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8 Free Tools For Work at Home Success

8 Free Tools For Work at Home Success

Working from home requires strong organizational and time-management skill. It also requires a fair amount of collaboration with clients and even other team members. Equipping yourself with the right tools is imperative to any work at home mom’s success.

Here are a list of tools that not only help simplify your day and your workload, but that won’t break the bank in the process. While there are premium versions of some of the items I’m about to share, all can be used for free. Here we go:

TRELLO

A project management tool, Trello helps compartmentalize tasks whether you’re working with a team or solo. By creating boards for individual projects, a user can create separate lists for main tasks and break each one down into smaller ones just by adding a card. Managers of a Trello board can delegate tasks to members or members can volunteer for a task simply by adding themselves to a card.

Trello is also perfect for working solo as it allows you to set up todo lists, move tasks around and see, at-a-glance, exactly where you are in your workday or project. The free version is good for all of this, but a premium version offers a few additional perks like adding your own background image to cards, attaching power-up stickers, etc. At this time, members can earn a free month of premium service each time someone they refer signs up to become a Trello user. (Disclosure: The link above is my referral link.)

Here’s a brief video allowing you to see Trello in action:

HARVEST

For time-tracking and invoicing, Harvest is an excellent tool. There is a free 30-day trial version which allows you and your team to use it for multiple clients and projects. After the trial period ends, you can select the membership that best suits your needs or you can continue to use the free version, but only for one person (you!) and up to four clients.

Right now, their solo plan is only $12 per month. It allows one user to manage an unlimited number of clients and projects. You also receive $10 off for each person you refer who eventually signs up for premium service. Your referral gets $10 off of their first month, too. (Disclosure: The link above is my referral link.)

While there are other free tools that also offer time-tracking and invoicing, I chose Harvest because I like its user-interface best. I added the Google Chrome extension to my dashboard and also use it inside of Trello, which gives added convenience when tracking time spent on specific tasks.

Harvest is also useful for saving money on PayPal fees since an account can be configured to assess flat fees of only 50 cents per transaction as opposed to PayPal’s usual 2.9% PLUS 30 cents per transaction. With another service, called Stripe, each one of my online invoices features separate buttons allowing clients to either pay by credit card (via Stripe) or PayPal, with payments being automatically deposit into my business checking account. Payments take a few additional days for payments to actually clear, but it beats losing money to PayPal, depositing checks, etc. (NOTE: Use PayPal’s standard invoicing and cough up the fees if you can’t afford to wait the additional processing time through PayPal Business Payments.)

GOOGLE DRIVE

Having ditched Word years ago, Google Drive is my go-to for creating new documents, spreadsheets, sharing files, saving files, etc. Today, Word can be accessed from the cloud, but when I first began using Google Drive, this wasn’t the case. Drive was also (and still is) free with any Google account. I find it to be more user-friendly than anything else and I value being able to log into it from any browser on any device (or through an app on my tablet or phone). I also appreciate being able to collaborate in real time with others when I need to. Working on the same file or document at the same time is never an issue and work is saved with every single keystroke, so nothing is ever lost.

Contrary to what some may believe, Google Drive can also be set to work offline when needed and all work done offline immediately syncs as soon as your device reconnects to the Internet.

JOIN.ME

Need to share your screen with an individual or group? Join.Me gets the job done and doesn’t cost a cent to use. I often use this when teaching or consulting with someone who needs to see exactly how a thing should be done. While I also use Skype for screen-sharing, Join.Me is good for those times when the person I’m speaking to isn’t on Skype. Of course, upgrading to a paid service get you things like audio conferencing and other collaboration tools, but for basic screen-sharing, the free service is good enough.

SKYPE

By now, everyone has heard of Skype. Free VOIP service, some extra perks for paid service, unlimited Skype to Skype calling, group video calls, yada-yada-yada. Since many of my clients don’t reside in the same country as me, I find that Skype closes our communication gap quite nicely. Plus, I can always be online for instant messaging when someone needs me…or I need them. As mentioned above, it’s also a good tool for screen-sharing. (NOTE: My Skype I.D. is Lamasa7 if you ever need to connect.)

GOOGLE HANGOUTS

Another free VOIP service and it comes standard with every Google account. Hangouts was actually the first to start free group video calls, which made meetings so much easier. Today, I don’t use it as frequently as I once did mainly because most of the people I talk to prefer or only use Skype. Still a good tool to have in your arsenal, though.

SOCOCO

A virtual office space, which allows you to collaborate with a team. Their starter package is free to use and comes with a Project Room for group meetings and a Breakout room. Perfect for getting that “always on” vibe going with a team who needs to interact from time-to-time, but still work solo. Gives work at home moms (and everyone else!) the feel of an office environment by allowing you to see (and know) others are working around you without sacrificing the peace and quiet needed to work alone.

GOOGLE CALENDAR

Something else that comes standard with every Google account is Google Calendar. Very user-friendly, you can keep separate calendars for business, personal, family, specific projects, etc. or even combine them into one view. Calendars can be shared with others and it even integrates well with other apps (like Trello). Seriously perfect for creating and sharing things like meeting schedules and editorial calendars.

Apps and Extensions

For most of the tools named here, there are, of course, mobile apps and browser extensions available. All of this makes collaborating and working on the go pretty seamless.

What Tools Do You Use?

So, there you have a (short) list of free tools that will help improve productivity and collaboration. Do you use any of these? Do you have other favorites not mentioned here? Feel free to add your recommendations in the comments section before you go.