9 time-saving apps + tools to help run your freelance writing business
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
I used to spend hours looking for the “best” apps and tools to run my freelance writing business.
Anyone else? 🙋🏻♀️
Starting as a freelance writer—and learning how to manage your workload—is hard. There’s no sidestepping that tough truth.
I’ve been a freelance writer for over seven years now, and I’ve spent hours diving down gopher holes figuring out how to run my business—and what tools are going to best help me.
I’ve discovered—and still use—9 core apps and tools that help me organize and run my freelance business.
Frankly, without some of these tools, I’d be a bit lost.
Some tools are free, and some require an investment. I firmly believe investing in a few tools for your freelance business—especially ones that will save you time and money in the long-run—are worth the investment.
I hope this list gives you a head start on a few keystone tools for running a freelance writing business. Let’s jump in!
FYI: this blog post contains referral or affiliate links. When you click on a referral or affiliate link and make a purchase, I do receive a small commission or bonus at no cost to you. Referral and affiliate links are marked with an asterisk (*). I only recommend products or services if I love them and believe in their value wholeheartedly.
Notion:
A Workspace for Organizing your Business and Life
Notion is a fully customizable and powerful tool to organize your business and life.
Notion is a software that allows you to build systems and databases from the ground-up.
Within Notion, you use “blocks” to build and shape a page that’s customized for your needs and wants.
Notion has templates that are pre-made and ready for you to use. Most people start with Notion templates, and then build up from them to create their own custom systems.
Common uses for Notion:
Want to track your to-dos for various freelance projects? → Notion
Need to monitor your freelance invoices and revenue? → Notion
Want to keep records of books you read and your notes? → Notion
Interested in never forgetting a friend’s birthday again? → Notion
Want to create content and establish a repeatable workflow? → Notion
I highly recommend using Notion. I use it every day, and it’s helped me become more efficient, clear, and calm in my business.
My big, lumpy caveat: Notion takes time to learn.
You do need to be willing to put in some hours to learn how to use Notion. There is a definite learning curve.
I’ve been using Notion since December 2020. How I use Notion now is very different from when I first started.
Luckily, there are many online resources on Notion to help get you started. I’ll link to some of my favourite tutorials down below.
What’s the price investment?
This is—by far—my favourite part about Notion.
Notion is FREE for personal use. Yup, that’s right.
They also have a Personal Pro plan, which comes in at $5/month. If you want to share pages with more than five people or add attachments bigger than 5GB, this is the plan for you.
For me, I’ve always had a free plan, and that’s more than suited my needs.
Why is Notion a helpful workspace for freelancers?
Notion is the main tool I use to stay on top of my freelancer workload. Here are the main ways I use Notion:
📝 To-Do List: A basic—but powerful—way to use Notion is to create a “To-Do” task database. This helps me track all the things I want to get done in my life and business.
🗂 Freelance Project Management: I also use Notion to keep track of all my various freelance projects and deadlines so nothing falls through the cracks.
💸 Revenue Tracking: While I do use another app to track my business expenses and invoices, I use Notion more to track my revenue and as a prompt to follow up on late client payments.
🔮 Reflection + Planning: I plan my days, weeks, months, quarters, and year in Notion. I’m a planner and goal-getter—and I love how Notion gives me space to keep all those plans in one place.
✍️ Content Creation: I write blog posts and send out a weekly newsletter. I have workflows for both, and I keep those in line using a database in Notion. This also helps me stay on top of my content strategy.
👯♀️ Friends Database: Okay, this sounds a bit odd, but my “Friends Database” just helps me keep track of birthdays and potential gift ideas for the people I love.
I created all of the above using available Notion templates—and with a lot of time and help.
If you’re interested in using Notion, I highly recommend starting with the below resources and scrolling through a few YouTube videos to get a sense of how others use in Notion in their professional lives.
Here are some helpful Notion resources:
I’ll also have blog posts on my Notion templates and how I use Notion in my work life, so stay tuned!
But… Notion is not for everyone.
Notion has been the software that has most boosted my productivity. If you’re at all intrigued, I’d highly recommend you check it out.
Sign up for an account, and try out a few templates. Watch a video or two. You might find you love it.
1Password:
An App for Storing Passwords
Yes, I’ve listed my password-storing app second on my list of useful business tools. It’s been that game-changing.
WIRED calls password managers the “vegetables of the Internet.” I’d agree wholeheartedly. They’re great for your business system.
Password managers help you:
Save time.
Create more secure passwords.
Stop reusing the same password you’ve used for 61 accounts.
Sign up for a new account with more ease and security.
What’s the price investment?
For 1Password’s annual plan, it costs $3 a month for one user.
There’s also a 14-day free trial to kick the tires and see if it’s the right password manager for you.
Why is 1Password a helpful tool for freelancers?
1Password may not be your final choice, but I highly recommend investing time and energy into getting a password manager.
I used to have to hunt for passwords in my Evernote files, digging through eons of scrambled password hints. It was tragic.
A password manager will save you time. Period.
1Password is helpful because:
It creates secure passwords whenever I sign up at a new site.
My username and passwords automatically appear when I log in at any site.
You can set your preferences to when 1Password prompts you to log in again.
For example, whenever I log into my web browser, I must log in to 1Password again. But you can have it set to log you out every five minutes or so, depending on your privacy preferences.
I personally love 1Password and highly recommend it. It helps me feel more secure, knowing I’m not simply duplicating the same password online.
As a freelancer, you will have multiple accounts on multiple sites. Having a password manager saves you so much stress and struggle to stay on top of them all.
YNAB (You Need a Budget)*:
A Budget App for Financial Freedom
For years, budgeting seemed tedious and mind-numbing and restrictive to me.
I don’t need a budget to tie me down, I once thought.
Then I began my career as a freelance writer.
When I first started freelancing, I quickly realized:
I no longer had a regular paycheque I could count on 😱
My finances were in a terrifying state—and I needed to get a firm handle on them.
If you take any tool or insight from this article, let it be this: Having a budget is one of the best ways to grow—and sustain—your freelance business.
Learning how to budget is one of the hardest habits to start—but it’s a productive, healthy habit with benefits that compound with time.
Why you need a budget as a freelancer:
It helps you feel in control of your financial future—and less scared of what lies ahead.
You can prepare for tax season and business expenses throughout the year, instead of in a last mad dash.
It helps you know exactly how much you have to spend every month.
What’s the investment?
YNAB* is a subscription-based software, and that means you do pay a yearly fee.
YNAB’s monthly plan is $14.99/month, while their annual plan is $98.99/year.
YNAB claims that, on average, someone who starts budgeting with their software usually saves $600 in their first two months, and over $6,000 in their first year.
From my experience, I’d say that tallies up. So, $99 a year? Worth the money.
Why is YNAB* a helpful tool for freelancers?
I’ve used YNAB since 2017 when I first started my freelance business. What most benefited me?
Learning YNAB’s “four rules” for budgeting.
Rule One: Give every dollar a job. This rule is also known as zero-based budgeting. YNAB teaches you how to “give a job” to every dollar in your bank account—and how to use every dollar wisely and effectively.
Rule Two: Embrace your true expenses. This rule is how you start to budget for large, yearly expenses—or anything that feels like an “unexpected” expense. YNAB teaches you how to prepare for big expenses, like car repairs or large, annual fees (like payments for Squarespace, a website builder) with small, monthly payments you set aside every month.
Rule Three: Roll with the punches. This rule is why I love YNAB software. YNAB is not about making you create and stick to a restrictive budget. Life throws us curveballs. YNAB teaches you how to bend and wave when you get walloped by life’s biggest financial challenges.
Rule Four: Age your money. If you’re a freelancer, you have “variable income.” This means the amount of money you make every month goes up and down. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. YNAB teaches you how to age your money, which helps you get ahead of the “contract-to-contract” cycle.
(I work about 3-5 months ahead. Any money I spend this month? I made it at least three months ago.)
YNAB kind of rocked my financial world. Using their software, learned how to build—and maintain—a budget that helps me feel financially secure.
And that feeling of freedom? Worth every penny.
If you’re interested in YNAB, start by signing up.*
They give you a free trial of 34 days, which is enough to see if it’s the right fit for you.
YNAB also released a new version in 2021, and this version has cut down the YNAB learning curve significantly.
I’ll also have future blog posts that cover how to budget as a freelancer with variable income, so be sure to check back or get on my newsletter list to stay updated.
Ulysses:
A Writing App to Streamline your Writing Workflow
In the writing world, there are two writing apps that rule the roost. That’s Scrivener—and Ulysses.
These are two powerhouse writing apps. Both are wonderful investments and are ideal for different writers.
I love using Ulysses, mainly because it provides a robust, yet minimalistic, writing experience.
I am an easily distracted writer, and it helps me immensely to have a full-screen writing world. That’s what Ulysses does for me.
What’s the investment?
The main feedback I hear about Ulysses is annoyance at their subscription-based pricing.
Ulysses costs $5.99 a month, or $49.99 a year.
For me, this isn’t unreasonable. (They also offer a free trial so you can test the waters.)
Scrivener on the other hand, is a one-time fee.
I chose Ulysses because I love the experience of writing in the app. I find it easier to organize my thoughts and I love how it tracks the number of words I write and provides a helpful outline alongside my work.
As a business model, subscriptions help a company make tweaks and changes to their software. It’s more sustainable.
But it’s really up to you—for me, subscribing to the writing app I loved made sense. If the yearly cost is a concern, I’d definitely recommend checking out Scrivener instead.
Why is Ulysses a helpful tool for freelancers?
Here are the main reasons I love Ulysses, and what makes it so helpful for running my freelance business:
💻 The Ulysses app syncs across all of my digital devices. This includes my iPad, iPhone, and iMac. (Can you tell I’m an Apple fan? 🍎) I love being able to write across multiple devices, and I can trust that my writing world is always easily accessible.
📁 Ulysses helps me organize my writing with folders. Yes, I can organize my writing into desktop folders—but something about having all my writing in one place is so soothing to my writer’s heart. I can also set up the folders more intuitively, and tag them with keywords if I need to find certain sections quickly.
🕵️ I can easily search my writing. The search function in Ulysses is chef’s kiss*.
🧓 I can revisit old versions of what I’m working on quickly and easily. Sometimes I start writing, and realize what I deleted an hour ago needs to come back to life. Ulysses has a feature that shows you all versions of the draft you’re working on—meaning you can resurface old bits of writing with ease. You can also browse backups from weeks and months ago with ease.
Whether you go with Ulysses or another writing app, I highly recommend spending time finding a “place” to write.
Freelance writers spend so much time looking at their screen. It’s worth the investment to find a writing space that feels calming and invigorating and encouraging.
One big lesson I’ve learned over the last year is the value of time as a freelancer.
These are my time tracking apps of choice: Toggl Track and Timery.
Toggl and Timery work together effectively. They’re a delightful duo that makes tracking your time across individual projects—and in general—fairly easy.
Toggl Track is a time tracking software. Here you can track time spent on individual projects or even with specific clients.
In Toggl Track, you can also set up tags that help you differentiate how much time you spend on writing versus editing, for instance.
Timery is built to complement Toggl Track, and make it more functional. Timery works “on top” of Toggl Track.
It has a beautiful user interface that allows you to save commonly used timers. It also works with iOS shortcuts for seamless time tracking.
What’s the investment?
If you plan to use both Toggl and Timery together, I’d recommend the following:
I have a free Toggl Track account. A Timery subscription will cost your wallet $0.99 per month, or $9.99 a year.
And I’d say it more than pays for two Starbucks lattes. ☕️
Why are Timery and Toggl Track helpful tools for freelancers?
Time tracking is tedious, I get it.
I think it also evokes a lot of fear for freelancers. When we start really examining how we spend our time, it can throw unhelpful habits into the spotlight.
🤔 Oh, that’s how long I spend working on these kind of projects?
🤔 Oops, I do spend quite a bit of time on Instagram.
🤔 Am I really checking my email that frequently?
Time tracking gives you helpful insights on how you spend your time. Just make sure to approach it with a gentle, compassionate lens.
Toggl Track and Timery help me track the following:
Time spent per project: I track my time on every freelance project so I can stick to my projected estimates. I also compare how much time I spent on a project with how much I made to find out my “hourly rate.”
Time spent per client: I also track my time by client (and I include my personal business as a “client”.) This helps me see how much time I spend per client every week. I also then know roughly how long it’ll take me to complete future projects.
Time spent on “types” of work: I also use tags to track how much time I spend editing versus writing every week. This is a fun insight for me.
Time tracking is such a key part of my “productivity” strategy. If you’re keen to start finding and saving time within your freelance business, I’d recommend trying out the Toggl Track and Timery duo.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to set up time tracking in your freelance business, check out my post: 5 strategies to improve your time management as a freelance writer.
Wave Apps:
An App for Tracking Invoices and Business Expenses
Wave Apps helps me track my business expenses and invoices. Keeping a (digital) paper trail of my invoices and expenses makes tax season a breeze for me.
Tracking your invoices and expenses is a freelancing necessity. Wave Apps makes it relatively easy to stay on top of it all.
What’s the investment?
Wave Apps is a FREE financial software.
As a beginner freelancer, every penny counts. Wave Apps is a free alternative to more expensive accounting software.
Wave Apps makes their money when you send invoices. Most of the time, I’m paid directly by bank transfer or cheque, so I only use Wave Apps as an invoice and expense tracker.
Why is Wave Apps a helpful tool for freelancers?
Main reason: your tax season will be infinitely easier.
As a freelancer, you can write off many business expenses. But how many of us actually keep track of them all?
Wave Apps makes this easy for me.
Here are three ways I use Wave Apps:
🧾 I track all of my business receipts in Wave. The software keeps digital copies of my receipts safe, tidy, and categorized in their system.
💲 I create invoices for every freelance contract in Wave. I rarely send out invoices. I’m a freelance writer in educational publishing, so my contracts act as invoices instead. But I write up invoices to keep track of my income in a systematic way. (Any questions about that, feel free to email me!)
🗓 I run yearly reports to track my income and expenses in Wave. This tells me exactly how much I spent and how much I made. I plug all these details into TurboTax, my tax filing software. All these steps help me file my taxes with relative ease.
I get it—accounting software can feel intimidating. I’ll likely write posts in the future about how I use Wave Apps to track my invoices and expenses.
If that’s something you’re interested in, shoot me an email and let me know!
(I feel like a disclaimer is needed here—when it comes to managing taxes and your business expenses, getting help from a certified accountant can be a worthwhile investment. Especially if you feel confused. I share the way I run my business simply as educational information.)
Spark Inbox:
My Favourite Email Inbox
I’ve used Apple Mail for most of my life. And there’s nothing wrong with Apple Mail.
It does the job, okay?
But Spark Inbox is—dare I say—just a delightful email inbox.
Spark Inbox has a whole host of tiny, yet effective, features that make my email experience that much more fun.
What’s the investment?
As of writing this blog post, Spark Inbox is 100% free for personal use.
And so if you’re a freelance writer where your business is made of just lil’ ol’ you (like me 🙋🏻♀️)—it’s FREE. Got to love the sound of free in your bank account.
Why is Spark Inbox a helpful tool for freelancers?
Here are my three favourite reasons for using Spark Inbox:
All of my email accounts can funnel into one inbox. I only have two email accounts in use: my personal Gmail account and my work email. I love that I can funnel both these accounts into one inbox to process.
I can set up templates for emails I send all the time. I sometimes reach out to potential clients, and, frankly, I say similar things every time. You can set up templates in Spark Inbox (only five for the free version, though), and include placeholders and attachments. If you do a lot of client outreach, and use a similar message every time, this is a time-saver.
Spark Inbox has a smart filing system and bumps messages from real people to the top of my inbox. Gmail has tabs that filter through your email. And I never liked them. Spark Inbox does a similar thing—but it filters within your main inbox. Most importantly, it bumps up messages from real people (eg. clients, fellow non-robots) to the top of your inbox. When I’m checking my mail, this helps me laser in on important emails that need a reply quickly. Everything else is filtered into “Newsletters” and “Alerts”.
If you’re in the market for a new email experience, I’d highly recommend checking out Spark Inbox. It’s made my workflow quicker—and just a bit more fun.
Cold Turkey:
An App for Blocking the Internet
I remember my dad laughing when I told him I invested in an internet blocker.
“Can’t you just not check your email?” he said.
My face to that impertinent comment: 😒
Yes, we all think we can summon the willpower to not check our email, sidestep social media, and not heed the siren call of YouTube.
Let’s be real—it’s difficult to pay attention to our work these days.
And when you’re a freelancer, paying attention to your work matters.
The more focused you are, the faster you’ll work. That’s why I believe investing in an app that helps make focus easier is always worth the expense.
What’s the investment?
Cold Turkey is a one-time investment, which is why I prefer it to other, more “sparkly” internet blockers.
Cold Turkey’s cost: $49 Canadian. And you get access to all future updates.
There is a free version of Cold Turkey, as well as a 7-day trial, and if you want to experiment and see if it’s right for you.
The main drawback to the free version is that you can’t block apps on your computer. My kryptonite is my email app—so it needs blocking. This made investing in Cold Turkey an easy decision for me.
Why is Cold Turkey a helpful tool for freelancers?
For starters, Cold Turkey lets you set up different blocks within a schedule.
As a freelancer, here are the two blocks I use the most:
👩🏻💻 Deep Work (Monday to Wednesday, 9am-2pm): Most days, I reserve this 5-hour slot as my “deep work” time, when I do my most creative writing and editing. I block access to all tempting sites during this slot, including social media sites, Slack, email, and YNAB (budgeting distracts me sometimes, okay).
🙅🏻♀️ No Email Zone (Friday evening to Sunday evening): I committed to myself a few months ago that I’d avoid all business email on the weekends. But I know myself well enough to know I might crack, if unblocked. So, I set a “no email zone” on my weekends. I have all email options, and Slack, blocked during these hours.
These are two types of “blocks” I’d recommend to all freelancers. We all need space to do “deep work”—and we also need breaks from the chaotic world of email.
Cold Turkey Tip: Use the “Random Text" block
Within Cold Turkey, you have several options when blocking the internet. Most people like to set “nuclear” options (unless you reboot your computer, there’s no way to hack your way around the internet block).
I’m not a fan of this strategy. Luckily, there are less terrifying options in Cold Turkey.
For me, the most effective and helpful block option is “Random Text.”
If I need to get into my email, I have to type a string of random text to “unblock” myself. This text is annoying to type and takes at least a minute to write out.
This minute is enough to deter me from getting out of my work block.
But if something important comes up—like I have a key coupon in my inbox—I will brave the “random text.”
This option helps me feel less terrified about blocking apps and distracting sites, because it gives me freedom to change my mind.
But it’s annoying to change my mind, so I usually don’t. 🤷♀️
Squarespace:
An Easy Way to Build your Freelance Writer Website
I started my personal website in 2017. Over the years, I’ve had relatively few visitors to my website.
But the ones who do visit my website? Most of the time they hire me.
I invested in Squarespace as a website builder, because coding confused me, and I loved the “look” of Squarespace.
Over the years, Squarespace has continued to grow and revamp their platform.
If you want to easily create a website for your freelance writing business, Squarespace makes the process quick and beautiful.
What’s the investment?
Squarespace isn’t cheap. It’s no WordPress, and it does require a yearly subscription fee.
I personally am on their Business Plan, which is $216 for a year (works out to $18/month). Or, you can pay $26 to go month to month.
I use the Business Plan to:
Use Javascript on my website. (That’s how I can add newsletter forms to my site.)
Have eCommerce options. (If I want to sell digital products in the future, I can do that on a Business Plan.)
Add CSS elements. (I do play around with CSS on my website, which means fiddling with site design. But it’s definitely not needed if you want to create a beautiful, but simple, website.)
If you’re setting up a basic website, all you need is their Personal Plan. This is $144 for a year (works out to $12/month). You can also pay $16 to go month to month.
I’d recommend starting with a Personal Plan, and upgrading later if needed. Squarespace’s customer service make it easy to change your plan. (I also recommend erring on the side of ‘cheaper’ when starting any new plan.)
Why is Squarespace a helpful tool for freelancers?
Squarespace makes building a professional-looking website SO EASY.
Squarespace uses a block system that makes it easy to add and move different items on a page. They also have website templates that give you a great starting point.
Most freelance writer websites don’t need more than 3-5 web pages. I like that Squarespace makes it straightforward to set up a clean and beautiful website.
Using a website builder will save you time and headaches. Investing in Squarespace year after year has paid off for me.
I’ve had quite a few clients who commented on the professional look of my website. Having a personal website gives your business a more legitimate feel.
Your website is also a platform that you have control over (unlike Facebook, Instagram, etc). There is immense value in having creative and professional control over a platform.
Investing in a website builder is a great, long-term strategy for any freelance writer. It is the most costly investment on this page—but well worth the dollar bills.
Investing in your business =
Investing in yourself
If you’re anything like me, you probably hum and haw over pricey business investments. And while many of these apps are free, not all of them are.
What I’ve learned over my freelancing years is that it’s okay to spend money on business investments, especially if it helps you gain or save time.
Your time matters.
As a freelancer, you’re usually not paid by the hour. You’re paid by the project or by the word count.
This means you need to be an expert at managing your time—and these tools will help you save time in the long-run.
Consider investing in one tool at a time when you’re first starting as a freelancer.
I don’t recommend going full force with new equipment and new apps and new t-shirts when you’re just starting your business.
But if you’ve reached a point where you’re making enough to cover your bills every month? It’s worth the energy to find tools that will help you be more efficient with your time.
Investing in tools that help you organize and run your business are investments that will pay dividends for years to come.
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Oh hey there, I’m Monika!
(she/her) I’m a big fan of compassionate creativity, intentional living, and freshly-popped popcorn. I hope this post helped you find some new tools to help you run your freelance business more effectively and efficiently.
If you have any questions, feel free to send me an email. I love to hear from fellow freelancers!
