Time Tracking for Freelancers: Find Your Real Hourly Rate

Fixed-price work is great for clients and often great for you. But without tracking time, it is easy to say yes to projects that quietly pay much less per hour than you think.

Track time without slowing down

You do not need to log every minute. Start a timer when you begin focused work on a project, stop it when you finish. That is enough to see patterns.

Calculate your real hourly rate

Divide what a project paid by the hours it took. Compare projects and clients. You will often find that some “big” projects pay less per hour than small, simple ones.

Use the numbers to price better

• Raise prices for work that always takes longer than expected
• Add a revision limit where clients ask for endless changes
• Focus marketing on the services with the best hourly rate

Set monthly goals

A simple target — income, hours worked, proposals sent — keeps you moving in the right direction and shows when you need more clients.

How Noveo helps

Noveo has a timer on every task and project, shows hours per project and your real hourly rate, and lets you set monthly goals for income, hours, proposals and posts.