Attention, Creative Freelancers: This Is the Tool You Didn’t Know You Needed

The life of a creative freelancer is a constant juggle. You've got a platform for your portfolio, another one for documents, a third one for project management. On top of that, you're probably keeping a spreadsheet for line items and a folder or two full of case studies and testimonials.

Oh, and let's not forget client details you keep on file, plus to-do lists, revenue tracking, and other tools you use to do "actual" work. Between the admin and the project work essentials, you've got lots of subscriptions going on. But what if we told you there was one tool that can keep all that in one place, but you'd never think of using it that way?

It's Better Proposals

Sure, as the name suggests, Better Proposals is a platform mainly used to send out business proposals. But it's also a solution that can handle nearly every aspect of your freelance business.

1. Your portfolio

You already know a new client is going to want to see your portfolio to decide if you're a good match. And depending on the different types of clients you work with, you'll want to showcase different things.

For example, if you're a photographer, you might mainly work weddings, but shoot a sports event from time to time. It goes without saying that these are two very different clients (unless you count the bouquet toss as a competitive sport, which, fair).

In cases like these, you can either make constant changes to one portfolio or have two or more separate ones for each photography style. If you use a portfolio platform, having two or more separate portfolios usually means a higher subscription price.

With Better Proposals, the need to maintain a portfolio website is completely eliminated. You can simply add a new document type for your portfolio and create it inside Better Proposals.

You can still add your own work examples, case studies, and everything else that goes into a portfolio. Just like a website, your portfolio is responsive and your clients access it using a link.

2. Your documents

If you're like most freelancers, you're still using tools like Google Docs and Word to create contracts and proposals. Or maybe you don't want your documents to look boring so you're converting PowerPoint or InDesign into a PDF.

Whichever method it is, it's time-consuming and cutting into your billable hours. Even if you have a template, you still have to add all the details in manually. Cross-referencing spreadsheets and old documents, then pasting things in leaves a lot of room for error. Not to mention all the revisions you make in an effort to send the perfect document to your client.

And that's all before you get into the formatting side of things. Before you know it, you've spent hours on admin and the client still has to find a way to sign.

With Better Proposals, you could have all of that done and document sent in only 15 minutes. Besides templates that you can customize, Better Proposals also comes with automatic input fields that pull your client's information into your documents. The Editor takes care of the formatting for you, so you don't have to worry about getting the spacing and alignment right.

If you already have a contract you usually send to clients, you can bring it over to Better Proposals with our Doc Importer. Add in your input fields instead of your current placeholders and you'll no longer have to type out all your client's info manually.

And once you want the client to sign, they don't have to print, sign, scan, and send back. Instead, they sign using a legally binding digital signature. It's faster and hassle-free.

3. Your financials

You know that spreadsheet you have full of line items, descriptions, and pricing? The one you constantly have to reference when you're creating a quote or a proposal and then copy and paste?

If you were using Better Proposals, you could be adding those into your pricing table in two clicks instead. That's because your products and services list is available right inside the Editor. Better yet, the pricing tables are both interactive and automatically calculate totals.

This means that you can add optional items and choices for upselling or making it easy for clients to choose a service package. You can also collect a deposit, set up recurring payments, and add tax on top of the price. The math happens automatically, so you can stop adding things up on your calculator multiple times before you're sure the total is correct.

Last, but not least, you'll also love the fact that you can see how your business is doing right from your dashboard. Each time you log in, you get an overview of the deal value you've made. For a more detailed look, you can run a company report to see how your financials are doing monthly, quarterly, or yearly.

4. Your reusable content

When you're creating your portfolio or a proposal, you'll want to sprinkle in some testimonials or case studies for social proof. As it is now, you're probably keeping those inside a folder, either locally or in the cloud. Each time you want to add one or swap one out, you first have to go sifting through that folder.

With Better Proposals, you can keep all your reusable content inside the Content Library. Your layout is also saved, which is less time spent when formatting your document. Instead of copying and pasting, you simply add the entire thing in a few clicks.

And this goes for everything inside Better Proposals, not just testimonials. You can save entire blocks and sections into your Content Library and reuse them in as many new documents as you need.

5. Your clients

Emailing PDFs to clients can be like sending your proposal out into the abyss. Once you've hit send, you have no idea what's going on. Has the client opened it? How much of it have they read? Did they take one look at the pricing and give up or are you not getting a reply because your email went to spam?

All of these are questions Better Proposals has the answers to. Anything you send through Better Proposals comes with tracking so you know exactly what's happening at all times. You get notified in real time as soon as your client has opened your document. You'll also know which section they're reading now, how much time they've spent on which page, and if they forwarded or downloaded the document.

That way, you'll no longer be in the dark about the state of your deals. What's more, you can talk to the client right as they're reading your document through live chat.

Let's do the math

Now that we've covered some of the things you can do with Better Proposals, you're probably wondering what it's going to cost you. So, let's do the math. Assuming you have a portfolio, need to create and sign documents, and keep track of your financials, we get the following scenarios. To make things simpler, all calculations are just one month's worth of costs.

First case

Portfolio platform, $15

Document software (e.g., Word), $7

eSignature software, $12

Document tracking software, $5

If you were using a portfolio platform, your average monthly subscription just for that would be $15. There are cheaper options, but using a free version locks you out of functionalities that you'd need to have a functional portfolio, so this one isn't included here.

Then, assuming you're using Word or anything Microsoft, $7 a month for the Office suite. You could go the route of buying only the local desktop version, but that limits you to one computer and you might want to change that at some point, so subscription it is.

In addition to that, if you don't want clients to have a hard time signing your contract, eSignature software. You want more than 5 documents per month and you don't want to pay as you go because it would cost more than the $12/month for the mid plan.

And finally, you don't want to be in the dark so you invest in tracking. Since the free version only allows for one active document, you'll have to go with the cheapest paid plan at $5/month.

In total, that's $39/month for four different tools, neither of which is the tool you use for actually working on a client's project. With Better Proposals, you get all of the above plus more at $29/month.

Second case

Your own portfolio website, $10-50

Document software (e.g., Google Docs), free

eSignature software, $12

Document tracking software, $5

Assuming you have your own portfolio website, the costs of maintaining it can be anywhere from $10 to $50 per month. That's not taking into account the initial costs of development, only the upkeep.

You could potentially save some subscription dollars by using Google Docs instead of Microsoft, which is free. However, you'll still need to go with eSignature software for $12 if you want to sign more than 5 documents per month or not pay for each signature.

As for document tracking, same as above - $5/month if you want more than one document tracked at the same time. In total, that's anywhere between $27 and $67 per month for four different platforms.

With Better Proposals, you get it all for $29, plus the added benefit of not having to switch between tools all the time. For the frustration factor alone, we'd argue the $2 extra are worth it.

Third case

Portfolio platform, free

Document software (e.g., InDesign), *free

eSignature software, free

No document tracking software

Now, let's say you learn how to work with the bare bones of all the apps above. You get the free version of a portfolio platform. You know this means constantly switching out content, but you're prepared to do it.

You'll be using InDesign for contracts and proposals. You're already paying for it to do client work, so it's not an additional tool - that's why it's listed as free here.

You're also okay with the low document limit on free eSignature plans. You either don't need to sign more than 5 documents per month or you make your clients print, sign, and scan paper.

And you've lived without document tracking so far, so you figure you don't need it now. You'll just follow up with the client via email and hope for the best.

In this case, everything is free. Except that all these free options are ultimately costing you your time. The time you could be spending working on a paying project.

The best things in life might be free, but not in business

To put things into perspective, let's say you're drafting a contract. You've spent two hours creating it, adding in the details, checking everything twice. Then, you don't hear back from your client, so you follow up. A few times. In total, it adds up to about an hour. That's three hours for something that could have taken 15 minutes with Better Proposals.

And if you think the three hours aren't a problem, let's give some more perspective. The median hourly rate for a copywriter is $29. If you're a graphic designer or a front end developer, that's $34. For a videographer, it's $35 and for a content creator, $39.

So, these three extra hours times the median hourly rate in your industry is the actual cost of free tools. That means your "free" tools actually cost you:

• $87, if you're a copywriter
• $102, if you're a graphic designer or a front end developer
• $105, if you're a videographer
• $117, if you're a content creator

Flipping the switch

Imagine focusing more on your creative work and less on never ending admin tasks. That’s the true value of Better Proposals. Switching is a no-brainer, especially when you look at the time, effort, and money it saves you.