Here’s what you need to get paid every hard-earned dollar.
Many a freelancer and business owner has done it. You think you started at 10…or was it 9:45? Sure, 15 minutes doesn’t seem like it would matter, but do that every day in a 5-day work week and you’ve worked more than an hour for free. That could be grocery money for the week.
Time tracking is a necessary evil to getting paid. And your time tracking software’s number one priority is to make your business more money. But if it’s is slow, clunky, or takes more time to set up and learn how to use than to actually use it, that’s a problem. You end up spending more of your precious time searching through a backlog of weeks or days to figure out what time you spent on what project to invoice “accurately”. Time tracking doesn’t have to suck anymore.
Some must-haves for your time-tracking app.
You, and your team, are not always in the office when you’re working—what if you get an ah-ha moment in the shower, or you’re writing a quote or proposal on the train? Having software that’s only on your home computer just creates more work for you—as you fill up notepads to be later deciphered, or try to mentally tally your hours. You need to be able to access and track your project, client, and task time from everywhere and anywhere, and a cloud-based app gives you that. At home, from your iPhone or Android, you can track your time accurately the first time. What if I lose internet connection you say? Good time-tracking software will even let you track time offline, and sync your data when you’re next online. And your software should integrate with hundreds of other applications, especially your invoicing software….enabling you to flow from project start to payment received with a few clicks or taps of a button.
Aside from accurate and efficient time-tracking, one of the hardest things, for freelancers especially, is knowing how efficient you are—when to raise rates and/or prices. When selecting time-tracking software getting one that provides custom, detailed reports gives you deep insights into your performance and efficiency. You know exactly how much time you, and your users, are spending on each project so you can easily make decisions that grow your business and make you more money.
Recommendations? Glad you asked.
Alright, so you know what to look for in a time-tracking app. But, there are so many different apps out there. Let’s save you from decision paralysis. Here’s an app that will blow your socks off and reasons why it’s awesome. It’s called TimeStarter, and it’s a powerful app that not only tracks your time, but also your expenses, and creates professional looking invoices all online, anywhere, at any time. In the words of the company’s CMO, Trine Thybo, “The app was actually an internal project that made its way to the outside world after years of in-house testing. Most solutions born this way put the user first, and therefore simply work.” Basically, it was built for you.
Let’s run down the must-haves:
- TimeStarter is cloud-based, so your data is available anytime, anywhere you need it, including your iPhone or Android phone through an app.
- TimeStarter enables you to not only track your time, but do all your expenses online and from your phone. You track not only every minute, but every dollar you spend on a project or a client, so you get paid every dollar earned or spent.
- Detailed, customizable reports provide you a list of the time spent on each customer, project, or task; when they were carried out and by whom. Easily filter data to see just what you want to see and save it as a PDF or Excel file for quick reference or for performance reviews. Bonus for you busy business owners, you can see at a glance if you’ve invoiced for a project—you bill on time, every time, providing your customers better service and getting you paid faster.
- Working where there’s no internet connection? No problem. TimeStarter is available offline! When they say anywhere, they mean it. Simply enter your time/expenses like normal and your data syncs automatically when you’re back online.
The kicker.
As if all that wasn’t enough, why TimeStarter really shines is it’s integrations. (You thought I forgot a point didn’t you.)
Think about it. How much are you paying for your invoicing and accounting software – $30, $100, or more? Put that money back in your pocket. TimeStarter integrates seamlessly with Tradeshift, a fast, agile platform for you business owners and freelancers to invoice your customers that’s completely free, no matter how many invoices you send and receive. And there’s zero learning curve so it’s easy to use. You could literally be sending free, professional, customized invoices in less than two minutes. And Tradeshift integrates with Paypal and other payment services to give you one place where you can do ALL of your admin—from anywhere, any device, anytime. Talk about a time-saver.
You can have it all now for free. Impressive, right?
TimeStarter+Tradeshift. Time is on your side. Be smarter, use TimeStarter.
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