Pro tip: counting my actual billable hours in QuickBooks was a gut punch

I finally ran the report for last quarter and only 61 of my 120 logged work hours were billable, which meant I was basically giving away half my time to free calls and "quick" revisions. Seeing that single number on the screen made me realize my rate was never the problem, my scope creep was. How do you all handle the little requests that eat your week without sounding rude?

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wyatt_jones2d ago

The rate thing is worth a second look though, because 61 out of 120 means you're billing at about half your stated rate when you spread it across all the hours you actually work. So the scope creep is the thing eating your week, sure, but the fix isn't just chasing the free calls, it's that your rate needs to be set assuming some of that unbilled time is going to happen. People always frame it as scope vs rate like they're separate problems (I did the same thing for years), but they're really the same math. Anyway, on the little requests: I just started saying "happy to add that, it'll be about an hour, want me to go ahead?" and most of the time they either say yes and it gets billed, or they drop it on their own.

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