We’ve all heard the old adage, “time is money,” but that saying is especially true when you’re talking about people who are self-employed. The amount of money you make is usually directly related to how efficiently you get work done, because we’re not on salary.
Every second spent goofing off translates to either missed deadlines or late nights, so it’s important to keep track of our time, both to ensure that we’re getting paid for the right amount of time and also to show us where things can be improved.
If you’re looking for a program that can help, try one of these:
Chrometa
Chrometa is an interesting app because it does its work in the background, with zero input from you. Not only do you not have to start a timer or log hours after the fact, but Chrometa also recognizes what task you’re doing and divides your time accordingly, whether you’re working in a document, doing research on the web, making a call or having a meeting. It also lets you create, print and export timesheets and invoices quickly and easily.
Harvest
Harvest is a powerful time tracking software with a variety of features. Easily track your time using your phone, tablet, or the Harvest app or widget on your PC or Mac. Stay on top of employees’ timesheets and get reports on how your company is managing time as a whole. Log your expenses in the app, send estimates to clients, and sent or print invoices when the job’s done. Additionally, Harvest integrates with dozens of other apps to add an endless amount of features.
PayMo
PayMo is a time tracking and billing solution that exists in the cloud, ensuring that you always have access wherever you are, and that your data is never lost or misplaced. You can set up projects to be managed online, and track time from any computer, phone or tablet. PayMo lets you keep tabs on your employees through their own accounts, and also allows you to set up pages for clients where they can track any invoices or reports you’ve shared with them. You can even set up automatically recurring invoices for clients you bill every month.
RescueTime
RescueTime is less about keeping track of your billable hours and more about helping you shape your lifestyle habits to make you more productive overall. This app runs quietly in the background and logs all your activity, including where you’re spending your time when you open that web browser. It then shows you a detailed report of how much time you’re wasting, and it also offers you a few ways to get better.
You can set daily goals like keeping your Twitter time under an hour or cutting your time spent sending emails in half. You can also set up alarms to, for example, let you know when you’ve been playing Facebook games for the last two hours. The premium version even lets you block distracting websites for certain periods of time.
TraxTime
TraxTime may look a little plain, but that’s their goal – a “simple, no fuss solution” to keeping track of your time and your employees’ time. With its easy-to-use punch in and punch out system and Manager’s edition software that lets you keep track of multiple other user’s timecards, TraxTime makes it easy to see exactly where everyone is spending their time. It will even remind you when it’s been idle for a while, in case you forget to turn it on while you’re working. When you’re ready to bill a client, TraxTime lets you effortlessly create and send invoices as well.
Do you use a different app to help you and your team keep track of your time? Share it with us below!