Storage and versioning come first. Creative work generates large files, many versions, and a strong tendency toward names like final and final revised. A structure decided at the start, with a consistent naming pattern and dates, prevents an archive nobody can navigate. Cloud storage with genuine version history matters more here than in most businesses, because the version a client approved and the version delivered are frequently different, and being able to demonstrate which was which resolves disputes.
Contracts and scope are the commercial infrastructure, and they carry more weight in creative work than in most categories because the deliverable is subjective. The document needs to state how many rounds of revision are included, what happens after that, when payment is due, and who owns the result. That last point is the one that produces expensive arguments, and it needs to say explicitly whether rights transfer on final payment and what usage is granted.
Proofing and approval should happen somewhere that records the decision rather than in email. Feedback scattered across replies is how a project acquires contradictory instructions from three people and no record of who approved what. A tool where comments attach to the work and approval is a recorded action turns a dispute about what was agreed into a link you can send.
Time tracking is worth doing even if you bill by project rather than by hour, and particularly then. The purpose is not invoicing, it is learning what work actually costs you, because creative businesses routinely price on an estimate that bears no relation to the hours consumed. Three months of honest tracking usually reveals that one type of work is unprofitable and another subsidises it.
Portfolio and delivery are the outward facing pieces and they are simpler than the rest. A site that loads quickly, presents work at reasonable size, and does not require a client to download something to see it. And a delivery mechanism that hands over the final files in an organised way, since the way work is handed over is the last impression a client forms and it is frequently the least considered part of the process.