Time Tracking on Fixed Fees

[MM_Member_Decision isMember='false'] This may sound strange, that you need to track time with fixed fees.  I've spend goodness knows how long saying prices of your services should not be an hourly rate, now I'm saying you need to track time?! This resource is only available to members. To read more, login or join now as a free member [/MM_Member_Decision]

[MM_Member_Decision membershipId='1|2|3|4'] This may sound strange, that you need to track time with fixed fees.  I've spend goodness knows how long saying prices of your services should not be an hourly rate, now I'm saying you need to track time?!

Time is a finite resource in your work.  While you should charge your clients by expertise not time, it is important to remember that you still need an audit for yourself.  You need to prove to yourself that fixed fees are working.  You need to be sure you're not ripping yourself off.  To do this you should track the time each task actually takes compared with your estimates.  This will better inform you when pricing the next job, and the next.

You may be moving from selling your time for money, in which case you may already have a system in place for recording time.  If not, you should create a set of rules to make sure your recording is consistent.

Do you record individual tasks or the whole task?  Should you time how long the sales transactions take, then the purchases, then the bank reconciliation.  Or should you just record how long it takes for the whole clients work?  I use individual tasks because this better informs me of how my package prices should be set.

By the minute or quarter hour? Do you record the time a task takes to the minute, or do you just round up (or down) to the nearest quarter hour, or 5 minutes?  Be consistent whatever you decide.

Have a think about other rules for your time tracking. [/MM_Member_Decision]

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