Looking for a spreadsheet to track income, fees, deductions, taxes, and more throughout the entire year? Here’s a free one from the Society of Writers!
Our business tracker spreadsheet is updated for 2023 and has room for:
- Upcoming Work: Track the status of the pitches and proposals you submit across clients with notes on when/if you followed-up. Your average response rate and success rate will be calculated for you.
- Active Projects: Keep notes on all your active projects, including due dates, word count, hours worked, invoice status, and amount billed.
- Monthly Earnings: See a monthly summary of your total earnings including the average amount you’re earning per hour and per word.
- Yearly Overview: See the whole year at a glance with a summary of how many pitches you sent each month, how much you’ve earned after fees, and your quarterly estimated tax dues.
Navigate to the tab for any given month and easily track your projects across clients and platforms. Insert due dates, payment status, and billed vs. earned to get a bird’s eye view of your workload. Plus, the spreadsheet will automatically compile each month into the yearly overview sheet so you can stay ahead of your long-term goals. Growing your business has never been easier!
You can edit this spreadsheet using Google Sheets (free) or you can download it as an Excel document for use locally. If you need help using this spreadsheet or if you’re looking for additional advice on how to keep all your numbers in order, keep reading.
How to Access The Spreadsheet
- Open the spreadsheet in Google Docs
- Make sure you’re logged in to Google
- Click “File” and then “Make a Copy”
- Bookmark it for easy access or download it as an Excel file
Features & Tips
Let’s go through some of the spreadsheet’s handy features and help you make the most out of it!
Make a Home for All Your Projects
Complexity is the bain of productivity. The more information you can keep in one place, the better! Each monthly sheet allows you to:
- Set the project’s status (pitched, followed up, discussing, writing, draft sent, revisions, etc.)
- Track payment status (not invoiced, invoiced, paid, late)
- Insert due dates, projected publishing dates, and the last time you spoke with the client
- Linked to the master work document or content brief for the project
- Add up the word count and hours spent on the project
Track Your Deductible Expenses
You’ll find a tab called “Deductions Tracker” where you can add deductible business expenses assigned to various categories. This sheet is even in the proper format to upload into tax software, just to make your life that much easier.
Figure Out Your Effective Tax Rate
To stay ahead of your tax obligations, take the time to estimate your effective tax rate (both at the federal and state level) based on your projected income for the year and insert those percentages into the yearly summary sheet. As you earn money throughout the year, it will roughly estimate your tax obligations for the whole year and your quarterly estimated taxes, too.
Join Our Mentoring Community!
Are you looking for more handy resources, templates, and guides? How about weekly coffee talks and workshops guided by industry professionals? You can find it all in the Society of Writers! Come join our community.
