Business tool builder

Run your solo practice on one freelancer CRM
from first reply to final invoice.

Describe how you quote and deliver, and Netiva’s AI builds a web app for clients, proposals, project milestones and what’s ready to invoice — live preview, code you own.

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Starter prompt

Build a freelancer CRM web app for a solo consultant. Store clients with a day rate, a currency and payment terms. Track proposals with scope, fee, the days quoted, a valid-until date and a status, and publish each at its own link the client can open. When a proposal is won, create a project with an engagement type, start and due dates and the days I expect to spend. Break projects into milestones with an amount, a delivered date, an invoice date and an invoice status. Show the work ready to invoice, the proposals that have gone quiet and how many days I am booked each month.

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Overview

Who this freelancer CRM is for

Most solo practices run on three tabs: an inbox where proposals go quiet, a folder of half-named contracts and a mental list of who still hasn’t paid. The work gets done; the tracking is what slips. A freelancer CRM built with Netiva holds every client, the proposals you have out, the projects you booked from them and the milestone you delivered last week but never billed. A weekly email tells you what needs a nudge, and one screen shows how many days you are already booked before you say yes to the next job.

Key features

What your freelancer CRM can do

  • Proposals at their own link

    Write the scope and the fee once, then send a link instead of another attachment. The proposal page shows what’s included, what it costs and how long the price stands, and records the client’s answer.

    • Scope, fee and a valid-until date on one page
    • Statuses from drafting to sent, in review, won or lost
    • A page per proposal, rendered from the collection
    • A won proposal carries its scope into the project

  • Booked days you can actually see

    Projects carry start and due dates and the days you expect to spend, so one view shows where the work already sits. Quoted days on open proposals are totaled beside it, so a full week is a booked week, not a hopeful one.

    • Booked days by week and month across every client
    • Quoted days on open proposals totaled apart from signed work
    • Retainer months blocked out before project work fills in
    • Quiet weeks visible while there is still time to sell

  • Delivered work that hasn’t been billed

    Mark a milestone delivered and it joins the ready-to-invoice list with its amount and client. Record the invoice number and date once you raise it, so nothing sits finished and unbilled for a month.

    • Ready-to-invoice list grouped by client with a total
    • Invoice number, invoice date and paid date per milestone
    • Deposit, stage and final payments tracked separately
    • Unpaid amounts per client on the client record

  • Nudges you don’t have to remember

    A scheduled email lists the proposals that have gone quiet, the invoices that have run past your payment terms and the past clients you meant to check in on, so following up doesn’t depend on having a calm week.

    • A weekly brief sent to your own inbox
    • Proposals with no answer after the days you choose
    • Invoices raised longer ago than your payment terms, oldest first
    • Past clients whose check-in date has passed
Data model

The collections behind it

Netiva keeps your records in built-in collections. Here’s a starting structure — the agent adapts it to your prompt, and you can change it any time.

Clients

Who you work for, with the details you reach for before a call or an invoice.

  • Name (required) Text
  • Main contact (required) The person who approves the work Text
  • Billing email (required) Where invoices and reminders go, often not the main contact Text
  • Payment terms Net 14, net 30 or on receipt; the overdue list counts from here Text
  • Day rate Your current rate for this client Number
  • Currency The currency you bill this client in Text
  • Status (required) Prospect, active, past or dormant Text
  • Check in after When a past client should hear from you again Date

Proposals

Every offer you have out, with its scope, its fee and the answer you got.

  • Client (required) Relation to Clients
  • Title (required) Text
  • Scope (required) What’s included and what isn’t, in the client’s language Paragraph
  • Fee (required) Number
  • Estimated days Working days quoted; totaled as pipeline on the booked view Number
  • Sent on Starts the clock the nudge list counts from Date
  • Valid until The date the quoted fee stops standing Date
  • Status (required) Drafting, sent, in review, won or lost Text

Projects

The work you agreed to do, with its dates and the shape of the deal.

  • Client (required) Relation to Clients
  • Proposal The offer this work came from Relation to Proposals
  • Name (required) Text
  • Engagement type (required) Fixed fee, day rate or monthly retainer Text
  • Start date (required) Date
  • Due date Date
  • Estimated days Working days you expect to spend; feeds the booked view Number
  • Signed agreement The countersigned PDF, kept with the work File

Milestones

The billable steps inside a project, from the deposit to final delivery.

  • Project (required) Relation to Projects
  • Name (required) Deposit, first draft, launch, February retainer Text
  • Amount (required) Number
  • Delivered on Date
  • Invoice status (required) Not due, ready to invoice, invoiced or paid Text
  • Invoice number From the invoice you raised in your accounting tool Text
  • Invoiced on The date you raised it; overdue counts from here plus the payment terms Date
  • Paid on Date

Required field. Types are Netiva collection field types.

Screens

Pages and screens to start with

A typical first version. Ask the agent for more, or annotate the preview to change any of them.

  • Proposals

    Everything you have out, sorted by the date the fee stops standing, with amounts totaled per status so you know what is still in play.

    Signed-in users

  • Proposal page

    The client’s view at the link you send: scope, fee, timeline and terms, with a button to accept or to ask for a change.

    Public

  • Project

    One engagement end to end — milestones with their amounts, delivered dates and invoice status, the signed agreement and the notes behind the deal.

    Signed-in users

  • Client

    Everything about one client: contacts and billing email, the rate and terms you agreed, the proposals out, the projects running and what they still owe you.

    Signed-in users

  • Ready to invoice

    Delivered milestones that nobody has billed yet, grouped by client with a running total, so one pass through the list covers a whole billing round.

    Signed-in users

  • Booked days

    Working days already committed, week by week and month by month, with the days quoted on proposals you have not won yet totaled beside them.

    Signed-in users
How it works

From prompt to a live freelancer CRM

  1. Describe how you sell

    Tell Netiva how you quote, what a typical engagement looks like and how you bill it. The agent drafts collections for clients, proposals, projects and milestones, then wires the screens to them.

  2. Bring in the clients you have

    Type your live clients and open projects into the grid, or ask the collection assistant to draft rows from your notes and tidy names, rates and currencies before you keep them.

  3. Shape the proposal page

    Open a real proposal in the live preview and annotate whatever reads wrong — the order of the scope lines, the way the fee is presented, the wording under the accept button. The agent changes it.

  4. Publish and work from it

    Publish in one click, sign in and switch on the weekly brief. Every later change is checkpointed, so you can try a new screen in a quiet week and roll it back if it doesn’t earn its place.

Why Netiva

Netiva vs a traditional build

Building a freelancer CRM with Netiva compared with a traditional build
Criterion With Netiva Traditional build
Sending a proposal A proposal page at its own link, with the fee, the valid-until date and the client’s answer kept on the record A PDF exported from a template, attached to an email and revised until the file name runs out of room
Saying yes to new work Committed days by week from project dates and estimated days, with the days quoted on open proposals totaled apart A guess at how full next month is, based on the jobs you happen to remember
Getting started Describe what you need in chat and watch it take shape in a live preview Hire developers, or stitch together templates, plugins and a hosting plan
Content and data Built-in collections with nine field types, bound straight to your pages Set up and connect a separate database or CMS
Making changes Ask the agent; every change is checkpointed and reversible File a ticket, wait for a sprint, redeploy
Hosting and domain Global hosting and automatic SSL; connect a custom domain from the Starter plan Buy hosting, then install and renew SSL certificates yourself
Code ownership Clean production code you own and can export Locked into a template, plugin or agency setup
Examples

Ways teams use it

  • A freelance developer on two retainers

    Retainer months are blocked out first and project work fills what’s left. Each retainer month is its own milestone, so the ready-to-invoice list reminds the developer to bill it even in a month with no delivery.

  • A brand designer who quotes every week

    Five or six proposals are out at once, each with its own valid-until date. The weekly brief lists the ones that went quiet, so the nudge goes out while the quoted fee still stands.

  • An independent consultant with long lead times

    Work takes months to close, so past clients matter more than new leads. Every closed engagement gets a check-in date, and the brief surfaces the people who have gone a quarter without a conversation.

Good to know

Before you build

  • Invoicing and payment stay where they are

    The app tracks invoice status; it doesn’t issue invoices or take payment. Keep raising invoices in your accounting tool and record the number and date here, or connect that tool if it offers a REST API you can call with your own key.

  • A written contract may be required

    Freelance rules vary by state and country. New York’s Freelance Isn’t Free Act, for example, covers work worth $800 or more and requires payment by the date in the contract, or within 30 days of completion if none is named. The record holds your terms, not the law.

  • Signing happens in your signing tool

    Netiva doesn’t sign or countersign documents. Attach the countersigned PDF to the project and record the date, so the agreement and the work it covers stay together.

  • Hours stay in your timer

    If you bill by the hour, keep the timer you already use and record the total against the milestone you are invoicing. A separate timesheet app is the better place for day-to-day hours per client.

FAQ

Questions about building a freelancer CRM

What happens when a client accepts a proposal?

The proposal moves to won and the app opens the project behind it, carrying the client, the fee and the scope lines across. You add the start date, the working days you expect to spend and the milestones you will bill against. The proposal stays on file with the date it went out and the fee that was agreed, so you can look up exactly what you promised six months later.

How does the freelancer CRM know what is ready to invoice?

Every milestone carries an amount and an invoice status. When you mark one delivered, the app sets it to ready to invoice and it appears on that list, grouped by client with a total. After you raise the invoice in your accounting tool you record its number and the date you raised it, the milestone moves to invoiced, and it clears once you enter the date the money landed.

Can I see how booked I am before I take on new work?

Yes. Projects carry a start date, a due date and the working days you expect them to take, and the booked view spreads those days across the weeks between. The days quoted on proposals you have not won are totaled beside the calendar rather than mixed into it, so a week that looks full is genuinely committed and you can still see what could land on top of it.

Can I track retainers and fixed-fee projects side by side?

Yes. Each project has an engagement type — fixed fee, day rate or monthly retainer — so both sit on the same lists. A retainer gets one milestone per month with its amount and invoice status, which is what the ready-to-invoice list reads. Fixed-fee work gets a deposit milestone and one for each delivery you agreed to bill for.

Does the app send the proposal link and the follow-up emails?

Apps built with Netiva can send email and run jobs on a schedule, so yours can email the client the link when you mark a proposal sent, and send you a weekly brief of quiet proposals and overdue invoices. It cannot send text messages. The longer, personal reply to a hesitant client is still better written from your own inbox.

Can I export the code if I hand this to a developer later?

Yes. Netiva writes clean, framework-standard code that you can read in the editor and export whenever you want, with no proprietary runtime. Every change is checkpointed, so you can branch, compare versions and roll back. If you hire a developer to add something later, they work on the same code you already own.

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Drafted with AI assistance from Netiva’s product pages and reviewed by the Netiva team. Example data models, screens and prompts are illustrative starting points, not customer projects.

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