For a freelancer, anything that can boost efficiency and/or save time helps to increase income. Here are our top ten apps for making your life easier.
1 Dropbox (Free version available)
Dropbox is a cloud-based storage app that will protect your documents if your hardware crashes. Tablet and mobile phone apps let you access your files from almost any internet connected device. Even better, if you mistakenly overwrite a document, Dropbox’s ‘View previous versions’ function will save your blushes.
2 Smartphone banking app (Free)
Smartphone banking apps let you pay bills, transfer cash between accounts or simply check your balance. Some even allow you to withdraw cash without your card and send money using just your payee’s mobile phone number.
3 Skype (Free user to user calls)
Skype turns your computer, mobile phone or tablet (even certain TVs) into a video phone that uses the internet to connect with other users. Skype to Skype calls are free, though you will need to buy credits to call landline and mobile numbers. Especially useful is the screen-sharing function for collaborative working.
4 Hootsuite (Free version available)
Social media dashboards are increasingly popular. Among the best is Hootsuite, which allows you to see and post to – all your major social media feeds including Twitter, Facebook, Google+ LinkedIn, foursquare, WordPress and mixi. There are some paid-for functions, but for most freelancers, the free version will be absolutely fine.
5 GroupMail (Free version available)
Email marketing is powerful when you create professional, personalised content. GroupMail lets you build email databases and personalise messages with fields such as name, title, company name, place and others that you can specify yourself. The free version has its limitations but still offers excellent advantages over manually personalising emails via Outlook.
6 Evernote (Free version available)
Evernote is a cloud-based notepad. Available for computers, tablets and smartphones, it lets you upload photos directly from your device cameras, clip and save web content and record audio notes. The premium version offers even more goodies, but we reckon the free version will suffice for most freelancers and contractors.
7 TeamViewer (Free version available)
TeamViewer lets you access other computers (with their users’ permission, of course). It’s ideal if you have a computer problem and a techy needs remote access to fix it or if you are called upon to fix someone else’s woes. As well as remote support and administration, TeamViewer supports collaborative working and online meetings.
8 Whatsapp (Free for first year, nominal annual charge thereafter)
Whatsapp is a cross platform instant messaging service for mobile phones that also lets you send pictures, videos and voice notes. Once downloaded, it will identify who else in your phone’s contact list uses Whatapp, enabling you to connect with these people for free.
9 Solid Converter ($79.95)
If your job involves proofreading PDFs, you’ll know how time-consuming these documents can be to edit or annotate. In which case, a PDF to Word / Excel / PowerPoint / HTML converter package will prove a sound investment. Solid Converter offers good value, lots of functions and an easy interface.
10 Angry Birds (From free)
Combining humour, addictive game play and a lifetime’s worth of special editions, Angry Birds is ideal when you need a diversion from work. One billion downloaders and 263 million monthly users (as of February 2013) can’t be wrong.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Kimberly_O_Barnett/1892125