4 Must Have Tools for Self-Employed Workers
Self-employed people often come in two brackets: Those who can motivate themselves and those who need a little push from somewhere. If you’re working by yourself, it’s a little hard to self-motivate, so it’ll be music to the ears to discover that there are online tools available to help your productivity levels where they should be. Focusing on project management, social media, content management and invoicing, here are four productivity tools available online that will keep you firing on all cylinders:
photo/ Tran Mau Tri Tam
Project Management
If you have trouble organizing yourself or anyone you may have working for you, managing your projects are essential. You can use online tool such as Trello that is designed just for that. You can create Boards with different sections – including To Do, Doing and Done – and assign these tasks to people, giving them deadlines to work to. It’s an effective way to keep tabs on what needs to be done, without constantly having to check your emails or go back and forth with your calendar and diary to set tasks and deadlines.
Social Media Management
For any business or self-employed workers, using tools to boost social media presence is recommended even if you are unaware of how to manage it. It is highly recommended for any business or self-employed worker who want to control their social media channels from one collective hub, rather than balancing them on their smartphones and computers. You can waste a lot of time preparing, creating and sharing posts over the course of a year, and this is where a social media management tool such as HootSuite comes in. It may be worth giving the website a look to get an idea of what they can provide.
You can put aside a couple of hours each week and schedule all of your social media activity for as long as you like – a week, a month, even a year, although this will take a very long time. It means that your accounts will remain active even when you’re too busy to update the likes of Facebook and Twitter and give you time to focus on other areas of your work.
Content Management
Another popular choice self- employed workers can use is content management systems, which are the systems from which you build the foundations of your website on. Some are so easy to use, as you can have a domain name, email address and fully functioning business website up and running for yourself within an hour – and that’s if you have the absolute minimum amount of experience with a CMS.
WordPress is incredibly popular and it’s easy to understand why. They can help you create a beautiful website that your clients and/or customers will enjoy navigating around, and you won’t have to take a Web Developer or Graphic Design course to get there.
Invoice Management
If you’ve ever received a receipt, payment order or invoice that’s looked a little dodgy, it doesn’t fill you with confidence that the business or person who has sent it is legitimate and trustworthy. PayStub Creator is a pay stub generator free of any issues that might put clients off. You simply fill in the details, print or download the finished article and send them to clients by post, or share them via email, before keeping them for your records.
Author: Carol Trehearn
