7 Free Business Tools to Help Make Managing Your Freelance Biz a Breeze
Okay, independent freelancer: You don’t have to do everything yourself. I know, I know — part of the beauty of freelancing is the ability to wear pajamas to work, blast Taylor Swift in your office, and start work at noon. You love doing things your way — and doing it yourself.
But I’ll let you in on a little secret — you don’t have to work with a team, hire a VA, or join a coworking space to get a little help running that biz. There are tools for that, my friend! And the even bigger secret? You don’t have to pay for them.
Don’t get me wrong. Eventually, you should invest in your skills and your business. As a money-hungry freelancer, there’s no better investment. But when you’re just starting out, these totally free business tools for freelancers will make life and work so. Much. Easier.
I am VERY familiar with the tendency to overly assess allll the options when it comes to business tools. Call it shopping around, call it fancy procrastinating — whatever you call it, it ain’t gonna help.
To save you from hours of “research,” I’ve done the work for you and compiled a list of 7 essential free business tools for freelancers I know you’ll love.
1. Wave: For Invoicing
Wave offers a wide array of services — but the invoicing, accounting, and business banking features are freeee, baby.
Note: There is a small payment processing fee, which is standard on any platform.
Wave accepts all major cards and promises secure, easy payments. Plus, if you have clients you work with every month, you can set up automatic, recurring invoices. Wave will even send those dreaded overdue payment reminders so you don’t have to.
You’ll want it if:
You don’t want to pay for an invoicing platform (Uhh… who does? 🤔)
You want to send professional-looking invoices instead of Venmo requests
You don’t want to have to chase down overdue payments
What I love about it:
An invoicing platform is a necessary part of being paid. Sending invoices and getting paid without paying a monthly fee can significantly increase your profit margins when you’re just starting out — and that’s a win, in my book.
I also love that this invoicing feature syncs with Wave Money — a free banking account for small business owners. It makes it so dang easy to keep all your financial details in one place.
2. Google Drive: For Writing, Editing, and File Sharing
Google Drive is one of the most underrated and widely used tools out there. Remember Word? Byeeee! 👋
Google Drive makes writing, editing, and sharing your files so easy. You can access your documents, spreadsheets, and calendar from anywhere on any device. You can also enable offline editing so you can save your work without a wifi connection.
Plus, the easy file-sharing feature makes collaboration, commenting, and back-and-forth editing a piece of cake.
You’ll want it if:
You do any writing or number-crunching for your freelance business
You want to be able to share files with collaborators or clients
You want the ability to access your work from anywhere
What I love about it:
Google Drive is my most-used tool in my business, hands down. I use it to write everything.
With the sharing and editing features, it’s super easy to submit work to my clients and exchange edits back and forth. Plus, on days when I’m feeling lazy, I can use the built-in voice typing feature instead of tapping away on my keyboard.
3. Grammarly: For All Things Grammar
Grammarly is a plug-in that checks grammar, spelling, and punctuation in your writing. In other words, it’s a lifesaver.
When you give it access to your writing, it underlines all your mistakes. With the click of a button, you can correct your mistakes and breathe a sigh of relief. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve almost sent off an email with a super embarrassing mistake (not a good look for a professional writer 👀) and Grammarly saved my butt.
You’ll want it if:
You do a lot of writing for your business
You want to make sure you’re sounding professional
You just can’t when it comes to “there” and “their”
What I love about it:
Grammarly makes writing professional, grammatically-correct emails and documents a no-brainer. I love being able to write with abandon, then go turn on Grammarly and fix all my mistakes. I also love that you can use it everywhere — in Google Docs, in emails, wherever you want.
4. Small SEO Tools: For Checking Plagiarism
Small SEO Tools checks your written work for plagiarism before you post it on the web. It’s super easy to use — all you have to do is copy and paste your work into the text box and click “Check Plagiarism.” The tool will highlight any duplicate content and link to the original source.
The free version of this tool does have a daily word limit of 1,000 words — so if you’re consistently writing a lot of content for your business, you may need to upgrade.
You’ll want it if:
You have a website or blog for your freelance business
You provide written content for your clients
You stress about accidentally “borrowing” someone else’s work and calling it your own
What I love about it:
I’m one of those people who, ever since I learned what “plagiarism” meant, has been deathly afraid of accidentally stealing someone else’s words and claiming them as my own. Rational? Not sure. What I do know is that it’s a tough fear to live with as a writer.
Anyway, having the peace of mind that my work is unique makes me feel confident turning it in to clients and posting it online.
5. Asana: For Project Management
Asana is a project management tool that can help you organize, manage, and share what’s going on in your business. It’s versatile, too — whether you prefer to look at your tasks in a calendar or list view, Asana can do both. It keeps track of your deadlines, tasks, and details, so you don’t have to.
Asana also integrates with 100+ other apps — so the possibilities of how you use it are endless. It might take a little bit of time to get the hang of, but if you’re willing to learn how it works, it’s a tool that can serve you for a long time.
You’ll want it if:
You have too many projects to keep track of in your head
You want a tool that can grow with you
You place scribbled sticky notes all over your wall and call it “project management”
What I love about it:
I love using Asana as my home base — a place where I can store the thoughts, deadlines, and projects that are swimming around in my head.
Asana gives me an organized system that allows me to see what’s going on in my business at any time. I also love knowing that there are more features and capabilities to explore if my business ever needs them.
6. Toggl: For Time Management
Toggl makes it super easy to track your time — giving you valuable insight to help you in your business.
All you have to do is start the clock when you begin working, and stop it when you’re done. If you forget, you can go back and edit your entries. Plus, you can label your different tasks — and at the end of the week, you can look back and see how much total time you spent on each category.
You’ll want it if:
You don’t know where your time is going
You’re trying to price your services
You’re still trying to track your time with pen and paper, Granny 🧓
What I love about it:
When you work for yourself and can make your own schedule, that freedom is a double-edged sword. I love using a tool that can both hold me accountable and give me an honest look at where my time is going.
Tracking my time helps me manage my time. Plus, knowing how long certain tasks and projects take gives me valuable insight into how to charge for different services, what tasks I should outsource, and what I’d like to automate.
7. Canva: For Design
Canva is THE solution for any of your basic design needs for your freelancing business. Use it to create logos, Instagram posts, infographics, slides, you name it. It’s also incredibly easy to use, intuitive, and fun. Warning: You might get a little carried away.
You’ll want it if:
You want an easy way to create professional-looking designs
You’ve had it with Powerpoint (haven’t we all?)
You’re not mad about wasting time making beautiful graphics for your marketing materials
What I love about it:
With tons of templates to choose from, Canva makes design totally dummy-proof.
I use it to create all my marketing materials and designs, from icons on my website to the banner on my LinkedIn. I love swapping out one of their beautiful templates with my brand colors, and viola — Fabulous! 💁🏼♀️
Use Free Business Tools for Freelancers Simplify Your Biz
I hope these free business tools make running your freelance biz a gazillion times easier. Or at easier, to any extent. And look! You didn’t even have to spend any money. Now go get these tools, and make that cash!