The community of freelancers is getting bigger and in turn, the number of jobs that arise daily by large corporations or people in particular, is also quite crowded and notorious.
Due to this, freelancers must have within their work arsenal some highly efficient tools to be able to increase their work productivity and thus not look bad with the delay of a project, which can be very harmful.
That is why Asana is one of the best tools that exist today since it helps to keep work organized, communication fluent and automates simple tasks, saving time and effort.
Who Is It Good For?
In every company and/or entity, the organization of the departments is essential, as well as the assignment of tasks to guarantee the proper functioning of the company.
For that reason, Asana is ideal for work teams, agencies, groups of freelancers that are carrying out a project together, or for freelancers who work with several clients and want to keep the order of each activity.
Also for people who need to keep in constant contact with a group of freelancers, to guide and monitor their work.
Asana is an excellent task and project management tool, it allows teams to plan, organize, share, and track the progress of the tasks each member is working on, or to keep the different projects you are working on structured.
Asana is a very simple and easy-to-use web application and without a doubt one of the best management tools that a freelancer can count on today.
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Asana helps you to administer and manage in a centralized and organized way all the tasks and activities to be carried out in a project.
What Kind Of Freelancers Would Benefit From Using It?
Although any freelancer can benefit from this tool, it is especially recommended for those who must work in teams or that are involved on different projects simultaneously.
For example, if you are a graphic designer who serves a brand, but you must also work together with a community manager, a video editor, and a copywriter, Asana is an excellent option for them to agree so that all areas can work together.
On the other hand, if you serve different clients and you do not want to be confused with the assignments you have with each one, here you can create a project for each client and invite them so they can see the progress of the work.
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Also, if you are a freelancer who has others under your guidance, Asana will help you coordinate your work with them.
You can monitor what they do, evaluate their progress, correct details, see how they progress, and let them know if they need to make any changes in their routines.
Besides, keeping the work communication in a mean exclusively dedicated to that is something very professional, instead of invading their personal messages for work matters.
Advantages Of Asana
Some of the advantages of Asana are:
- It is so useful that it is recommended to use it both in daily tasks and for specific projects.
- The relationship between quality and price is very good, for the benefits it provides.
- Allows synchronization with Google Calendar.
- Offers the option of scheduling reminders and recurring tasks.
- It is possible to create checklists.
- It has the option to change the views according to the preferences and needs of the users, producing in them that feeling of pleasure and making its interface as pleasant and friendly as possible thanks to the fact that it is completely customizable.
- Asana strikes a balance between a structured environment and a flexible environment at the same time.
- It is possible to link it to Gmail.
- It offers the option to invite collaborators to the project and upload unlimited files.
- It has a free version.
Asana is especially useful in case your staff is in different geographical areas or if they work remotely. With the collaboration of teams, you can share information and feedback, as well as carry out the corresponding monitoring of projects at any time. Asana will also allow you to properly supervise your work teams as it will provide you with enough data to keep you informed of the current status of any task.
How To Use Asana
The main function of this application is to allow better communication between the different members of a team or with your clients.
In any work project, there are different sections or functions that different workers fulfill and in many cases, the success of the project will depend on their good coordination.
Asana allows you to maintain a good communication thread and better coordination between workers and with clients.
It has managed to improve productivity and has an internal system that gives rise to good feedback between the different members who use it.
It is structured, at all times, based on the projects that are started and on which the team or freelancer has to work.
1. Workspaces
You can have several sections from which the members of a team will work, for example, you can create one especially for SEO, copywriting, and others. Or one workspace for a specific client.
They can be easily created since it is enough to put an image in the avatar and a name to that space so that it is assigned to a department.
2. The Projects
This application allows you to create different projects, to ensure that all tasks are perfectly detailed so that each person who has to intervene in them knows clearly what they have to do.
Once the different workspaces of the teams have begun to form, it is enough to start adding new projects, that is, new tasks that they have to carry out.
It is a good way to not lose sight of what the other freelancers have to do and in how long, so that your work is much more effective. This feature is also a great way to keep projects separate, to keep your clients’ projects in order.
3. Tasks
These are the subdivisions of each project. Each one of them may have sections that concern different professionals from the same team. A way to divide jobs that makes it easy to assign them.
4. Communication System
Asana also has a system that allows communication between the different team members through various devices and notifications are sent as they progress in their work. It is simply a space for feedback and debate.
5. Project Progression
Asana also has dashboards, which are spaces where you can see how each project is evolving since it allows you to see in what state each task is within it.
This will give you more exhaustive monitoring of project fulfillment and delivery times within the established deadlines.
This is one of the best items that the application has since it shows what progress has been made in a project or is still missing to finish it and what pace of work is being carried out.
It makes it easier to see if a task will be able to be completed on time or if it will be necessary to squeeze the pace of work a bit.
6. Schedule
This functionality is of great help to facilitate the identification of the deadlines of each project.
These schedules help to visualize the different deadlines of each phase of a project, so that all team members are aware of the progress within the established time limit and, in addition, can be organized more clearly.
7. Asana Calendar
It also has a calendar in which in addition to your own deadlines or reminders, it integrates the dates of the schedules of the projects in which you participate, so that you have an overview of all the relevant moments.
8. Information Integration
With this functionality, it is possible to have all the information in one place, since it gathers emails, files, and tickets, among others, so that you have all the information necessary for the development of the team’s work in a single place and easy accessibility.
9. Resource Management
Asana has a functionality that is not so common among these tools: resource management.
This feature makes it possible to see the workload of each team member at a glance to avoid work imbalances between team members or task overloads.
Asana is one of the best online work applications that prioritizes the organization and planning of work, which makes it an ideal tool to manage several projects with different people and with strict project deadlines.
In resume, this application is a good way to work as a team, since each member can be assigned different tasks within a project and a record of everything that happens is kept, which helps to check the progress in the work.
How To Sign Up On Asana?
To start enjoying Asana, click the Try for Free button. You can register with any email address; or, use your Google account.
Assign the password you want and when you are ready, start registering your account with the Sign-Up button.
After this, the page will offer you to know the characteristics of the platform, which is useful for you to become familiar with all the utilities.
Source: asana.com
How To Create A Workspace In Asana?
Now that you have registered, the first thing you should do is create a workspace.
A workspace is made up of a group of people who collaborate on projects and tasks but keep in mind that in case you work alone, you can use it too. Click on your user avatar, More section, and on Create New Workspace option.
Source: luna1.co
Then you can assign a name to your workspace (for example: use the name of your organization, the name of your work team or client). There you can invite your colleagues and project members. To do this, you will have to write their emails to send the link with the registration invitation to Asana.
Guest Users
Apart from adding people to your projects, you can also have guest users. They will have a limited vision of what happens in the project, basically, they can only see what you want them to see.
This is an ideal option in case you want to include your client in the project to see how it progresses, but reserving what you talk with your colleagues, the time that is being invested to perform each task, among others.
To add a guest user to a workspace you must go to the general settings, write the email, and an optional name of the guest. Make sure to check the Invite as Guest box and you will be able to send the invitation.
Source: asana.com
Asana Pricing
Basic Option
Aimed at those who are starting out, it is the free version of this management software and has access to the basic tools to organize tasks. A good option for freelancers who work independently.
Premium Option
It has a cost of $10.99 for small work teams that need to create strategic planning for their projects, it allows to give continuity and follow-up both of the projects and of the resources that work on it.
Business Option
Aimed at companies, has a cost of $24.99 and it has the functions of the Premium option adding new features within it, such as tools for managing resources, portfolios, etc.
Enterprise Option
It has the benefits offered by the rest of the previous options, reinforces them, and adds advanced options for better control, management, and monitoring of the projects in question. The price is personalized so you must contact Sales.
Asana Can Be Your Ideal Ally
Asana is an excellent ally to keep the order of your work, organize your tasks and evaluate your activity and results.
Whether you work with a group of freelancers or work alone, Asana will boost your productivity.
Having tools like this will improve your workflow, reduce the stress of having to coordinate a team and supervise each task.
Besides, these types of platforms will improve your professional image, since they will help you correctly manage your freelance business.
It is worth investing in any tool that helps you do your job with excellence, as this will be reflected in having good results and customer satisfaction.