Whether in an office or at home, working full-time for a company exposes you to various premium tools vetted by an established IT team. But when you start working solo as a work-at-home freelancer, everything goes away, and you find yourself stuck with doing things manually or using outdated tools that no longer make the cut.
You might stumble upon some $0 tools and trial packages, but are you sure you are getting the best of what the free world has to offer? And if you decide to spend some hard-earned bucks to meet your work’s requirements, would the tool you found without comparison be worth it?
Here are some essential tools you need for seamless, organized, and convenient operation. Whether you want to earn extra income online or build an empire, the below digital equipment will surely prove to be useful.
Anti-Procrastination Tools
It’s hard to accomplish all the tasks when there are so many distractions in the same device you’re using.
We know the temptations and how satisfying it is to scroll through endless social media feeds or engage in exciting forums that are entirely unrelated to the work you do. As such, we considered this scenario of procrastination and searched for the tools needed to counter it.
StayFocused
The StayFocused app is a free Google Chrome extension that limits or completely blocks you from wasting time on unproductive websites. The tool is customizable that you can add any website to the block list. While it isn’t permanent, the restriction is enough to stop you and think twice about procrastinating.
1-3-5 List
When you see a deadline drawing near, and your clients are already touching base, anxiety kicks in, or your mind shuts down automatically. As a quick remedy, you distract yourself with social media, games, and idle chat. And we all know how this cycle ends.
The key to defeat procrastination is to start getting things done. But what if you don’t have the slightest idea of where to begin?
The 1-3-5 List is a simple app that lets you jot down the most important task, three tasks with medium priority, and five smaller objectives to cross out. This way, you can make yourself accountable and get all levels of things done within the day.
For The Passionate Writers
Whether you ghostwrite, publish on your blog, or work for an eCommerce client, some tools help you get the chore done quicker and with great accuracy. Moreover, when you ran out of ideas, the apps below can prove themselves quite handy.
Grammarly
Not only that it corrects missed punctuations and different levels of grammatical error, but the premium plan of Grammarly will also check your plagiarism score. Its current version also alerts the user on clarity, engagement, and delivery of the content.
Grammarly updates itself continuously as it learns from everyone’s writing style, vocabulary, and writing habits. The data collected can identify what suggestions you frequently dismiss, making the whole experience more personalized and aligned with your style.
For a small one-off price, the premium version of this tool is quickly the best online investment you’ll ever make!
Ryte
With functions to enhance website performance and assist in digital marketing efforts, Ryte’s free tools are unbelievably helpful, especially for freelancers who offer content management to online clients who couldn’t provide a proper mechanism for them to use.
Writers can find the keyword suggestion useful if they want to create a highly-optimized article that contains all the relevant semantics needed for a better SEO score. This feature is worth $99 with other companies, making it an excellent find.
For Those Working With Images
PhotoShop is not the only tool you need if you work around visual content. You’ll be surprised to realize that you need these side tools to make your life easier.
Kraken
When the files are too big, some content management platforms may not accept them. Also, those working with CMS on a basic plan have limited space. Thus, graphic designers would need an image compressor that reduces the file size without compromising the quality. Kraken does great in this area and can even do better with a paid plan.
Apart from PhotoShop experts, site owners and data entry assistants can also benefit from Kraken, especially if their daily tasks involve endless uploading of photos.
Canva
For those who don’t have the Adobe Creative tools, you might want to try Canva. This web-based app is for busy virtual workers who don’t have time to learn photo manipulation and other creative shenanigans.
With a huge library of templates for various purposes, it saves more hours that you can spend on other things.
For Collaboration
Is it time to show your report to a client? Does the task require real-time updates and communication? We’ll try to give a diverse group of suggested collaborative tools and possibly a versatile gizmo that merges everything you need in one beautiful interface.
Slack
When it comes to teamwork, the first app that comes to mind is Slack. From startup businesses to developing organizations, Slack offers a convenient workplace with functions and elements needed for a team to get the job done.
Slack comes for free, and you only pay if you want to retrieve past messages and bigger cloud-based storage.
Trello
Trello offers a simple task management interface that you can share with a client or an employee. There, you can manage tasks, set reminders, and communicate with other team members.
What makes it even more exciting is, Trello comes for free, and you can use it even if you are a solo virtual worker. Set assignments and alarms for yourself, see the long list you’ve done for today, and remind yourself of other things to do.
Xtensio
This cloud-based collaborative tool is a merger of all things you need. In its user interface, team members can simultaneously edit a report, proposal, workflow, presentation, and other deliverables. It’s also home to a colossal library of templates, and your branding options are endless!
For All Virtual Workers
Online consultants, digital marketers, content creators, social media strategists, and other employees working virtually would find these toolkits useful while working on their daily tasks.
OneDrive
Microsoft OneDrive offers cloud-based storage and online collaboration tools. It houses MS Office tools such as Word and Excel. Those who use it like a pro benefit from its powerful and secured synchronization features. Never lose a file with OneDrive!
Google Workspace
With a huge library of apps, it’s the first place to look for if you need to get things done. Google Apps offers computing tools, a versatile email management platform, a webmaster toolkit, and other advanced equipment for a scaling business.
Google Suite seems to have everything you need. More functional tools may come with a price, but when it comes to reliability and innovation, you can guarantee that this powerhouse of tools would keep your small business in a competitive range.
