My Favorite Resources for Your Freelance Business

I know that starting your own freelance business can be stressful. 

“How do I get started?” 

“What software(s) will I need?”

“Can I even do this?!”

Yes! Yes, you can do this! The first step to starting anything new is believing that you can do it. Now that you have the basic business setup out of the way (read more here if you haven’t done this part yet), here are some of my favorite resources to help you build your business.

Note: This post contains affiliate links which means that if you sign up using my links I may receive a small amount.

My Favorite Online Course for New Freelancers

While I believe that you do not need to spend a lot of money to get started in your freelance business, I know that some people benefit more from a course that will help teach them step-by-step exactly what to do. 

If that is you then I highly recommend Lauren Golden’s The Free Mama Movement course! Lauren is phenomenal and she has several paid options for you to choose from and even more free resources. Her course will help teach you step-by-step how to start your business, find clients, and be successful. She has helped THOUSANDS of women start successful businesses and you will not regret taking her course!!

You can check out Lauren’s course and all of her amazing free info here.

Business Tools

You don’t need a lot of expensive software programs or tools for your business, but there are a few that I recommend (most of which have free versions).

Canva: I use Canva for EVERYTHING! It is probably my favorite app ever. You can create graphics for your business, for your client’s business, logos, PDF’s, and so, so much more. There is a free version and a (paid) pro version. 

You can sign up for a free Canva account here. 

WaveApps: Once you start getting clients, you will need an invoicing and payment system. A lot of people use PayPal business, which is very good, but I prefer Wave. The reason I prefer Wave over PayPal is because they have an integrated accounting software that will keep track of all of your expenses and income for you and they are coming out with a business bank account as well which will make it even easier to keep track of your expenses, all in one software! Wave will allow you to create and send invoices, accept payments, and transfer payments to outside banks. While it does have a fee involved for accepting payments, it is the same as PayPal’s fees and your fees qualify as tax deductions. 

Check out WaveApps here. 

Toggl: If you are doing hourly work for a client you will need a program to track your time. I like Toggl because I have found it very easy to use and I can download and export my time reports easily to send to clients. 

You can create a free account here. 

Acuity: I use (and love) Acuity for my calendar scheduling app. There is a free version and paid version that you can choose for your business. I love that it allows me to insert questionnaires for prospective client’s to fill out prior to our calls and you can sync it with Zoom and Google calendar which I just love!!

Learn more about Acuity Scheduling here.

Zoom: In the year of 2020, pretty much everyone has now had the chance to experience Zoom. Zoom is a great tool to use for your discovery calls with prospective clients and it allows you to record those calls so that you can refer back to them later. 

Sign up for Zoom here if you haven’t already. 

SquareSpace: I am not a tech expert by any means so I was intimidated at the very thought of creating my own website. When I asked for recommendations on what platform to use, a lot of people suggested WordPress but I found it extremely difficult and time-consuming so I opted for SquareSpace instead. What I love about SquareSpace is that I can build my website and have it hosted all in one place instead of having to pay for separate hosting (BlueHost, SiteGround, HostGator, etc.). And I was able to do it for less than $20/month. Yay! SquareSpace is very user friendly and you can design beautiful websites. 

Learn more about SquareSpace here. 

Later: If you haven’t heard of it before, Later is a social media scheduling tool that will allow you to post to your social media accounts simultaneously. It’s great for planning your content for the month and getting it set and scheduled so you can move on to other important tasks in your business. It also keeps track of analytics so that you can see which hashtags are performing the best, what time your audience is the most active, and who is engaging the most with your posts. 

If you’re interested in learning more about Later, create a free account here.

These are the tools that I use daily in my business. Don’t let these intimidate you, they are all very easy to use. With these tools, and the tips about how to find clients, you will be a money-making machine in no time! Go get ‘em!