I don’t know about you, but I love it when clients are willing to pay me by the hour. Most of my gigs are paid by the project with quotes based off of rough estimates of my time and effort. But no matter how hard I work to provide an accurate estimate, by the end of the project, I usually end up spending more time on a project than I had initially expected – and most times, it’s not realistic to go back and ask for more money.
So when I snag an hourly gig, I jump for joy, because I know the time I’m spending on a project is going to be properly funded as long as I can accurately account for my time.
But how do you accurately account for your time – down to the minute – for clients who want to know exactly what you were doing and when?
In my early days of freelancing by the hour, I would track my time and progress in a notebook – yes, actual paper and pen. If the client wanted a report, I would transcribe the information into an email and send it off.
But there were times, when I’d start working without jotting down my start time and other times when I’d get interrupted and couldn’t remember what time I stopped working. Obviously, I did my best to keep accurate records, but sometimes I could only give a rough estimate of how much time I’d worked.
When I found there was a better way to track time, I couldn’t resist an opportunity to check it out.
I discovered Clockodo, a time-tracking website for freelancers and small businesses.
Clockodo lets you add your hourly projects, your client’s information and the budget (so you don’t go over!). It also lets you enter time manually or track in real-time as you are working.
Real-time tracking is my favorite feature, because that means I don’t even have to check the clock to see what time it is, I can just start the timer when I’m ready and stop it when I’m finished.
The site is extremely user friendly – I was able to set up an account and take advantage of a free trial within minutes.
Immediately, I was greeted with an easy to follow tutorial of the site and was able to set up my clients and begin tracking my time – I don’t even think it took 10 minutes (perhaps, I should’ve tracked my time spent!).
I was even more excited to discover it has mobile apps that are compatible with both my Android phone and my iPad – now, I have no excuse!
So, what about you? What are your experiences with tracking your time when working on hourly freelancing gigs?
About Kiesha Easley
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Twitter: ewomanweb
says:
This actually had me laughing…like you I used a notebook to record my start / end times and sometimes faced unexpected interruptions.
I love Clockodo ! It is so easy to use. They offer a smartphone app, which I have yet to utilize, but I’m sure I will soon.
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing tool. This can help bloggers and freelancers limit their time for every task they do.
Clockodo seems to be a real blessing for all the freelancers who work by the hour….
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Twitter: BloggersGeek
says:
Yeah, it is like a blessing for all the freelancers.
Very informative and helpful post for all freelancers, Keisha!
Perky Seraph recently posted..How To Make Money Blogging
Thanks for sharing this very efficient tool. This will surely increase the productivity of many freelancers.
Twitter: payable
says:
wow!! Its a good method to track our working time thanks for the share Keisha…
Twitter: JustinBoager
says:
Never heard of this app before, Keisha. But thanks for sharing the information. It is the perfect solution for all about time tracking for their freelancing projects. Hourly projects needs clarity mostly from a clients point of view and this app just perfect for it.
Justin recently posted..Should we offer a wider range of repairs?
Twitter: marcie_hill
says:
Thanks for sharing this information. My freelance writing and blogging projects are about to overflow and this will come in handy. Thanks so much.
Marcie recently posted..Seeking Blogs from Places of Worship
Hey,
Tracking time is a very difficult task.Thanks for sharing this app this us.
Regards,
Mohammad
Mohammad recently posted..Security Solutions
Twitter: DrewryNewsNtwrk
says:
Kiesha,
Why would you want an hourly blogging gig online, when your blog is making major $ gUaP $ ? If anything, I would directly sell ad space on my site. NVRmind an hour blogging job. Just sayin. Talk to me! :-)
Drewry recently posted..Mitt Romney’s Investors Pour Millions in “Long $ gUaP $” for Presidential Win
This is perfect for all freelancers who yet doesn’t realize the time spent for a project. Even though I don’t like being monitored, I want to be paid according to hours I consumed for the tasks, agree? Thank you for sharing this. Great job!
karen recently posted..How is McDonald’s Better than Steak??
Hi Kiesha,
Tracking time and quote time for freelance project is quite difficult job. Thanks for sharing this Clockodo and I will check when i start the new project.
Thanks for sharing this with us!
Thanks for the information about Clockodo
Twitter: trafficgrand
says:
Kiesha, thank you I never even thought of tracking my time but lately there are many things that distract me and hope this app can do the time tracking for me. Good thing is that it also has a smart phone application will try it out.
Karun recently posted..Blueprint Pro Review
Time plays a very important role to everyone and for freelancers having a track of each and every project to finish in time and make efficient use of time and work hand in hand.Great tool to work upon.
Aditya recently posted..Online Mobile Recharge Software Noida
Twitter: beckhrooy
says:
first time heard Clockodo, thank for the info
lewis recently posted..Senarai Website Untuk Simpan Gambar Percuma
Twitter: bbt0786
says:
Thanks for showing us this good one named Clockodo.as i am too busy in my work and it will help me.
Thanks Kiesha.:)
Bhushan recently posted..Travel Portal Software Development Delhi Noida
Twitter: ikenedu
says:
Agree with you. This is new to me also.