Time Tracking: the right business tool for freelancers
Tags: freelance
Published: 2020-08-20 15:35:29

What would a freelancer’s career be without the right time tracking tool? Almost unimaginable. It doesn't matter whether you are a freelance writer, software developer, or marketing What would a freelancer’s career be without the right time tracking tool? Almost unimaginable. It doesn't matter whether you are a freelance writer, software developer, or marketing professional. 


Time tracking is a business tool that lets you be more successful.

##Time tracking for freelancers

It was only with the help of a time tracking app that allowed me to find out how much time I actually spend on a task as a freelance author. How is it possible? Simple. With proper time tracking, you can estimate the working hours and monitor the tasks and profits. You avoid chaotic multitasking when you always feel you are running out of time without any progress.

In freelance activities, in particular, you often do thousands of things at once. Without the documentation of working hours, you quickly lose track of things. A self-employed entrepreneur must understand where every single business hour goes. It is vital to monitor ALL the work steps.

Fortunately, there are helpful apps for this, and many of them are free.

##How do time tracking apps help?

Having a suitable [time tracking app](https://tmetric.com/) is essential for any freelancer. It helps organize your work, which is quite helpful, but more critical for people working for several customers simultaneously. Keep an eye on the projects' progress, customize the tracking for days, weeks, months, and even years, and so on. There are hundreds of overviews dedicated to time-tracking apps.

The most useful thing is that you can monitor how much time each project has taken. It goes for every project. You can see exactly how many hours you have invested and the profitability accordingly.

As for me, I also use the time tracking app for my personal writing projects (currently poems and a non-fiction book). It makes it possible to see at a glance how much time I spend daily on both the paid work for clients and my unpaid projects. Depending on the previous day organization, you can check the tasks due for the next day.

By the way, you can organize work with several freelancers in a team with a time tracking app. Everyone stays up to date and can document the work steps.

###The efficiency and profitability increasing

By conscious and honest documentation of your working hours, you increase the efficiency of your company. It relates to profitability – you structure the work process. For instance, when the timer is running, it is ONLY about work. The mobile phone switched to silent disappears in a pocket. All programs running in the background not related to work (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Amazon) are closed. Conversations with colleagues have to wait until the break.


Another advantage of time tracking is that you understand your personal work rhythm.

When are you particularly productive and motivated? What time of the day do you prefer to start to work? When would you like to put work aside and free up time for a private life? 

You can answer all of the questions when you analyze the activity registered by the time tracking app. It tells you everything to plan the day's ideal time and the duration of individual work phases. This way, you learn about the maximum concentration range and the necessary breaks.

###The time recording advantages at a glance

If you, as a freelancer, have not yet been involved in time recording, now is exactly the right time to start. Here are the essential reasons:

1. You can monitor the daily workload down to the second;
2. All your performance is on a clear timeline;
3. Seeing the working hours so clearly gives a great feeling of accomplishment;
4. It displays the working hours for various customers clearly;
5. View the data by week, month, and year;
6. Plan the upcoming tasks basing on the last entries;
7. Increase profitability;
8. Find the ideal work rhythm.

##Not every time tracking app offers the same functions

The catch with many work hours monitoring apps on the market is that they have a very different range of features. 

On the one hand, there are apps you have to turn on and off manually. On the other hand, there are apps tracking everything automatically.

Which one you choose depends on your personal preferences. For example, I enjoy the possibility to turn the timer on and off on my own. The click to time recording means for me that the work begins, and I have to focus on it. It's like a signal to the action. 

###Common difficulties for newcomers

It is often difficult for beginners to monitor all working hours. There can be so many subtasks that flow into the work, and you can’t calculate them as working time for the customer. Technically, a good time tracking app can solve this problem. However, it must be reliable and customizable enough to let you track specific tasks.

For example, you work on customer acquisition, accounting, taxes, and much more. At first glance, they have nothing to do with the paid working hours. But it doesn't mean that you shouldn't consider this time as working time. In a profitable freelance business, you need the possibility to present all the work-related experience and time spend into the pricing.

###Tasks often overlooked when measuring time

When I started working as a freelancer, I wasn't aware of how much I’ll have to do additionally to the actual work for customers. So that the same thing won’t happen to you, let’s overview the various sub-areas in a freelance business:

1. Customer acquisition (applications);
2. Marketing & Sales (Google Ads, Facebook Ads);
3. Public appearance (Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook);
4. Time for accounting (invoices for customers, emails, etc.);
5. Admin tasks (update website, update portfolio, etc.);
6. Advanced training (online course, workshop, conference);
7. Background work such as research;
8. Meetings;
9. Reading specialist literature.

The customer pays not only for the "pure" working time but also for all the years of training and the experience making up a freelancer's performance. You must never forget that.

For this reason, you should get used to recording all business-relevant activities yourself. If that's too annoying for you, you can also use an automated app.

##The most common problem: forgetting to turn it on and off

The problem with most time tracking apps is that you often forget to turn them on or off while working on a project.

Either you accidentally let the time continue running during the break, or you forget to set the timer before you started. Fortunately, there is the option to manually record working hours afterward. However, you must know the right period.

Suppose you find it too annoying to continually switch the time recording on and off. In that case, an automated tool might suit you to register all activities on your laptop.

###How an automated app helps

There are smart and free apps such as [TMetric](https://tmetric.com/freelance-time-tracking), and you can choose any solution for your preferences. These apps record all work steps automatically and synchronize them on all your devices. No more worries if you've already turned the timer on or off.

Such an app offers a kind of AI solution for time recording. The artificial intelligence monitors all activities in the business automatically. It refers to each window, document, or browser used at the precise moment. One of their most helpful features is integration. The programs automatically recorded with TMetric are many: Gmail, Asana, Google Docs, Google Calendar, GitHub, Trello, and many more. I personally use all these programs.  

While the app keeps an eye on all processes, you can work without any disturbance. Afterward, you'll see the details when you have done what. Entries are also possible retrospectively, and you can adapt them.

###Extended functions for external assignments

The modern era of mobility made our smartphones almost as productive devices as the “full-size” laptops. A significant share of all our work takes place on mobile devices. Therefore, the necessity to track and document working hours there has become crucial. 

The good news – there are extensions for that. Mobile apps for iPhone and Android and browser extensions synchronize the work done on mobile devices with the app on the laptop. This way, you can register when and for how long you were away due to a customer visit or a meeting. You can even track the location of the meeting.

###Productivity measuring

Manual time tracking takes an average of about 15 minutes a day. Projected over the year, it makes a total of 66 hours that you could have invested much better.

Additional tools can monitor your productivity. At the beginning of a project, you specify how much time you will spend on individual tasks. Then, the app tracks your progress.

If you work with other freelancers in a company, you can also keep an eye on its productivity. This is how digital collaboration runs smoothly.

###Profitability measuring

For a long time, I documented my income, expenses, and working hours in different places. That was not only time-consuming but also confusing. 

The modern time recording tools allow freelancers to bring everything together in one place. A functional app can calculate both the productivity and profitability of each particular project, which is extremely helpful. The thing is, you can face fluctuations with different customers and order types. If you aren’t aware of their roles in the entire work process, you will have a tough time. It is like the research conducted to compose an article. Suppose I am already familiar with the topic. In that case, I need significantly less time than if I deal with a completely new subject area.

A decent time tracker also calculates paid hours for each project according to the rates.

##Take your freelance business to the next level

Nothing is more annoying than a project where you've miscalculated. A customer never wants to pay extra because the freelancer has miscalculated the invoice. It's very unprofessional.

With the help of the right app and my previous project experience, I have personally gained more professionalism. Now I can pre-calculate the price for a new project in advance. Based on a new customer's task, I can assess the effort and develop the optimal proposal for both parties. 

In this way, the time tracking app enabled me to earn significantly more money.

Are you ready to take the next step in your business? Then increase your productivity and profitability by using a free time tracking app. I wish you much success!