Freelance enterprise homeowners stroll a lonely, typically rocky highway. An unbiased survey of freelancers carried out in 2020 discovered that even profitable freelancers wrestle to stay to common schedules and preserve acceptable work-life steadiness.

This isn’t stunning. Freelancers like to think about themselves as their very own bosses.

Nevertheless, in actuality, they’ve as many bosses (no less than) as they’ve purchasers. Every of these mini-bosses works on a unique schedule, has a unique administration model, and communicates in numerous methods. (If they impart in any respect…skilled freelancers know that is not all the time a powerful go well with for purchasers.) Juggling all that is exhausting. Greater than that, it’s discouraging.

Pissed off with the grind, many freelancers burn out. In consequence, many search the relative predictability of conventional employment, even when it means giving up some incomes potential. They need to maintain freelancing however are having a tough time envisioning a cheerful path ahead in balancing all of it.

Others would like to develop their freelance enterprise. Nevertheless, many both don’t know the place to begin or can’t discover the time and psychological power to scale. In order that they pull again, content material to work with a manageable, comfy set of core purchasers.

Work Smarter, Not Tougher

Possibly you sense burnout creeping in, extinguishing no matter pleasure you as soon as present in your work.

Worse, it’s diminishing the standard of your output. Or maybe you stay completely content material as a freelancer, however unfulfilled. You’re all the time beating again that nagging sense you’re able to doing (and incomes) extra.

The issue isn’t that you just stay off 1099s as an alternative of W-2s. Nor that you just’ve fallen out of affection together with your specialty and have to discover a new line of labor. Extra doubtless, it’s that you just’re not managing your freelance enterprise as effectively as you may — and that inefficiency is stopping your corporation from changing into one thing extra.

You want a instrument that automates and streamlines the nitty-gritty particulars of freelancing, liberating you to concentrate on the artistic work you do greatest and work towards the expansion or revenue objectives you’ve delay since you’re so busy with the whole lot else.

Harlow is that instrument. No, it could actually’t work miracles. Nevertheless, it could actually considerably enhance your effectivity and strategic self-discipline. Each of those are important should you’re severe about scaling. Right here’s how.

Proposal Templates (And Contracts) You Can Take Satisfaction In

Really feel such as you barely have time to prospect for brand spanking new purchasers, not to mention put collectively considerate, attention-grabbing proposals to win them over? Harlow’s professionally designed proposal and contract templates make this time-consuming a part of freelancing that a lot simpler.

Discover a template you want, customise it together with your emblem and model colours, and put it aside for straightforward entry each time a brand new alternative presents itself. No extra time spent constructing branded proposals and contracts from scratch — or, worse, utilizing plain textual content paperwork that scream “boring” and “nameless.”

Harlow provides you the choice so as to add e-signatures to your proposals as nicely. No matter nostalgia you may really feel for the old style “print, signal, scan, electronic mail” course of, it’s a must to admit e-signatures are quicker and fewer error-prone.

Legalese, Completed

that what your proposals and contracts say is simply as necessary as how they appear.

Particularly your contracts. If a consumer relationship goes south — they delay or refuse fee, or threaten authorized motion over one thing you probably did or didn’t do — you want a contract that’s really authentic (and legally binding).

Harlow takes care of that for you. Whereas they don’t present authorized illustration, their contracts are written by authorized professionals. No want to write down your personal legalese, which you haven’t any enterprise doing anyway except you’re a contract lawyer.

No want to fret, both, about whether or not the random freelance contract template you discovered on-line totally free will really defend you.

Quick, Organized Invoicing

One of many many benefits of freelancing is having the ability to dictate your fee phrases. Not solely how a lot you cost — if a consumer doesn’t need to pay your going price, they will negotiate or finish the connection — however how ceaselessly you receives a commission and by what methodology.

Possibly you’re a Stripe fan. Or a PayPal fanatic. Maybe you’re a bank card die-hard. Or, inexplicably, you favor the crisp thwack of a paper verify, mailed month-to-month to your P.O. field.

Regardless of the case, you understand it takes work to receives a commission. It’s a must to generate a brand new bill, fill it out with the consumer’s data and an outline of providers rendered and greenback values and all the remaining, and ship it off by electronic mail or snail mail or textual content.

Multiply this by nevertheless many consumers you’ve got and nevertheless many occasions you bill per 12 months and also you’ve obtained what’s virtually a part-time job as an bill supervisor — an unpaid one at that.

Harlow’s invoicing suite makes use of pre-built invoices that you would be able to custom-finish somewhat than begin from scratch. You select the frequency — one-off or recurring in your most well-liked schedule. You construct in your most well-liked fee methodology. When you have purchasers in numerous nations, you may settle for currencies apart from U.S. {dollars}. And Harlow automates follow-up and fee logging, so you may concentrate on the following venture whereas awaiting fee for the final.

Seamless Integration With the Remainder of Your Digital Work Life

Calendar administration (or lack thereof) holds numerous freelancers again. Add within the multitude of apps the standard freelancer depends on to get work performed and the entire thing can really feel unworkable at occasions. Taking over extra advanced tasks below these situations is a nonstarter.

Harlow can’t make you higher at managing your time; that’s nonetheless on you. Nevertheless it does combine with Google Workspace (the previous GSuite) so you may spend much less time toggling between your calendar, your consumer contact listing, your invoices, and your to-do listing.

The much less time you spend operating down this or that element of your funds or assembly schedule, the extra time it’s a must to concentrate on discovering new purchasers or increasing your relationship with present ones.

Undertaking and Activity Administration to Preserve You on Observe

Do you utilize a venture or job administration app to remain on high of your assignments and strategic aims? Or do you simply wing it, perhaps updating handwritten or Google Doc-based to-do lists when you’ve got a free second?

Both means — and particularly within the second case — you’re most likely spending an excessive amount of time enthusiastic about what you ought to be doing and never sufficient time really doing it.

Harlow’s built-in venture and job administration instrument is suitable for easy, small-scale private duties (say, paying estimated taxes) and extra difficult skilled wants (mapping out milestones for a six-month venture, for instance). You may observe time in opposition to any job proper within the interface. This implies you received’t lose out on billable work or fail to compute precisely how lengthy you spent on important non-billable stuff, like prospecting for brand spanking new purchasers or onboarding your personal contractors.

Get Severe About Scaling

If you happen to’re a freelancer, meaning you’re a enterprise proprietor, even should you don’t really feel prefer it. Which additionally means you’re already strolling a path that solely a small fraction of your friends dare to observe.

Sure, it’s dangerous, and it may be lonely and thankless. Nevertheless it’s exhilarating and stuffed with potential. With just a few tweaks to your routine and the appropriate instruments to help your operation, you may flip that potential into actuality, all of the whereas rising the success of what you so bravely began.