by Natalia Jones

Created on: August 23, 2010

Freelance writers need to be able to keep track of their time for two major reasons. Firstly, some freelancers bill their clients on a per hour basis and in this case it is imperative that they account for the time spent on a job. Secondly, even if your jobs are not priced on a per hour basis you need to know how you are dwindling away your day because this is the key to becoming more productive. Time literally is money in the case of freelance writers so this issue hits right at the bottom line.

There are basically two ways that a freelancer can keep track of time;

1)      Go the Old Fashioned Route

2)      Use Software Applications

Go the Old Fashioned Route

If you are not into high-tech and you still have not succumbed to the call of the ever-popular Smartphone then you may be more comfortable using more traditional methods of tracking your time. Using a stop-clock can help you to monitor breaks and control how long you dedicate to specific tasks. Of course it helps if you diarize your tasks on a list of things to do for the day as well and ensure that this list is realistic. If you try to cram too many things into your schedule for the day you could end up de-motivating yourself because and getting even less done because you are trying to work at a frenzied pace.

Use Software Applications

There is quite a long list of applications that are designed just to keep track of a freelancer’s time. Some of them are free, some have a price attached but they all provide services that can make invoicing on a time-based structure a breeze, while also helping you to stay true to your deadlines. A few of them are itemized below;

Toggl – this application is Windows-based and downloadable and it can also be used for free. It allows you to track the time you spent on various tasks and pull reports so you can analyze your strengths and weaknesses. It also makes it easy for several different users to collaborate on projects and monitor time in the process.

Harvest – this is a comprehensive software application that allows freelancers to track time using either a weekly timesheet or a more detailed daily timesheet. This application works on both Windows and Mac computers and there is nothing to download, you log into the application like you would sign into a normal email account. So your information is accessible as long as you are online. You can access Harvest for a nominal fee of US$12 per month which is not that much if you really use it to increase your productivity.

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