As a freelancer, you have complete autonomy over how and when you work. However, a major downside of this freedom is it can be challenging to stay focused and productive, which can lead to missed deadlines, burnout, and poor-quality work.

Thankfully, there are ways around this. In this post, we’ll guide you through some freelancing tools that can help automate parts of your work and increase your efficiency and productivity.

Payment tools

Grey:

Grey is a must-have for every freelancer. Our virtual EU, GBP, and US bank accounts simplify global payments, ensuring you never miss out on international gigs and roles.

Additionally, Grey has an invoicing feature that allows you to create and send invoices in any currency directly to your client with just a few clicks. Sign up for free today and get started!

Also read: 8 Must-Have Tools for Digital Nomads in 2024

Project management tools:

Notion:

Notion is a project management and productivity tool that serves as an all-in-one solution for managing tasks, organising information, and collaborating with team members. Its ability to adapt to a person’s specific needs is one of the reasons behind it’s growing popularity amongst freelancers and organisations.

Some key features of Notion include:

• Custom databases and tables that you can filter in terms of priority, deadline, type, and status to help you keep track of your tasks and projects.

• Integrations with other tools and services like Asana, Slack, GitHub, Figma, and Framer, among others.
• Real-time collaboration on documents with team members
• Notion wikis help you document policies, goals, and project details all in one central place.
• Extensive colors, layouts, and icons allow you to personalise and customise your workspace.

Asana:

This popular project management tool gives you a bird’s eye view of your tasks, projects, deadlines, and collaborators. Asana’s simplicity makes it easier to track progress and ensures task visibility, which improves boosts teamwork and productivity.

Similar to Notion, you can also directly collaborate with team members on tasks and integrate tools like Slack, Dropbox, and Google Drive for seamless data sharing. Asana is free for use by up to 10 people, and there are different paid plans for teams and organisations looking to access premium features.

Trello:

Trello uses the Kanban-style design, i.e., a card-based system, to seamlessly organise tasks and projects. You create lists and cards that contain information about the task, due date, description, and collaborators, helping you to visually manage your tasks.

Trello offers over 200 integrations with third-party apps to automate repetitive tasks and improve your overall efficiency.

Focus & time tracking:

Freedom:

As a freelancer, you depend on the internet for your income, but it can also be a big source of distractions. These days, it’s common to go from researching a work-related term to laughing at memes two hours later. However, with Freedom, you can eliminate distractions and have focused work sessions.

Freedom effectively blocks distracting apps and websites, helping you stay focused and productive. You can schedule your Freedom sessions in advance and sync them across all your devices to completely block distractions.

Toggl:

Toggl is a time-tracking tool that can help you acuurately monitor and manage the time you spend on different tasks and projects.

It has a user-friendly interface and is a valuable tool for freelancers looking to log their activities and generate reports for time audits, analysis, and billing purposes.

Grammarly:

This tool works as a writing assistant that helps check your grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

It also checks your writing style, ensuring your messages are clear and professional. You can use Grammarly for free to check basic grammar and spelling. But, for features like plagiarism detection, vocabulary enhancement, and citation suggestions, you have to subscribe to the premium version, billed at $30 monthly and $144 annually.

Hemingway Editor:

Unlike Grammarly, Hemmingway Editor doesn’t offer spelling or grammar checks; it instead focuses on improving the readability and clarity of your message by:

• Highlighting wordy sentences
• Flagging excessive adverbs and passive voice sentences
• Suggesting simpler words and breaking complex sentences

Hemingway’s online version is completely free for all standard browsers, but the desktop version is available for a one-time payment of $19.99

Google Docs:

Many freelancers, teams, and companies are rapidly choosing Google Docs as their default writing tool over the standard Microsoft Word for several reasons:

• Your work is saved automatically, and version history allows you to review or revert to previous versions of the document.
• You can collaborate with your team members in real-time by working on the same document simultaneously and effect feedback immediately.
• With Google Docs, you can work on documents anywhere and from any device, i.e., computer, tablet, or phone.

Google Docs is free; you only need a Google account to start writing.

Communication tools:

Slack:

Slack is a valuable communication and collaboration tool for freelancers and remote teams. You can talk with clients, team members, and freelancers in real time.

Slack has channels created for specific projects or tasks, making it easy to stay organised and find information quickly.

You can also integrate it with other tools like Google Drive, Trello, Miro, and Notion to receive notifications and updates in one place.

Google Meet

Google Meet is a handy tool for freelancers to have virtual meetings, consultations, and presentations with clients or colleagues regardless of location. It offers high-quality video and audio calls, screen sharing, and interactive features like Q&A sessions. You can schedule meetings easily through Google Calendar and join from any device.

Google Meet prioritises security with encryption and meeting controls, ensuring privacy during virtual meetings. It’s also a cost-effective solution — all you need is a Google account, making it an excellent choice for freelancers looking to improve their productivity and communication.

Wrapping up

Juggling projects and clients as a freelancer can be tasking, but having the right tools can help to significantly increase your efficiency, productivity, and overall success.

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