What tools do you use to stay productive?

Interview with Dane, a freelance writer and author with 7 published books

As far as freelancing sites go, I use Upwork and PeoplePerHour. I also have a website and my portfolio is on SlideShare, which helps to give it a little extra exposure. And I sometimes get leads through my social media presences as well, predominantly from LinkedIn and Twitter.

Other tools that I use quite a lot include Dropbox and Google Docs for storing and sharing files, Slack and Skype for communication and occasionally Trello for project management.

I spend a lot of time in WordPress admin panels as well. But it really depends upon the client, and I’m generally quite flexible about what I use. All I actually need to write copy is Microsoft Word to write it in and Google Chrome to carry out a little research and to find sources.

Dane is a freelance writer and author who works remotely, and balances client work with writing his own books.

Read full interview from Interview with Dane, a freelance writer and author with 7 published books.

Interview with Michael about being an entrepreneur and freelancer

As far as tools for remote work nothing crazy; laptop, desktop, video conference Zoom or Skype.

I use Asana and Trello with clients but I track everything on my end with Google Docs and Google Calendar.

Michael is an online entrepreneur, author, and freelance writer who specializes in self-improvement and personal finance.

Read full interview from Interview with Michael about being an entrepreneur and freelancer.

Interview with Laura, a communications specialist and travel writer by night

I rely heavily on customized reminders from Slack known as Slackbots to remind me to do things. I like to play music while I work, too. Sometimes I play new age ambient type of stuff to keep me calm, centered and focused.

Other times I'll play upbeat music for motivation. Coffee is also a must-have for productivity. Oh! And strawberries. Strawberries keep me happy.

Laura Coronado discusses her method for juggling her career as a communications specialist by day and her side hustle as a freelance travel writer by night.

Read full interview from Interview with Laura, a communications specialist and travel writer by night.

Interview with Katerina, a team collaboration consultant who sees the value of discipline

I use Asana and pen and paper to stay productive. I use Asana to jot down tasks I need to do, or ideas I want to develop, and pen and paper are for my daily to-do list. However, I only use the latter when I have a lot on my plate.

I plan my work one week ahead, using Google Calendar. Github is great for sharing work. Especially with myself as I work on different computers.

I participate in different Slack communities. They might not be productive, but the feeling of belonging somewhere can help to stay motivated. It's a great source of inspiration.

Katerina fell into remote work by accident - she reveals how easy and straightforward it can be to make discipline a daily part of remote work.

Read full interview from Interview with Katerina, a team collaboration consultant who sees the value of discipline.

Interview with Vivek, an entrepreneur building a virtual office for remote teams

RescueTime - a Desktop app that passively monitors the websites that you visit and gives analytics assessing how productive you've been for that week.

The first step to improving your productivity is acknowledging where you stand.

Be Focused - a Desktop app that sets alarms on a 30-minute cadence to remind you to take breaks. The app roughly follows the Pomodoro time management technique.

Asana - Project management website for organizing your tasks and tracking project completion

Pragli - (as described above) a Desktop app that provides a virtual office for your remote team. We use the product every day to facilitate quick audio/video communication and for team presence.

Calendly - Scheduling software that eliminates the painful back-and-forth of email scheduling. You just send a Calendly link to expose the times in your calendar that you're free. After using the product, I've reclaimed hours of time for coding and marketing.

The long San Francisco commute sent Vivek into remote work—hear about his three strategies for eliminating distractions & his must-have tools.

Read full interview from Interview with Vivek, an entrepreneur building a virtual office for remote teams.

Interview with Laurel about helping companies transition to remote work

Zoom for video calls (the bulk of my day), Asana for task management, Slack for team/community collaboration, and Google Calendar for Scheduling.

Offline, my "portable office" includes my Fitbit for activity tracking and top-of-the-hour reminders (nudge to wrap up meetings), glasses, water bottle, earbuds, wireless mouse, chargers, and my faithful Chromebook.

I keep all of these packed in a bag that I can take anywhere I feel like working from that day (which has included hotels, trains, the library, mountain tops, the gym, or even my kids' school).

Laurel is an advocate for remote work and helps companies learn how to work remotely through her consulting and writing.

Read full interview from Interview with Laurel about helping companies transition to remote work.

Interview with Marian, a nomadic social media manager and day trader

I don’t use any paid tools; I use popular ones, like Google Calendar, and Google Drive, which includes the sheet and document features. They are very useful, and I recommend it for new digital nomads/remote workers.

Day trading & virtual assisting has allowed Marian to see the world—in this interview, she lays out her routine and priorities for those thinking of traveling while working.

Read full interview from Interview with Marian, a nomadic social media manager and day trader.

Interview with Alaina, a nonprofit program state director

I like to keep it old school with written to-do notes in a notebook.

Something about physically writing tasks and adding sub-notes or crossing out completed tasks on paper is more gratifying than typing it up on the computer.

A very simple tool I use in my Gmail is the starred email feature. In Gmail settings, there is an option to have different color stars or markings like the red and yellow exclamation points. I use those stars to sort my inbox and keep track of emails I need to follow-up on.

If I have a task that is time sensitive, I will create a task on my calendar.

A habit I use to employ and need to get back to is time blocking my day on my calendar with events and using my Google Calendar as an extension of my to-do list. This method is also helpful for getting a visual layout of tasks for the day and seeing where your time is spent.

It takes a minute to find your rhythm in a new remote position—hear how Alaina organizes her time to hit the ground running in a new remote work job.

Read full interview from Interview with Alaina, a nonprofit program state director.

Interview with Patric, a UX designer and usability engineer that works from home

I use Gmail and Skype or Hangouts for communication.

My projects and tasks are in Trello where I try to document every activity I do (Why?)

I had days where I could not remember what I actually got done in the last hours so for my own sanity I "log" almost everything...

Lately I started to use Dropbox Paper to structure my thoughts on projects. I really came to like it if you keep the documents as short as possible. I also had a good experience collaborating in Paper on the launch for Indie Ignitor - where I worked together with a partner for the first time.

I tried RescueTime - but it is not really useful if your days task vary and you cant compare them.

I had good experience blocking Facebook, Twitter and the likes to avoid "waking up in a social feed" from time to time.

Patric works on his own projects while also consulting for medium sized software companies, learn how he works remotely.

Read full interview from Interview with Patric, a UX designer and usability engineer that works from home.

Interview with Michelle, an organizer of digital nomad experiences

I use Trello, Click up, and Google Calendar for daily tasks.

“Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.” - Peter Drucker, management consultant

A solo backpacking trip led to Michelle organizing co-travel experiences for digital nomads—hear how she manages working while traveling.

Read full interview from Interview with Michelle, an organizer of digital nomad experiences.