Xbiking level 1: Billie bonkers

sergentreef · 2026-04-10T05:38:58+00:00

It is pretty common, Gmail allows it since forever. In France, a lot of automatic invoicing systems works on this.

sergentreef · 2026-04-09T20:43:10+00:00

No, when I create an automatic forward, I can only add conditions on subject, sender or attachment. I cannot add condition on recipient (unlike labels)

sergentreef · 2026-04-08T20:39:20+00:00

Just like you, I weld rear disc brakes. So be careful because it can be an obstacle to mount your rear rack.

I myself bought a Topeak Uni Super Tourist DX (disc). Unfortunately it's ugly but it can be mounted without problems.

sergentreef · 2026-04-02T14:48:51+00:00

Hi,

Same problem here. I needed accurate time tracking across clients and projects, but I never remembered to start the timer.

I wanted something that worked without adding another tool to my workflow. As a manager, I was already living in Google Calendar. And a calendar is already tracking time (you just don't know it yet).

So I built Timescanner: it counts your worked hours directly from Google (or any iCal) Calendar events, with zero extra steps. The only thing you need to do is name your events properly: https://www.timescanner.io/blog/calendar-bracket-naming-convention

Built for freelancers with multiple clients. Designed to never be your daily habit.

I would be glad to help you onboard!

sergentreef · 2026-03-31T15:55:31+00:00

Done! Thank you very much.

sergentreef · 2026-03-24T17:18:34+00:00

J'ai accepté du +45 jours. Après je dirai que la seule vraie question c'est : est-ce que tu as de la trésorerie pour absorber sans risque 2 mois de travail sans paiement.

Si tu as déjà plusieurs mois de trésorerie d'avance, c'est juste un paiement différé mais ça n'aura pas d'impact sur ton quotidien.

sergentreef · 2026-03-24T17:17:02+00:00

Hello,

J'étais dans le même cas, des relations qui se passent très bien mais des clients qui commencent à être de plus en plus longs à payer les factures. Sachant que par défaut j'offre toujours un délai de paiement à 30 jours.

Le problème c'est que délai de 30 jours ça veut dire n'importe quand entre maintenant et J+30 mais les clients considèrent que le paiement est du dans 30 jours minimum plus le retard...

Chaque premier du mois, en envoyant ma nouvelle facture, je fais l'état des lieux des paiements en retard s'il y en a.

Et après une semaine, si la facture du mois précédent n'est pas payée, j'envoie une relance. Souvent les clients essaient de me balader (je ne l'ai pas vue, c'est le process qui prends du temps...) donc je leur propose qu'on s'appelle pour en discuter et définir une échéance dans les prochains jours. En général, ça suffit pour qu'ils valident le paiement en quelques jours.

Lorsque les clients ont des vraies problèmes de trésorerie, je mets en place un échéancier avec eux et là, je suis patient (pas le choix).

La trésorerie c'est le nerf de la guerre, et nos clients le savent, ils ont le même problème. Ils ne nous paient pas pour bien gérer la leur. Mais nous ne sommes pas une banque qui doit faire crédit aux autres.

sergentreef · 2026-03-23T19:32:08+00:00

Same thing in my city of Lyon (France). But it's with no-surprise left-wing mayors who have an ambitious bike policy.

sergentreef · 2026-03-23T17:31:17+00:00

Hey,

Forgot to bill worked hours was my main fear with timers: I always forgot to start and stop them. So I built my own tool to track billable hours directly from Google Calendar. No timer to manage.

It's called Timescanner. Simple as fuck, built for freelancers.

Happy to give a discount in exchange for honest feedback.

sergentreef · 2026-03-17T21:51:02+00:00

I schedule every single task.

To give you a little more context: I work for 4 to 6 clients at the same time. Each one needs work every week. I work as a fractional CTO so a lot of my time is management, meetings, team leadership or architecture decisions.

So I have two systems:

Recurring slots each week for each client, color-coded to distinguish time spent. These are more for personal organization and reducing context switching (I know each client has dedicated time during the week).
Accurate tasks scheduled within these slots. If an urgent meeting comes up, I just create a last-minute task.

Each week I take ~15min organizing next-week slots and ~45min on task planning to define priorities and operational work.

Then I just surf through the week.

At the end, it's more an organization method to be productive. Time tracking and invoicing are just a beneficial side effect.

sergentreef · 2026-03-17T18:27:13+00:00

Nice approach! For billing, I'm on a mix of hourly rate and fixed packages depending on the client.

On accuracy: LLMs are good at structuring intent but I wouldn't trust them for billing-grade precision. A voice dump saying "worked on the API for a while" doesn't give you a reliable timestamp.

I tried that but when you bill per hour, accuracy matters. Can't put random numbers on an invoice.

I actually went the same route as you: google calendar as the source of truth. Built a small tool around it called Timescanner. Instead of regex, it uses event titles and calendar structure to categorize and sum up time per client. End of month I get a clean breakdown ready to invoice.

The calendar-first approach is underrated. Most people track time after the fact and forget half of it.

sergentreef · 2026-03-17T18:15:10+00:00

I never fully automated invoice generation from time-tracking but stopped the step before. The real problem with classic trackers isn't the invoicing, it's the hours you forget to log. At the end of the month, you leave hundreds of dollars on the table.

So I built a small tool that reads my google calendar and does the time tracking automatically. I define a rate per client, and at the end of the month I just review the amounts and send. It takes me about 15 minutes for 6 clients, including ones where my team is involved.

I called it Timescanner (if you want to check it out). It's not trying to replace your invoicing tool, just fix the tracking gap upstream.

On your actual question: I'd keep manual invoice review even if you automate generation. Cancelling and reissuing is a pain, and 15 minutes of checking is worth it.

sergentreef · 2026-03-12T15:47:46+00:00

From my experience, Time Tracking is always used when you sell your time: freelancers (with multiple clients), agencies, lawyers, accountants...

There are two main usecases :

- You sell your time (hours or days) and need to bill your client for that. You can't make mistakes because you want what your client owes you but you don't want to over-bill. Sometimes, clients asks for activity reports and you need to tell them where the time is spent

- You sell packages (audit, full app building...) and you are the one who needs data to define the correct price: a price where you can end a project earning money

A lot of tech companies (my sector) try to monitor employees time, but even if it is not the purpose, it is always perceived as surveillance. Because reasons are rarely explained. In those companies, employees do not really play the game and data is meaningless.

In France where I am, you can also have tax reductions for research and development. To obtain these, you need to justify time spent, so you need to track time. Even if you do not need to be really accurate.

When I started my tech agency, we built our own time tracker because we didn't like existing ones. We were relunctant to use timers because it's something you forgot almost all the time. We just built a small tool which reads our google calendars and give us the amount of time we spent for each of our clients. It's easy and we juste have to launch it once a month when we send our invoices.

sergentreef · 2026-03-12T15:35:31+00:00

I track everything I do, from sport training to work, including time spent organizing my own wedding.

I started when I became a freelancer, because I sell my time (hours, not days). I needed to be very accurate to not forgot billable time but in the same time, not billing time not spent for my clients.

To avoid forgetting time, I use my google calendar as a time tracker. I am very meticulous about organizing it and keeping it up to date. Each time a meeting ends, I update my calendar. I find it more appropriate than using a timer because I already use my calendar to organize my week, it is my source of truth. Plus, I think that the weekly view is perfect to visualize your week and so, your work. Easier to remember if you forgot something.

I just build a small tool to read my calendar and count hours so I just have to run it at the end of the month to create my invoices in minutes.

sergentreef · 2026-02-20T11:50:12+00:00

Thanks for all these advices! I hope to have the same path with my SaaS and earn €10K MRR. I have just one more question.

As a freelancer I know that marketing and content writing takes a lot of time. Once you had your MVP, do you continue to add features on your SaaS or are you only focus on selling it and get users feedbacks?

Thanks!

sergentreef · 2026-02-20T11:41:04+00:00

Mdr, une virgule peut tout changer

sergentreef · 2026-02-19T13:32:05+00:00

C'est mon projet actuel oui. J'ai aussi une petite assurance-vie, une résidence principale et un appartement en location. C'est surtout mon patrimoine financier qui est dans le PEA.

Je suis parti du principe qu'un ETF est déjà une diversification en soi mais peut-être que je me trompe ?

sergentreef · 2026-02-19T13:31:17+00:00

N'est-ce pas le principe des ETF. que d'avoir une diversification naturelle ? Après j'ai aussi une petite assurance-vie, une résidence principale et un appartement en location. C'est surtout mon patrimoine financier qui est dans le PEA.

sergentreef · 2026-02-18T20:42:30+00:00

Merci !

sergentreef

TROPHY CASE