Realized I was underbidding every project by about 40% because I never tracked my actual hours

Took me three years and one painful conversation with a client who said 'you know, your quotes seem really low' to finally start logging my time, and now I'm actually making money instead of just staying busy.

4 comments

4 Comments

noahwood5d ago

Three years? Man that's wild. That client telling you straight up that your quotes seemed low must have been a gut punch but honestly it sounds like a favor in disguise. I did the same thing for almost two years with my web design stuff until my buddy looked at one of my invoices and just laughed. Now I track every single minute with a simple spreadsheet and it's crazy how much I was leaving on the table. Good for you for finally catching on, it's a tough lesson to learn but once you see the numbers it's hard to go back.

the_felix5d ago

And the spreadsheet thing is where it really hits you, right? I started doing that too and I was legit embarrassed at how much time I was spending on small things that I never billed for. Like an hour of tweaking a font or responding to a million emails about the same project. It adds up so fast and you don't even notice until you see it written down. Now I have a minimum charge for any little task and it stopped me from wasting time on stuff that didn't matter. The funniest part is my clients actually respect me more now because I'm not nickel and diming everything but I'm also not working for free anymore.

the_lucas5d ago

Yo same thing happened with my photography side hustle. I was scared to charge more because I thought people would just say no, but really I was just underselling myself for years. Once I finally bumped my prices up I started getting better clients who actually respected my time and the work I put in.

finleym375d ago

you know, your quotes seem really low" - that client was a real one honestly. But here's something nobody talks about: sometimes the underbidding is secretly a way to keep yourself from actually having to deliver high end work. I did it too, kept my rates low so I wouldn't have to deal with demanding clients or big projects. Once I started charging what I was worth, I had to actually get good at my craft lmao.