I was tracking my time wrong for two years and it cost me a client

I always logged my hours in a simple spreadsheet, rounding to the nearest half hour. A client in Portland asked for a detailed breakdown for a $2,500 project, and my vague entries didn't match their records. They pointed out a three-hour gap I couldn't account for, which made my invoice look sloppy. I lost the project and now use a timer app that tracks to the minute. Has anyone else had a client audit their time logs?

2 comments

2 Comments

viola_henderson17d ago

Wait, they dropped you over a three hour gap? That's brutal. Tbh I'd be so mad at myself for rounding like that.

simon_black17d ago

Man, that's rough. Here's a thing people don't talk about enough: rounding your time UP feels honest in the moment, but to a client it just looks like you're padding the bill. That gap wasn't you stealing time, it was you being "generous" with your own estimates and it backfired hard. A timer app is the only way to be bulletproof, because the data doesn't lie.