Free time management tools for freelancers
Time management tools help organize work, stay in control of multiple projects, and ensure work-life balance. Here's a few we love using!
Have you ever missed a deadline? If you have, don't feel bad – most freelancers have done so at least once. Keeping track of multiple projects can be challenging, but frequent delays can affect client relationships and cause additional stress.
Fortunately, there are various tools to organize time and increase productivity. Here are some that we personally like using.
Todoist
Making a to-do list helps structure workflow and keep you motivated to finish tasks. Todoist app is a simple tool to plan days and weeks ahead for both your career and your private life. Hundreds of templates are available to get you started with.
At the same time, you can customize your list with filters, labels, priorities, and more features. You can also take a quiz to get personal productivity recommendations based on your unique traits and strengths. Whether you find it hard to focus on a task or, on the contrary, cannot disconnect from work, there are strategies out there for you.
The basic app’s version is available for free. When you need higher project limits or additional features like reminders, you can upgrade to the Pro plan for US$5 per month or US$48 per year.
The Business plan for teams costs US$8 per person per month or US$72 per person per year. According to the company's website, Todoist is used by over 30 million people.
Stella Estee Samantha
Timely
Knowing the exact time you spend on projects helps in planning and gives a better understanding of how much you earn per hour. Nowadays, you don’t need a timer. The Timely app automatically records all the time you spend in documents, meetings, emails, websites, and video calls, allowing you to focus on getting things done.
Timely organizes information visually so that you can see which activities take the most hours and improve future estimates of time needed for a task or a project. In addition, the app helps uncover hidden hours spend on email, travel, and meetings. This way, you will be able to provide a detailed breakdown of all services to your clients.
The company offers a 14-days free trial to work out which features you need most. Subscription starts from US$8 per month, and there is a 20% discount for an annual plan.
Freedom
How many times do you interrupt work to check a message, scroll through Facebook or watch an entertaining video? Freedom seeks to aid you in overcoming the temptation to do so.
Social media and random websites can be great distractors that reduce your efficiency. Studies have shown that every time you check email or a social feed, your mind needs more than 20 minutes to fully refocus on the task.
The app helps break the habit of checking whatever digital source you use. Schedule your focus time and block access to social media, games, online shopping, and other distractors for as long as you need to. You can also temporarily shut access to specific apps on your device to reclaim your productivity and stay focused.
Set a schedule in advance to create regular work hours for yourself and eventually build new habits of longer periods of focused work time. Get started for free, and cover all your devices for less than $2.5 per month.
ContentGrow
ContentGrow is a managed marketplace and workflow app for both freelance writers and companies. It is built-in with easy to use features such as a free portfolio and an intuitive dashboard that shows your clients and projects you're working on.
It also clearly lists out deadlines for your assignments and sends you timely reminders in-site and via email about upcoming deadlines. It also allows you to directly contact the client with the chat feature.
Apart from boosting your efficiency, time-management tools help build a more organized approach to work, stay in control of multiple projects, and ensure work-life balance.
With the apps from our list, you can create your perfect to-do list, track the time for every task, and block all distractions. Try these tools out to discover what works for you!
ContentGrow is a freelance writer's secret weapon for landing vetted inbound clients. The platform matches each client with niche-appropriate writers at preferred rates. Sign up to get your invite and free portfolio here.
