project management all in one place.
If you’re like me, often working on the go and sometimes need to rely on mobile devices to stay up-to-date, the lack of a mobile table view is a drawback to be aware of.
Conclusion
ClickUp isn’t the only effective and user-friendly project management software available, but most users rave about the plethora of advanced features and easy-to-use interface as well as its reasonable pricing.
- The links to ClickUp are affiliate links.
