Yao Long

Posted on Aug 27

I built a complete freelance business dashboard in Notion — 7 interconnected databases with rollups and formulas

#showdev #productivity #beginners #freelance

As a solo developer doing freelance work on the side, I was constantly juggling tools: clients in a spreadsheet, projects in Trello, time tracking in a separate app, invoices in Word docs, and goals... somewhere in my head.

So I built everything into a single Notion workspace. Not just standalone databases — I wanted them to actually talk to each other.

What I built: Freelance OS

7 interconnected databases, each with relation, rollup, and formula properties:

1. Clients

Track status (Lead / Active / Completed / Archived), type, source
Total Revenue auto-calculated via rollup from Projects → Budget
Reverse relations from Projects and Finance

2. Projects

Linked to Clients (bidirectional relation)
Priority, status, budget, estimated hours, progress
Actual Hours auto-calculated via rollup from Time Entries → Duration

3. Finance

Income and expenses linked to specific projects AND clients
Type (Income/Expense), category, currency, payment method, status

4. Time Entries

Linked to Projects (bidirectional)
Billable checkbox toggle
Auto-calculates amount: if(prop("Billable"), prop("Duration (hrs)") * prop("Rate"), 0)
Rolls up into project's Actual Hours

5. Invoices

Issue date, due date, payment status, paid date
Linked to both Clients and Projects

6. Goals

Quarterly targets with deadline and status
Progress auto-calculated: round(prop("Current") / prop("Target") * 100) / 100

7. Tasks

Linked to Projects (bidirectional)
Client auto-pulled via rollup from Project → Client
Priority, tags, due date, estimated time

The relation map

Clients ←──→ Projects ←──→ Tasks
   ↑              ↑
   │              ↓
   │         Time Entries
   ↓              ↓
Finance ←──→ Invoices

Every entry you make ripples across the workspace. Log a time entry → the project's actual hours update → the client page shows the updated project. Record a payment → it's linked to both the project and the client. Add a task → the client name auto-fills from the project relation.

Why Notion instead of separate SaaS tools?

No monthly subscriptions — Notion is free for personal use
100% customizable — every property, view, and formula is yours to change
Single source of truth — no more copy-pasting between 5 apps
Your data stays yours — export anytime

Who it's for

Freelancers, solo founders, consultants, designers, developers, writers — anyone running a one-person business who wants to stop juggling tools.

Pricing

$49 one-time. Not a subscription. You duplicate it into your own Notion workspace and it's yours forever.

After purchase, you'll receive a private link to duplicate the entire template.

Preview the template here: https://app.notion.com/p/Freelance-OS-The-Complete-Solo-Business-Dashboard-3c93b3af224f80f6a593de20161be8b4

Get it here: https://www.creem.io/payment/prod_6rmvfybzKiSLHRk3Yq2GZL

Happy to answer any questions about the setup, formulas, or how I structured the relations!

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