You can know for yourself how you keep track of and register your hours. There are roughly 3 ways to register your hours:
- You keep track of it yourself (in Excel or on paper)
- With separate software for time registration
- Via an accounting program with built-in time registration software
- You keep track of it yourself (in Excel or on paper)
As a starting self-employed person you may want to incur as little costs as possible; starting your own business already entails a lot of costs (start-up costs). In the beginning, your hours may also be quite easy to keep track of. Then you can choose to keep track of your hours yourself. For example in Excel or even on paper (or in your paper diary). That is the cheapest solution. But I have to say that this is not always the most convenient solution. It is labor intensive and you have to remember to regularly write down your hours or put them in your Excel document. But of course it is possible.
- With separate software for time registration
There is a wide choice in purchasing time registration software, also known as time tracking software. Look online for the possibilities. For a small amount per month you purchase a subscription and you have handy options to keep track of your hours. Using time registration software has a number of advantages:
The software helps you to divide the hours into categories
You use certain programs (also) as an app on your mobile, so that you can enter your hours in the system daily and directly (for example when you are on the train home)
The software often has options to make reports per week, month, quarter or year in order to gain direct insight into your registered (direct and indirect) hours
There is software available that allows you to activate a timer when you start a task. You turn off the timer when you’re done. This way you know exactly how much time a particular task takes
With some software programs you can set that you receive a signal (for example on your mobile) that you have to enter your hours. That way you never forget.
