Taxes, customer relations, marketing and meetings, passwords and web performance – sometimes there seems to be no end to the jobs self-employed professionals need to master.
Luckily, by utilising the right digital tools, you can effectively manage everything from your admin to accounting.
In this guide, we look at some the best tools you can take advantage of to transform the way your business works.
Ensuring you are on top of your invoices is essential for cash flow purposes, while making sure you remain on the right side of HMRC when it comes to taxes is a key part of running your own business.
Using the right tools can make a real difference, which is where online accounting platforms come in.
With the arrival of Making Tax Digital (MTD), such applications are more important than ever before.
Accounting platforms can handle everything from invoice generation and expense tracking to generating financial reports or tax assistance.
The most notable tools in this area include:
A strong, consistent brand and powerful marketing can make a huge difference to your business. But if you’re a plasterer or an accountant, graphic design and social media are not necessarily top of any list of items in your skill set.
That’s where tools like Canva and Adobe Express come in. While they might not provide everything a professional designer can, these platforms come with free versions and can provide strong results in a fast, simple and effective manner.
From creating social media graphics, designing business cards or logos, and building custom made, downloadable PDFS, these tools can help you boost your presence and build your brand.
The most notable tools in this area include:
Whether you bill by the hour or are simply interested in getting a read on exactly where your time goes, time tracking tools and applications can provide real insight and boost productivity.
It is especially useful for those self-employed professionals who are juggling multiple projects and need help to manage their workload.
With additional uses such as providing accurate client billing and better estimation of project lengths, as well as live time-based tracking, these tools will help you take control of your day and gain a better understanding of your income.
The most notable tools in this area include:
When you’re working with several clients towards multiple deadlines, effective project management is vital if you want to succeed.
Project management tools and applications have the ability to help you plan and visualise your content calendar, track the progress of any work, organise client communications and details of meetings, and build yourself a personal knowledge base or store of important documents.
These tools have the ability to customise your workflow, track and assign tasks, and have built-in integration systems so they can work alongside other platforms.
The most notable tools in this area include:
Effective communication with your clients is really important for all businesses, especially if you are operating on a small scale or as a sole trader.
There are several platforms that can offer you the ability to keep on top of your comms, whether that be through messaging services, video conferencing, or sharing files.
There are a wide-range of options in this area, but among the most popular are:
Storage solutions are vital to help small businesses and sole traders to be able to find those all-important files, documents, presentations, and graphics.
Providing secure storage, collaboration features, and synchronisation across devices, these file management tools can be a game-changer.
Being able to access whatever you need in a quick and efficient way will boost your productivity and allow you to spend time concentrating on the core elements of your business rather than desperately searching through emails or disparate files stored on a laptop or computer.
The most notable tools in this area include:
Equipping yourself with flexible digital tools that can boost your productivity is an essential part of achieving success as a self-employed professional.
These tools will not only save you time, but have the power to give you more control over everything from your marketing to your finances. Using them correctly will make your business look and feel more professional, bringing you and your clients increased confidence.
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