Moving away from the typical 9-5 and starting a small freelancing business isn’t always easy. The life of an aspiring entrepreneur is both exciting and still really, really ridiculously difficult at the same time (thanks, Zoolander). With the constant use of a few simple and free apps, I’ve been able to organize my clients and projects (and thus, my life) better, so I thought I’d share them with you all (it is the holiday season, right?). Read on and let me know if you have any freelancing app suggestions as well for me below in the comments!

As the clients have started to pile up, so have the invoices (thank God!). I was originally creating my own templates of invoices for each client and PDF’ing them into emails, but I found another great tool to use thanks to a Twitter BlogBrunch chat I attended a few weeks ago. Curdbee is a free, online invoicing app that allows you to customize your clients and invoices – all with a click of a few keys. The free version offers a lot of options, but I upgraded to their “Expansion Pack” (for only $5 per month) which includes the opportunity to remove Curdbee branding, send/export PDF’s, add multiple contacts per client, add pretty little graphs and reporting to your dashboard (as seen below), and more!

I just came across TeuxDeux last night, and have already made it my homepage. It’s like an online to-do list perfect for organizing tasks and projects on a daily basis. It’s extremely simple to use, and the layout is clean enough for any freelancer to start getting their life together. And nothing feels better than crossing out a task, even if it’s virtually through your computer. The bottom section of TeuxDeux also features a “Someday” section where you can put random notes and upcoming projects/ideas at. Another plus about TeuxDeux, there’s a mobile app for it so you can sync your tasks on the go. The minus – it’s only on iPhones for now. (Damn you Android!)

 

We all know about Google Calendar by now. No need to beat a dead horse, but Google Calendar is a pretty important app to use and constantly have updated as a freelancer. With meetings randomly dispersed throughout the week and your sleep schedule a little heavier than usual (hey, we work better at night anyway!), it’s best to use Google’s calendar to sync all of your appointments and meetings onto that precious phone of yours. There’s nothing like that alarm notification showing up on your phone ten minutes before you have a client meeting. (Gulp, hope that never happens to me!) Google’s Calendar is also a good way to separate play vs business via their different color-coding options. Now, go on and start booking some meetings!

Similar to Evernote, Catch is a mobile app (iPhone AND Android compatible, woot woot!) that allows you to ‘catch’ thoughts, ideas, lists, tasks…everything, and keep them organized on your phone and online. I use this app when I have a quick list of things I need to do for a project, or when I want to save a picture of login passwords for a client via a cell phone pic. If I ever need to go back and find documents or notes, I look through my hashtags that I utilize, and voila – all your information at your fingertips. #AwesomeSauce. The user interface is really nice for Catch (hello colors!), and pretty simple to use. Try out the app and let me know what you think!

Am I missing any apps that would benefit me and my business as a freelancer? Let me know in the nifty little comment box below.