More and more professionals are choosing the freelance lifestyle. Upwork said 59 million Americans performed freelance work in 2021, representing 36% (or more than 1/3) of the U.S. workforce. Time-tracking software helps different professionals organize their activities and defeat procrastination. The employer, with their help, can control his expenses by comparing real and declared hours of work. This article will discuss why freelancers should use time-tracking software.
Time tracking in freelancers’ lives
A freelancer rarely has to prove to a customer the need to work the declared working hours in full. The customer sends the payment when the result is ready. But there are freelancers whose payment system is based on the principle of hourly pay. For this category of specialists, time trackers can help generate reports showing the client the actual working time.
Time tracking is most important for freelancers involved in software development, auditing, writing, and consulting. The choice of software solutions depends on what functionality both parties need – the customer and the freelancer.
Besides organizing the freelancer’s working time, the time tracker solves the following tasks:
- Organization of a stable work process, planning of tasks, and control of their implementation
- Transparency of relations within the framework of the contract, increasing the mutual trust of its parties
- Creating the grounds for the financing of the intermediate stages and the payment of the project results
- Eliminating the need for manual preparation and invoicing
- Assessing the effectiveness of individual operations
With time-tracking software, you can track your time at different stages of the writing process and experiment with different approaches to find the most efficient and effective method.
How to determine the most suitable time tracker for your needs?
Before choosing an application, studying reviews and writing out the necessary functions is better. This will help you choose a program that meets your criteria. You should remember that software with manual entry of some data takes a lot of time to make corrections, notes, and adjustments. At the same time, fully automatic trackers do not allow you to reflect the activities originally not prescribed in the program.
Time trackers typically record time spent working in applications or on information resources. Data on meetings and document work needs corrections. Such adjustments can take up to 5-10% of work time while making the employer pay for them is problematic. Thus, the easier it is to manage the program, the less unpaid work time remains. Time trackers are not required to integrate with accounting and HR programs because the work is paid on a service contract, not a payroll model.
Time is a major resource for a freelancer, and time management is one of the biggest challenges.
Why a freelancer needs time-tracking software?
Proper time management can help freelancers balance work and rest and increase productivity. Time trackers are an important tool for understanding where hours and minutes go, how much time you spend on each task and project, where you can be more productive and focused, and where you can simplify your life.
Here are the problems that time tracking solves for freelancers:
- Reporting to an employer and paying for projects. The benefit for freelancers who charge by the hour is obvious: the time tracker will help calculate the project cost and guide the client to the deadline. By the way, you can quickly calculate the cost of your hour in the calculator.
- Increasing motivation. In this part, time-tracking can work from different angles. On the one hand, it motivates you to work: when you see the ratio of time and results, the work process becomes clear and not so complicated. Wordings “write an article” and “write an article in 35 minutes” are two different tasks, which cause less stress. You are not required to finish anything, just to work for 35 minutes, but it will definitely bring you closer to the final result.
- Burnout prevention. If you forget to take breaks from work, time trackers come to the rescue. Many services can set reminders to take a break.
Why not use a simple stopwatch on your phone? Because time-tracking services like WebWork gear toward work tasks. They have a user-friendly interface, can integrate with your browser, automatically track your statistics and make reports, and some will even calculate project costs for you.
How does time tracking make writing better for freelancers?
Firstly, it can help you to identify and manage your workload effectively. By tracking your time, you can clearly understand how long it takes you to complete different types of writing tasks, such as researching, drafting, editing, and submitting. This knowledge can help you to set more accurate deadlines and manage your time more efficiently, which can help reduce stress and increase productivity. If you do not have much time, you can always take advantage of the help of Essay Tigers services to reduce your workload.
Secondly, time tracking can help you better understand your work’s value. By tracking the time you spend on each project, you can calculate your hourly rate and better understand how much your time is worth. This can be invaluable when negotiating client rates or deciding whether to take on a particular project.
Thirdly, time tracking can help you to have a better sense of control over your work. Tracking the time spent on each project ensures you meet deadlines and plan your work more effectively. This can help you to feel more in control of your workload and reduce stress and anxiety.
Fourthly, time tracking can help you stay accountable to your clients and ensure that you meet their expectations. By providing detailed time logs, you can show the work you have completed and your time on each task. This can build trust with your clients and ensure them that you deliver high-quality writing on time.
Finally, time tracking can help you improve your writing skills by providing valuable insights into your writing process. Reviewing your time logs, you can identify areas where you struggle and develop strategies to overcome these challenges. If you are a blog articles writer, you can optimize your content promotion efforts.
Conclusion
Time tracking can be invaluable for freelancers looking to improve their writing. By providing insights into workload management, pricing, client accountability, and writing process optimization, time tracking can help freelancers become more productive, efficient, and successful writers.
By learning to distribute and spend time, freelancers learn to manage their lives. Knowing “I can manage my time” adds respect to yourself and makes you feel more confident in your work and life. If you still have not tried to control your writing with time-tracking software, we recommend using WebWork.
Author Bio:
Leslie Anglesey is a freelance writer, journalist, and author of various articles with a passion for telling stories about the economic and social situation in the world. In case of any inquiries or suggestions, kindly reach out to her at GuestPostingNinja@gmail.com.