5 Ways to Make Freelance Friends
If you ever feel a little lonely as a freelancer, you’re, uh, not alone…While your non-freelance friends are out celebrating a colleague’s birthday or sharing their
Digital innovation has changed the way we do business. Now, organizations collaborate on a global scale, and many individuals have opted to take the freelance route, enabling them to work from home, or wherever else they like. Sometimes it’s impossible to find a place to work that allows you to concentrate, and with diverse teams of employees that are no longer confined to one office space, keeping everyone on track can become tricky.
To help, we’ve compiled a list of tools that can improve communication and better organize your workload—whether you’re a traveling freelancer, or working from home.
Work Hard Anywhere
This clever app helps you find laptop-friendly cafés and bars, where you can work for hours on end without interruption. Whether you’re in a new city or are just away from the home office for the day, consult WHA for advice on the best spots near you.
Remoter VNC
Connect two remote computers from anywhere in the world, and you can see each other’s screens and work together with ease. The only choice you’ll need to make is whether you’ll work from home or at the beach!
Mailchimp
Design emails and manage your mailing list with this marketing tool that keeps your business top of mind (and top of inbox). Schedule campaigns and send personalized emails: your clients will appreciate you looking after their needs, and you’ll form much closer bonds with them while closing more sales.
Dropbox
Keep your documents safe and easily shareable with this popular cloud storage service. Dropbox is convenient, easy to use and shows the power of smooth collaboration and record-breaking productivity.
Trello
Check this handy board-like management tool that helps you to track and manage multiple projects at once. With helpful reminders on what needs doing, there is simply no chance a task will ever slip off your radar again.
Evernote
Capture your ideas on a large canvas where you can annotate them, and record online research you’ve been doing for extra peace of mind. If your brain is a jumble of thoughts and concepts, this online manager calls them into order.
ScheduleOnce
If you spend a lot of time traveling, use this tool to schedule business calls and virtual meetings. It allows you to set meeting times with your clients and syncs with your online calendar. Remember to adjust time zones, if necessary.
Talky
Call any computer globally for zero cost with Talky. It’s very useful for staying in touch and discussing ideas, or for coaching and consulting when you have new members or clients that need to be filled in.
Wi-Fi Finder
This app does exactly as advertised. Use it to easily find free public Wi-Fi connections while working in unfamiliar locations away from home, so that you’re never stuck without connectivity again.
Waste No Time
This is a Chrome extension that lets you set a time you want to work from home, then blocks distracting websites during this period. Boost your focus and efficiency so that you can get more done and easily avoid procrastination, as you’ll simply be unable to check your Facebook messages.
Technology is moving quickly in order to keep up with the demands of freelancers in this digital era. These tools will help you work efficiently from anywhere in the world, leaving you to focus better on the task at hand.
(Original article appeared on StartupNation.com on Aug. 1, 2016 by Darren Boyd-Annells)
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