In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, we look at charging for tying up your computer and what to do when you win multiple bids at once. Ask FreelanceSwitch is a regular column here that allows us to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to askfreelanceswitch@gmail.com.

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Having the right billing and invoicing tools is crucial to a freelancer. Your options can be very different, depending on what type of computer you’re working on. For those freelancers working on Macs, there are several applications worth investigating. It’s just a matter of choosing which will fit best with your billing habits.

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Photo by HAMED MASOUMI

It’s 11:30 pm. My wife has already gone to bed. I was cramming to get an ad
done for the paper the next morning. The phone rings. It’s the client’s assistant.

“So? Is it okay?” I ask.

“She hates it,” she replies.

“Did she say why?”

“No.”

Frustrated silence. After a fruitless exchange of profanity and exasperation
we get off the phone. My wife is exhausted and livid at this ungodly hour.
So I turn off the ringer and go to bed, knowing full well that the assistant
is still furiously trying to get through to me and leaving messages on my voice
mail. I have a choice here between my wife and my client. I choose my wife.

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Freelancers are always on the lookout for the best way to do their billing, and you will often see the question come up on the FreelanceSwitch forum, “What is the best billing/invoicing software?”

For this reason FreelanceSwitch sent me out to review the software Bill4Time.

Bill4Time is a web-based time billing and project management tool. According to the website it is ‘designed to handle time and expense tracking & billing, project management, document filing, and scheduling for firms who bill for their time.’ But how does it stack up to the needs of the average freelancer?

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