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The freedom to work at your own will and your terms as a freelancer can be very exciting but as much as you enjoy all those, you also have lots and lots of duties and tasks to take on.
The good news is that for those plenty hats you have to wear, numerous tools are out there to help you navigate those roles [roles like writing, communication, project management, accounting, etc.] for you to stay organized in your workspace. Let’s find out them.
BEST COMMUNICATION MUST-HAVE TOOLKITS IN 2023
1. SLACK:
Slack is a messaging platform that helps you communicate with your team members. This platform enables you to have real-time conversations and information. Slack uses channels for communication and in a channel, you and your team members can share files, use emoticons, plan meetings, send reminders across, and be connected to either a video or voice call.
Another good feature of Slack is that it can be connected to project management tools like Asana and Trello and even Google services. Depending on the size of your organization or business, Slack has three level pricing plans which are; Free, Pro, and Business+ plans.
2. BOOMERANG:
Boomerang is an effective email communication tool that helps with the scheduled sending of reminders and follow-ups. This app works with Outlook and Gmail.
As a freelancer with lots of projects on the desk, if you would like to send out an email and you are going to be busy at that time, you can schedule the email to be sent out at the time you want it by using the text box or the calendar picker to inform Boomerang when to send out your email.
3. GOOGLE WORKSPACE:
Previously called G-suite, is a cloud-based productivity work tool that is designed to assist team members to collaborate more efficiently and effectively to work on tasks together in real-time even when they are in different geographical locations.
Some of the Google Workspace features include;
- Email; which was designed to create a folder.
- Slides; for presentations.
- Google Docs; for your writing needs.
- Google Chats; is a platform that enables team members to communicate.
- Google Calendar; is a shared calendar that teammates can use to schedule events and meetings.
- Sheets; are used to create spreadsheets.
BEST ACCOUNTING AND PAYMENT OPTION TOOLKITS IN 2023
4. PAYPAL:
Paypal is a popular online payment platform that is commonly used by most freelancers. Paypal allows one to send and receive money all around the globe. You can make use of Paypal by linking your credit card, bank account, or debit card to your Paypal account. It serves as the middleman between freelancers and clients.
Opening and creating a Paypal account is very easy and free and Paypal allows you to make some online transactions without paying a fee. A PayPal account can be created from your mobile browser or your desktop computer or you can go through the app. There are two types of Paypal and they are:
- Personal Account; for your individual use
- Business Account; for your businesses or company.
5. PAYONEER:
As a freelancer, Payoneer helps to track your payments seamlessly. It also offers simple freelancer payment options to pay and get paid by clients. You can send and receive payments in currencies like USD, GBP, and EUR.
One distinctive advantage of Payoneer is that it charges very low fees for money transactions which can be profitable to freelancers especially those who receive lots of bulk payments. Payoneer is very easy to set up and the steps are pretty much straightforward and because of its user-friendly interface, freelancers can receive payments without any hassle.
6. WAVE:
Freelancers use Wave because it is easy and free to open. I got to know about Wave when I first started my freelancing journey and it helped to manage my invoices and accounting very well.
I would recommend this financial platform for beginners who want to manage their taxes and pay, track their expenses, financial reports, bank reconciliation, etc. You can also scan your transaction receipts and also upload them. Wave permits payments like; American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, etc.
BEST PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLKITS IN 2023
7. ASANA:
Asana is a web-based project management and collaboration that helps to improve productivity and communication amongst team members. Asana was also designed to help individuals and teams track, organize, and manage their work efficiently. In a few words, Asana provides all the tools needed to run and manage a business. Teams can use Asana to keep track of all tasks, collaborate with other team members, exchange related files, and more. Asana also provides a user-friendly interface that allows individuals and teams to create tasks, set due dates, assign responsibilities to team members, and track the progress of projects and individual tasks
Asana has features like tasks, workspaces, projects, and sections to manage tasks and projects of similar clients.
8. TRELLO:
Trello is a software that allows for easy sharing and collaboration. Trello also helps you organize tasks and projects into boards.
You can use Trello immediately after you sign up because it offers a free sign-up though it also has a premium offer but almost all the important features are made available with the free sign-up.
Trello is user and mobile-friendly because its interface is similar to a mobile application, so in case you are a digital professional looking to hire a team or you have a team already and you want to add new team members, and assign tasks to them then Trello is your guy for that.
Trello also helps to keep all project-related tasks on one page for you making it easy for you to access them.
9. MONDAY.COM:
Monday.com a cloud-based project management and team collaboration software was previously known as Dapulse and was founded in 2012 but later rebranded and renamed to Monday.com in 2017. Monday project management tool is designed to help teams plan, monitor, and achieve high-level marketing strategies. It is also a great way to streamline marketing activities while still tracking performance and productivity.
Monday.com is used by various teams, individuals, and various industries; including marketing, software development, construction, and more. Monday’s user-friendly interface and flexibility make it a popular choice for project management and team collaboration, helping teams stay organized and productive throughout the project lifecycle.
BEST WRITING TOOLKITS IN 2023
10. GRAMMARLY:
Grammarly is a writing tool that boosts freelancers’ grammar and vocabulary in their notes. It is the best-paid writing tool out there and I am so sure that there is no digital professional out there that doesn’t make use of this vocabulary-checking writing tool.
This tool is not only for freelance or blog post writers as other freelancers can make use of Grammarly for their website, emails to colleagues and clients, and social media portfolio as Grammaarly helps to correct your grammatical blunders and errors, misspelled words, punctuation mark errors, plagiarism detector, and even your subject-verb agreement, etc.
Grammarly has three plans which are: the free, premium, and business plan.
11. HEMINGWAY EDITOR:
The Hemingway Editor is also called The Hemingway App, this writing tool is an app that points out grammatical errors in your writing such as adverbs over usage, passive voice sentences, and complex sentences. The app highlights errors in your writing with different colors like red, purple, yellow, green, blue, etc.
A freelance writer or blogger will have the most of this AI tool because it helps to edit your writing by making it concise, clear, and captivating to your readers.
Hemingway is of two types:
- The Hemingway Editor {is the online version that is free but requires an internet connection}.
- The Hemingway App {is the software you buy and download on your Mac or Windows for a one-time payment of $19.99 and this works offline without an internet connection.
BEST FREELANCING TOOL FOR JOB FINDINGS IN 2023
12. FIVERR:
Fiverr is a very popular freelancing platform that almost every freelancer or digital professional belongs to because it connects them to clients looking for their services.
Whether you are into niches like; ghostwriting, music production, SEO, marketing, photography, etc., you can create a profile on the platform, put up impressive gigs on your profile to attract clients or buyers, and then clients begin to contact you in ones, twos, and threes for a fee. Fiverr offers a stable and secured income for freelancers.
13. UPWORK:
Similar to Fiverr, Upwork helps beginners and professional freelancers in finding and working with clients. It is very important to set up a profile on Upwork, all you have to do is set up a profile [make sure to set up an honest one because it can also serve as a resume for you], choose any of the two membership plans either the basic or plus, post your project, and review proposals to find the right independent client or organization, set your price and start earning.
This marketplace is a great starting point for beginners to connect with clients and build their portfolios.
15. PEOPLE PER HOUR:
People Per Hour is a freelancing platform that is most suitable for a beginner because it is neither small nor big. It offers its services on a pay-per-task model.
Here, once a client submits the job scope, this freelance system surveys the job details and pairs the job with qualified freelancers. After the qualified freelancers are selected, they will be invited to submit their proposals with their fees in them, so the one the client chooses gets the project.
FINALLY
This is not an exhaustive list of the toolkits needed for every freelancer to enhance their productivity. So, check out the next post for Part 2 below.
