“Who’s the boss?” A common question asked, to which everyone desires to answer, “I am the boss.”
The field of freelancing is attracting a great deal of attention especially among the youth of today as no one likes to be dictated to by others. The desire to become an entrepreneur often drives people to enter the sector of freelancing, but the lack of basic industrial knowledge makes them take a back seat, leaving only a handful of individuals standing firm to make their mark among the successful freelancers.
Another connotation is that freelancing is meant for those who do not have the prowess of working in the real world. To counter this belief, freelancing too requires an appropriate level of skills and knowledge to do work as needed by someone working in the real business world. Just like any other industry, the field of freelancing has its own rules, regulations and ethics of work.
Customer satisfaction is the basic objective that needs to be achieved at every level which can only be done if you have the right knowledge and possess the right tools. This will not only increase your productivity but also ensures that you grow, prosper and expand your business horizons effectively.
As rightly quoted by Marva Collins,”Success doesn’t come to you, you go to it.” There are three basic things that define the difference between a struggling and an established freelancer –
- time management with strict discipline,
- great communication skills
- and above all excellent documentation tactics.
When complemented with the right set of tools, these features can guide a freelancer to the path of success.
There are certain tools which will make your life easier with freelancing and to shape yourself as a successful businessman. Let’s discuss them one by one-
#1. Project Management
The best tool to successfully manage your projects is Evernote. The tool possesses notes and all the related information which are needed for project management. No matter what topic you choose for writing your next blog, or if you are confused with whom to team up with, you can gather all this information through this ultimate tool.
It actually brings your ideas to life and gives them a proper shape ensuring that even the minutest of the details discussed between you and others relating to the project are noted thoroughly. It not only helps in tracking the project’s functionality but also in the successful completion by offering the right information at right time.
#2. Management of time
Time management is evidently one of the major issues which every freelancer needs to deal with. There may be times when you have to submit an article or a blog in a few hours, and you have a bad habit of forgetting things, or maybe there are other important tasks at hand that need to dealt with on a priority basis. For such times, having a tool like Google Calendar by your side is the best thing. It not only keeps you updated with your working schedule but also ensures that you complete all your tasks on time and meet the targets effectively and efficiently.
Any entrepreneur who wishes to expand his/her working horizon and attract new clients can only do it if he/she is able to satisfy his/her existing clients. As stated by a learned economist in his theory,“A successful entrepreneur is the one who treats his old customers as his assets and the new ones as his responsibility.” Preserve what you have and create more stories’ to achieve success.
#3. Proposals
While creating content for your clients you may also be asked to design proposals for any potential clientele. Writing a proposal is not an easy task and can take up half of your day. To create effective proposals, make use of Bidsketch which not only saves you time and increases your efficiency but also makes sure that you deliver effectual proposals to the client in the shortest possible time. With the saved hours you can definitely utilize them for building a wider customer base.
#4. Documentation
It is often seen that a particular document may not be supported by a particular operating system due to lack of the same software. For this, you need to have an ideal online PDF converter tool, such as Docs.zone, which creates files that are supported by all operating systems, be it MAC or Microsoft Windows version, and you can easily share them with your client. There are two main advantages of using this tool – it converts your regular files into PDF format which can be accessed easily and at the same time making any kind of changes without the consent of the creator is impossible. You can use it for any purpose, whether to send a contract to your existing client or to a potential client or to share the blog/articles created.
#5. Promotion
A freelancer cannot take the risk of working without promoting their own efforts or else soon he/she shall be jobless. You must remain in contact with your clients every now and then so that you are able to gain more business from them. A good email system is what holds a great importance here and what other tool could be as good as Mailchimp? It helps you to remain in contact with your potential, current and past clients.
You can easily mark them as reminder emails in case you’re seeking work, or coordinate on existing projects and even send proposals to potential clients. The key to a successful business is an effective and efficient communication system.
As they say, “There is nothing better than enjoying your work.” Use these above mentioned effective tools and make the most of your freelancing business, eliminating potential problems and pave the way for success. Using the right tools is what can take you from rags to riches.
Images “Be Your Own Boss card with beach background / Shutterstock.com“
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