As a Freelancer, you may work sporadically across different locations, within no set time frame, which will mean that you’ll have to juggle multiple invoices for a handful of clients. It can get confusing as you need to record every minute to ensure that you receive the correct payment.
Freelancing can often mean jumping from one job to another. Flicking out a sheet of paper to jot down your start time, lunch time, break time, and finish time may be what your accustomed to, but hinders productivity. In this case, we’re here to convert you to a more innovative and efficient way of working.
When you’re racing against the clock, it can bring out your competitive streak, which often encourages productivity. We’ve kept this in mind by selecting tools which challenge the mundane task of clocking in.
We’ve rounded up five ingenious tools to transform the way Freelancers track their time:
1.FreeAgent’s stopwatch timer
FreeAgent provides award winning, cloud-based accounting software specifically for Freelancers. The online portal allows you to manage VAT, self-assessment tax returns, payroll, invoicing and the list goes on.
If you have a subscription with FreeAgent, you’ll have access to FreeAgent’s recently re-launched stopwatch timer. Just download the FreeAgent iOS or Android app, then you’re good to go.
Hit record, the timer will run in the background as you carry out your project, press pause to stop the timer, this will then generate a time slip for your work, which you can then attach to your invoice.
2.Harvest
‘Spend less time tracking and more time doing,’ it does exactly what it says on the tin. Harvest allows you to ‘pull your tracked time into a personalised profile, saving you hours of manual entry’.
If it slips your mind, Harvest will allow you to manually amend your time and then submit for approval. As some projects may consist of different steps, for example, researching, content creation, outreach and then publication, Harvest will allow you to create sub sections within a project.
To add a little more excitement to your day, Harvest features a new quote connected to ‘time’, every day.
‘The time is always right to do what is right,’ Martin Luther King Jr.
3.Trello
Trello provides time scheduling software that allows you to plan your day using visual boards, cards, and lists, which can all be set in priority order. Trello is compatible with Harvest as you can submit time from Trello into Harvest, vice versa. It even adds an element of ‘gamification’ to make it a whole lot more exciting.
The time tracking software features a clever checklist for those who prefer ticking off tasks, and you can connect a variety of external programmes such as Google Drive, Evernote, Slack and GitHub, known as ‘power-ups’.
Gorilla Accounting offers an all-inclusive accountancy package at a competitive price of just £85 plus VAT per month, including your subscription to FreeAgent.
If you have any questions about our service, call a member of our New Business team on 0330 024 0406, or email info@gorillaaccounting.com.
