Freelance Timekeeping
So you’re a freelancer. Maybe you write for businesses. Maybe you’re a graphic designer. Whatever kind of freelance work you do, it’s essential that you keep track of your time. You need to know how long it takes you to finish a 3-panel brochure. Otherwise, the next time you quote your project, you may estimate incorrectly. You might also need to work on an hourly basis from time-to-time, so of course you’ll need to know exactly how much you should charge the client.
The wonderful thing about freelancing, from your client’s perspective, is that they pay you only for time on task. You’re not paid for phone breaks, laundry time, or the 20 minutes it took you to wash your dishes. If you work from home, these little interruptions can add up. Unless you’re able to work for uninterrupted blocks of time, you need a system to keep track of your time.
Now, how fancy do you want to get? There are lots of cool tools you can use on your computer. Check out this list from Freelance Switch. Or you can use a stopwatch that allows you to stop it for breaks and restart it from the last time when you’re ready. You can download a stopwatch application for your smartphone also. Or you can just take note of the time on a piece of paper, and write down when you stop, and write down when you start again. Later, you just add up all the time.
After you’ve done timekeeping for several projects, you probably will need to have some system in place to keep a log of total time spent. This is great for future projects of a similar nature that you want to price, and it’s also a good idea for your tax records (in case anyone ever asks).
What methods for timekeeping do you use? Have you tried one method, only to realize it didn’t work? Share with us!
Copyediting, Copywriting, Freelance writing, Home Business, WAHM, Writing | Theda K. | July 25, 2011
business blog, commercial copywriting, commercial writing, freelance, Freelance writing
Good advice
I have observed that when you get a work from your personal client you should take a room or place to sit there and work because i dont feel that home is comfortable place to work. Home is a place to live not for work and you get mixed things when you start work from home and i have seen many that they could not establish themselved for lifetime who started their work sitting at home. Although you would have to pay extra in the starting but in the longer run, you get huge benefits.
Very often I forgot about time at all
but if it’s impossible or deadline comming – I use the simple sheduller program with alarm warning.
Forget this all the time myself. Use FogBugz though, and its helps me alot. Can highly recommend it.
You are absolutely right about keeping accurate time records, including so we know how much to charge and other good reasons.
When I was taking inbound calls at home before, I used to use a timer software I got online. But now, I am contented looking at my computer clock widget. Well, works for me!
Always have a plan for the whole day. Make a schedule of the tasks that needs to be done. A to-do list is important.
Tracking the time being spent in a task can be very complicated. Me and my employer once tried being paid per task. It’s difficult because you spend time doing a task inconsistently. It depends on the speed of the internet and other factors you encounter along the way. For now, we’re relying on trust and honesty system. I just time myself and log it in a notepad. This is better since I don’t rush my work so I can do quality jobs too. I’m actually looking for an application or a program where I can monitor work hours, including breaks. Thanks for this.
I work from home and paid hourly. Most of the time I have no problem keeping track just by using my watch but occasionally I end up guessing how many hours I have done. Will probably look into one of those timekeeping tools
The telephone clock and alarm are useful tools to help, and also planning and organizing and designating the expected amount of time for each work project beforehand.
This is a good point – when I write, sometimes I don’t see the hourly rate that I want because I did not quote a correct amount.