Consider the time you’ll save
Many solopreneurs try to keep their expenses low, especially in the beginning. Understandably so. When you’re first starting out and don’t have a steady income, every monthly subscription is another commitment. Expenses impact your overall profit margin (how much you earn compared to how much you spend).
However, if you don’t invest money back into your business, two things can happen. First, you might end up doing more work because you’re doing things manually instead of letting apps and tools make work easier. Second, a lack of tools might result in a worse client experience. It’s harder to collaborate, or you might end up making mistakes when you do everything manually.
If you don’t incorporate technology into your work, both of these things can end up hurting your business. You have to think beyond the price and consider the long-term benefits of the tools in your solopreneur tech stack.
When you’re a solopreneur, your time is literally money. Your clients are paying you for a deliverable, but you have to factor in all the other time you spend on your business.
Let’s say a client deliverable takes you 20 hours. But on top of that, you need to plan your week, promote yourself on social media, and send invoices for the month. You could do all of these things manually, but –
- It’s harder to plan your bandwidth without a freelance project management tool
- It’s harder to maintain a consistent social media presence without a scheduling tool
- It’s harder to figure out your income and expenses without accounting software
- …. etc., etc., etc.
All of these things cost you valuable time. At the very least, you could save hours of time every month by using apps and tools that make your work easier.
Automation and integrations
In the ideal scenario, you can put tools to work for you by using automation and integrations.