Time tracking gets treated as a box-ticking exercise - something you do so you can bill clients accurately. Use it for nothing else and you’re leaving some genuinely useful insights on the table.
The Value Isn’t Only In The Billing
Yes, accurate billing is important, but the real value shows up when you start seeing patterns in your work that you never noticed before.
You Discover Your True Hourly Rate
Most self-employed folk have no idea what they actually earn per hour. They know their quoted rate, but they don’t know their effective rate after all the unbillable time.
When you track everything - the client calls, the revisions, the admin work, and the hours the project is keeping you awake at night - you might discover that your $100/hour project actually paid you $65/hour. That’s uncomfortable to discover, but genuinely useful to know.
You Find Your Most Profitable Work
Some clients pay brilliantly but require endless revisions. Others pay less but are a genuine pleasure to work with. When you can actually see which clients and project types give you the best return for your time, you can start steering toward more of that.
You Spot the Time Thieves
We all have ‘em. Those tasks that seem quick but somehow eat up hours. Email. Social media. “Quick” client calls that turn into strategy sessions.
“I recently worked on an album design for a sweet elderly singer-songwriter who called every day to ‘discuss the design’ - though I suspect she mostly just wanted a chat. I genuinely valued our friendship and those conversations, but I still logged the time against her project. I didn’t bill her for them, but having that data helps me understand where all my time actually goes.”
- Steve Leggat, TallyHo creator
The TallyHo Approach
TallyHo skips the start/stop timer faff and the constant categorising. I built it to help you actually understand your time - what it’s worth, where it goes, and what’s quietly eating it.
Start Simple
You don’t need to track every minute from day one. Start with these basics:
- Client work (billable time)
- Admin time (emails, invoicing, etc.)
- Business development (proposals, networking)
Track these for a month and you’ll be surprised what you discover.
The Bottom Line
Time tracking shouldn’t be about micromanaging yourself - it’s about making smarter decisions about your business.
That data is what backs up a rate increase, tells you exactly how much a difficult client is costing you, and shows you which work to focus on if you want fewer hours for the same income.
Illustration by Lee Makatoa