6 Cool Tools to Manage Your Time as a Freelancer

image

Being a freelancer is one of the best jobs you can get. You are pretty much your own boss, and only have to answer to clients. You don’t have to worry about waking up at 7am and driving 2 hours in rush hour traffic. You get to take your work with you wherever you go. You can be developing an app in Hawaii one week and then be in Dubai writing code for a client. The possibilities are endless.

But with all of this freedom comes some issues. The biggest issue most freelancers face is time management. It can be hard not having a structured schedule and have to meet deadlines. It’s not uncommon to run into time management issues as a freelancer. After all, there are so many distractions as a freelancer. Here’s a list of some helpful tools for time management and streamlining your work.

LeechBlock

If you claim you never get distracted by the internet when working on a project, you have got to be lying. There are so many distractions online, that it can be hard to sit down and actually work on a project for a few hours at a time. I know that I constantly find myself checking out my Facebook and other popular websites when trying to get work done.

LeechBlock is a browser extension that blocks webpages for a set amount of time. So if you need to get work done for a few hours, it will let you block Facebook for however long you deem fit. Find out more here.

Online Timer

This software was developed by a Bay Area start up company. Their goal is to provide simple yet accurate timers without costing you a dime. They have tons of different timers to choose from or you can create your own custom timer.

I think every freelancer needs a timer. It is the best way to manage your time evenly across different projects. It is best utilized by assigning a certain amount of time to each client’s project, and then tracking that time with the timer. You can find a simple to use one here.

QuickBooks

Nothing is worst than having to sacrifice time you could be working to manage invoices and expenses. The only thing that could possibly be worst is getting screwed over by Uncle Sam come tax season.

QuickBooks lets you easily manage your income and expenses with a simple software. The pricing plans are very affordable as well.

DropBox

DropBox is an excellent tool to share files with clients. Long gone are the days of long email threads and huge attachments eating away at your storage and slowing down your email.

Now you can simply right click on a file and with a few more button presses you are easily able to send a link to your client with their file. The pricing plans are very affordable as well. In fact, most people can use the free plan and have no problem with the storage it provides. Learn more or try it out here.

Wunderlist

Wunderlist is an excellent way to manage all of your products in a central location. In short, it is basically a to do list. You can check off items as you complete them and it even syncs on all your devices, making it the ultimate central location for managing your workload.

DocuSign

Starting a huge project without a signed document is an awful idea. Especially if the project is going to be costing you a lot of time and money. The big problem every freelancer faces is how to get contracts signed without actually meeting a client halfway around the world.

DocuSign has found a solution to this problem. With this tool you can easily create legal contracts to send to your clients and have them sign it within minutes.

Veronica Davis