All freelancers need some online tools to make their functioning more efficient. These tools include everything from data management and automation tools to IT security solutions. In the era of technology, no business can survive without these tools.

Freelancing is a business of its kind and there are several steps involved in the client acquisition process. You need to focus on acquiring high-ticket clients while leaving some steps to software.

Here are some tools that will help you every step of the way:

Online tools for freelancers

1. LinkedIn (Finding clients)

Marketing yourself is extremely necessary for client acquisition. You practically have no business if you don’t market yourself on social media. As a freelancer, you can rely on LinkedIn. This is one social media app where actual business owners hang out. You can connect with founders, chief executives, managers, or fellow freelancers in a company.

The filters on LinkedIn are the absolute best as you can find anybody from any company in the world. You can pitch them or talk to them to build a network. It’s a professional space so you can share content from your niche and establish your expertise. Freelancers around the world agree that LinkedIn is the most helpful social media platform when it comes to finding clients. Anybody who’s not actively posting on LinkedIn is missing golden opportunities.

2. Zoom / Google meet (For client calls)

As a freelancer, you need to attend client calls multiple times a day. Sometimes, there are other people who want to be in the call. For instance, your editor wants to introduce you to the founder or content manager. You need a reliable video conferencing app for this. Zoom and Google meet are the best tools out there.

They allow everyone to take notes and drop links while being on call. Moreover, you can share screens and view your client’s screen for better understanding. Both of these apps are free to use but the time duration and number of members for calls are limited in the free version. You can upgrade it to more by buying a plan,

3. Hello Bonsai (To design invoices, contracts, and proposals)

This is one tool that sorts out many tasks for a freelancer. It lets your build invoices, contracts, and proposals all in one place. Moreover, it lets you track your expenses and payments. Hello, Bonsai is a paid software with a 2-week free trial. This gold mine for freelancers in any niche but works best for designers.

Hello-Bonsai helps with all the steps necessary in the freelancing process starting from finding clients to sealing deals. It has quite many templates at your disposal so you don’t have to craft a new proposal every time you sign up a new client. There are multiple tools out there to help you with each step of the client acquisition. It’s better to have one software to do everything.

4. Payoneer (For payments)

This is a payment app that allows you to send and receive money from anywhere in the world. It’s easy to use and can be a great substitute for PayPal. Many freelancers across the world have at least one bad experience with PayPal where their money got stuck. In these cases, it’s good to have another option.

You have to set up your Payoneer account and verify your business. You can register as a small business owner too if you need it for those transactions. After setting up, your account takes up a few business days to verify. For the first payment, it will ask a few questions for the final verification, but after that, it’s a smooth road ahead. It will receive money from the sending party and transfer it automatically to your bank account.

5. Trello

Trello is everybody’s favorite project management software. Freelancers can use it to track and manage multiple client projects in one place. The software has separate columns for separate projects. You can add ‘cards’ in these columns with each step and personalize them with titles. Then, you can open these cards and add more information about a task like steps involved in it and description.

It makes team projects easy as you can add team members right then and there to assign them tasks. They will receive notifications via Trello and e-mail whenever they’re assigned a task. You can add due dates to make sure the tasks get done on time. You can send attachments as well to make the discussions creative.

These were the best online tools that you need as a freelancer to make your workflow easy. This software can be used further to automate many steps of the process. As a freelancer, there are already tons of tasks that you have on your plate. It’s better to let this software handle some for you.