How to Set Up Your First Billing Rate in Time-Trak Before You Log a Single Minute

Start With the Rate, Not the Timer

Most people open a time tracker for the first time and hit start. They figure they will sort out rates later. Later never comes, or it comes after three weeks of logs that are now attached to the wrong number.

Do the rate setup first. It takes four minutes and saves you from a math problem you do not want at invoice time.

What You Need Before You Open Time-Trak

Two things. Your hourly rate for this client or project, and whether you are billing that rate to every task or splitting it by service type.

If you charge one rate for everything, this is simple. If you charge more for strategy than for execution, you need to know that now, not when you are building the invoice.

Write it down before you open the app. Deciding rates inside a setup screen while a client is waiting for your first deliverable is how you end up with a placeholder number that becomes permanent.

Setting the Rate Inside Time-Trak

In Time-Trak, billing rates live at the project level. When you create a new project, you set the rate there. That rate then applies to every time entry logged against that project unless you override it.

Go to your project settings. Enter the hourly rate. Save it.

If you have multiple service types on one client account, set up separate projects or use task categories with different rates. Time-Trak lets you assign rates at that level so your invoice math is correct without any manual adjustments later.

The point is that the rate should be in the system before anyone starts a timer. Including you.

Why This Step Gets Skipped

Because it feels like admin. And when a project is exciting or urgent, admin is the first thing that slides.

But here is what happens when you skip it. You track twenty hours. You go to invoice. The rate field is blank or wrong. You either guess, or you go back through your notes to find what you quoted. Sometimes the quote is in an email thread from six weeks ago. Sometimes it is in your head and you are not totally sure.

That uncertainty is expensive. Not just in time but in confidence. An invoice you are not sure about is an invoice you discount before the client even sees it.

Flat Fee Projects Still Need a Rate

This is the one people argue with. If you quoted a flat fee, why does the hourly rate matter?

Because after the project closes, you want to know if that flat fee was worth it. Time-Trak lets you see actual hours logged against a project. If you put a rate in, you can compare what you earned against what you would have earned billing hourly. That comparison tells you whether your flat fee pricing is working.

Put in your target effective rate if nothing else. Even a rough number gives you something to measure against.

One Rate Now, Adjusted Later If Needed

You can change rates in Time-Trak if a project scope shifts or if you negotiated a mid-project adjustment. You are not locked in. But starting with something intentional is different from starting with nothing and filling it in under pressure.

The rate you set at the start of a project is a decision you made when you were thinking clearly. The rate you set at invoice time is a reaction.

Before You Start the Timer

Open Time-Trak. Create the project. Enter the client name. Set the billing rate.

Then start the timer.

That order matters more than it sounds. Everything that comes after, the time entries, the report, the invoice, depends on the number you put in at the beginning. Get that right and the rest of the billing process takes care of itself.

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