The 3 Systems Every Solopreneur Needs From Day 1
Build systems before you're overwhelmed.
Most solopreneurs build their systems reactively. Something falls through the cracks, and you scramble to build a fix so it doesn’t happen again. Which works, but also puts you in an endless cycle of playing “catch up” rather than working proactively.
Setting up a few simple systems early saves you from that cycle. And you don't need a dozen different apps to do it.
A few systems that can make a solopreneur or freelancer’s life so much easier:
- A way to keep track of your money
- A way to manage client projects
- A place to keep track of people who reach out to you
If you’re struggling to keep track of clients, projects, or people, the first version of any of these is something you can set up in a few hours.
What makes a good system for a solo business
A good system is simple enough that you'll use it consistently. Plenty of companies advertise flashy features or automated workflows. That’s not the right fit for everyone and definitely not right for an early-stage solopreneur or freelancer.
If a system takes more time to maintain than it saves you, then it's just another task on your to-do list.
Most of these tools have free tiers or low-cost plans. But timing can be the hard part. Most solopreneurs or freelancers wait until they’re already buried in client work, and that’s the worst time to try to build a process or system.
I built a few tracking systems in Airtable [affiliate link] and Trello back when I only had two clients. By the time I had a full roster, my systems were already in place.
3 simple systems to set up on Day 1
Well… maybe not Day 1. If you’re reading this, you may already have a solo business. But if not on Day 1, then these are three things to set up as soon as you can.
1. Project management for client work
A project management system tells you what's due and what you're waiting on. You can probably keep track of one client in your head. Add a second or a third, and that’s no longer feasible. You’re bound to drop the ball on something.
At any moment, your system should be able to answer a simple question: what do I need to work on right now?
A spreadsheet can work, but it can be really hard to keep track of complex projects or constantly moving parts. Pick a tool that matches how you think, whether it’s a Kanban board, a list, a timeline, or something else.
The specifics have changed over the years, but project management is basically the same process as when I started. I am a freelance writer, so I have to keep track of endless deadlines, client style guides, feedback, and multiple stages of the writing process. My project management tool handles this for me.
2. Accounting and financial tracking
Many solo business owners set up accounting much later than they should, because they’re uncomfortable with the financial part of running a business. But that’s a costly mistake. You need a way to track invoices and your expenses so you can pay your taxes (and possibly work with a tax preparer).
At a minimum, you need a way to send invoices and collect payments. That means an invoicing tool that lets your client pay by credit card or bank transfer. Standalone options like Stripe will do that without the cost of full accounting software.
But since you have to track income and expenses anyway, you might as well pick an all-in-one from the beginning so you’re not trying to reconstruct a year’s worth of business activity right before tax time. Not having a tool can be a costly mistake. According to Due, freelancers earning $75,000 or more miss an average of $8,000 to $12,000 in deductions every year, mostly because they don't track expenses consistently.
I used Wave for a long time and found it simple and easy to understand for a solo business. I moved to QuickBooks later because my accounting firm required it, and my needs had gotten more complicated. Many of these tools are similar for basic needs, and switching later is possible, so don’t overthink it.
3. Your pipeline and CRM
Your pipeline is your list of people who are interested in working with you and where each opportunity stands. This is one tool that does not need fancy features. A spreadsheet works just fine. What matters is that it lives somewhere outside your head, so you’re not relying on your memory for follow-up.
At a minimum, track:
- The contact name and email address
- A few notes about the opportunity
- A follow-up date
Here’s why you need a list. Let’s say a potential client says, “I don’t have the budget right now, but let’s circle back in six months.” Your spreadsheet becomes your “circle back” list. If you maintain it, you ensure that you don’t lose out on opportunities simply because the follow-up slips through the cracks.
The more robust version of this is a full-blown customer relationship management (CRM) platform. It can keep track of how your leads are finding you (website, ads, cold outreach, etc) and your contact history. I also keep track of why I lose out on opportunities, such as price, bad fit, or the prospect simply ghosts me. You can also keep track of people in your network, not just clients or potential clients.
Finding a reasonably priced CRM is a bit tricky for a solopreneur or freelancer. Most are built for teams. I’ve used Mesh (formerly Clay), but it’s not a good pipeline tracking tool. Currently, I have a custom system built in Airtable.
When to add automation to your systems
Once you have your three systems in place, you can start to think about automation. Automation is an addition to a system you've already been using consistently. Automating a broken process doesn’t do you any good.
A few signs to watch for:
- You're doing the same manual steps over and over.
- Things are slipping because there are too many steps to remember.
- You have to duplicate information between different tools you use.
- Every new project starts with the same setup work.
My rule is that if I do something twice, I automate it. For example, my new client onboarding runs through a 17-step Zapier [affiliate link] automation. It creates folders in my Google Drive and adds the new client to QuickBooks. It requires no manual effort from me, plus the steps are consistent with every client.
That tipping point is different for everyone. I can build a simple automation in under five minutes, so anything that saves me five minutes is worth doing. If you've never set up a Zap or a scheduled task in something like Claude, your first one will take longer. Still, an hour of setup that saves you a few minutes every time it runs is worth getting past the learning curve.
Anna Burgess Yang
Your systems should make sense for how you work
If you simply copy someone else's tech stack, you'll spend your first month learning tools that may not make sense for your business.
Think about what you need and start with the simplest version of each system (which is often the free version). You can upgrade when the simple version is no longer meeting your needs.
If you only have an hour this week, spend it on the system that’s the biggest gap in your business. It might be the expenses you’re tracking by hand or the paper to-do list that’s no longer working. Make an improvement to that one system for now, and come back to the others when you have time.
