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Do you track your time before or after the work happens?
I had a conversation with a fellow freelancer at a coffee shop last week that got me second guessing my whole process. She said she logs her time after every client call or task, while I have always just estimated my hours at the end of the week. She argued that estimating leads to undercharging because you forget the small stuff like emails and quick revisions. But I feel like tracking every 15 minutes breaks my flow and makes me focus more on the clock than the work. Now I am wondering if her method is more accurate or if mine just helps me keep my sanity. She mentioned she lost a $500 project once because she underbid by 20 hours by guessing. Has anyone here switched from estimating to real time tracking and seen a big difference in their pay?
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faithpatel2mo ago
You're totally right, I used to think real time tracking was overkill but this convinced me.
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rosepark2mo ago
Dude yeah I had the exact same wake up call. I used to estimate at the end of the week too and I was constantly leaving money on the table. You don't realize how many 5 minute email replies and quick Slack messages pile up. I switched to tracking in real time about a year ago and I'm billing at least 20% more now without actually working more hours. It felt annoying at first but now I just start a timer when I sit down and stop it when I get up. You get used to it quick. The $500 loss your friend mentioned is exactly the kind of thing that kept happening to me before I changed my system.
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juliaa652mo ago
The real trick is not stopping the timer for the "small stuff". I started logging every single client interaction as it happened. Those 2 minute phone calls and quick edits were exactly where I was bleeding money. Now I round up to the nearest 15 minutes and nobody ever questions it.
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