Time blocking for freelancers
Nobody is going to notice that you overcommitted except you, and you will notice on Sunday night.
What the week actually looks like
Three clients who each assume they are the whole job, an invoice to chase, and a piece of your own marketing that has been moved for six weeks. The list is accurate. The list is also nine days long and the week is five.
Where it goes wrong, and what answers it
The list is longer than the week and nothing says so
A to do app will happily hold nine days of work in a five day week and never mention it. That is the entire failure.
In UnaTask: Drag work onto real hours. When the hours run out, they run out on screen, on Monday.
Your own work always loses
Client work has a deadline and a person attached. Your website does not, so it moves, every week, forever.
In UnaTask: A block is a commitment even when the client is you, and the reschedule counter is honest about how many times you have moved it.
Admin arrives as messages and stays as messages
An email is a task pretending to be a message. It sits in the inbox because moving it costs retyping.
In UnaTask: Turn an email or a Slack message into a task without retyping it.
Paying for a planning tool before you have income
Most of the good planners in this category start at twenty dollars a month and have no free plan at all.
In UnaTask: Free on your own with every feature and no card. The bill starts when somebody joins you.
What freelancers usually weigh this against
Akiflow
It is the fastest keyboard surface in the category and it gathers work from everywhere.
It layers on the task manager you are already paying for, and there is no free plan, so it is a second bill before it is a solution.
Akiflow alternative for freelancers
Sunsama
The guided ritual genuinely works, and freelancers need a reason to stop and think once a day.
Around twenty dollars a month with no free tier, and the tasks live in the tools it pulls from.
Sunsama alternative for freelancers
Todoist
It is the best pure list there is and the free tier is generous. Most freelancers start here and many should.
It will never tell you the week is full, because it has no concept of the week being a size.
Todoist alternative for freelancers
Trello
A board per client is free and understood instantly, including by the client.
Cards do not have hours, so the board is calm right up until the Friday it is not.
Trello alternative for freelancers
Common questions
What is actually free?
Everything, while you are on your own. Not a trial and not a reduced version: time blocking, calendar sync, booking links, templates and the rest. Working with other people is what costs.
What happens if I bring somebody in later?
That is when Team starts, at €10 per seat per month, with a 14 day trial. Nothing you built moves or breaks.
Can I use it on my phone?
It runs in the browser on any device, and there is a native Mac app.