Why Being Busy Doesn't Always Mean You're Making Money

The diary is full. The phone keeps going. You leave at 7am but you are still writing quotes at nine at night. From the outside the business looks like it is flying.

So why does the bank not show it?

A full diary tells you how much work you have. It tells you nothing about what that work pays.

Two jobs. Same money. One takes three times as long.

"Left for you" is the money still in the account once you have paid everyone else. It is what pays you for the days you worked. This £400 is what is left before you take anything for yourself.

Both jobs leave £400. One took a day. The other took three.

Same money, three times the work.

What that does over a year

Say you work 200 days.

• 200 days at £400 a day = £80,000
• 200 days at £133 a day = about £26,600

Same year. Same 200 days out of the house. The difference is which jobs filled them.

Nobody plans a diary full of job twos. It happens one yes at a time.

Why the diary fills with the wrong work

When you work for yourself, a quiet fortnight is frightening. A cancelled job needs replacing. A full diary feels safe.

So you take what comes.

That works for a month. Over a year it decides the business for you. You do whatever turned up most often, at whatever price you were asked for, and call it a plan.

Pricing the work properly in the first place is what stops the diary filling with job twos: How to Price Jobs Without Losing Money.

The work that never gets done

You started because you are good at the trade. Nobody starts a firm because they enjoy invoicing.

But the invoicing still has to happen. So does chasing the customer who has not paid, pricing next week, and working out whether last month made any money.

None of that fits between jobs, so it goes in the evening, and most of it never gets done. The jobs get finished. The business stays exactly where it was.

Three questions worth more than a full diary

What did this job leave me? The price, minus everything you paid out. The full version of that sum, including your own days: How Do I Know If My Jobs Are Actually Profitable?

How many days did it take me? Then divide. That is what your day earned.

Which jobs keep coming out badly? The same kind of work, over on time and under on price, three times a year.

Do that for your last ten jobs. You will know which work to take more of and which to stop taking. A full diary cannot tell you either.

How Nule helps

Nule keeps your quotes, jobs, costs and invoices in one place, so the answers are there when you go looking.

You price the work with materials, outside costs and a buffer. The customer accepts and the quote becomes a live job on its own, so the estimate is still there to compare against at the end. You log your hours, receipts and materials as you go.

End Job Insights show how one job went. Business Insights show what keeps happening:

• which jobs lose you money
• where the same kind of work gets priced too low, again and again
• materials against your estimates
• hours against the time you allowed
• where your expenses actually go

A full diary tells you the next fortnight is covered. This tells you whether covering it was worth it.

Busy is not the aim

A full diary is not a bad thing. It means people trust your work and keep calling.

It just is not the measure.

The aim is not more days worked. The aim is better paid ones.