{"id":69837,"date":"2016-05-01T03:48:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-30T17:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elements.blog-cms.envato.net\/?p=4004"},"modified":"2025-11-11T18:02:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T07:02:44","slug":"excel-templates-freelance-designers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elements.envato.com\/learn\/excel-templates-freelance-designers","title":{"rendered":"14 Useful Excel Templates for Freelance Designers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I know what you\u2019re thinking. Excel? Really? But believe it or not, Excel is still a dominant force in the spreadsheet-making world and can allow for numerous possibilities in managing information. This is really important for freelancers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re in charge of pretty much everything related to your business, staying organized is essential. Keeping track of income, expenses<\/a>, receipts, payments, and more can be exhausting when you don\u2019t have a good organizational system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Managing your Freelance Income<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many services exist for managing freelance income. Many more exist for managing other aspects of your business. But sometimes doing things the old-school way is best. So without any further delay, here are 14 Excel templates you can use to make conducting business as a freelance designer a little bit easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Online Sales Tracker<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Nothing like a template from the official Excel <\/a>source, right? This Office template makes it easy to keep track of your sales and your profits all in one place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Alternatively, here are some Excel expense reports that allow you to track income and expenses together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Expense Reports<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Excel expense reports<\/a> come in handy for freelance designers looking to track their expenditures efficiently. With meticulously organized spreadsheets, you can effortlessly monitor your financial activities, ensuring clarity and accuracy in budget management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

3. Idea Planner<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Idea Planner<\/a> is another offering from Office that allows you to plan any project in detail. It breaks down the project by steps, which you can then assign to members of your team (if you have them), assign deadlines, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

4. Editorial Calendar<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a template<\/a> from Demand Metric that\u2019s super useful. It makes it easy to develop and stick to an editorial calendar for your blog, a newsletter, or even for publication opportunities at other magazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can input all the details about each publication, assign deadlines, and see exactly where everything stands at a glance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

5. Content Marketing Assessment<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Most freelancers do business online nowadays, which means you most likely need to have a content marketing plan in place. This ensures you\u2019re getting your content (and your message) in front of as many people as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This template<\/a> allows you to assess how your content is doing across numerous metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

6. Google Position Tracker<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This template<\/a> is perfect for those freelancers that prioritize SEO as a part of their overall marketing strategies. It allows you to keep track of your search engine rank for specific keyword phrases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s fairly easy to configure and can save you a lot of money on professional services that do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

7. Calendar Template<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A simple calendar template<\/a> is a staple in any freelancer\u2019s toolbox and this fills that role nicely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

8. Gantt Chart<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Gantt Chart<\/a> has a long-standing reputation as a must-use for project managers everywhere. This template gives you a convenient way to visualize project progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

9. Timesheets<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If you bill by the hour as many freelancers do, this Timesheet template<\/a> makes doing so simple without having to sign up for a premium service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

10. Work Schedule<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If you need help managing your workday, day by day and week by week, this work schedule template<\/a> allows you to set up your schedule and then access a bird\u2019s eye view of everything you need to accomplish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Billing Invoice<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This spreadsheet template<\/a> is an excellent tool for creating invoices on the fly, offering a print-friendly format and the flexibility to adjust the color scheme according to your preferences or brand identity. Alternatively, if you prefer even more convenience, explore the functionalities of an invoice generator<\/a> or an invoice app<\/a>. These cutting-edge tools enable you to swiftly generate professional invoices with your brand elements, ensuring a distinctly branded appearance, and empowering small business owners, freelancers, and contractors with the ability to create polished, branded invoices<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

12. Job Estimate Template<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If you want to provide a potential client with an estimate of how much it\u2019ll cost him, you can use this job estimate template<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The estimate is just a guess as to how much a project will cost but it\u2019s an essential component of landing new gigs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

13. Project Budget<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Still another template you should check out is the project budget<\/a>, which allows you to create a line by line budget for your next project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With it, you can figure out your expenses<\/a> in advance and ensure your profit margin is as good as it can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

14. To-Do List<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The last template I\u2019ll talk about here is the to-do list<\/a>. Everyone needs them, but freelancers especially so since there are so many things to account for outside of completing project-related tasks like balancing your budget, invoicing clients, running a marketing campaign, and so forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are many more Excel templates out there that can make a freelancer\u2019s job easier (and cheaper!) but these should be enough to get you started. Besides, if you use some templates in Google Sheets<\/a> others in Microsoft Excel, you should be aware that there are ways to import Google Sheets to Excel<\/a> and to synchronise data between those platforms effortlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more great freelancing content, check out The Ultimate Guide to Freelancing as a Creative<\/a>, 7 Habits Every Freelance Designer Should Live By<\/a> and 8 Expert Tips to Boost Your Career as a Freelance Graphic Designer<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many tools for managing freelance income, but sometimes doing things the old-school way is best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":79069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elements.envato.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elements.envato.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elements.envato.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elements.envato.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elements.envato.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elements.envato.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elements.envato.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elements.envato.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elements.envato.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elements.envato.com\/learn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}