How Consultants Can Capture Billable Hours & Insights With Voice?

As a consultant, your main goal is often to increase billable hours and get the most from them. Well, more hours mean higher income. But, is it always possible to get this benefit? Not really. 

Sometimes, non-billable work can take up most of your hours. So, even if you work for long hours, you'd still be struggling to get the most. It's all about balancing the hours between administrative tasks and clients' work. While it can be stressful, you can get the most out of it when you capture billable hours with voice. 

Billable Hours: An Overview

Billable Hours refer to the number of hours you spend engaging with the client. In some hours, you're directly engaging with clients and providing them with services, strategic advice, and hours. So, your billable hours are the hours that generate income. Make sure to capture it the right way to increase your revenue. Make sure to minimize non-billable hours and maximize billable hours. Using voice notes for consultants can play an important role in helping you make money. 

Why Do Employees Track Billable Hours Wrong?

As a consultant, do you know what's one of your worst mistakes? Tracking billable hours the wrong way. Not properly tracking your time across project management, client billing, and payroll can have a negative impact. 

It's your responsibility to be tracking your work the right way. You can't remember everything that you did today by tomorrow. It's not about laziness- it's about memory limitations. Make sure to track everything by the end of the day. Furthermore, don't be inconsistent either. Have the right data, and avoid discrepancies.

Many consultants also face challenges in capturing information. If you have to spend a lot of time capturing your billable hours, you may not end up doing it. High-friction tracking systems can lead to incomplete data. How to avoid this friction? Make sure to capture billable hours with voice. Being mindful should help in capturing all the information accurately.

Common Billable Hours Tracking Mistakes

As a professional, it is your responsibility to track everything appropriately and maximize revenue. However, despite being careful, some individuals still make mistakes. Here are some of the common billable hours tracking mistakes:

1. Waiting Till the End of the Day

2. You've worked the entire day, but you only remember specific parts. Even though a small gap may seem insignificant, it's actually a lot. Waiting until the end of the day to track your hours can often lead to missing out on underreported billable work. 

3. Being Vague About Tasks

4. Do not categorize your tasks vaguely. Since you're getting paid by the hour, it is advisable to track the work at a granular level. Vague categorization can affect your revenue and, eventually, your profitability. You must know what tasks you've done and when. 

5. Not Tracking Small Tasks

6. Always note that even the smallest tasks are essential. No matter how long your task lasts, always record it, even if it's for 5 minutes. If it's difficult to write or note these down, capture billable hours with voice. As long as you deliver value and service to a client, it's billable- irrespective of the duration.

7. Tracking Time But Not Reviewing 

8. Tracking your time is essential, but you must also review it. All your timesheets are diligently prepared and accurate. But, isn't it bad if you overlook the data beyond generating invoices? Tracking can happen, but you won't gain insights. 

Whether you use voice notes for consultants or take notes elsewhere, make sure to review them. Review your time and identify gaps. Regularly identifying your habit transformations can help maintain compliance. It's a strategic task that would help in the long run.  

How to Increase Your Billable Hours as a Consultant?

Using voice notes for consultants offers many benefits but also presents challenges. It is all about streamlining your work so you don't run into issues later. 

Here are some of the key ways to increase your billable hours as consultants:

1. Remove Distractions

2. Distractions kill your productivity. No matter how well-organized you are, even the best-laid plans can derail your workflow. A study found that a person needs about 23 minutes and 15 seconds, on average, to get back on track after being interrupted. 
3. It's best to remove distractions on all sides and keep your documents ready. If you have a messy desk, clean it. Make sure everything is within reach so you're not sidetracked. If there's any visual distraction, get rid of it. 

4. Use Time Tracking Tools 

5. You will have a difficult time capturing your billable hours if you don't know how you're using your time. The easiest solution is to use time-tracking tools. Get valuable insights about your workflow. 
6. Use a tracking tool to identify your areas for improvement. Constantly monitor and record the time you spend on each task. Not only does it help you keep track of hours, but it also helps you be more productive. 

7. Try to Improve Your Skills

8. Many employees often prefer using voice notes for consultants. It reduces cognitive load, improves focus, logical reasoning and problem-solving skills. Mental and physical exhaustion can hamper your cognitive abilities. If you don't feel fit, no matter how much you push, you can't get the right results. 
9. As a consultant, when you're working for long hours, it is very common to be exhausted. Stress and burnout can only decrease your quality of work, further affecting your billable hours. Using voice notes can help streamline tasks and help recall the important ones. 

10. Automate Some Tasks to Virtual Assistants

11. As a consultant, you are often faced with a variety of repetitive tasks. A survey of independent consultants found that, on average, around 10 of the 52 hours spent at work each week are on admin tasks. These tasks are important, but they can take up a lot of energy. 
12. It is advisable to automate tasks such as calendar management, data entry, research, and file organization. Getting a virtual assistant can work wonders for completing tasks. You're actually saving money in the long run, even if you're currently hiring someone. 

Why Take Voice Notes As Consultants?

In consulting, most billable work happens between meetings, not during formal documentation. You're constantly hopping between calls, and the moment you open your timesheet, the details are gone. This gap can often make it difficult to generate revenue. 

That's where voice notes for consultants step in. It captures the context that would otherwise never have made it to your timesheet or calendar. Voice notes make it easier to capture billable hours with sensibility and accuracy. 

Here's why you may consider voice notes:

• Faster than typing complex thoughts: If you have to note down information during a meeting, it's very common for information to get lost. With voice notes, you can capture all the information in seconds. 

• Good for multitasking: Hopping between calls can often lead to recording information from any particular call. Speaking the message or recording it is easier than typing it. Moreover, you're not missing out on any crucial information either. 

• Improves accuracy: When you capture the billable hours with voice, you're noting the words point to point. This prevents inaccuracy and helps to streamline the flow. Maintaining accuracy benefits retainer-based engagements, fractional consultants, and multi-client days. 

Voice Notes for Consultants Offer Easy Billing

Capture billable hours with voice to help avoid invoicing discrepancies. The voice notes capture decision-linked work, clear activities, and client-initiated changes. Having everything on the invoice clearly recorded helps trace why time was tracked and spent effectively. 

The voice logs also accurately reveal all the information. You get to learn more about clients on how you're spending time with them, and how your scope of work starts. You also get an idea of the effort-to-revenue ratio.

Capture Your Thoughts, Bill Your Hours

As a consultant, you're constantly tied up with work, and many tend to forget certain things. You need a work memory assistant who's there to help you offload some pressure. That's when you need Remi8. With Remi8, you can easily capture billable hours with voice. 

All you need to do is record meetings, remember them, and recall them when you want. This is the best solution for quickly capturing minutes/inputs after client calls, workshops, and site visits. Don't waste a second, effortlessly capture your hours and insights, and bill them to increase revenue. 

The AI will organize everything as soon as you capture your thoughts by voice. All important details are highlighted, and the behind-the-scenes context is remembered. Your thoughts become a conversation with your personal memory assistant.  

Conclusion