Hi, I'm back with the third article in this series. The last two articles are here and here. Do go through them before reading this one. This article is all about tools for freelancers. Being a freelancer myself, I'm always interested in free tools. I mean who doesn't like free tools, right? Every time I hear that there is a cool new tool in the market and its free to use, I go crazy with excitement.
So here's chapter 3 for y'all. #Chapter 3: Tools for freelancers
So some 4-5 years back, all the tools were provided to you by your freelance site itself, like Elance and Freelancer. But now, many freelancers are moving to other sites. There are a ton of tools available, so I decided to make a list of all the best tools I use on a regular basis.
##Accounting
We are doing freelancing for some extra bucks. But most of us forget to do one thing which is very important - Accounting. There should be way to track how much are you earning and where you are spending all your money, bills you need to pay, invoices you need to send and so much more. Although there are cool tools like Free Invoice Generator that you can use, in the end you won't be able to have them all in place and you may end up like this.
So here comes the WaveApp. Best thing about Wave is it's absolutely free. You can manage and save all your bills and invoices at one place only. It will track all your transaction so that you can see where you are spending most of your money. Its super secure and saves a lot of your time as well.
##Contracting and E-sign
Internet is full of assholes (if you didn't already know that). You can not trust anyone out there. I remember one such client who contacted me. I completed his work and ended up empty-handed because he took the code and ran away. There are so many thieves who will take your work from right under your nose if you're not careful.
So the first thing you should do is make them sign an E-Contract. There are many site out there but the Bonsai offers totally free contracts. With these contracts you can secure your self from online thieves and also avoid late payment, which is a real pain. Contract gives you a legal advantage and also increases the trust factor between you and your clients. I should also mention Shake as an honorable mention.
##Sharing Feedback I remember the old days when I used to take screenshots, then make annotations on them using the lovely tool Skitch, write comments and then mail it my client. It was so time consuming and frustrating. And if I wrote something incorrect, I would have do repeat the whole procedure. Imagine doing all of that and then coming to know that your clients didn't even care enough to open it and give their feedback on it.
Well, now you can skip all of this by using zipBoard. The best part, I myself worked on this. All the developers in our team were or are freelancers. So we tried to solve this particular problem we faced in the past. zipboard is a real-time app where you and your client can see each others' feedback and start a discussion right away. You can get rid of the whole inefficient system of taking screenshots, annotating, and then exchanging emails. zipBoard also has an inbuilt task manager system. The best part is you can review your content and switch back to screenshot or take screenshots in a fraction of a second. You need not save all those screenshots on your desktop either because everything is secure and always accessible on the cloud.
##Messaging
Skype is a very good tool, no offence. But Skype does have its own drawbacks. Has it ever happened to you that you were trying to talk to one client and suddenly, another important client pops up. You try to handle both conversations at the same time, but you screw it all up by sending a message meant for one client to the other? I know it has happened to me, and it's not pretty.
Yep, that's why I use Slack. It's one heck of a tool. It's much less distracting and you can focus on one client at a time. Make a team and sign in to that account only. That way, no one else can distract you in the middle of a conversation. And that's not all, Slack has so many cool integrations like with Github, Google Drive and even with Skype itself. You can check them all here.
##Health The only thing we all as freelancers can agree is that we're very poor at taking care of our health. We are hardworking people. We sit for hours, even work late night, skip meals and do things much more harmful for our bodies. Yes, money is important, but without good health, you will not be able to enjoy the money you have earned. I hope none of you end up like this.
First thing first. Sleep is very important. If you sleep, at least sleep complete your sleep cycle. Sleep Cycle is a free tool to help you with it. It will automatically analyze the best time for you to wake up. Second, exercise is also extremely important. You should do some basic exercise daily. If you are really lazy person, then this cool video is for you 30 min chair workout.
But if you want to take this to next level, then subscribe to this channel. You will definitely thank me for it in the future.
So guys, that's all I think. These are all the tools I like to use. Please give them a try and do share you own favorite apps with me in the comment section below. I'll be back with another article soon!