Feel like being your own boss, manager, and employee all at the same time if you are a freelancer? Here are some tools to make your life more organized!
The big draw of freelance work is the photos of working from nice beaches and an open schedule to mold around your hobbies and travel plans as you please. These are great, and very possible, benefits. However, there’s another side of freelance work that you don’t see on Instagram.
Freelance work is like being your own boss, manager, and employee all at the same time. You really lose the ability to “leave the office for the day”, in my experience. It takes a huge amount of clear organization and planning to stay on top of multiple clients. Communication is key in your freelance work being successful. Not being face to face with clients means you need to be fantastic at communicating progress and strategy frequently. You will spend a good part of your time communicating alone.
There are plenty of tools out there for working online but very few cover all the functionality needed for freelancers. Hibox is the perfect tool to cut down on the time you spend organizing and communicating with clients so you can get to work and enjoy the freelance, remote lifestyle you wanted.
Here’s how to use Hibox, a really valid tool to manage freelance work:
1. Organize clients by stream or account
For this, you have two, equally great options. If you clients are more individual, you should make a separate stream for each client. A stream is a group chat with those you invite to join you where you can chat, create tasks, share files, and even video call. Invite your clients via email as external users. They will not be able to see beyond their stream.
If your clients have teams of their own, I would invite each other to create separate account and then invite you to join them. You’ll be able to switch between accounts easily.
2. Use Calendar to set deadlines and schedule recurring duties
As you know, the more visual you can be for clients the better. It helps your overall professionalism to have everything look as organized as possible. Hibox’s calendar for tasks is brilliant for showing clients what you’ll be working on. You can schedule tasks directly within the calendar. You can set recurring tasks for your weekly duties so you both know they don’t go missed. Your clients can add tasks and deadlines as well for you. They’ll be able to see when you complete tasks and what’s coming next. You won’t have to update them as much when they have this resource.
3. Use Dropbox integration to share client media
It’s so easy to lose important files through endless email threads, especially when you have multiple clients and likely multiple accounts. Hibox gets rid of the need for email entirely and saves you and your clients a ton of frustration and time. You can use the Dropbox integration to share files and folders so everyone has the latest versions at all times without filing through old emails.
4. Use Google Drive to collaborate on work and receive feedback
Using the Google Drive integration, you can share Google files within your stream and collaborate as a team. Your clients can review your work right from the stream and provide you with feedback without any email back and forth. You both have access to the updated file; no more multiple versions floating around. It simplifies your work process and limits confusion, which is important when you’re working with multiple clients.
5. Use tools such as tasks and subtasks to organize your freelance projects
To-do lists over email or call tend to go to waste. Clients get frustrated when they don’t know how progress is going and you waste time keeping them updated constantly. Use tasks and subtasks in Hibox to plan out the clear steps for each project and your clients will be able to see with one click where you’re at. It’s like a roadmap of your work for you and your clients. This also helps you keep your task list for each client organized. You can switch between stream task lists or go to your own task list view to see what’s due for each client.
6. Have your video calls right within your stream
No more video call links and trying to remember which client uses which video call platform. With Hibox, you can start a video call right from the chat stream with your clients with one click. It works for group calling with up to 10 people. Keeping all the tools you need like this in one place saves so much time that you waste now trying to set up all the account necessary. It’s nice for clients to know, as well, a call with you is just a click away.
7. Use task timer for billing hours
If you’re working on an hourly rate, use the task timer to know exactly how much time you spent on the tasks for client. They can see your timed tasks as well for easy, transparent billing. It’s an easy way to ensure credibility and your clients will appreciate the clarity. It’s also perfect for staying on top of your work overall. You’ll know which types of work take the longest and how you can better organize your time and billing.
8. Use personal tasks to get your stuff done too
For the little things you forget to do for yourself throughout the week, personal tasks is perfect. Any personal tasks you assign to yourself will be in a personal task list no one else has access to. It’s just a nice way to keep the personal tasks off somewhere easy to see rather than a piece of paper you’ll forget about. You can set recurring tasks for weekly reminders like invoicing so you don’t forget.
Hibox is the perfect tool to help freelancers like yourself stop wasting time with the annoying parts of freelancing and actually enjoy what makes your work so great – freedom! Your clients will really appreciate the organization and excellent communication on your part through Hibox as well. Look professional, stay organized, and save yourself hours by signing up to use Hibox with your clients free today.
