Why Doddle has made me more profitable

The freelancing community has grown dramatically in the last 5 years; with the dream of becoming your own boss, the ability to showcase your talents and be rewarded for them who wouldn’t want to join in!

When a Doddel user Laura Charlton left us some feedback about how Doddle helped her to grow her business we thought we’d invite her to share her experiences as a Freelancer working with Doddle…

Meet Laura

I’ve worked as a freelancer for quite some time; when I started my own business 3 years ago it was a big leap of faith in my own skills and talents. It’s always hard to have the confidence to do something you love and charge people for it, what I didn’t realise I’d need was the ability to juggle the admin side of my business.

As a freelancer, you can always pay someone to do your taxes and use tools for paying any additional freelancers you work with. Something I didn’t expect and struggled with for a long period of time was juggling my clients, creating quotes, chasing clients for approval and essentially asking for more work in the politest way I could.

I’ve always tried to be involved in the freelance community and over the time I’ve been working on my own they have become increasingly popular. At a networking event in London one evening I was introduced to Skwish when Paul the creator was the opening speaker.

Problem Solved

Since the Freelance event my business totally changed; when Paul spoke about Doddle I realised it solved so many of my problems. I’m a creative person and love to focus on my designs; since becoming a freelancer I’ve found I’ve had less time to design and spent more time spent answering client questions, working out billing, quotes and keeping up with requests and prioritisations.

I work with between 7-12 clients at once so I’ve tried multiple online tools like Trello and Wrike to try and manage the workflow but often found myself putting in the tasks after I’ve done them just to keep track for billing or more time updating it than doing the actual task.

When I researched Doddle I found out clients could request new work, quotes could be put directly on requested work and every client had profiles and notes. Fundamentally helped me track quotes which in term made clients more involved in the process and they could also see what work I was doing and what their money was paying for At the end of the month, I had the ability to download what needed billing and designs could be uploaded online for direct client feedback.

When Doddle asked if I’d write a guest blog for them I took the time to see just how much Doddle had improved my business. Over the last 3 months, my billing has increased by around 10%; I’d love to say it’s just down to my amazing design talents but I think Doddle has given me the ability and confidence to take on more work without disappointing any clients by taking on too much.

What’s your Favourite feature?

If I was asked to choose a favourite doddle feature I’d struggle. I’d have to whittle it down to two features; first is the ‘ideas’ section for clients, somewhere they can add potential projects. When business is quiet I can approach them to see if they’d like to progress. The another favourite feature has to be the pin drop tool, clients can give such precise feedback it saves time and money!

If you’d like to see how Doddle can save you time and help grow your freelance business you can sign up and pay what you want. If like Laura it’s worth its weight in gold, feel free contribute more!