7 tools and tips to get — and stay — organized as a freelancer

My organizational strategies as a freelancer are not particularly modern or meticulous. I just list all of my assignments — including their fees and deadlines — in a Google spreadsheet. I keep a messy, running list of story ideas in a Google doc, and file all rejected or ignored pitches in yet another Google doc, where they rest until they find the right home. (This post is not sponsored by Google.)  I also use my Notes app as host to my ongoing to-do list, to flag which sources I’ve reached out to and when, and to contain what I call “scraps” — pieces of story drafts I’ve demoted to the cutting room floor.  That’s pretty much it: I don’t have separate work and life email addresses (let alone email filters and folders), don’t consolidate transcripts and drafts for each story in any sort of logical way (the search function suffices), and it works for me, for now.  But some freelancers want, need or thrive on more intricate systems, and there are increasingly more clever tools out there that deliver them. After all, the more you can streamline the administrative sludge successful freelancing requires, the more time and energy you can
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