I did the exercise with a blank spreadsheet and a $60/h rate. Here's what it yields.
The baseline
Say you bill $60/h. You work 240 days a year (remove vacation, holidays, sick days). You average 6 billable hours per day.
Your theoretical income: $86,400.
The blocks that evaporate
Now the small things:
- 5 short emails per day at 3 min each = 15 min
- 1 unplanned 10-min call = 10 min
- 1 quick review taking 7 min = 7 min
- 1 Slack question that turns into 6 min of research = 6 min
Total per day: 38 minutes.
You bill none of those because they're "too small."
The annual cost
38 min × 240 days = 152 hours per year.
152 h × $60 = $9,120 left on the table.
That's a trip to Europe. Six months of rent. The difference between maxing your retirement contributions this year and not.
The standard objections
"I can't bill blocks that small." Yes, you can. See the piece on billing five minutes without shame. Clients accept it when it's clear and consistent.
"The client will refuse." Maybe one in ten. The other nine won't notice if the lines are dated and named.
"It's too much fuss." Not if the tool does it for you. Start a timer: two seconds. Stop it: one second. Over a year, you've spent maybe 4 hours to recover 152.
The $85/h scenario
If you bill more, the arithmetic worsens (or improves, depending on viewpoint). At $85/h, the 38 daily minutes become $12,920 a year.
At $120/h (some disciplines: senior development, strategy consulting), it's $18,240.
The point
This isn't about working more. You already work those 38 minutes. You just don't bill them.
A tracker that captures those blocks in real time gives you back existing income. It doesn't make you do more.
— Patrick