Being a freelancer means handling multiple projects at once and trying to strike deals with new clients simultaneously. While juggling between projects can get too overwhelming, it is crucial for a freelancer to deliver work before project deadlines since your reputation depends on it.
This chaotic situation has led to rise in the use of project management tools by freelancers. A project management tool is basically software to help plan and organize projects. Although it is very commonly believed that project management tools are just for project managers, it’s not at all true.
Since a freelancer’s income entirely depends on the timely delivery of work, it makes sense that more and more freelancers are opting for project management apps to streamline their work. Let’s look at the top 5 reasons why freelancers need project management tools:
1. To plan projects efficiently:
This is the most important and fundamental reason why a freelancer must use project management software. With the help of project management software, you can easily create and plan projects within minutes. This helps you organize your work in a systematic order, which saves a lot of time.
A good project management tool helps you identify which tasks are more urgent than others. This allows you to plan your time accordingly. Efficient planning is a must to be able to handle multiple projects successfully.
2. To easily track projects:
Project planning becomes easy when you have clear information on the current status of every project in the pipeline. A project management tool helps you in tracking completed, ongoing, and upcoming projects. With the help of project templates, you can edit and maintain logs for better organization of work.
Being able to see what work is pending helps freelancers manage work efficiently without overbooking themselves. For this, you can easily find free project management software online to track and manage projects.
3. To stay on schedule:
For a good work-life balance, a freelancer must plan his day beforehand and take up new work accordingly. But to make sure that the accepted work is being finished on the schedule you need to keep a track of time being invested in each project.
Online project management software comes with time tracking tools that help you understand how much time a certain task is taking. This keeps you focused and helps you schedule your work better in order to get the most out of your day.
4. To communicate better with clients:
Being able to track multiple projects makes it easier for you to report their progress to clients. A project management tool facilitates the easy generation of reports which clearly shows a complete breakdown of the project status. This leads to better utilization of your and the client’s time.
A project management software saves a lot of valuable reporting time since you have all the information in one place which the client can access. It also gives the client the opportunity to give feedback and for you to make necessary changes before delivering the project.
5. To bill clients accurately:
Creating invoices on time is necessary for a freelancer as their income depends on it. But when you have to create invoices for multiple projects and clients, it can lead to some confusion.
A project management software lets you set up a fixed billable amount for each task within a project. When prompted it automatically does the calculations and generates an accurate invoice. You can share the invoice with the client without worrying about having to spend hours doing the calculations manually.
Conclusion:
The above points clearly indicate how beneficial a project management software can be for freelancers. Once you have this software installed, you will be able to easily optimize it for better work and time management which eventually leads to higher profits.
Also Read: 10 Excellent Web Design Software for Freelancers
Project management tools are super helpful, I agree. I use kanbantool.com , and honestly, I’m not sure what I’d do without it. I’d be a lot less efficient for sure.