In 2018, freelancing is — to put it lightly — a big business. Freelancers are worth an estimated £119 billion to the UK economy, with approximately 42% of self-employed UK professionals identifying as freelance workers.
Thinking of becoming a freelancer? Whether you’re aiming to start a career as a freelancer or already work with a range of freelance clients, it’s essential that you have the right technology available at your side.
From a reliable computer to cloud storage, email and productivity apps, a variety of tech tools play important roles in helping you stay focused and effective as a freelancer.
One piece of tech that’s essential for freelancing is a mobile. Below, we’ve listed some of the main benefits of freelancing with the right smartphone, as well as the true costs of launching a freelance career without one.
Without a mobile, you’ll miss out on opportunities
Career success as a freelancer is all about communication. From closing new deals to keeping in touch with your clients, a working mobile lets you act on new opportunities when they appear and maintain strong relationships with your clients.
Poor or infrequent communication is one of the most common complaints of freelance clients, as well as a key reason for relationships between clients and freelancers declining. With a working mobile, you’ll find it easier to keep in touch with the people that drive your business.
If you work internationally, a reliable smartphone can even keep you connected across borders through the use of a VOIP number, making it easy for you to stay “local” even if your clients are located in other countries and on other continents.
Without a mobile, staying productive is a challenge
Today’s smartphones are more than just communication devices — they’re also a control centre for your business. From to-do lists to productivity trackers, both iOS and Android phones have a huge range of apps that help you stay productive, effective and focused.
Many of these apps are designed specifically for mobile platforms, meaning they’re hard to track down (or simply unavailable) for Windows or OS X.
From managing your daily tasks to planning your weekly and monthly schedule, monitoring your productivity habits and tracking the time you spend on specific projects, a good smartphone can be a powerful tool for helping you make the most of your working hours as a freelancer.
Without a mobile, closing new deals is harder
Got a meeting with a potential client? No problem. Using your mobile, you can quickly and easily send a copy of your proposal, email a draft of your contract and provide a customised quote for your work, all with a written record of your communications.
Without a smartphone, closing new deals becomes more complicated. Not only do you need to carry a laptop with you to every meeting — you might also need to carry a document bag with a printed copy of your proposal, agreement and other essential documents.
In short, closing new deals and acquiring new clients gets much harder without a smartphone, especially if you work in a high-tech industry.
Protect your mobile as a freelancer
As a freelancer, having a working smartphone is a vital part of running your business. To keep your smartphone, tablet and other tech gadgets safe, it’s worth adding services such as mobile insurance and tablet insurance to your list of work-related essentials.
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