You have numerous options to make more money. You could venture into real estate investment if you have enough funds and know-how. You could sell items you make through an online store. Or you could explore lucrative opportunities from freelancing.

Skilled freelancers make more per hour than over 70 percent of employees in the US. On top of its earning potential, freelancing also gives you flexible hours, the ability to work from anywhere, and the freedom to choose who you work with. It’s no wonder many are trying it out; the latest Freelancing in America report hows an an uptick of 17 percent back in 2014 to about 28 percent in 2019.

Despite its many benefits, however, this free and flexible career has a few setbacks. You’re in charge of finding and retaining clients, you’re responsible for collecting payment, and it can also be challenging to stay productive when you’re working on your own. Fortunately, there’s a lot of great software and web applications that can make a freelancer’s life easier.

Customer Relationship Management

Even if you’re a freelancer, you still need to use a customer relationship management (CRM) platform. It helps you keep track of your current and former clients’ contact details and business information.

Some CRMs also has communication tools, like email, instant messaging, and SMS automation that helps you market your services to multiple people with just a few clicks. They also come with analytics tools that help you find out if your marketing efforts are getting the clicks and views you need. Great CRM platforms include Bonsai, Close, and Zoho.

Payment Collection

You’ll need invoices to give your clients a complete breakdown of the cost of your services. Plus, these also stand as written records of your earnings and transactions, which may be helpful in paying income taxes.

Platforms, like Freshbooks, Quickbooks, and PayPal allow you to create automated and recurring invoices to clients with just a few clicks. They also feature automated reminders if your clients are nearing or over their payment deadline. It’s a welcome upgrade for people who are just tired of resending their reminders and invoice PDFs to stubborn clients.

Productivity

You may be tempted to give yourself one too many long breaks as “the boss.” But you may end up finishing your tasks late or missing meetings. Not a good track record for your current and future clients. Stay productive with productivity trackers, like TopTracker and Tick. Apart from their intuitive time management features, their base version is free.

If you want to show your clients your progress in real-time, you could also use planning applications, like Trello. Allocate one card for each task and arrange them according to open, in-progress, and completed. You could also add deadlines for each card to ensure you complete your tasks on-time. You can give your clients “observer” access, so they can see where their requests currently are in your pipeline.

Freelancing is a promising option for people who want complete freedom over their work. But if you want to keep a steady stream of clients and income, you’ll have to take care of finance and administrative tasks as well. These digital tools provide easy and convenient ways to engage with clients, collect payments, and manage time. Use them properly to keep your freelance career not only flexible, but also profitable and productive.