If you’re looking for the best deals on the best freelance tools, you’re at the right place. The apps and software listed here help freelancers, consultants and other gig economy professionals run serious businesses.
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Nation1099 may earn a commission if you buy some of these freelance tools after reading about them here, but that won’t raise the cost for you. We’ve talked personally with many of these providers, talked with users or used many of them personally, and we believe they are quality products. Our mission is to help you advance your freelance career and achieve more financial security, so we are always looking for the best partners. We’re also always hunting for the latest discounts on tools that freelancers and consultants need, so keep checking back.Accounting tools for freelancers
QuickBooks Self-Employed is a bookkeeping and tax software bundle for freelancers and independent contractors that includes features like mileage tracking, automatic quarterly taxes and separate personal and business expenses.
The FreshBooks multi-purpose accounting and bookkeeping tool is designed especially for independent workers. It’s great for invoicing clients, time tracking, managing expenses and sending proposals.
Bonsai is another multi-purpose tool especially designed for freelance businesses. It handles every stage of your finances: proposals, contracts, time tracking, payments to subs, expense tracking and invoicing. And it generates easy-to-understand financial reports so you can see how your business is actually doing.
Bonsai is offering a free month to Nation1099 readers. Check them out.
TaxAct gets that more of their customers are freelancers, contractors and the otherwise self employed, so they’ve developed a special version of their online tax prep software for our kind. The deduction maximizer in particular looks out for those weird little expenses that solopreneurs are always wondering if they can deduct.
Marketing tools for freelancers
Website tools for freelancers
WP Engine is a web hosting service that understands most of us are using WordPress. Why make things more complicated than that? They also get that speed is the name of the game. WP Engine also makes it simple to transfer from another web hosting service.
StudioPress designs WordPress themes that are beautiful, easy to install and easy to customize. They have a large library of designs suited for every kind of ecommerce or freelance business. Hosting and all the security features are included.
If you’re not ready to self host your own freelance business site, Weebly offers the next best thing with plug-and-play website building tools. Weebly’s designs are beautiful and easy to customize . Weebly also has all the functionality you need to run an ecommerce business. And don’t forget to grab your domain name while you’re there.
Design tools for freelancers
If you haven’t used 99designs before, it’s kind of brilliant. Instead of picking a designer, several designers review your creative brief and compete with actual proposed concepts. You gradually whittle it down to your favorite, ask for revisions and pay the winner. You get a custom design for your website or logo at an affordable price with less risk.
Wideo is like Canva for videos. If you need animations or other video as part of your marketing, Wideo provides well-designed templates and drag and drop tools that are easy to use for people without production expertise. If you’ve run a Kickstarter or Patreon campaign recently, you know that explainer videos are essential.
Professional services and support for freelancers
ProSight develops specialized liability insurance products for independent contractors. Commonly called E&O, this insurance protects you if a client ever feels the work you delivered or your process damaged their business and decides to sue you. Larger businesses are familiar with E&O as a regular cost, but until now this insurance hasn’t been bundled in a way that makes sense for solo businesses. With traditional products, you’d be overpaying for coverage you didn’t need. ProSight’s custom liability insurance is particularly designed for freelance copywriters, graphic designers, career coaches, marketing consultants, etc.
Solo Worforce is an “employer of record” service for consultants and freelancers. They promise the upside of working independently and directly with your own clients combined with the benefits programs that an employer would provide, such as retirement and insurance.
Essentially, Solo Workforce acts as your employer for record keeping purposes and as your back office for your own payroll and benefits. (For example, you would join their 401k plan instead of starting your own SEP-IRA.) You direct your clients to pay Solo Workforce, and they pay you, withholding for taxes and benefits like an employer does, along with their fees. At the end of the year, you get a W-2 instead of a 1099. We haven’t tried it ourselves, but their pitch is that you make up in tax benefits more than what you pay in fees.