Time · this week
15h
Closed · 14 May
Acme · Brand identity
What Margin sees
Two projects closed this month. Brand identity worked out at $78 an hour. The pitch deck came to $42.
Invoice · #0422
PaidHooli · Pitch deck
Time · this week
15h
Closed · 14 May
Acme · Brand identity
Invoice · #0422
PaidHooli · Pitch deck
What Margin sees
Two projects closed this month. Brand identity worked out at $78 an hour. The pitch deck came to $42.
The question
Fixed-price designers are often earning 30 to 40 per cent less per hour than they think. The gap hides in the unbilled hours, the scope creep, and the projects that quietly ran long.
The freelancers who build the careers they want aren’t better at the work.
They just know their numbers.
Other tools record. Margin reads.
Time-trackers and spreadsheets hold your numbers. Margin does something with them. There’s almost nothing to keep up with: log time as you go, tap one button at close-out, and every Monday a plain-English read of your business lands in your inbox.
Hours in.
Log your time as you go. Margin tracks the rate against your target, per project, per client, over time.
Feeling in.
Close a project and tap how it felt. Three options. Ten seconds. Skippable.
Read out.
Every Monday morning, an email lands. A few sentences in plain English.
“Brand identity paid $78/h and energised you. Pitch decks paid $42/h and drained you. Worth quoting the next one higher.”
Monday delivery
Not a dashboard to remember to open. An email worth actually reading.
Margin
hello@onmargin.co
Your week. Brand identity paid $78/h. Pitch deck didn’t.
Hi Barry,
You logged 18.5 hours this week across three projects.
You earned $1,440. $820 has cleared so far. The rest is on its way. Cash usually catches up 2–4 weeks after the work.
Acme · Brand identity paid $78/h. Your best rate this month, and you rated it energising. Worth quoting the next one higher.
Hooli · Pitch deck landed at $42/h after running four hours over estimate. You rated it draining. That’s three pitch decks in a row coming in below target. Worth a pricing rethink, or a pass next time.
One invoice still outstanding. $800 from Globex, eight days past your terms.
Have a good week.
Margin
Numbers, signals, and how it actually felt to do the work.
Fixed prices hide what you actually earn per hour. Margin works it out for every project and client, and checks it against your target as you go, not months later when the invoice is long gone.
One tap when you close a project. Over time it shows which work pays well and leaves you energised, and which quietly drains you for less. Then you do more of the first.
Log time as you go and Margin projects where your rate will land. You find out you’re heading under target with hours to spare, not after the money is already agreed.
Most designers freelance on fixed prices, several clients at once. Almost nothing has been built for exactly that. Margin is.
Margin is for
Independent designers and small studios
Brand, product, illustration, motion
Fixed-price projects, several at once
Anyone who’s always meant to look at the numbers properly
If your current system is a spreadsheet, a gut feeling, or both, Margin was made for you.