{"id":296,"date":"2012-02-25T09:56:34","date_gmt":"2012-02-25T14:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/?p=296"},"modified":"2016-09-16T22:29:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-17T02:29:00","slug":"how-much-time-did-i-spend-on-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.changinglanes.biz\/index.php\/2012\/02\/25\/how-much-time-did-i-spend-on-that\/","title":{"rendered":"How much time did I spend on that?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I can\u2019t even remember but I know<\/a> I spent more time than I should have. Did I even price it right? Who knows.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure you have felt this way about a project at some point. It feels like you work and work and work, only to get done with the project and feel like the money you made wasn\u2019t enough. Not because you are greedy but because you guessed at how long it would take you and that guess was wrong. But… your client is happy and you have other things to get done so you move on. Just to do it again.<\/p>\n

So what can be done? How can you price your services right, have a good estimate on time, and feel like you made good money?<\/p>\n

The easiest way is to keep a log. For ever project keep track of all expenses, time, and resources used (employees, equipment, etc). Keep track of every thing even if it isn’t billable.<\/p>\n

A simple example:<\/p>\n

You Quoted for
\nDesign time: 7hrs
\nInformation creation: 4hrs
\nWeb site setup time: 7hr
\nTraining time: 2hrs
\n20hrs worth of work at $20\/hr for a total of $400<\/p>\n

Time Actually Spent<\/p>\n

Billable Time
\nDesign time: 10hrs
\nInformation creation: 5hrs
\nWeb site setup time: 8hr
\nWeb site training time: 2hrs<\/p>\n

Non Billable Time
\nTravel time: 2hrs
\nLearning new code to create a function on the site: 3hrs<\/p>\n

Totals
\nBilling rate: $20\/hr
\nTotal time: 30hrs
\nTotal time billed: 20hrs
\nBilled cost: $400
\nLost profits: $200
\nActual Rate: $13.33\/hr<\/p>\n

By keeping a log at the end of a project you can now figure out how much time you and your business spent on a project. For the example above you charged for 20hrs worth of work, actually worked 30hrs, gained a new skill but had 5hrs of overages so you were paid actually $13.33\/hr. That doesn\u2019t include the taxes you will have to pay. So in the end you will probably make less than $10\/hr. That doesn\u2019t seem very acceptable. Now imagine if you did this on every project.<\/p>\n

By creating a standard logging system that can be used for every project you can<\/p>\n