Given the many distinct benefits of being a self-employed freelancer, it’s no real surprise that the industry is now over 53 million strong worldwide. But in order to truly reach your maximum potential freelancing, you need to manage and streamline your small business processes so you have the maximum amount of time to actually work – and to be as productive as possible while doing so!

Sticky notes, as helpful as they are, simply aren’t going to be enough. So here are 7 key tools you can use to set yourself up for freelancing success going into 2019:

1. Professional Invoice Tools

Getting paid is certainly one of the best parts of the business process, but not if your payments are always late or don’t come in at all. One of the best ways to improve the speed of invoice turnover and your bottom line, while also taking opportunity to improve your business image, is by using free, downloadable invoicing apps. To discover one of the best apps that has invoice formats specific to freelancing – visit website by clicking the link!

2. Get a Website, Including For Mobile

Very soon, some 80% to 90% of all businesses will have a website. You can’t afford to be the exception! But aren’t websites too expensive and complicated to set up? Not always – Weebly, for example, lets you create your own custom-built website without any knowledge of coding, and Buildfire does the same for a fully mobile-friendly website. Advertising and customer conversion often soar once you establish a presence online.

3. Backup & Storage Tools

Storing and backing up work is crucial to a career (or side hustle) in freelancing, and commonly used services like Dropbox don’t always give you enough free space. Try CX for as much as 10 GB of free storage space, and consider using Mozy to automatically back up all of your important data across multiple platforms. Safe storage, enough storage, and easy access to all your data from anywhere, anytime is an essential.

4. Wunderlist for Task Management

If your business tasks are outgrowing Google Tasks, it may be time to graduate to Wunderlist. Wunderlist is much bigger, more powerful, and able to adjust to your exact needs. It syncs across all your platforms, makes collaboration with employees/partners easy, and streamlines assignments and reminders like few other similar apps can.

5. Proposal Apps

Making new proposals is a constant need with many freelancers, and Proposify saves you time and effort on every proposal you send out and gets you more professional looking results. Proposify offers impressive proposal templates, connections with your invoices and CRM software, and a full fledged “museum” of past proposals.

6. Slide Show Presentations

A quick, well done slide show is often the best way to explain to new potential clients exactly what you do as a freelancer and how you can help. But you don’t have to only share slideshows with current customers and prospects, you can post shows permanently on SlideShare, which gets 2 million visitors per month, to create and convert new prospects too.

7. Newsletter Marketing Tools

Finally, consider using Mailchimp to manufacture customized, professional style newsletters to keep in touch with past clients and website visitors. You can use Mailchimp for free, and it’s very simple to use. There’s no good reason not to follow up with newsletters that present your services, make special offers, and establish your brand as an “industry expert.”

While there are near endless apps and online tools out there to assist small business owners, these 7 are particularly well suited to the needs of freelancers. Integrate these tools into your daily business routine, and the positive impacts won’t take long to detect!