Track Time and Contributions to Meet Expectations

Why tracking matters more than ever

You’ve likely heard it time and again: time is money. As a freelancer or consultant, tracking how you spend your time has always been important for running a successful business. But in today’s gig economy, tracking your contributions has never been more crucial for meeting client expectations and landing that next big project.

Whether you work as an individual consultant or lead a team of freelancers, demonstrating your value through metrics is table stakes. Clients want transparency into how their money is being spent. They want assurances that you’re focused on delivering results, not just billing hours. And in a competitive freelance marketplace, standing out from the pack requires data-backed proof of your impact.

As the old saying goes, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. By closely tracking your time and contributions, you gain invaluable insights to optimise operations, prove your worth, and scale your business to new heights. It may not be the most glamorous task, but it’s a necessary one if you want to thrive in today’s freelance world.

So how exactly can you go about tracking your efforts in a way that satisfies clients and benefits your business? Let me share some strategies that have served me well over the years.

Select the Most Suitable Tracking Tools for Your Needs

There are dozens of time tracking and project management apps on the market these days. Finding the right one for your needs is key. As a solopreneur, I like the flexibility of Toggl, which lets me track on desktop and mobile. For teams, Harvest provides robust reporting and invoicing. Other popular options include Clockify, TimeCamp, and Workamajig.

When choosing a tool, consider:

• Ease of use
• Customisation options
• Integration with other apps you use
• Reporting capabilities
• Price

Does the tool sync with your calendar? Can you track by project, client, and task? Will clients be able to view real-time progress? Finding answers to questions like these upfront will save headaches down the road.

Opt for Tracking Time in 15-Minute Blocks for Accuracy

Most time-tracking tools allow you to log time in varying increments, from minutes to hours. For maximum accuracy, I recommend tracking in 15-minute blocks. This provides enough granularity without requiring you to constantly stop and start the clock.

Some tasks, like phone calls or meetings, are easy to timeblock. But when doing deeper work like writing or designing, it can be tough to track every minute. Blocking time in quarters of an hour strikes the right balance. Just be sure to record brief notes for each time entry to jog your memory later.

Differentiate Between Billable and Non-Billable Hours Effectively

Not all work contributes directly to a client project or contract. Make sure to differentiate between billable and non-billable time.

Billable activities include:

• Client meetings
• Project work
• Communications
• Invoicing

Non-billable activities could include:

• Prospecting
• Administrative tasks
• Professional development
• Vacation or sick time

Clearly separating the two gives you visibility into where time and money are going. It also ensures clients only foot the bill for work that truly serves them. Aim for at least an 80/20 billable to non-billable time ratio each week.

Focus on Tracking Achievements, Not Only Hours Worked

Remember, clients care less about how long you worked than what you accomplished. So in addition to time tracking, record the results and contributions you deliver:

• Pages written
• Design assets created
• Code pushed to production
• Leads qualified
• Sales closed
• Problems solved

For creative work, capture files, links, or screenshots. For client work, note any feedback, approvals, or key decisions made. Quantifying your outcomes shows clients the tangible value they received for their investment. It also demonstrates your focus on driving meaningful progress, not just putting in face time.

Leverage Custom Fields for Enhanced Client, Project, and Task Monitoring

Most time-tracking apps let you add custom fields for additional metadata. Leverage these to tag entries by:

• Client name
• Project name
• Specific task
• Team member (if applicable)
• Billable status
• Hourly rate (if time is billable)

Proper tagging makes your data infinitely more useful for reporting and analytics later. It allows filtering by variable to see exactly how much time was spent on a given client project or task. Custom fields are crucial for generating polished, client-facing invoices and reports too.

Track Goals and Key Results

In addition to time tracking, establish goals and key results (OKRs) for each client project or contract. OKRs help define success and keep all parties aligned. Examples may include:

• Launch a new website by Q3
• Qualify 10 leads per month.
• Increase the open rate by 15%.
• Ship the minimum viable product by the deadline.

Note progress towards goals and results achieved in your time tracking system. This provides a well-rounded view of performance that time alone can’t capture. It also gives clients reassurance that you’re focused on driving the right outcomes, not just keeping busy.

Share Regular Updates

Set expectations with clients that you’ll provide brief, periodic updates on progress – whether that’s weekly stand-ups or biweekly reporting. Recap highlights from your time tracking data:

• Hours worked in total
• Billable vs. non-billable breakdown
• Key tasks completed
• Progress on goals and results
• Any risks or issues encountered

Sharing updates keeps clients in the loop without surprises on invoices. It also allows for addressing concerns promptly before they balloon. And clients appreciate the transparency into how their investment is advancing their priorities.

Use Reporting Templates for Consistency

Having a standardised reporting template provides structure and ensures you cover all necessary details each time. At a minimum, reports should include:

• Dates covered by the report
• Summary of work completed
• Breakdown of hours by project/task
• Progress on goals and results
• Next steps
• Invoicing (if applicable)

Consider including visuals like bar charts, screenshots, or design mockups to bring reports to life. Consistency breeds familiarity and trust with clients over the long run.

Track Time Even During Non-Billable Hours

Don’t forget to track time even when you’re not directly working on client projects. Time spent on business development, professional development, administrative tasks, and vacation or sick time all impact your available hours and capacity.

By tracking non-billable activities, you gain a holistic view of how you’re allocating your time across initiatives. This informs capacity planning and helps optimise your schedule. It also ensures you don’t overcommit and end up playing catch-up on the back-end.

5 Key Benefits of Thorough Time Tracking:

• Optimise operations and workflow based on data about where time truly goes.
• Prove your value and impact to clients through tangible metrics.
• Generate detailed, easy-to-digest project reports and invoices.
• Inform accurate forecasting and more realistic deadlines and budgets.
• Scale your services by understanding true capacity across teams.

FAQs About Time Tracking

Q: How long does it take to get used to tracking time?

A: It can take 1-2 weeks to form the habit of consistently tracking time. The more diligent you are at first, the faster it will become second nature. Focus on tracking major blocks of time to start.

Q: What if I forget to log some time?

A: It’s impossible to track every single minute perfectly. Do your best to reconstruct what you were working on based on your calendar if you missed entries. Going forward, set reminders to help you stay on top of logging time regularly.

Q: How detailed should task descriptions be?

A: Include just enough context that you or someone else could understand at a glance what the work entailed 1-2 months later. One-word entries like “writing” aren’t specific enough.

Q: Should I track personal admin time, like emails?

A: Yes, all time spent on work-related tasks should be captured, even routine things like responding to emails. This gives an accurate view of where your productive hours truly go.

Q: Can time-tracking software generate invoices?

A: Yes, many time tracking tools have invoicing capabilities. At minimum, they can export detailed time and expense reports to build invoices in other software like QuickBooks. Fully-integrated options like Harvest allow creating and sending invoices directly.

Conclusion

In today’s competitive freelance landscape, those who meticulously track time and contributions will find themselves ahead of the pack when it comes to meeting client expectations, demonstrating value, and securing new opportunities. Although not always the most exciting task, taking a data-driven approach to your work through diligent time tracking provides countless benefits for optimising operations, growing your business, and proving your professionalism to clients.