Last week we talked about Asana, a project management platform to keep you and your team on top of the projects you’ve been tasked. Let’s get real for a second. We as designers are in business to make money, we realize that none of us are going to become bazillionaires doing it so that leaves you with three choices for compensation. First and foremost, you can do it for a sandwich, bartering for another service or as a favor also known as doing it for free. You understand that favors can pay off in big ways that cash can not so keep it in mind because money isn’t everything in success. The second way to charge is a flat rate. This is great if you have the materials pre-made, the customer knows exactly what they want and all of that is subject NOT TO CHANGE (it will change, trust me). The third way is probably the most intuitive and fair way to be compensated for your work and that is to charge by the hour. You probably want to do it this way because the more work that comes your way and the changes that are sure to follow end up adding up hour after hour.
Enter the appropriately named app Hours. This app is as easy to use as you would expect it to be. Simply create a timer based on a specific project, color code it and start the clock. If there’s a knock on the door, the dog needs to go for a walk or it’s time for a break simply tap the clock again and the timer is off. Are you super successful and have multiple projects going on at once? Nice! Set up multiple timers all at once so you can jump right to another project as soon as you’re done with a project and need to start a new one. Time to write up the invoices? This is where it’s worth the in-app purchase of only $8 a month! FULL REPORTS for weekly, bi-weekly or monthly time calculations! Did I mention it’s effortless to bring these reports up as well?
All in all, Hours is another incredible example of an app that gets out of its own way and allows you to get right to work. The UI and UX is so simplistic anyone within seconds can open it up and start using this amazingly powerful app right out of the gate. You can argue the monthly price point but in my opinion spending $8 a month for what I hope is mere minutes of work for you, it’s totally worth the money. So download the app and start calculating your hourly time effortlessly so you can focus on making great designs instead of guessing how much time you’ve spent on a project.
–Aa
