Project management can sometimes feel like having hundreds of balls in the air as you juggle various clients and tasks. Users of Trello, a popular project management tool, have access to a Butler assistant that helps to automate time-consuming tasks, organize projects, and keep track of all that's going on1. Butler automatically updates rules, buttons, and scheduled commands on Trello boards. For instance, you can configure Butler to automatically move a task card from one list to the other when a card is marked complete. Or if you're on a board that manages progress for all client projects, you can set up rules that assign deadlines to tasks, or remind you of overdue tasks – which comes in handy if you want to procrastinate12.

If you bill by the hour, as many freelancers do, it's important to track your time. Clockify is a time-tracking app that includes AI analysis to help you understand how you're spending time and, more importantly, how to make it more efficient1. You can log hours worked per client and project, and the AI tracks the way you act and when, to let you see where your time is going2. Clockify's AI analysis tool shows freelancers where they get stuck. Say your bottleneck is admin work: if you're wasting too much time on it – at the expense of billable hours – the tool recommends how to delegate that work or automate parts of it3. It's best for freelancers, who need to accurately track their time, as well as create reports to get the most out of their billable hours while minimizing non-billable tasks4.

In freelancing, writing often plays a huge part of the game. Whether it's a client pitch or email or content, you need to write – and you'll find yourself happier and more productive with Grammarly, an AI-based writing assistant that helps you write better and faster, with automated corrections as you type1. The AI provides suggestions for grammar, clarity, and style, improving your text's readability and professionalism2. Their premium package even includes tone adjustments so that your style can be adapted for any occasion, from an important work email to a friendly social media post – and they offer plagiarism detection for content creators needing to avoid duplicate material3.

Relationship management is also an important part of freelancing, and an AI-powered tool called HubSpot CRM is my top tool for the task. The AI assistant takes the most boring parts of managing client relationships off your plate by automating much of it, such as following up with emails, setting up meetings, and organizing your contacts1. Its built-in AI analyzes your CRM data to figure out the optimal times to reach out to clients – based on how they've responded to you in the past – and vastly improves the likelihood of you receiving a positive response2. You can even automate personalized email sequences that you can use for onboarding new clients, nurturing existing ones, and following up on proposals – allowing you to be in touch with your clients but not having to be the one to do it manually13. It's best for freelancers who are drowning in churning email threads with clients and want to manage those relationships better, as well as automate common interactions so they can stop being a time-suck4.