Newsletter #40 Which apps are other writers using to grow their business? - Mighty Freelancer

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Hi everyone,

Are there things in your freelance business that are sorta-but-not-really working? You know, those little niggling processes that you should get around to fixing at some point, but haven’t, because things are still kind of okay, and not that urgent? The reality is that all of these little things can slow your business down, drain your energy, steal your free time, and provide a less-than-awesome experience for your clients.

Maybe you’re still doing all your invoices manually.
Or your time is getting eaten away by jumping between different apps to manage client projects.
Or your onboarding process for new clients is pretty shonky, if you’re being honest.
Or you don’t have a system to keep track of leads you want to follow up with.
Or you have no idea how much cash is actually coming and going out of your business account – so you’re always running out of money.
Orrrrr you still haven’t figured out how to manage your time properly — so you shut the laptop at the end of every work day and spend your evenings marinading in guilt about how you could be doing better.

The list goes on…

Big, glaring problems that threaten the beating heart of our businesses will always get fixed, because they’re urgent.

But when something only sort of breaks – we tend to put off fixing it, often for years.

As a freelancer with ambitious business plans – you NEED systems that fully work.

Actually no — you DESERVE them.

Because if you fix of all your sorta-problems now, they’re gone forever.

And your business (and life in general) will magically get a whole lot better.

There’s an app for pretty much every sorta-problem that freelancers struggle with. And some of them are pretty cool.

Check out my recent LinkedIn post to see the apps that other freelancers can’t live without.

Maybe one or two of these will be exactly what you’ve been looking for — so you can fix all those sorta-problems that are getting in the way of you running a more enjoyable business.

Here’s to fixing a few niggling problems this week!

Rachael x

The all-in-one client/project management apps I personally recommend for freelancers

Bonsai – I’ve been using this platform for about 4 years now. It handles your contracts, proposals, digital signing, invoicing, credit card payments, time tracking, and accounting like a breeze. However…I’ve just made the switch to Moxie.

Moxie – I love the fact that it has a lot more functionality, workflows, and customization options than Bonsai. And I wanted a way to bring my onboarding and client management processes into one app so I could ditch my ClickUp board. Moxie has solved all of these problems, plus some other problems I didn’t realize I had. Very happy with it so far!

Cool tools

Sunsama – The ultimate time management app. I’ve just started trialling this to see if it’s more effective than my colorized Google calendar setup. It also comes highly recommended by many other writers I’ve talked to who were struggling with balancing work/life stuff.

Leave Me Alone – Is this the year you tame your inbox? See all of your newsletters in one place, and quickly unsubscribe from the ones you don’t want anymore. But uh… maybe not this one? 🙂

Brain.FM – Functional music to help you focus, sleep, or relax. Backed by science, research, and hard data. This is my secret to getting more work done in less time, and I honestly couldn’t live without it now.

Bonjoro – Create cool personalized videos to welcome new clients, say thanks to people, or generate an awesome animated email sign off!

Grammarly – The undisputed, go-to app for making sure your writing is perfect for publishing.

Copyscape Premium – Copy and paste any piece of content into this before you hand it over to a client. This low-fi tool will check if your blogs and other content pass as being original. Super handy.

And here are a couple of courses that might help you fix some things in your business too

Justin Blackman’s Write More Personality-er – find your unique writing voice so you can create more powerful content for your website and social, and make your copy un-put-downable.

Justin Welsh’s LinkedIn OS and Content OS courses to help you get rapid results and attract clients on LinkedIn and other social media platforms.

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In the Mighty Freelancer community this week, we talked about:

How to approach quoting per-word rates if you’re asked by a client.
How much to charge for thought leadership content and whitepapers
Some content writers say their best blogs took them more than a month to write. How can you justify this to a) your clients, and b) your bank balance?
Which apps everyone is using for project management
How Figma can improve the workflow between writers and designers

Join the community conversation here!

Procrastination Station

Why you procrastinate, even though it feels bad – a great little video from TedEd about what triggers out procrastination response, and how we can break out of the cycle and get work done.
Copyblogger – One of the original (and best) resources for freelance writers. Get on this newsletter to learn more about how to authentically grow your business or side hustle.
Frugalpreneur – Need tips on smart money management, and how to save more of your freelance income? This might be the newsletter you’ve been looking for.
GPTE Newsletter – ChatGPT 5 is coming this year – are you ready? Join 40,000 subscribers including Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft employees keeping up to date with the fast moving world of AI tech.

Memes Of The Week

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Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you:

1:1 private mentoring – Get 12 weeks of tailored mentoring to help you break through the blocks in your freelance business, find better clients, increase your revenue, and create a more sustainable business. Book a 15-minute call to see if it’s right for you
The Mighty Freelancer Slack community – Join other B2B writers in a friendly, supportive space to talk, rant, get help, or just hang out with like-minded people.

The Freelance Shop

VIP Day Rate legal contract Sell lucrative VIP days and VIP weeks to clients, while protecting your business at the same time. Get a fully editable legal contract, tips on how to sell and price your VIP packages, a client discovery questionnaire, email template for day rate copy handover, and a walkthrough of the legal jargon in plain English!
Killer Content Brief Get the exact content brief I use when I write content my clients. It contains all the questions and information you need to help you confidently write and deliver an epic first draft that gets great feedback (with minimal edits!).

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