Freelancers: 6 Solutions That Make it Easy to Leave Your Desk Behind

Location independent. Digital nomad. Whatever you call it, freelancers have the chance to live a life some can only dream of –- a life on the road. When you can work from anywhere, you can live from anywhere. “Work” being the key word there. The following gadgets, apps, and websites let freelancers wonder around the world while still making money. Because how else are you going to fund your nomadic lifestyle? You gotta work hard to play hard. 1. Store everything on Google Drive. Google Drive gives you the ability to store all of your work files in the cloud. Not only can you easily bounce from a desktop at home to your laptop while on the go, but you always have the option of working from a public computer or friend’s laptop when your battery hits the red zone. Another favorite freelance feature is shared folders and documents – give your clients access and you won’t have to worry about sending bulky emails with attachments. Users can store up to 15 gigabytes for free with an additional terabyte of storage costing $9.99 per month. 2. Get friendly with Skype. The free video chat service is indispensable to digital nomads. Those who travel abroad frequently or live across borders should log into Skype as frequently as they log into Gmail. You’ll look available to clients who have a quick question, and the face-to-face interaction will help you forge a stronger connection with long-distance connections who you may never meet in person. Thanks to the video voicemail feature, freelancers can record personal messages for clients. While Google Hangouts is a nice alternative for chatting with friends, Skype is especially great for your business contacts. After all, it's the most well-known video conferencing software out there. Plus, you can set an away status so clients know your availability and you can share files. 3. Think of investing in portable wi-fi. Travelers will find the battle for free and fast Internet a tiring one. You can buy Boingo at the airport, but then you’ll need GoGo on your flight, and then that too-cool-for-school coffee shop you just found will be a wi-fi free zone that encourages people to “converse.” (It happens more than you think.) It’s a no-win situation, especially when all your work files are on GoogleDrive. Services like FreedomPop give you the freedom (get it?) to bring wi-fi wherever you go at a very low monthly price. Mobile hot spots like those sold by Verizon are helpful, but not always the fastest option. 4. Go digital with documents, including your signature. Freelancers often have to sign contracts and non-disclosure agreements. If you have an updated Mac, you’ll be able to hold a handwritten signature up to your webcam and easily save it as a digital file. For those without this feature, get help from a designer friend or scanner and save your signature to your GoogleDrive as a jpeg that can be easily inserted into files. If you prefer to print and sign documents, consider an iPhone app like DocScan that can turn a photo of paper into a digital file. Users can also fax files for less than $1. EchoSign from Adobe and HelloSign are two other platforms for electronic signatures of documents. You can sign and send a document, or request that others sign it as well. 5. Keep a schedule that syncs. Find a scheduling solution that works for you and will sync across all your devices, like Google Calendar. Apps like Wunderlist are helpful for keeping track of your daily to-dos or long-term project details. A good old notebook never hurt anyone either. Thanks to your nomadic lifestyle, you may not always be on the same time zone as your clients. World Time Buddy makes scheduling meetings across continents easy, and syncs with Google Calendar. 6. Digitize all payments and invoicing. Many freelancers deal with dreaded paper checks – not everyone is willing to do direct deposit, especially if it’s a small company or a one-time gig. Ask if your client is willing to pay via PayPal. The trusted site makes invoicing and collecting money easy and secure. Pancake app is another payment and invoicing option worth exploring, as well as Amazon Payments. While depositing paper checks is as easy as snapping a photo with a mobile app these days, some banks charge 50 cents per deposit. Consider a bank like Capital One 360, which charges no fees for online checking deposits.