COLO gives independent copywriters a single workspace for capturing the brief, drafting and revising the copy, tracking deliverables across multiple clients, and invoicing per word, per piece, or per retainer — without spreading work across Notion, Google Docs, a spreadsheet, and a separate invoicing tool.
TL;DR
Independent copywriters use COLO to capture the brief, track deliverables across clients, and invoice per word, per piece or per retainer. Tasks mirror the deliverable pipeline so five clients and three pieces each stop living on a hand-written list, proposals scope the brief before drafting starts, and invoicing handles per-piece, per-word and retainer billing in one place.
Who this is for
You are a solo SEO, long-form, or conversion copywriter — usually working with three to ten active clients at once on a mix of one-off pieces, retainer content, and the occasional sales-page project. The friction tends to land in the same places:
- Briefs arrive as a Slack DM and a half-finished Google Doc. You start writing without a target word count, a target keyword, or a sign-off process, and the revision round becomes a re-write round.
- Deliverable tracking is in your head. Five clients, three pieces each, two of them due Friday — and the only place that is tracked is a hand-written list on your desk.
- Per-word invoicing is finicky. You count words at the end of the month, multiply by your rate, type up the invoice, and remember at 11pm that you forgot the SEO meta-description piece for the retainer client.
Three features copywriters use every week
Tasks that mirror the deliverable pipeline
Run each client as a project with tasks per piece: brief approved, draft due, revisions due, final due, published. Create tasks and manage them with documents and files. Receive comments regarding task performance. Drafts live attached to the task, the client comments inline, and the publication date becomes a real deadline rather than a vibe.
Proposals that scope the brief
For one-off pieces and sales-page projects, send a proposal that lists the deliverable, the word count, the revision rounds, the timeline, and the fee. Win more clients with branded proposals and a modern way to collaborate. When the client signs, the scope is locked, and round-three discussions stay grounded in what you agreed to write.
Invoicing that handles per-piece, per-word, and retainer billing
Issue per-piece invoices as you deliver, recurring monthly invoices for retainer clients, and one-off invoices for sales-page projects — all from the same workspace. Integrating invoice functionality into our application streamlines the billing process, enhances accuracy, improves cash flow management, and provides a better overall experience for both businesses and clients. Clients pay by card from the portal, so the "where do I send payment" email becomes a thing of the past.
For more, see task management and invoicing and payments.
A typical project in COLO for a copywriter
- Enquiry — a marketing manager pings you about a content retainer; the lead becomes a client record with the brief attached.
- Onboarding — you send a branded proposal with retainer scope (eight pieces a month, target word count, target keywords, sign-off process), the client signs, and the project workspace opens with the eight monthly tasks pre-loaded.
- Delivery — each piece runs as a task with the brief, draft, revisions, and final attached; the client comments in the task and approves the final.
- Payment — a recurring monthly retainer invoice fires on the first; one-off pieces are invoiced as they deliver; the client pays from the portal.
How copywriters use COLO today
Monday morning, the retainer brief drops for the month — four blog posts and two newsletters for a SaaS client. The eight tasks are already pre-loaded on the project from last month's template; you assign target keywords, briefs, and due dates in fifteen minutes. By 11am the content calendar for the month is set and the client sees it on their portal — no kick-off email, no spreadsheet attached, no "is this what we agreed?" round-trip.
Through the week the work runs against the tasks, not against your inbox. Drafts live in Google Docs as the client prefers, but the doc URL is on the task, the brief and target keyword are on the task, and the client's comments on round one are on the task. By Thursday the first two posts are out for review; Friday morning one is approved and one is on revision-round-two. When the client emails on Friday afternoon asking for a quick landing-page piece, you log it as a separate one-off invoice line — the retainer scope stays clean, and the extra piece bills separately the moment it ships.
On the first of the next month the recurring retainer invoice fires automatically; the client pays from the portal by card; the finance dashboard rolls the month into the per-client revenue line. The one-off landing-page piece invoices on delivery the week before, paid the same way. You sit down at the end of the month and the question "what did I bill, by client, this month?" is one screen away — not a spreadsheet you rebuild every quarter.
What it costs vs your current stack
Most working copywriters carry a four-tool stack — a project or notes tool to hold briefs and pipeline, a separate invoicing app for billing, a contracts tool for one-off pieces, and a spreadsheet for revenue per client. The monthly bill comes to roughly $70–85 before the first piece of the quarter is invoiced. COLO replaces the four with one workspace, and the Solo plan covers the cycle end-to-end at zero.
| Tool | Plan | Cost/month |
|---|---|---|
| Current 4-tool stack | Notion + Stripe + Bonsai + Sheets | ~$75 |
| COLO Solo | Free | $0 |
| COLO Pro | Per user/mo | $18 |
| COLO Grow | Per user/mo | $24 |
You swap a $75/month stack for one tool that already does this work. Pro adds an editor seat and time-tracking per task; Grow adds the white-label client portal on your studio's custom domain.
FAQ
Q: Can I keep writing in Google Docs and just track the pipeline in COLO?
Yes. Most copywriters draft in Docs and attach the link to the COLO task. COLO holds the brief, the deadline, the client comments on the brief, and the invoicing. The writing tool stays your choice.
Q: How do I invoice per word when word counts vary by piece?
Set your per-word rate as a line-item rate on the invoice, enter the word count per piece, and COLO does the math. For retainer clients with a fixed monthly fee, use the recurring invoice flow.
Q: Can I track which pieces are published, which are in revision, and which are stuck waiting for the client?
Yes. Task status across all your clients shows in one view, so you can see at a glance which pieces are on you, which are on the client, and which are published.
Q: How does COLO compare with running Notion plus Stripe plus a spreadsheet?
For most copywriters the all-in-one is cheaper and stops the copy-paste between brief, deliverable, and invoice. See the Notion-stack comparison and our post on how structured freelancers grow faster than busy freelancers.
Q: Can I see how much I've earned per client over the year?
Yes — the finance module rolls up revenue per client, per project, and per month so you can decide which retainers to keep and which to renegotiate.
Q: Can I hold one client on a retainer and another on per-piece billing in the same workspace?
Yes. Each client has their own billing setup — a recurring monthly retainer for client A, per-piece invoicing for client B, a one-off sales-page invoice for client C. The finance view shows the blended revenue without forcing one structure on every client.
Q: How do I track revision rounds against the contracted limit?
Each revision round logs as its own comment or sub-task against the piece; the contract template names how many rounds are included; when the client passes that mark, an additional-rounds change-order invoice is one click from the project.
Q: Can I track which posts published, which are scheduled, and which are stuck?
Yes. Task status across all your retainers shows in one view — published, scheduled, in review, in revision, draft — so you see at a glance which pieces are on you and which are on the client.
Q: Can clients comment on a Google Doc draft without leaving COLO?
Drafts can live in Google Docs (where the client comments natively) with the doc URL on the COLO task. The brief, the deadline, the round count, and the invoice all live in COLO; the writing tool stays your choice.
Q: How do I bill per-word when the word count varies by piece?
Set a per-word rate as a line-item rate on the invoice, enter the actual word count per piece, and COLO does the math. Useful for long-form retainers where the total varies month to month.
Pricing
Solo plan is free forever for one writer. See our pricing if you bring on an editor or a second writer.