I tracked every hour I worked for 6 months. The maths was depressing.
Source: Dev.to
Freelancing looks great on paper: pick your hours, choose your clients, work from wherever.
Then you do the actual maths.
I tracked everything for six months—not just billable hours, but quoting, admin, “quick calls” that ate 45 minutes, and Saturday mornings spent redoing work because the brief changed.
Findings after 6 months
- Billable hours per week: 24
- Total hours worked per week: 41
- Effective hourly rate: 58 % of my day rate
- Nearly half of my working time was unpaid.
Typical week breakdown
| Activity | Hours | Paid? |
|---|---|---|
| Client work | 24 | ✅ |
| Admin & invoicing | 4 | ❌ |
| Quoting & proposals | 3 | ❌ |
| Chasing payments | 2 | ❌ |
| Emails & calls | 3 | ❌ |
| Marketing & networking | 3 | ❌ |
| Context switching | 2 | ❌ |
The payment chasing was the one that stung: two hours a week, every week, reminding grown adults to pay their invoices—over 100 hours a year spent on money I’d already earned.
What moved the needle
1. Raise your rate by 40 %, not 10 %
Most freelancers underprice by at least 30 %. Your rate needs to cover the unpaid hours, not just the billable ones. If you bill 24 hours but work 41, your rate should reflect 41 hours of your time.
We built a day‑rate calculator that factors in the actual numbers; most people are shocked by the result.
2. Automate the awkward stuff
Payment reminders shouldn’t require emotional energy. Set up a sequence: friendly reminder day 1, firmer day 7, formal day 14. Use the same wording each time and let automation handle the escalation. I use templates that send progressively firmer emails automatically, so I never have to craft a tone‑sensitive message at 9 pm on a Tuesday.
3. Stop quoting for free
Anything that takes more than a 30‑minute conversation should be a paid discovery session. Not every prospect will agree, and that’s fine—the ones who do are the ones who’ll actually pay.
Your day rate isn’t your take‑home pay. Your take‑home is your day rate minus all the hours you’re not billing for. Until you close that gap—through pricing, automation, or saying no—you’re subsidising your clients with free labour.
Takeaway
Track your hours for a week. All of them. Then do the maths. You probably won’t like the answer, but you’ll finally know what to fix.
Free tools for UK freelancers
- Day‑rate calculator
- Hour tracker
- Invoice generator
All are free, no sign‑up, no paywall.