5 Easy-to-Use SaaS Tools That Help When Working from Home as a Freelancer

In this guest post, Lydia Iseh shares why freelancers should use SaaS tools when working from home, and five options that you might consider trying.

Over the past few years, there’s been a major shift at work — many people now prefer to work from home and independently due to the flexibility it offers. Currently, there are about 1.1 billion freelancers out of the global workforce of 3.5 billion, and the numbers keep increasing. However, it’s important to know that although freelancing comes with tons of benefits, it can also be a bit challenging.

A freelancer’s schedule is very dynamic and filled with responsibilities, including applying for jobs, creating contracts and proposals, getting projects done, meeting clients’ demands, and many more. With so many things to do, it can get overwhelming, which may hamper your productivity and efficiency. This is where the need for SaaS tools comes in.

SaaS tools can help you automate and streamline your freelancing activities, so you can focus on doing your job efficiently to expand and grow your career. Here are five SaaS programs you can employ to enhance your workflow as a freelancer working from home. 

5 Efficient SaaS Tools to Facilitate Your Freelancing Journey when Working from Home

If you are looking to work from home as a freelancer, it’s helpful to use suitable tools to get started on the right track. These five SaaS programs can help you get started.

1. Bonsai

When working from home as a freelancer, one of the first things to put in place is a system that helps you create contracts. Contracts are critical for protecting your business and ensuring your clients stick to your agreement and pay you fairly for your services. However, writing contracts manually can be a lot of work, especially if you have an influx of clients you work with. But this is where a SaaS tool like Bonsai comes in. 

Bonsai is an all-in-one freelance management software program designed to help you in every aspect of your freelancing career.  It enables you to craft contracts and proposals, track clients, send invoices, and efficiently manage your projects and time. With Bonsai, you won’t have to write proposals every time you have a new client; there are ready-made contract templates you can tweak to suit your needs.

Bonsai also comes with other features that make your freelancing career a lot easier. For example, you can manage your contacts by including your clients’ names, phone numbers, and email addresses, to track and follow them up on projects and future collaborations. It also comes with a  time-tracking feature that helps you track your time on projects to enhance your productivity, which comes in handy when working from home as a freelancer.

2. Pitch

A major activity that characterizes a freelance routine is securing new clients. Gaining new clients can be very competitive considering the number of freelancers available. Therefore, one way to stand out is to come up with exceptional pitch presentations that show your expertise and captivate your clients, and using a SaaS tool like Pitch can help make that happen. 

Pitch helps you design stunning presentation templates that showcase the value of your services clearly and professionally. It comes with features that make your pitch presentations intriguing and engaging. In addition, it is easy to use and comes with customizable templates to suit your goals. This means you will never have to start creating your presentations from scratch unless you want to.

The variety of templates available make it easy for you to get your presentations ready in minutes. So, if you are looking for an easy way to always show up prepared and professional with your presentations, Pitch’s well-designed templates can help you stand out from other freelancers competing for your client’s attention. 

3. Calendly

As a freelancer working remotely, managing your time effectively is how you improve your productivity and get things done. However, if you keep going back and forth with clients when selecting a schedule for discussion, or you fail to create boundaries by letting your clients know when you are available and unavailable, you may fall behind. Fortunately, a time management tool like Calendly lets you efficiently schedule meetings with your clients, partners, and team. 

Instead of going back and forth to try and find a meeting time, you can simply include your availability on Calendly, share your link to your client, and let them choose a time that’s available on your schedule. Calendly also sends reminders automatically, so you don’t have to call or send emails to your clients to remind them of meetings. Automating these activities gives you more time to focus on accomplishing projects and making quality, timely deliveries when you work from home.

4. Boomerang for Gmail

Boomerang for Gmail is another SaaS tool that gives you control of your time and enables you to manage communications with your team and clients efficiently. It helps you schedule emails and sends them to the recipients at a designated time. For example, if you are to send an email at a specific time, you can create and schedule the message with Boomerang for Gmail to get it sent at that time.

This goes a long way to improve your productivity and efficiency as you freelance from home. First, it means you won’t have to miss sending important emails if you are busy at the designated period because you had scheduled the emails ahead. Second, it helps you schedule emails during your free time to get them sent during your regular working hours. This gives your communication system a structure and ensures you remain professional with your clients consistently, not only during your free time.

Boomerang for Gmail also helps you to track the click rates of your emails. You will know if your recipients have clicked, opened, or read your emails, which will help you know when to send a follow-up email. It is an effective SaaS program to use when you want to effectively manage your time, and set boundaries when freelancing from home.

5. Slack

If you’re working with a team, everyone likely works from different locations. So, you will need a communication tool like Slack to work effectively with your clients and team when working on short or long-term projects. Slack organizes your communication system with your team and clients using various channels. So, if you are working on multiple projects, you can have a separate channel to discuss each milestone. This makes your discussion less overwhelming and disorganized, enabling effective communication among your team and clients. 

In addition, Slack integrates well with other applications, making it a lot more functional. For example, you can upload files from Google Drive to share with your team and integrate other collaboration tools like Trello. 

Why a Freelancer Needs SaaS Tools when Working from Home

Working with SaaS programs to manage your freelance business at home comes with several advantages:  

1. They enable you to create and manage projects easily 

SaaS project management software allows you to plan and execute your freelance projects efficiently. They help you automate many processes, so you don’t have to go through the rigorous and time-consuming process of creating, planning, and executing projects on your own, making freelancing remotely a lot easier.

2. They allow you to manage your time efficiently 

Time management is a critical skill for a freelancer, especially when you work from home. It determines how productive and successful you will be. For this reason, it’s critical to use SaaS time management software to maximize your time. You can track the time you spend on projects to know what projects are taking more time, and then make improvements to spend less time on them. You can also automate many tasks to get your projects done faster. 

3. Saas tools promotes effective communication 

SaaS tools allow you to communicate and collaborate better with your clients and team as you work remotely. You can give reports and carry your clients along every step of the way. They enable your team and clients to give instant feedback so you can work together effectively to achieve optimal results from any location.  

SaaS tools are a must-have for every freelancer looking to succeed in their career while working from home. They help improve your workflow, boost efficiency, and promote better collaboration with your clients and team. 

Have you used SaaS tools as a freelancer? Which ones would you recommend? Connect with Virtual Vocations on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube to share your thoughts and tips. We’d love to hear from you!

Author Bio

Lydia Iseh is a writer with years of experience in writing for Skale, a SaaS Agency specializing in SEO content that provides value to the reader. As someone who believes in the power of SEO to transform businesses, she enjoys being part of the process that helps websites rank high on search engines.