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Step-by-step guide

How to set up your kliendo workspace in 20 minutes

Set up your kliendo workspace efficiently in 20 minutes with this practical, step-by-step guide for freelancers and independent specialists.

kliendo team6 steps6 min read
Editorial photo illustrating how to set up your kliendo workspace in 20 minutes

kliendo is designed to be your client-first workspace, streamlining project management, task tracking, and client interactions. This guide provides a focused approach to quickly configure your account, ensuring you can immediately benefit from its core features like task management, client organization, and time tracking.

By following these steps, you will establish a robust foundation for managing your freelance business. We will cover essential setup processes, from defining your first client to understanding daily capacity limits, all designed to enhance your productivity and maintain a clear overview of your work.

Before you start

  • A kliendo account
  • Basic understanding of your current projects and clients
  • Access to client names, active projects, and initial tasks
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Step 1: Create your first client and project

Begin by establishing your client relationships within kliendo. Navigate to the 'Clients' section and add your primary client. Once the client is created, immediately associate a new project with them. Give the project a clear, descriptive name that reflects the scope of work.

This initial step is crucial for organizing your work. It sets the context for all subsequent tasks and helps you manage multiple clients as a freelancer effectively. Consider your most active client and their current flagship project to start.

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Step 2: Add initial tasks and define statuses

Populate your newly created project with its first tasks. Break down the project into actionable items. For each task, assign a due date and consider its priority. kliendo uses customizable task statuses, allowing you to reflect your workflow accurately.

Review the default statuses and adjust them to fit your specific needs. Effective task management is at the core of freelance productivity, and clear statuses help you track progress and communicate effectively. Consider using statuses like 'To Do', 'In Progress', 'Awaiting Feedback', and 'Done'.

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Step 3: Configure your daily focus caps

kliendo's unique daily focus caps help you manage your workload and prevent burnout. Set your capacity for 'major' tasks (high impact, requiring deep work) and 'minor' tasks (smaller, administrative, or less intensive). The standard caps are 3 major and 12 minor tasks per day.

Adjust these numbers to reflect your typical workday and energy levels. This feature is a powerful tool for daily planning for freelancers and ensures you maintain a sustainable pace. Be realistic about what you can achieve daily.

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Step 4: Set up client rates and invoicing details

To streamline your financial management, enter your client-specific rates within kliendo. This allows for accurate time tracking and automated invoice generation. Input your hourly or project-based rates for each client or project as applicable.

Configure your invoicing details, including your business information and payment terms. Proper rate setup is fundamental to how to price freelance projects and ensures you get paid correctly and on time. This proactive step saves significant administrative time later.

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Step 5: Explore board and list views

kliendo offers both board and list views to suit your preferred way of visualizing tasks. Spend a few minutes toggling between these views to see how your tasks are presented. The board view provides a Kanban-style visual flow, great for tracking progress through statuses, while the list view offers a concise, sortable overview.

Experiment with moving tasks between statuses in the board view or reordering them in the list view. Understanding these views helps you navigate your workload efficiently, offering flexibility similar to Kanban board alternatives for freelancers while keeping everything integrated.

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Step 6: Integrate AI Quick Add for task creation

Leverage kliendo's AI Quick Add feature to rapidly convert notes, PDFs, or images into actionable tasks. Locate the AI Quick Add function and try uploading a sample document or pasting text from an email. Observe how kliendo's AI identifies key actions and automatically suggests task details.

This feature significantly reduces manual data entry and helps you turn meeting notes into tasks with ease. It's an efficient way to capture deliverables from various sources and integrate them into your workflow without friction.

Practical example

Client Onboarding Workflow

Imagine you've just signed a new client, 'Creative Solutions Inc.', for a website redesign project. In kliendo, your first step is to add 'Creative Solutions Inc.' as a new client. Then, you create a project titled 'Website Redesign Phase 1' under this client.

Next, you use AI Quick Add to process the project brief PDF provided by the client. kliendo extracts tasks such as 'Review competitor websites', 'Draft content strategy', 'Design homepage wireframe', and 'Client approval meeting'. You assign due dates, mark 'Draft content strategy' and 'Design homepage wireframe' as major tasks, and set their status to 'To Do'. This rapid setup ensures you're ready to start immediately, with all initial actions captured and organized.

Common issues and fixes

Tasks are not appearing in the correct view.

Check your filters and sorting options in both the board and list views. Ensure tasks are assigned to the correct client and project, and that their status is visible in your selected columns.

Daily focus caps feel restrictive.

Re-evaluate your definition of 'major' and 'minor' tasks. Adjust the numbers in your settings based on your actual capacity and energy levels, or temporarily disable them while you get accustomed to kliendo.

AI Quick Add isn't extracting tasks accurately.

Ensure the input text or document is clear and well-structured. For PDFs or images, confirm the text is selectable (not just an image of text). Provide specific instructions or rephrase ambiguous notes.

Difficulty managing multiple clients and their tasks.

Utilize kliendo's client-first structure. Ensure every task is linked to a client and project. Use the filtering options to view tasks for one client at a time, providing clarity on individual workloads and progress. This helps with [client management for freelancers](/blog/client-management-for-freelancers).

What success looks like

  • All active clients and their primary projects are added.
  • Key tasks for ongoing projects are entered with due dates.
  • Daily focus caps are configured to reflect your capacity.
  • Client rates and invoicing details are updated for accurate billing.
  • You are comfortable navigating between board and list views.

Frequently asked questions

Can I integrate kliendo with other tools?
Currently, kliendo focuses on providing a comprehensive, client-first workspace directly. While direct integrations are limited, features like AI Quick Add minimize the need for external tools by processing information from various sources within kliendo.
How do I track time for specific tasks?
Once a task is created, you can start a timer directly from the task view. kliendo will log the time against that task, client, and project, which is then used for generating invoices based on your set client rates.
What if I have projects without a specific client?
For internal projects or personal development, you can create a 'Personal' or 'Internal' client. This allows you to organize these tasks within kliendo's framework, maintaining a holistic view of all your work.
How do I customize task statuses?
Navigate to your workspace settings. Under the 'Tasks' section, you will find options to edit, add, or remove task statuses to align with your specific workflow and project stages.

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Everything in this guide works on the free plan, with 20 starter credits for the AI steps.

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