Tools of the Trade: My Freelance Writer Tech Stack
My tech stack keeps my clients, deadlines, and deliverables organized.
Let's talk about the digital toolbox that keeps my freelance writing business running smoothly. I've built a robust tech stack that helps me manage everything from client relationships to content production.
Fair warning: this isn't a budget-friendly list—but each tool earns its keep in my business operations.
Overview
Here’s a breakdown of the tools that power my freelance writing business.
💻 Project Management and Operations
Airtable
The heart of my business operations. Airtable serves as my CRM, content production hub, content library, and project management tool all in one. I use it to manage leads, track ongoing projects, and organize my content library.
The best part? I'm still running on the free plan, though I know I'll gladly pay up when my needs expand. It's that valuable to my workflow.
Todoist
For smaller tasks and recurring to-dos, Todoist is my go-to. For the smaller moving pieces, Todoist keeps me on track with day-to-day tasks and those "don't forget to..." moments that pop up.
For example, I have a standing daily to-do task called “Review my day and plan ahead” for the “end” of my workday, to figure out where all my projects stand and what I have to prioritize next. (I say “end” because often times 6 PM is not the end of my workday, as I’m a relentless night owl.)
I’m on the paid plan at $48/year—worth every penny for peace of mind.
Zapier
Zapier is the silent workhorse of my small-but-mighty content operation. It connects all my tools, automating repetitive tasks like creating new Google Docs and adding those draft links to Airtable.
It’s a bit pricey at $239.88/year, but it’s an essential part of my workflow.
✍️ Content and SEO Tools
When it comes to creating high-impact content, I don't mess around. Here's what I invest in:
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is my heaviest monthly expense at $249. I use it to track my published work through their Portfolios feature, run site audits for my properties, and conduct keyword research for SEO-focused projects.
Is it hard to justify sometimes? Absolutely—especially when I'm light on strategy work. But it also helps me prove the business value of my SEO-driven pieces to new prospects, which is worth it.
Clearscope
For SEO optimization, Clearscope is a must. Pro tip: I actually aim for B+ grades over A's (advice passed down to me from a strategist at my last agency job) to avoid sounding like SEO slop.
It's worth noting that I don't pay for Clearscope every month—just when I have a heap of SEO writing to tackle. It comes in at $189/month for 20 optimized articles.
Claude + ChatGPT
For AI assistance, I maintain Pro subscriptions to both Claude and ChatGPT ($20 each monthly). I use both because they bring different strengths to the table. Claude is excellent for longer-form content ideation and more complex prompts, while ChatGPT shines in quick rephrasing and concise pitches.
For example, I used ChatGPT to organize a veritable word vomit of ideas for this blog into an organized list of posts with a proposed title and summary for each.
I pay for these tools mainly for the "Projects" feature on both, which keeps my work organized and contextual. For instance, all my LinkedIn and website marketing ideas live in a project called "my business," while blog ideation and development for this site sits in a "command + create" project. This organization helps the AIs maintain context across our conversations and keeps me from criss-crossing different work streams.
What don't I use them for? Actual content creation. They're my brainstorming buddies, helping me get unstuck with phrasing (especially titles and headers), generate SME interview questions, and craft better pitches—but the ideas and execution are all mine. They're more like really smart sounding boards than actual ghostwriters.
Hsing Tseng
💬 Communication and Collaboration
Google Workspace
Google Workspace ($6.18/month) is non-negotiable for hooking up my domain for business email and document management. It's the foundation of my client communication, content management, deliverables, etc.
I’m on the lowest tier plan, but as I’ll mention later, I’m considering upgrading…
Fireflies.ai
Fireflies.ai ($10/month) transcribes my calls and interviews, letting me focus on the conversation instead of furious note-taking. I use Zapier to automatically upload transcripts to Google Drive so that I can highlight text more easily.
PandaDoc
For contracts and e-signatures, I use PandaDoc's free plan. Since I'm not signing more than three clients monthly, it meets my needs perfectly, but I’m open to upgrading if I need to.
Though I'm eyeing upgrading my Workspace plan to take advantage of Google’s new e-sign feature as a potential alternative…especially since the plan would come with Google Meet recording.
Calendly
Calendly ($10/month) streamlines my meeting scheduling process by eliminating the back-and-forth emails. It integrates with my personal and work calendars, making it easy for clients and prospects to find a time that works for us.
💵 Finances and Legal
Running a freelance business means wearing all the hats—including the not-so-fun administrative ones:
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online ($36.31/month) handles my accounting, invoicing, and payment processing. I made the switch from Wave when their free plan got stripped down, and honestly? QuickBooks has proven its worth in better financial visibility alone. I refer to its Profit + Loss reports monthly and quarterly to get a good idea of how I’m doing, business wise.
BiBerk
Liability insurance became necessary when a client required it. I purchased a policy from BiBerk and I’ve kept it ever since at around $28/month. It’s a small price for peace of mind!
Gusto
Gusto takes care of my S-corp payroll at $46 monthly (more details coming in a future post about why I chose the S-corp structure). It simplifies compliance and payroll, keeping my taxes (and me) paid on time, every time.
🌐 Marketing
Your online presence matters when you're selling words for a living. Here's how I manage mine:
JournoPortfolio
JournoPortfolio hosts my portfolio website for $8 monthly. I like how clean and minimal it looks.
I switched from Wix after wrestling with performance issues and haven't looked back. It comes with article backups, which are great for clients that like to update their articles frequently to fight the SERP rankings.
Senja
I just learned about this, days after publishing this article, and have added it to my tech stack. Senja is a testimonial gathering platform, where you create forms to collect honest, detailed testimonials that you can turn into beautiful website widgets.
I'm on the free plan, since I don't anticipate needing more than 15 testimonial slots. (I would think!) So far, I'm impressed and think it's very cool tech.
Canva
I use Canva’s free plan to create social graphics and occasional header images for my blog and newsletter. It’s an intuitive design tool that lets me whip up polished visuals for myself, and sometimes even my clients.
I would consider upgrading if I needed access to more templates, and some of the brand kit options.
LinkedIn Premium
LinkedIn Premium ($19.99/month) gives me the ability to send InMails for cold pitching and see who's checking out my profile. The open profile feature means potential clients can reach out directly—worth every penny for the connections it enables.
Ghost
This blog runs on Ghost, a simple and clean CMS that costs $108/year. I chose it over Substack for its more personal, minimal feel vs. Substack’s journalistic one, and skipped WordPress entirely—or as a colleague recently called it, "a dinosaur." Sometimes simpler is better.
Domain Management
I use NameCheap to manage my domains, costing around $24/year — a small price for maintaining my digital real estate. They offered the cheapest domain registrar services that I could see.
I did previously use GoDaddy for my website domain management, but it was overpriced for renewal and I didn’t need all of the bells and whistles they were trying to aggressively sell me. No, thanks.
🛠 Additional Tools
Rev
When Fireflies doesn’t cut it (working with mp3s or video files), or I’m transcribing a YouTube video, I use Rev for transcription services as-needed. I've only used their AI transcription service (not their human one) and it's been perfect for my needs so far.
1Password
1Password helps me securely manage all my passwords and IDs for all these apps. With its password generator, I have strong, unique passwords for every account, reducing the risk of security breaches. It also makes it easy to pull up my EIN, bank account numbers, and other sensitive info that I don’t remember off the top of my head.
At $2.99/month, it’s a small but mighty investment!
Final Thoughts
All told, my tech stack represents a significant investment — a pretty penny at approximately $680 per month. Without ahrefs and Clearscope, though, (my two big ticket subs) it would only be $242 per month.
But each tool plays a crucial role in keeping my business running efficiently and professionally. As my colleague and friend Anna Burgess Yang often says, it’s about finding the best tool for the job, not the least amount of tools. And I’m sure my tech stack will continue to evolve as my business grows.
Anna Burgess Yang
What does your freelance tech stack look like? I'd love to hear about the tools that keep your business running smoothly—especially if you've found alternatives to some of these pricier options. Drop a comment below or shoot me a message on LinkedIn!
By the way, I'm launching a monthly newsletter offshoot of this blog. It won't just push these articles; I'll also talk about how my month went financially, and share some useful tidbits and musings about the SaaS industry.
Sign up here!
