Episode # 68
Transcript
[Music intro]
This podcast is about entrepreneurship, spirituality, and self-care. My name is Lourdes, and I am the host of this show. Thank you for listening today!
Hi! In today’s episode, I’m going to talk about how to estimate a time and estimate a price for a job.
So, this is specifically for self-employed people, and so I think it’s important to estimate the time required to complete a job, which can be challenging. It requires careful consideration of many different factors. But by following some key steps, you can create an accurate and reliable estimate that will help you plan and manage your workload.
And the first step is to understand what the job requirements are. So you need to find out specific requirements of the task. This can include the scope of the project, any specific deadlines which you need, or milestones if you need to also check in with the client for the milestones, and any unique challenges that may need to be addressed. For example, if you were hired as the lead project manager, you would need to also involve a work team along with the client, and including meetings and meeting times with the client and team members.
And if you had past experience with that job, you can also use the same similar task that you did in the past using your past experience as a guide. You can use the time it took to complete the previous task as an estimate for the current task.
And then the next step would be to break the job into smaller tasks. So once you have a clear understanding of the job requirements, break down the job into smaller tasks. So this will help you identify the specific steps required to complete each task, as well as dependencies that may exist between these tasks. As I mentioned, be sure to include meeting times for each client and team meetings, and include times that you need to speak and delegate tasks to team members.
So once you’ve broken down each task that needs to be completed, then now you want to go ahead and estimate the time it would need for you to complete that task. So this will involve considering the factors such as complexity of the task, the resources available, and the level of the team working on that task. So it’s really important to be realistic as much as possible when estimating the time required for each task, because this will help you create a more accurate overall estimate.
So here’s an example. If you traveled to the client’s office or other location, please be sure to include the travel time. These are considered working hours for the job, and you want to get paid for your time to get to the location or to meet with the client.
And here’s the other thing. If you are the strategist, for example I do a lot of strategy work with clients after I meet with them, find out all the details of the project. I put it together and put in the team members I’m gonna need, the details of each service that I’m going to delegate to specific team members, any strategies I do for marketing I write it all down, or creating images for marketing. I add all these details in the time estimation.
And now of course, you want to factor in any contingencies. So with any project, it’s important that you factor in contingencies when providing an estimate of the time. This means that you may consider any potential delays or unforeseen issues that may arise, including additional time to address them in your estimate. So such contingencies, I always add my own business is to include emailing the client, emailing my team members, or any back and forth communication. So even if it’s 15 minutes on the phone here and there with the client, you might be on the phone 15 minutes, 30 minutes, include that contingency.
IF you’re communicating with a team member in a meeting, whether it’s in Skype or Zoom or Google Meet, include those times that you’re talking about this project with your team. And by the way, you can also use some tools. There are some tools out there and software available that can help you estimate time for jobs. So there’s Gantt charts, calendars, project management software tools. These can all help you create a schedule and help you stay on your progress.
And lastly, you want to communicate with your team. And it’s so important to keep the team all up to date, where the project is, what the client is expecting, perhaps even talk about how the client is. Are they nice, are they easy to work with, do you want your members to talk with the client or is it just you solely? This will help insure that everybody is on the same page, and if there’s any concerns or issues they can be addressed.
So hopefully, I hope these steps help you create an accurate estimate of the job requirement or project management time and to complete it on time. And this can be achieved by using a combination of methods and consulting with experts in the field. It’s also important to regularly review and update estimates as needed to ensure that your deadlines are met and the resources are allocated efficiently.
And, join me next week, when we’ll be talking about what is Spinpoi! And hint, it’s fun and it’s very good for your mind and your body. Join us next week, see you then!
[Music outro]
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About the Host
Hi, I’m your host, Lourdes, and I help individuals connect within to find solace. With over 25 years of spiritual practice and background, I combine my life-long experiences, intuitive abilities while using a variety of metaphysical methods and energy that illuminates your soul’s journey with a clear path to love and peace. I’m also self-employed, bootstrapping business owner, website designer and creator.
Looking for a psychic or spiritual practitioner? Visit: Simple Soul Path
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