To balance all the challenges that come with launching yourself into the freelancing world, there\u2019s been a series of little joys along the way. Some of the stand-out ones are finding technology solutions that make life a little easier. So, this week, I wanted to showcase some of the platforms and tools I\u2019ve been using that have made the biggest impact so far:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First up is the design platform Canva. This is a fantastic website which gives you graphic design results on no skills and often no cost. As an individual freelancer (and as a charity) you can get a free account, but it still gives you access to an amazing range of tools. It has great options like loading up logos, setting corporate colours and then giving you free rein to design from scratch or drop these into a ton of pre-set designs. From newsletters to event invites, and conference flyers to social media content, it\u2019s got huge flexibility and a godsend if you need results with no budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A brilliant tool to ease the admin burden \u2013 how to book a meeting without 13 rounds of email tennis. You can load in multiple calendars (for free as an individual) behind the scenes and share a link to anyone who wants to book a meeting. They get to see all your availability in one go \u2013 without sharing the detail of what you\u2019re up to when you\u2019re busy, and regardless of what email\/calendar platforms either side are using. This is a gamechanger for me \u2013 I\u2019ve loaded in my main work calendar as well as a personal one, that way it instantly takes account of the nursery, school, doctor type appointments that come up as well as work commitments. Right now I\u2019m using it in two ways \u2013 one on my website as way to instantly book an introductory meeting and the other is on my email signature. With one client I have a corporate email account and associated calendar so booking meetings with colleagues is easy, but for the other clients where I don’t have easy sight of their calendars, I need an easy way to share my availability and this is a brilliant way to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A bit of a cheat one in that it also covers Miro, Trello and Padlet. And there\u2019s probably a number of others I haven\u2019t mentioned. They\u2019re amazing online platforms that let multiple people interact instantly, so whether it’s during an event and you want to brainstorm on post-its, or whether you want to create a page to share resources, get input and create a conversation, they\u2019re really powerful tools. You can lock them to certain teams or share out to a delegate list, and their flexibility is their biggest draw. I\u2019ve used them in lieu of Powerpoint slides for training and events, as well as creating beautiful flowcharts and logic models to explore complex concepts or environments in during events. Participants don\u2019t need accounts which makes them really accessible, and for Jamboard in particular, the layout is easy to navigate for those who aren\u2019t as confident on digital platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I started freelancing I used WordPress to create a website, as it\u2019s one of the biggest and well-known website platforms out there. While maybe the functionality is great for advanced websites, as a website beginner who wanted a simple site without jazzy extras and no budget to pay for help, it just proved too complicated. I\u2019m stuck getting notifications I can\u2019t turn off, and it felt like every aspect I wanted to do \u2013 getting analytics, embedding a calendar or setting up email subscription, wasn\u2019t straightforward and often needed an additional add-on, at a cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, then I came across Wix. It had a higher initial cost to set up, but the resulting website was a dream to set up by comparison, looks beautiful, everything is intuitive, easy to access and available in the all-in-one package. Somewhere down the line I might need to involve someone like an SEO specialist, but right I\u2019m completely sold on Wix as the best website provider to create good looking website that’s easy to manage without hidden extra costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another free platform that helps you make really interactive meetings \u2013 you can use it within Powerpoint, Teams, Google Slides and others. It\u2019s easy to use, free as a freelancer and gives you a whole range of options, from quizzes, polls, Q & As, wordclouds and more. If you\u2019re delivering an event online, it really opens up loads more options, and even if you\u2019re in person, there\u2019s a magic that comes from seeing instant visual results projected for everyone to see, just after you\u2019ve posed a question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Great photos are essential now for anything online, whether it’s your website or your social media. I started off with some ones taken at home, but quickly swapped to a set through the well-known website Shutterstock. A small set are free with an initial trial but if you want a larger set, the price rises significantly. Enter Unsplash, a website full of beautiful images at no cost \u2013 they simply ask you to credit the photographer and them as the facilitating website when you use them. My only word of caution is Unsplash is linked to the paid website iStock and it’s very easy to get pushed onto the paid options when you\u2019re browsing imagery so keep a close eye on whether it’s still under the Unsplash branding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t think I\u2019m big enough yet to look at proposal or accounting software but I know a few people developing into Trello or Notion for to-do lists or project managing their whole freelance workload, which might be on my list to review next. I\u2019m only a few months in to freelancing, and website\/tool hunting though and each of these websites has been game-changing for different areas of freelancing. What\u2019s been particularly amazing is most are free! There\u2019s nothing like finding brilliant support for your work and each of these websites has been worth its weight in gold to elevate, professionalise or ease the admin burden. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photo by Luca Bravo<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" To balance all the challenges that come with launching yourself into the freelancing world, there\u2019s been a series of little joys along the way. Some of the stand-out ones are finding technology solutions that make life a little easier. So, this week, I wanted to showcase some of the platforms and tools I\u2019ve…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[13,11,23,12,21,25,10],"class_list":["post-251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital","tag-charity","tag-consultant","tag-digital","tag-freelance","tag-non-profit","tag-self-employment","tag-start-up-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t