For many people, the best advantage to working as a freelancer is not having a boss.
Unfortunately, not having a boss means you have to manage your own productivity. If you need help, consider these 10 awesome productivity programs.
1. Free Download Manager
This open source program can speed up the processing time for downloads. Depending on your system, you may see a 600-percent increase.
2. FreeMind
FreeMind is an open source brainstorming project. You can organize data into a hierarchical format, export reports, track hyperlinks, and include HTML text. Writers can use the program to organize and outline information and then export the file into a word-processing document with headings and paragraphs that follow the flow of the map.
3. Toggl
Do you bill clients by the hour? If so, get Toggl. This time-tracking device can help reduce the time it takes to calculate bills. It has report-generating tools and the ability to manage various projects. You can use the free version or choose to upgrade to a paid version to expand the feature set.
4. TweetDeck
Many freelancers use social media to generate leads and to keep in touch with current clients. It can be time consuming to try to keep up with Facebook and Twitter, but TweetDeck allows you to combine your social networking into one application.
5. AutoHotKeys
How much time can you save by launching an application with one click? AutoHotKeys allows you to customize keyboard shortcuts to access specific programs and files with a few keystrokes. The further a file is in your system, the more time you save with AutoHotKeys.
6. PDFCreator
Portable document format (PDF) allows you to skip the process of trying to save your files in a specific format. Your clients can access the PDF from any operating system. PDFCreator is a free and open source program that allows you to install the program as a printer. Select it as a print option, and the program converts the document to a PDF.
7. Remember the Milk
This program expands upon the basic to-do list. Set reminders, enter locations for events, and keep notes. The program has a mobile version that will sync with your home version so you can get reminders no matter where you are.
8. GnuCash
Every business needs an accounting system, and GnuCash can help. Track your expenses, create invoices for clients, and perform other financial obligations from one program. It even works with exported files from your regular bank.
9. Dropbox
When you and your clients both use Dropbox, you can skip emailing attachments. Instead, you drop the file into Dropbox, and the client can have instant access to it.
10. Keepass
Never forget a password again. With Keepass, you can keep all your passwords in one secure location. If you forget your login information, simply find it on Keepass.
Whether productivity products save you time by increasing speed or by reducing wasted time, they help you trim the excess. With these 10 programs, you may save enough time that you can add an extra client into your workload.
shan ali August 19, 2011 at 9:19 am
thanx for the list…..well i need something for reminder and your post suggested me a tool….thanx
Mark from TheBitBot Article Directory July 16, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Hey, now that “DropBox” idea sounds really cool.
I wonder. Could that be retooled into an internet marketing delivery system?
How secure is it?
Just wondering…
Mark
Jim July 3, 2011 at 7:38 am
I’ve been using Gnucash and Dropbox a while. They are really useful to me. Apart from them, I have only fleetingly heard of the rest in the list while some I’ve never heard of before. I’ll stick to a few for now and master those that I’m familiar with.
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Maria Pavel April 13, 2011 at 11:45 pm
Pretty nice programs. I’m more of a “take a piece of paper and write it down” kind of girl, but i might try these and see where my productivity stands in a few days.
Maria Pavel recently posted..CNA Certification
Shekhar April 3, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Excellent Collection of Useful resource., was searching something like them. Really worth for any blogger to be more fruitful. Excellent collection….. Thanks for this..
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karan April 3, 2011 at 3:39 pm
Nice, I guess you must have researched well before writing this
one..
I like the way you interact with your readers.
Have a nice day friend,
Regards,
Karan
karan recently posted..Backlinking and Promotion – How to Start Building up a Successful Blog
Stella Anokam March 22, 2011 at 7:59 am
Hey there – nice list of useful, handy applications. I see a few unfamiliar ones I may want to try sometime. Freemind, PDFCreator and DropBox are on my list of best free apps.
Thanks for a great post, man,
Stella Anokam recently posted..How to Increase Opt-Ins and Get More Buyers By Giving Away Free Reports
Thomas March 21, 2011 at 12:50 pm
Hi Jayson
Nice list you have put together there. A lot of the programs are new to me.
Thank you for sharing.
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Tinh March 21, 2011 at 1:26 am
Awesome list mate, I love the TweetDeck very much and it is very useful to me
Tinh recently posted..Gmail Advanced Sign-in Security with 2-Step Verification Will Discourage Hackers
Jason March 21, 2011 at 1:06 am
Yes, These are really good productivity programs for freelancers. However, i already know about download manager and pdf creator. Still, thanks for those remaining eight.
Nishadha March 20, 2011 at 11:50 pm
Great list of tools, I only use TweetDeck mentioned in the list but will check out some of the others. I do use alternatives to those during some of my work
Nishadha recently posted..Email marketing in Sri Lanka- how to capture leads and build your mailing list
Dennis Edell March 20, 2011 at 8:58 pm
Is keepass better then Roboform?
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RonLeyba March 20, 2011 at 8:13 pm
Cool set of free tools for freelancers! I love it ! Thanks Jayson!
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Alicia Jay March 20, 2011 at 7:10 pm
Hi Jayson,
Thanks for this great post! As a freelancer, any program/system/software that can save you time undoubtedly saves you money as well. You’ve definitely listed some that I didn’t know about.
Alicia Jay recently posted..3 Reasons Why Proofreading Just Isn’t That Important
Jitendra Singh March 20, 2011 at 3:51 pm
Hello Jayson, Very very thanks to you for letting us know the productivity tools. It will really help us. The one tool which i am using is very awesome in creating note and all is Evernote. Try it once.
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Mani Viswanathan March 20, 2011 at 3:24 pm
I prefer HootSuite for live Tweeting/FBing. For Scheduling my posts/updates I use TweetDeck. Instead of KeePass I prefer LastPass. It works gr8 bcoz of it’s addon for all the browsers.
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Steve March 20, 2011 at 11:56 am
jayson,
Thanks for those these programs. It rocks. Some of the programs I know and use almost daily. Others I never heard of.. so I’ll certainly be checking them out.
Have a great week!
Steve recently posted..How to Build an Affiliate Autoresponder Sequence without “Burning” a List
Fisayo Sanyaolu from Secrets Of Entrepreneurship March 20, 2011 at 9:31 am
Thanks for sharing Jayson !
Trung Nguyen March 20, 2011 at 8:09 am
Great list, Some programs very useful for me, thanks Jayson for share this list.
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Dahlia Valentine March 19, 2011 at 11:10 pm
Hey Jayson… Awesome heads up with FreeMind. I didn’t know you could export your mindmap to Open Office. Definitely giving that one a try.
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Patricia March 19, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Thanks for the suggestions Jayson. Hadn’t hear of some of these. Will check them out. I’m sure some will come in handy for some projects I’m hoping to set up soon.
Patricia Perth Australia
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semmy March 19, 2011 at 7:59 pm
Hi Jay thank you very much for your list!! I think I’ll give your article to my protegee. This will help them to mange the task. Thank you
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Wasim Ismail March 19, 2011 at 7:27 pm
Nice one, was looking for a new time tracking application, will give Toggl a try.
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