The Project That Started Before You Were Ready

They said yes. Not in writing, but clearly yes. They were excited. They wanted to move fast. You wanted to make a good impression. So you started.

Maybe you drafted a few things. Maybe you had a planning call. Maybe you spent a full day getting oriented before the contract came back.

That time happened. You probably did not log it anywhere.

The unofficial start is still time

The moment a client gives you any kind of green light and you start thinking about their project, your clock is running. The problem is that most time trackers only get opened when work feels official. When the contract is signed. When the kickoff meeting is on the calendar.

Everything before that evaporates.

This is a billing leak that happens on almost every project. It is small per project. Across a year of clients, it is not small at all.

What falls into this gap

Pre-kickoff calls where you are already problem-solving. That is work. You are applying your expertise. That has value.

Initial planning documents you drafted to show the client you were organized. That took time.

Research you did to understand their industry or context before the formal discovery session. That is billable if it was project-specific.

Account setup, folder creation, brief review, team alignment. All of it happened before anyone called the project started.

If you log all of this in Time-Trak under a pre-kickoff phase or a project initiation task from the moment it begins, it shows up. If you wait until the contract arrives, it is gone.

Why this is harder to fix than it sounds

Part of the problem is that early project time feels like sales work. You are still winning the client in some ways. The line between selling and working is blurry.

But here is a useful test. Would the work you did in that early phase be useful to whoever takes over this project if you handed it off tomorrow? If yes, it was work. Log it.

Another part of the problem is that starting a timer feels premature when nothing is confirmed. You can solve this by creating a project folder in Time-Trak early and logging pre-kickoff hours against it. If the project falls through, you have a record of what you spent. If it goes forward, you have the full picture from day one.

What to do about pre-contract time

Make a policy and put it in your contract. Something simple: two hours of project planning and discovery are included. Beyond that, pre-contract work is billed at your standard rate.

This protects you. It also signals to clients that your time has value from the first conversation.

You do not need to be rigid about it on every project. But having the policy means you are making a choice rather than just absorbing a cost by default.

The longer-term fix

Review your last five projects. Try to remember or reconstruct how much time you spent before each one officially started. Estimate conservatively.

If that number is significant, it belongs in your overhead calculation. It affects your real hourly rate. It affects how you price the next project.

The work that happens before a project starts is still work. Log it like it is, because it is.

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