Freelance workers earned $1 trillion, almost 4.8% of US GDP, during 2019, and the freelancer market has grown to 57 million workers, representing around 35% of the US workforce.
If you are considering joining the growing pool of people who are starting their own freelance business, then there is a massive range of digital tools out there to help you get started or help your business to flourish.
One of the more significant benefits of a modern smartphone is that, with the correct apps, it can be as useful in running your business as any laptop or desktop computer. The latest generation of smartphones has a vast amount of storage and processing power.
The same technology that allows you to quickly switch from playing full-length movies in HD to a lightning-fast round of KO-Poker, to playing a mobile version of your favorite AAA console title, can also be turned to business uses. The right set of apps for your phone can help you organize your business, get new customers, promote your services, and take care of your taxes, all without needing to be tied in to one place.
In this article, we’ll be looking at some of the best apps for an aspiring freelance entrepreneur.
Rescue Time
To work effectively as a freelancer, you need excellent time management skills. Time management doesn’t just mean spending as much time as possible at work as you can end up working too hard, but also monitoring how much time you spend on the various parts of your budding business.
Rescue Time works by scrutinizing which platforms you are devoting the most time to and turns that into easy to read charts so you can monitor exactly how you are spending your time and if you are neglecting certain parts of your business.
Trello
There is a good chance that you have heard of Trello already, but just because something is widely used, doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly helpful. Trello is great if you are running a team as it is an excellent tool for managing projects or subcontractors.
If you don’t have a team to manage, Trello still works very well as a way to handle more complex projects with a lot of moving parts. The interface is simple, the costs are relatively low and the positive impact on your efficiency could be significant.
FocusBooster
As we mentioned earlier, you can work too hard as a freelancer. You only have a certain amount of mental resources that can be devoted to your projects, and oversubscribing yourself means you won’t be delivering the quality of work your clients require.
The FocusBooster app makes use of the Pomodoro Technique, breaking down the projects you have to tackle into bite-sized chunks with small breaks in between. Using the Pomodoro Technique, as opposed to simply working flat out, increases focus and reduces mental fatigue.
Grammarly
While you might think your grammar and spelling are excellent, the simple fact is that small mistakes can creep in during busy workdays or if you are getting fatigued, two things strongly associated with freelance work.
Grammarly is an excellent grammar and spelling app that is compatible with most modern writing programs, from Microsoft Word to Google Docs. Grammarly checks for spelling and grammar errors, suggests new words for variety, and even suggests sentence rewrites for brevity.
When you’re done with your work, Grammarly will also check it for originality, making sure there are no issues with plagiarism.
Write Room
One of the downsides of using apps for any business is that our phones are normally the principal source of distraction in our lives. Bring bombarded with texts, emails, notifications, and updates while you are trying to work does not make it easy to concentrate.
Write Room solves these issues by locking away all of your phone’s other distractions and presenting you with a simple dark background and the article or document you are reading.
The Write Room app is a great tool to help you focus on a particular piece of information or written work and get a little free time away from the usual suite of distractions that would normally pull you away from your work.
