It’s always refreshing to find out which tools people use to get things done. Here is my list of essential tools to run my freelance business:

Google Workspace

I use Google Workspace (formerly Gsuite) to handle my Email, Contacts, and Calendar. As I run on a paid plan, I benefit from their security and privacy features. Google’s Email client Gmail is a super reliable app. I tried several other clients but went back to Gmail every time. Unfortunately, Inbox, which was superior to Gmail, got canceled.

Slack

As a freelancer, I get hired by companies to work within interdisciplinary teams. For efficient communication, most companies use Slack. That’s the whole reason I’m using it – to be part of these teams. I don’t love it but also don’t hate it.

Apple Notes

I use Notes for everything. I write blog posts, collect links, handle shopping lists, write meeting notes, plan holiday trips, etc. Everything in Notes gets synced via iCloud so that I can access my notes on all my devices.

Grammarly

This writing app is a lifesaver for people like me, who are non-native English speakers. Their editor highlights wrong spelling, grammar, duplicate words, and even suggests more suitable phrases. With this tool, I got better at writing English, and I feel more secure about publishing texts online.

1Password

I have so many online accounts and didn’t want to use similar passwords everywhere. I also didn’t want to fill all the credentials from hand every time I need to log in at a service. Therefore, I decided to use a password manager. 1Password fills my credentials automatically, and I only need to confirm the process with my fingerprint. It enables me to set hard-to-hack passwords for every account. It’s also easy to utilize OTP passwords for Two-Factor-Auth methods. Further, I can create, manage, and access my passwords on mobile as well.

Things

Things is my go-to planner for personal and business-related projects. It’s a well-thought-out app with a superb design. My important tasks are kept here, like paying taxes, project-specific milestones, short- and long-term goals, or things that need to get done by a specific deadline.

Timely

I’m not too fond of time-tracking and always forget to activate or stop the timer. That is why I’ve chosen Timely as my tracking software. It records all my activities and makes it super easy to log my time afterward according to my activities timeline. 

Dropbox

I don’t trust my hardware for not breaking. That’s why I keep all my files in Dropbox. Dropbox does an excellent job, and I feel its synchronization speed is still unmatched by its competitors. However, for photos, I use iCloud, which is better integrated with my phone.

Figma

For UX/UI design, I use Figma. I was once an avid Sketch user but switched to Figma as their approach feels so much smarter. Further, they ship features way faster than their competition, innovating every time. Figma also saves me the Invision subscription, plus my files live version-controlled in the cloud. I even created a starter kit to speed-up my design process, which you can check out here.

Atom

Atom is my coding editor of choice. I tried to hop on the hype train for VSCode but got disappointed. VSCode feels like a slow cruise, whereas Atom feels like a lightweight speed-boat in comparison. And, their plugin eco-system gets you all the same features.

Github

I manage and backup my code with Github. I think it’s the best place to do so. Their collaboration features are best-in-class.

Raindrop

Here I collect all my bookmarks. Raindrop has the right amount of features and is not trying to be the next Pinterest or Medium.