Freelancers have a lot to juggle, from bills and invoices to managing their own social media and websites. Sometimes life can get overwhelming and we begin to forget important items on our to-do list or put too much effort into something that could be done more easily. Freelance Austin met to share apps and tools that make life, well, easier!
For ease of sharing and saving we’ve provided infographics below. After all, infographics are a great tool themselves by making data both easy to read and fun to look at. Besides, honestly, who doesn’t love a good infographic?
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Note: Download a PDF of these infographics here.
Like what you see above? Here is a list of direct links to Freelance Austin’s Best Apps & Tools Guide:
- 123rf: stock images
- Awesome Screenshot: extension for Chrome – screenshots
- Car2Go: useful for hopping around parking/traffic-challenged downtown Austin
- Death to the Stock Photo: free stock photos
- Doodle: for meeting scheduling
- DropBox: file sharing
- Etsy: great for unique gifts
- Evernote: clipping stuff from the internet, managing business cards + contacts, collaborating with clients, managing receipts + expenses
- Feedly: RSS feed
- FreshBooks: for time tracking + billing
- Hootsuite: social media management
- IFTTT: If This Then That – maps out steps after you have done something so you can utilize your ideas, images or tools to get the maximum results possible (i.e. If you take a picture on Instagram it will prompt you to save it to Dropbox)
- LiveMinutes: collaborating + communicating with clients
- Live Scribe Pen: records as you write. Notes and audio can be uploaded to your computer; great for interviews.
- Mailbox: to manage + help clean out your email boxes efficiently
- Mailchimp: client newsletters – app is GREAT for on-the-go reporting
- Microsoft One Note: helps keep everything related to clients in separate notebooks + folders for easy access. You can also save interviews and internet research to the notebooks.
- Mobilligy: organizes + alerts you of upcoming bills
- MyFitnessPal: diet/exercise app to keep you on target
- News 360: excellent aggregator, also Daily Beast, NYT Premier, New Yorker, Huffington Post
- Nimble Foods: food delivery service for downtown/midtown. Sign-up and every day (except Monday) they send a link to daily lunch + dinner entrées. One reg + one veg option daily. $7 delivery to door. Similar to Demand Food.
- PDF to Word: can be used to unlock a PDF that needs editing
- Pocket: (formerly Read it Later): stores websites URLs so you can read articles or find websites later. Better than filling websites in your bookmark tab and available from anywhere with Wi-Fi.
- SleepCycle: for easier alarms + sleep monitoring
- SmartRecorder: for recording meetings + interviews
- Social Oomph: social media scheduling site
- TapeACall: records interviews on cell phone; slight glitch with time lag of recording. Can email file to yourself or link to download it to a desktop. (Cost $5.40)
- TuneInRadio: for global, real-time radio stations, music, languages, shows.
- Topsy: to track how many times a URL has been tweeted about.
- TweetDeck: for all things social media/Twitter-related, multiple platforms.
- Vida Lingua Free Dictionaries: French-English or Italian-English or Spanish-English, etc.
- Wunderlist: share + manage your daily to-do list
- Yahoo! Weather: best weather app ever – for up-to-20 locations!
Freelance Austin would like to say a BIG thank you to the Ronald McDonald House of Charities (RMHC) for letting us meet in their inspiring conference room and to Photographer Michael Samaripa of Inner Light Creations for taking and sharing his wonderful photographs with Freelance Austin.
What tools and apps do you use to increase your productivity at work, home or on-the-go? Tell us below in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!
(Post originally contributed by Freelance Austin member Chloe Scheller.) Infographics created by Elisa Leichty, see more work at LeichtyCreative.com.
- How Freelance Austin Got Its Start: An Interview with Founder Patti DeNucci - June 3, 2015
- You’ve Got Nerve - November 14, 2014
- The Six Keys to Elance Success - September 7, 2014