How to Easily Track Your Time, Issue #27

As a Virtual Assistant, there are many ways to bill for your work – I charge by the hour.

That means keeping track of time, of course, so when I first started out, I kept everything in a spreadsheet. I quickly realized, though, that spreadsheets are not the right tool for the job!

If you get paid by the hour, you need a rock-solid approach to tracking your time. It needs to be accurate, of course, but it can’t require too much effort either.

That’s why I love (LOVE)?Toggl. I have been using it now for about seven years and it’s terrific.

Toggl is a cloud-based application and it costs just only $9/month for a single user. You can use it on your phone, tablet or computer so it’s always with you, no matter where you’re working. There’s even a browser extension that works with tons of other applications.

To get started, I set up my clients and assign projects to them. Since I “lump” my work according to the client, I look at the clock when I begin working, make a note on my scratchpad, and get working.

When I’m finished, I look at the clock, calculate the time I’ve worked and record it in Toggl, along with a description of what work was done. (You can use the Toggle timer as a stopwatch for tracking your time if you prefer.)

The reporting is great and I make a habit of reviewing my billable hours at the end of every week to see how productive I’ve been. Also, since I’ve assigned a billable rate to each project, I can see at a glance how many dollars I’ve earned.

Finally, for those clients who like to have an accounting of how I spent their hours, I can easily create a report just for them.

Check out Toggl. You won’t be disappointed!

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Belinda Sandor is the Founder of The VA Connection where she works with new, aspiring, and established Virtual Assistants to help them build thriving businesses through her free online community, courses, and coaching programs. You can learn more here:?https://www.thevaconnection.com/?