My Freelance Suitcase – Useful tools for Freelancers

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I’ve recently started taking on some freelance jobs and really just learning more about what is involved in being a freelance designer. It’s been interesting to say the least. I’ve found some really useful tools online that I wanted to share with my readers. I know a lot of designers visit this site looking for themes and social networking icons so hopefully these tools will be useful to some of you.

Also check out these helpful posts online:

Your online Portfolio!

Raveal – Not your father’s monster
Raveal goes beyond the basic resume building site. Raveal gives you the power to build a visually stunning portfolio of your work and experience. The resume is sharp. The gallery is simple to use. Pro features include personal domains, profile blog feeds, and tracking stats. Visit Raveal!

Carbonmade : Your online portfolio. Carbonmade helps you build and manage an online portfolio website. Use Carbonmade to show off your design, illustration, art..

Creating A Successful Online Portfolio – SmashingMagazine.com

Getting the Jobs!

LimeExchange, is an online services marketplace, offering a platform to Small Medium Businesses & Entrepreneurs looking for options to outsource or offshore. LimeExchange provides quick and easy access to freelance talent. LimeExchange currently allows exchange of services for Freelance professionals & experts across various categories such as writing & translation, graphic design, services, web design, web development, software development, networking, audio/video, multimedia, programming etc.

Monster List of Freelance Job Sites – FreelanceSwitch.com

Project Management tools

Backpack or Basecamp. You can use a to-do list to manage the tasks of a project, of course, but if you need to collaborate, or store extensive notes or files, you’ll need something a little better. Backpack is the simplest way to do that, because it’s so versatile. You can share pages, have checklists or other lists for the project’s task, set up pages for each project, add files and notes and images, even send yourself reminders and do “white papers” for collaboration. If your project needs are more complicated, you’ll want to give Basecamp a try.

Beanstalk.com – Great for designers and developers Beanstalk is used by software teams, developers, and web designers who don’t want the hassle of setting up and managing their own Subversion server. It helps them collaborate, provides confidence when making changes, and offers peace of mind.

CreativePro Office – offers complete office management tools. CreativePro Office is completely free, setting it apart from the other apps. The dashboard presents a calendar with upcoming events, a list of your projects, outstanding invoices, notes and search functionality.

More Tools

Calendars:

Google Calendar or 30 Boxes. A calendar is one of the cornerstones of any time, management program, of course, but it’s best to have one that’s simple and easy to use. You don’t want to have to wait to enter an appointment or to see what you have on tap. I’m a fan of GCal, with its multiple calendars (one for freelance work, one for work, one for personal, one for family?), its email reminders, and quick add extensions, but 30 Boxes is another favorite and is a great alternative. I suggest you only use your calendar for things that have to be done on a certain date or time — not for your daily to-do list.

More – 15 Useful Project Management Tools – Smashingmagazine.com

Time Management Tools

Toggl.com – This tool is important for providers who work on hourly basis. This helps you track time spent on a different projects. It allows you to create new tasks and switch old tasks in just one simple click. If you are an individual freelancer give access to your customers for online reports. As a team, invite new members to your workspace. Use online version or a Windows-based version to download on your desktop. Toggl has a free plan for basic time tracking and reporting. You can have unlimited number of clients, projects and tasks.

GetHarvest.com – Harvest offers pricing plans from free to premium, but offers an amazing array of platform integrations such as iPhone, Basecamp, Beanstalk a WordPress plugin and more. Offers both time tracking and invoicing.

MyClientSpot.com – Helps you keep track of your billable hours, staying organized, tracking leads and numerous other features.

Tickspot.com – Allows you to keep track of your time spent on a project and even see how close you are to using up your client’s allotted budget. Also offers a free iPhone application.

SimplifyThis.com – SimplifyThis is both an appointment book for keeping track of your meetings, and any of those that might be billable, as well as a full invoicing service with payment gateway integrations.

To-do list: Vitalist or Todoist. There are dozens of to-do list managers online, and I’m not going to do a comprehensive comparison. But Vitalist is one of my favorites, because it is so intuitive and easy to use. Todoist is a great choice if you prefer things in a hierarchical, outline-type format.

More – Time Management Tips & Tools for Freelancers!

Web Forms

FormSpring gives businesses and organizations an easy way to build any type of online form, integrate it with their website and begin collecting data. Once you have started collecting that data you can use the information you gathered in our online database or export it. With FormSpring anyone can build all types of web forms, collect data online and do it simply and efficiently.

JotForm is the first web based WYSIWYG form builder. Its intuitive drag and drop user interface makes form building a breeze. Using JotForm, you can create forms, integrate them to your site and collect submissions from your visitors.

Wufoo Form – Perfect for Designers and Bloggers. The Wufoo form builder allows you to easily create stunning forms in minutes, but also offers you a variety of ways to store and organize the forms information. Idea for Freelance Designers!

My favorite part of Wufoo is the finished product. When building a form with Wufoo you have the ability to easily add in sweet ajax effects like suggestions and hints. The end result is a polished form that can be embedded into a web page, be turned into a pop up form, or as its own page.

Once you have your form built, you can set various notification priorities. You can have Wufoo form messages emailed directly to your email where you can respond to them like normal email or you can simply keep the information from the form stored in your Wufoo account and just get notifications when new forms have been submitted.

Geting Paid $$ Invoicing

FreelanceSwitch.com Rates Calculator – Have no clue what you should be charging for your hourly rate as a freelancer? This rates calculator asks you a series of questions about your working situation, how much you want to make and so on, and then gives you a suggestion of how much to charge per hour.

FreshBooks makes billing painless with their Super-EZ Online invoicing and time tracking application. Try it free. So easy to use, FreshBooks saves you time and gets you paid faster. You’ll actually love invoicing. Easily track and report on your and your staff’s time. Use our iPhone app when you’re on the go. Invite contractors to join your team and track time on projects. Receive their invoices all in one place. Brand your system and invoices with your company’s logo. Earn the awe of your clients. Check out their Helpful Add-ons page for more useful Freelancing tools!

BillMyClients.com – Has import & export capabilities, allows you to save invoices locally at any time, HTML customization for better branding, recurring invoicing, PayPal integration and other features.

InvoiceJournal.com – InvoiceJournal allows you to send invoices for free via email or print them out to be sent by snail mail. Also allows you to use multiple currencies.

InvoiceMachine.com – Customize your invoices with logos and colors, use their built-in timer to track your billable hours, create PDFs of your invoices and more.

Freelance Design Contracts and Templates

Sales forms - From price quotes to commission summaries
Freelance Design Contracts & Templates – Pricing, Invoices, SEO and more
FormNet Forms at entrepreneur.com
Freelance Contracts
Free freelance contract
Web Design project request Form sample

Freelancer Podcasts!

Whether you want to learn while you work out or to make that commute useful, Freelance Radio is the place to hear all the tips, tricks and news of freelancing. I’m subscribed to this podcast and I’ve found some really great tips and ideas so far. I recommend.