How to Set Up Your First Client Project in a Time Tracker the Right Way

Most people open a time tracker for the first time, create a project called something like "Client Work," and start a timer. That works fine until you have three clients, six project types, and an invoice due Friday.

The setup matters more than the tracking. Here is how to do it right from day one.

Name the Project So It Means Something Later

Project names like "Design" or "Marketing" are useless when you are looking at a report six weeks later. Use a naming format that includes the client name and the scope. Something like "Acme Corp - Website Redesign" or "Barrett Legal - Monthly Retainer Q3" tells you everything at a glance.

If you are using Time-Trak, the project name shows up on your floating timer widget and on every time entry. You will see it dozens of times. Make it count.

Set a Billing Rate Before You Log a Single Minute

This is the step most people skip. They figure they will set the rate later when they build the invoice. The problem is that "later" never comes cleanly. You forget what rate you quoted. You guess. The invoice is wrong.

Set the billing rate when you create the project. Even if you are not sure yet, put in your best number. You can change it. What you cannot do is recover from sending an invoice built on zero rate data.

If you charge different rates for different types of work inside the same project, set the default rate at the project level and override it at the task level. That separation keeps your reports clean.

Create Tasks That Match Your Actual Work

A project with no tasks is a black hole. You log time, but you cannot tell what you spent it on. When the client asks for a breakdown, you have nothing to show.

Build tasks that match the phases or types of work you actually do. For a web project that might be discovery, copywriting, design, development, and revisions. For a retainer it might be strategy calls, content creation, and reporting.

These task names will show up on your client reports. Think about how they read from the client side, not just yours.

Set a Budget If One Exists

If the project has a fixed fee or a capped number of hours, enter that budget when you set up the project. Time-Trak can alert you as you approach the limit. That alert is only useful if the budget is in there before you start, not after you have already gone over.

A lot of freelancers skip this because entering a budget feels like committing to something. It is. That is exactly why you should do it.

Separate Billable and Non-Billable From the Start

Not every hour you spend on a client is billable. Proposal work, onboarding calls, administrative back-and-forth, these things take real time. If you lump them in with billable work, your reports lie to you.

Create a non-billable category or task inside the project. Log that time honestly. At the end of the project you will know exactly what you gave away. That number usually explains why the margin felt off.

Do a One-Minute Check Before You Close the Project Setup

Before you save the project and start the timer, look at what you have:

- Is the project name specific enough to mean something in three months?
- Is the billing rate set?
- Are there tasks that reflect real work phases?
- Is the budget entered if one exists?
- Is there a place to log non-billable time?

If yes to all five, you are set. If no to any of them, fix it now. Changing these things after you have thirty hours logged is painful. Changing them before you start costs two minutes.

Good tracking starts before the first minute. The timer is the easy part.

Track your time, bill every minute.

Time-Trak is a native Mac and Windows time tracker with a floating timer, automatic screenshots, and one-click invoicing.

Free during beta.

macOS + Windows · Floating widget · Auto screenshots