We work, we get paid, and if we get paid enough, we play. But like me, it seems that many readers often have trouble keeping track of how much work they do for different clients or on different projects.
I prefer projects for which I bid a single all-inclusive, fixed price. That way I do not have to keep track of the innumerable hours or minutes spent on the thousands of little tasks that make up each project. Philosophically speaking, keeping track of time is an incredible waste of time.
But remember that precious resource, play? It evolves from having enough time and money to indulge in it. It is said that if you manage the seconds, the hours will take care of themselves. Coincidentally, it is also said that if you manage the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves. The theory is that if you manage the seconds and the pennies, then you will have plenty of hours and dollars for play.
This week I had two readers who inquired about Mac time/billing solutions. The question was essentially: 'How do I automatically keep track of all the time I devote to different projects?' The Mac, of course, has dozens of such applications but a few of them are quite exceptional. Below are the standouts.
The window has a run/pause/stop button and a 'time accumulated' space. After putting in a good workday you can open the Inspector window and it will show you how much each of your clients owe you. Then select a client and choose Generate Invoice(s) and you are presented with an invoice ready to post or e-mail.
Of course, you have to fill out the name and contact information for you and your client before starting, but that is the most difficult part. If you need to enter expenses or modify the invoice form, these are easy edits and take only a second to do. No muss and no fuss. Its only flaw is that it does not directly import clients from contact managers unless they can be exported as 'flat' format files. But if you only have a few clients, this is not a big deal.