Billings 3
I’ve been use Billings accounting software for about 3 years, first as a freelancer and now as a business owner. I love some features of Billings – I love its usability, and I love how my invoices look. Yet, I wish they would include an easy way to put a PayPal button in my invoices – I’m still looking for a solution to that problem. I also wish they included ways to provide monthly services (not a recurring invoice, but a recurring work slip). I’ve also run into problems because I’m using 2 different templates for my invoices. Also, it’s only for Macs – so if you are a PC user, it is not available to you. Additionally, I find aspects of the time tracking features to be counter-intuitive, particularly the time log entry screen (below). I still enter information wrong or delete entries by mistake after using the program for 3 years…
Measuring Profitability and Productivity
I don’t charge my clients by the hour- instead, I charge them by the project (or, in the case of service plans, I charge them a flat rate each month). However, I find t:metrack appealing because I track my time and I calculate my ‘theoretical’ hourly earnings once each project is finished. Tracking time allows me to measure my productivity and also my profitability. As a result, I’ve adjusted my revenue projections, increased my prices, and shifted my sales and marketing focus to the projects with a higher ROI.
T:meTrack
I just finished reading Nathaniel Mott’s review of t:metrack (‘Make Your Time-Based Invoicing Easier with T:metrack‘) and I think I might try out the free plan as an improvement over Billings’ timer functions.
If you charge your customers by the hour, I think T:metrack is worth a look. If you don’t track your time and you are a freelancer or small business (and a mac user), I would also highly recommend Billings.
If you are interested in T:metrack as a time management tool – please be sure to read the comments section in the article I linked to above because a member of the T:metrack development team left a rather lengthy comment on that topic.
Do you track your time? What tools do you use?
What do you prefer, Billings or T:metrack?
