Tracking time in a different tool than ClickUp? 😱

There's a single moment in my freelancing career that really stands out for me.

And I think that's because I had no idea what I was doing to myself until it was too late.

In my early freelancing days, I was working by the hour for a couple different agencies.

But what I didn't realize was that freelancing for agencies isn't really freelancing...

Like, it is, in the sense that I was an independent contractor.

But it wasn't because it kept taking over more and more of my time and attention... until I woke up one morning and realized that I was working more than ever, but making less money than before.

Basically, I had f'd myself by giving away all my time for a fixed hourly rate.

Maybe for you, it's not agencies that are sucking your dry. Maybe it's that one retainer client who keeps asking for more and more, or the hourly client who expects all your attention.

But the trap is the same: you can't see it happening until it's too late.

Until you're absolutely drained with an income that's less than you hoped for.

The thing is: this can still happen even if you're tracking your time.

For me, I was using Toggl, but only for the agency, to submit my hours every month with my invoice.

I knew exactly how many hours I was working for them. But I wasn't tracking shit for my retainer clients.

So the agency work was slowly taking over, but I didn't notice bc I was so busy just trying to get it all done.

Bc I didn't have a complete picture of where ALL my time was going, I couldn't see what was actually happening until it was too late.

Clearly my own clients were way more profitable. But I didn't see it until I'd overcommitted to the agency.

In the end, I knew the only way to get myself back on track with the vision I had for my freelancing career was to ditch the agency and go ALL IN on myself.

It sucked.

I had hardly any business. Funds were super low. I cut all my hair off.

And all of it could have been avoided if I had the data in my sights at all times.

Not just a quick look at what happened last month.

I'm talking about real-time visibility: who's paying me what, how much of my time is going where, what my actual hourly rate is per client while I'm still in the middle of it.

That there? 👆🏻 That's when you step out of reacting to problems and move into preventing them.

But you can't manage what you can't see in context.

Planning your work in one tool and tracking your time in another means there's a disconnect.

And you're probably catching problems way too late.

This is why I built my ClickUp system the way I did.

Time tracking isn't a separate activity. It's the feedback loop that tells you if reality matches the plan. It's how you know if you're staying within scope or slowly bleeding hours without realizing it.

So let me ask you: Do you know exactly where your time is going right now? Do you know exactly how much you're making per hour when it's all said and done?

Not a feeling. The real numbers.

If you don't, that's okay. I went MANY years without this intel.

I just wanted you to know that bringing your time tracking into ClickUp isn't this massive overhaul. It's actually one of the simplest shifts you can make.

It's one less tool. Everything in one place. And way easier to set up than you think. It's called Time is Money, and it's included in 2 of the 3 offers in my Fresh Start sale.

It's legitimately 30 minutes of video trainings you can bang out in a single sitting.

Happy tracking,

Robyn

Robyn Henke

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