The rise of technology means freelancers can now work from anywhere in the world. We’ve listed some technology that’s absolutely vital for making your digital nomad life easier…
Technology has created the digital nomad, so it makes sense that it can help with the day-to-day running of your freelancer business too. Whether you’re looking to manage your time, your communication, or your invoicing, there’s an app for that.
Task managers
It can be overwhelming to manage one client’s needs, and freelancers may be working across several! To make sure nothing falls through the cracks, you can try using a task manager tool. Todoist and Asana offer free versions of their task managers that make keeping on top of your work a breeze.
If you’re part of a bigger group, project management software, such as Jira or Trello, can help make sure everything runs smoothly. You can assign work, message people, attach documents, and organise everyone through one centralised app. It’s much easier than trying to coordinate through email, and can be done from anywhere.
Communication apps
Everyone uses email, but there are plenty of other ways to communicate. Apps such as Slack help larger teams communicate easily, without having to sift through emails.
Hosting a conference call? Why not use Powwownow or Skype for Business? These apps help to keep everyone on the same page, and also allow you to record conversations so you can refer to them later.
Time management tools
When you’re a frazzled freelancer, the kindest thing you can do for yourself is manage your time wisely. Rather than looking at a long list of things to do and wondering how you can possibly fit it into your day, having a time management app can really help you balance the amount of work you have with the time available to you. The solution can be as simple as a calendar, such as Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook.
One area of time management that is often overlooked is managing breaks. When working for yourself, it can be hard to remember to take a break every so often, but there are plenty of apps to help you schedule some relaxation time. These time your work in intervals according to the Pomodoro technique, which schedules in 5-minute breaks every 25 minutes.
Invoicing and tax apps
Though freelancers always relish being paid, there’s nothing more off-putting at the end of the month than looking at invoicing and taxes. To save the hassle of sifting through receipts and getting stressed over Excel sheets, there are plenty of easy-to-use invoicing and tax apps out there to help. QuickBooks is a simple accounting app you can use to invoice clients and manage your cash flow, and apps like Wave help with managing payroll if you employ other people.
Apps such as KashFlow can go one step further, turning quotes into invoices and then linking directly to HMRC to file VAT returns and more. This takes a lot of the hassle out of filing returns, and it’s a reasonable option for freelancers who don’t want to spend a fortune.
Posted by The Secret Businessman