I remember the special feeling of realising that the freelance world has become an underworld. It was late 2022, and I had a large project underway with a fintech client that involved a content strategy. A blinking cursor and decision fatigue were the issues I was struggling with as I worked late. It is my turn to despair, downloading an early version of an AI chatbot that uses AI to simulate human conversation, which everyone was discussing on Twitter. I asked it to follow the strategy.
Momentum
And now compare it with my appearance of the workflow today; it is much different from before. I am not working less, but simply doing it in a new way. We are all CEOs, marketers, creators, and janitors as freelancers. Artificial Intelligence will not come and take away our jobs, at least for those who learn to use it. It will be taken away to remove the grunt work and allow us to focus on the high-value strategy that clients pay for.
After having tried dozens of applications and spent too much money on subscriptions, here is my candid, practical examination of the most meaningful AI tools to a freelancer at the moment, and how to use them to remain a human.
The Second Brain Writers Claude and ChatGPT.
We ought to get the big elephants off. One of the tools that you need to be a freelancer in any niche is a Large Language Model (LLM). However, not each of them is equal.
The Swiss Army Knife is ChatGPT (at least, GPT-4o). I do the rational and organisational with it. I used ChatGPT when it was necessary to cold-email a potential, analyse a data spreadsheet, and write Python code to automate a tedious process. It is fast and has strong research capabilities because it can web surf.
But for writing, I like Claude (by Anthropic).
This is the most neglected fact: ChatGPT is very confident. Claude is a literature major graduate student. I prefer Claude 3.5 Sonnet when I need to brainstorm blog ideas, paraphrase a difficult client email, or read a long PDF so the context doesn’t disappear. It hasfewerrs hallucinogens and is more accurate in imitating the tone.
Real-Life Use Case: I recently worked with a client who communicated via email in a highly corporate tone, using a lot of jargon. I typed their email address into Claude and told him to compose a response in the same tone, whilst seekingly asking him to increase the deadline. It temporarily nailed the diplomacy together for a few seconds–which, with me, would have cost me 20 minutes of overthinking.
The Visual Powerhouses: Midjourney and Canva.
I am not a graphic designer. My stick figures leave something to be desired. However, I can now provide visual resources for my packages.
In this case, Midjourney is the heavyweight champion. It is annoying, yes, that you even have to use it through Discord (at least in the meantime), and the prompting has a steep learning curve. There can be no question of the quality, however. Midjourney is my tool of choice for branding projects, especially for special mood boards and blog header design. It scratches Unsplash with the same three stock photos as other sites.
- Central Message: One cannot type cat on a bike. You have to be taught the conditions of film lighting. My prompts are primarily similar to the scriptural writing: the shot in the film, a 35mm lens, golden-hour light, and hyper-realism.
If Midjourney is too technical, another option is Canva Magic Studio, which is easy to use. Their magic expand tool allows you to crop a vertical image, turn it horizontal, and fill the background with artificial intelligence. I use this regularly when recycling social media content elsewhere.
The Meeting Saviour: Otter. artificial intelligence (or Fireflies)
You lose half when you write notes in a meeting while charging per hour: you cut off the conversation, and then spend part of your later time cleaning up what you wrote for no purpose.
Otter.ai automatically transcribes my Zoom and Google Meet meetings. It records the sound, transcribes it on the spot, and, most importantly, generates an overview of the action points.
The Next Steps email and client discovery call took 30 minutes to complete. Now I had left Otter answering. I copy the action items, make a few tone adjustments, and forward them. It also makes me seem highly organised and attentive, even when I was rushing to get a pen during the call.
The Editor’s Dream: Descript
Descript is very efficient for freelance podcasters, video editors, or social media managers. It also edits videos and audio in the same way a Word document is edited.
On video, Descript transcribes your video if you leave one. Deleting any sentence from the transcript erases that scene from the video. It also has a feature called Studio Sound, which improves the iPhone’s poor echo and makes it sound more professional.
I recently helped a customer create a YouTube channel. They are not geniuses when it comes to photography; they use “um” and “uh” everywhere. Descript will recognise filler words, and you can remove them by pressing a button. It reduced an unbearable 20-minute task into a shorter 112-minute task.
The Research & Workflow Engine: Perplexity.
Google is becoming more challenging to use. SEO spam has made it difficult to obtain a straightforward answer. Enter Perplexity.
Take Perplexity, a search engine that even reads websites. Perplexity gives me a big-picture overview when I am researching a new niche for one of my clients, such as sustainable HVAC trends in 2024. It helps determine the data’s origin, which is crucial for fact-checking (EEAT principle: do not unquestioningly trust AI).
This helps me to save hours of tab fatigue. The dossier is provided to me by a subordinate researcher so I can get started on the work.
The Ethical Reality Check: Ensuring that the Human in the Loop Stays Human.
Now, I would like to issue a warning to someone who has been doing this for some time.
At the time these tools were introduced, I tried to automate everything. It backfired. Clients felt that the writing was vanilla. It did not have the human intuition that is part of human experience.
AI is an extension and not a substitution. The principles I follow to maintain the quality and trustaree the following:
- Transparency: If I produce a crude version using AI, I will inform the client or revise the output extensively. I do not create raw AI and offer it as a finished product.
- Data Protection: I will not transfer a client’s NDA or confidential bank financial data to a chatbot. That is a case to come.
- Eighty-Twenty Rule: I am going to give AI 80% of the dull stuff (outlining, transcribing, scheduling, formatting). My remaining 20 per cent of energy is devoted to creative insight, emotional touch, and strategic decision-making.
The Verdict
Which AI tool is the best one that you have? It depends on your bottleneck.
- Stuck on a blank page? Claude.
- Drowning in meetings? Otter.
- Need visuals but can’t draw? Midjourney.
- Editing video for hours? Descript.
It is not intended to be an AI operator. The intention is to be a more productive, happier freelancer who spends less time on administration and more time doing the work one actually likes (or even taking an afternoon off).
The freelancer is Adaptation, which is a superpower. They are merely the latest trends of the trade. Select one and read it all the way through; you will notice that your workflow has changed.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs).
Q: Does the utilisation of AI tools threaten to lose my SEO positions?
A: Not inherently. Google punishes low-quality content, either in human or in machine form. Spamming generic AI-generated articles will result in a tanking. No issue if you outline, research, and write high-value, applicable content yourself.
Q: Could this be characterised as tax-deductible to freelancers?
A: Generally, yes. When you use a paid subscription, e.g., ChatGPT Plus or Midjourney, as a part of your business operations, it can be categorised as a software/business cost. I am writing everything; never forget to refer to your accountant.
Q: Does the ChatGPT free version suffice?
A: For basic tasks, yes. Nevertheless, in professional writing and data analysis, the paid version (GPT-4) is much more advanced and less likely to make mistakes. It recompenses itself in an hour saved.
Q: Does my image that Midjourney has generated qualify as copyrightable?
A: Currently, no. The U.S. Copyright Office has determined that AI-generated art is not eligible for copyright because a human being does not create it. They are saleable, yet one cannot say that they are the only owners of the uncooked picture.
A: What do I do to clients when I inform them that I use AI and not laziness?
A: Frame it as efficiency. I use AI to transcribe and conduct early research so that I can spend my billing time on high-level strategy and creative implementation on your behalf. Most customers appreciate that you do not bill them for manual and physical labour.