Why You Should Track Your Work Time

Many freelancers and small businesses skip systematic time tracking. The reasons vary: time investment, lack of habit, or the assumption that it doesn't matter with fixed prices. But without time tracking, you're missing a crucial foundation for business decisions.

Time tracking doesn't automatically mean hourly billing. It's primarily a control tool for your own business – regardless of how you bill your services. Those who track their time work more transparently, calculate more precisely, and make better decisions.

How Much Do You Actually Work?

Many freelancers feel like they're constantly working. But how much time actually goes into billable projects? And how much into administration, emails, client acquisition, training, or unplanned interruptions?

Without time tracking, these questions remain speculation. With time tracking, you see in black and white where your work time goes – and can consciously adjust if too much time flows into non-billable activities.

Realistic Calculation Instead of Guesswork

How long does a typical project take? How much time do you need for a proposal, a website, a consultation? Only those who track their time can answer these questions with real numbers instead of estimates.

An example: You estimate a project at 20 hours. In reality, you need 35 hours. On the next similar project, you repeat the same mistake – because you have no data. With time tracking, you learn from every project.

Important Even With Fixed Prices

A common misconception: "I bill fixed prices, so I don't need time tracking." But especially with fixed prices, you should know whether a project was profitable. A fixed price of 3,000 euros is good – but not if you worked 60 hours for it.

With time tracking, you see your effective hourly rate and can calculate future proposals more realistically. You also recognize whether your fixed prices are too low or whether certain project types systematically take longer than planned. Learn more in our article about the hourly rate dilemma.

The Right Tool for Every Need

The good news: You don't have to commit to a specific tool. GrandTotal supports over 15 different time tracking tools – from lean Mac apps like Tyme, Timing with automatic time tracking, to cross-platform solutions like Clockify and comprehensive systems like ClickUp or Harvest.

Whether you work from your iPhone, Apple Watch, or desktop – you'll find an integration that suits your workflow. Each tool has its strengths: Some are particularly simple, others offer comprehensive reports or team features.

This is how imported times look in GrandTotal. They are automatically assigned to the corresponding clients and are available for analysis and billing.

Calendar Import for Simple Time Tracking

If you don't want to use a separate time tracking tool, there's a particularly simple alternative: import from the macOS Calendar app. If you already maintain project work, meetings, and appointments in your calendar, you can transfer these entries as work times with just a few clicks.

GrandTotal reads your calendar entries, you select the relevant appointments – and can import them directly as line items into a client invoice. No double data entry, no retrospective reconstruction of work times. Particularly practical for everyone who consistently enters their appointments in the calendar.

Track But Bill Flexibly

Important note: Time tracking doesn't automatically mean hourly billing. You can continue to offer and bill fixed prices – the tracked times serve your internal control and calculation. The decision of how to bill your services remains completely independent of time tracking.