Hit 500 invoices last month and realized I'm giving away too much free work

I was going through my records and saw I've sent out exactly 500 invoices since 2020... that's a lot of jobs. What surprised me is how many of those were for tiny tasks I should have charged for, like fixing a typo or answering a quick question. Has anyone else counted their invoices and noticed a pattern like this that made you change your pricing?

4 comments

4 Comments

mason_murray86d ago

Exactly, those little ones add up way faster than people realize.

lilyt236d ago

My coffee shop bill went from 4 dollars to almost 7 over the last two years. That extra 3 bucks a day adds up to over a thousand a year just for one drink. People don't notice until they actually look at their bank statements at the end of the month.

brooke_murray6d ago

I saw a guy at a gas station last week arguing with the clerk over 15 cents for an air pump... spent like ten minutes on it. Probably cost him more in time than if he'd just paid it. That nickel-and-diming thing goes both ways, whether you're charging or paying.

zaranelson6d ago

Man that's a real eye-opener, lol. I read somewhere that most freelancers undervalue their quick tasks by like 40% because they don't track the time properly, and @lilyt23's point about the coffee really drives it home. Those tiny fixes might feel small but they seriously eat into your bottom line over a few months.