Nobody likes admin tasks.
But we have to do them.
In my four years of freelancing, there was one part of running a business I never learned to love: the admin.
Following up with clients. Chasing payments. Keeping track of conversations. Drafting contracts. Accounting.
I wanted to spend my time doing the work I was paid to do. Instead, I was constantly trying to remember what needed to happen next.
It was the part of my business I kept dreading. But dreading it was not going to make it disappear.
So I decided to do something about it.
That is why I am working on Ntouju.
I wanted something that could do the work an administrative person or virtual assistant might do for me: send the right emails, follow up on payments, keep things moving, and bring structure to my business in a way that feels simple enough to follow.
Before building it, I started talking to other freelancers.
I kept hearing versions of the same thing.
Here are some of the things I heard.
“Every morning I open WhatsApp and scroll through my chats trying to remember who I sent a quote to, who owes me feedback, and who I need to follow up with. I really don't like it.”
“I send my proposals as Canva PDFs on WhatsApp. Then I have to resend them over and over again whenever I need to revise something. It is stressful.”
“When someone DMs me on Instagram asking about my services, I send a long message and my PDF portfolio. I wish I had something cleaner to send, but I haven't had the time to furnish my portfolio yet.”
“My client conversations are spread across WhatsApp, email, and phone calls. When I need to find an agreement we made or a file they sent, I don't know where to start looking.”
“I know I should follow up on quotes after a few days. But when you are in the middle of a shoot or editing, it slips your mind. Then it has been two weeks and the client thinks you are too busy for them and moves on.”
“I built my own client tracker in Notion and Google Sheets. When it got too much, I hired an assistant to manage it.”
“I have client work I am proud of. But my portfolio hasn't been updated in months. I just never have time to sit down and curate it.”
“I have it written down: 50% upfront, discontinuation after three days. But I never enforce it. I don't want money to be the problem between us. So I just keep working.”
“When you are deep in it, you find that most of the time, by default, you will drop the ball on other things.”
“Friends and family are the worst. ‘Is it because of this money?’ they would say. I would deliver. They would promise to pay. Then they would ghost. You feel used.”
“I need something that reminds clients of the agreed date and time and gets them to pay on time.”
“I know I should send contracts. But most clients see it as stress. So I skip it and hope they don't default on payments.”
These are real conversations with people trying to build sustainable businesses around their work.
If this tells your story, leave your email. I'll let you know when Ntouju is ready.
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