34-b).Track Your Hours Worked

This is easily overlooked by rookie freelancers but has to be done to 1) Keep you on track and not goofing off and 2) Make sure you are earning what you want/need to earn. Here is a simple strategy for tracking your hours:
• First, make sure you determine the number of hours you plan to work on a project before you even start it. This will be your “budgeted” hours.
• Each day you work on the project, keep track of the time spent on it to the nearest quarter on an hour. If you are working on multiple projects, note the time spent on each one. Total these hours by project on a weekly basis.
• Upon project completion, compare the total hours worked on a project with the budgeted hours you set. Is it higher? Lower? Just about the same?
If the total hours worked is higher than the budgeted hours, this indicates that maybe you weren’t working as hard as you could or your bid price was too low on the project. Either way, you need to take note of this and make adjustments in your work habits or pricing. Your goal is to be productive as possible and earning as much as possible and hour tracking is your best measuring stick.
Next I’ll cover some strategies to earn more money in freelancing.