4 Reasons Why Freelancers Need a Time Tracking Software

Being a freelancer is a lot of responsibility. When you don’t have a boss breathing down on your neck, you have the additional responsibility of keeping yourself accountable. Doing that requires some serious levels of discipline. Now, many of you might have that discipline ingrained, but there are several freelancers that find building healthy and productive habits a challenging task.

Fortunately, like other areas of our lives, we now have technological solutions to help us stay accountable and productive. One such technological solution is a time management software. The amazing thing is, a time management software does much more than keeping one accountable. It’s an incredible tool that offers amazing features.

Here’s how a time management tool can benefit freelancers:

1. Accurate Predictions

When you are a one man show, you must be really careful about making commitments to clients. Commit too little and you risk losing the client to someone who is ready to do more. Commit too much and you risk missing deadlines and once again, losing your client to someone who can deliver projects on time. With that said, there are many instances where projects take more time than what you had predicted.

This is where a time management software becomes relevant. By tracking your time, you can determine the exact amount of time it takes for you to complete a certain task. Based on this information, you can predict the timelines for your future projects with more accuracy. This will not just enable you to make more realistic commitments to your clients, it will also enable you to plan your days and weeks more efficiently.

2. Better Work Life Balance

Many professionals switch to freelancing in hopes of achieving a better work life balance. However, when you are your own boss running a one man business, the lines between work hours and personal time can become blurred very quickly. Once again, this is a problem that can be easily solved with the help of a time management software.

For starters, when you are able to manage your time better, you can carve out more personal time to spend with your family or do other non-work-related things that you enjoy. Moreover, you can strictly define, track, and restrict your work hours to ensure you don’t spend your days in front of your computer screen.

3. Boosted Productivity

With the ability to make accurate predictions about work, combined with a better work life balance and a better sense of accountability, it is not difficult to imagine how a time management software will help boost your personal productivity. Add to that the added focus you display when you are being timed, and you get a productivity boost that can completely transform your output.

The amazing thing is that better focus doesn’t just help you get things done quicker, it also enables you to produce better quality of work. This can easily translate into more business and happier clients.

4. Manage Outsourced Work

Most freelancers depend on other freelancers that offer complementary skills. For instance, many copywriters partner up with social media experts and graphic designers to deliver social media marketing services. While such collaborations are great, it is usually a challenge to keep track of the contributions made by your collaborators.

This especially becomes a problem when you have to pay your collaborators. However, a time tracking software will enable you to effectively track the hours of the other freelancers that work with you on a project. In fact, some time tracking software will enable you to automate the entire process of tracking hours, preparing recurring invoices and sending out billers to your clients. Many marketplaces like Upwork offers time recording option so that freelancers can bill for time spent instead of fixed billing rate.