Gig Tracker 2.0

April 19th, 2011 It can be difficult, as a freelancer, to keep track of the income coming in from gigs. On an average week I might work for 5-8 different employers and clients—I'm sure you are the same. Very early in my career I started to feel overwhelmed by tracking pay stubs and cash gigs. I came up with a solution I call Gig Tracker.

Gig Tracker

Gig Tracker is an excel spreadsheet I put together about 6 years ago. I input all of my gigs into the spreadsheet and it tracks and analyzes several important things:

• Date and time
• Location
• Agreement (what am I getting paid?)
• Payment expected
• Payment received
• Name of contact
• Email/phone number of contact

Tracks and Analyzes Freelance Income

From the number I input to Gig Tracker I’m able to graphically interpret my cash flow. After several years of keeping Gig Tracker I can see which months are traditionally slow for me, when my busy season begins, and other anomalies.

Gig Tracker also gives you a project yearly income based on how much you’ve made to date. For instance, if today’s date is April 18th (107 days into 2011) and you’ve received, say, $14,000 – you are on track to make $47,450 this year (assuming work keeps coming in at your current rate). This number become more and more accurate as the year goes on.

Also, it’s free. It’s just a spreadsheet, afterall.

Version 2.0

This spreadsheet has been available on the site for several years now, and I know a lot of my friends have started using it. It’s very helpful come tax time (did you all get your taxes in on time this week?).

Jeremy Yaddow, an excellent NYC drummer who’s written for MW before, wrote me today with his own version of Gig Tracker. Here’s his email, with a link to his spreadsheet below. Feel free to download!

Hey Dave,

I’ve been using your “Gig Tracker” spreadsheet with great success for the past couple years (never have I been more organized – my accountant loves it!).

I’ve added an “expenses” sheet that allows me to easily track what I spend on gigs (instead of pulling out a giant box of loose receipts on April 14th).

Using a list of deductible expense categories, I created a drop down menu and can organize my expenses by date, gig, category etc. Come tax time, I’m in and out and don’t miss a thing. I also put a 1099/w2/other drop down on the gig’s sheet for similar record-keeping purposes.

Check it out and if you think it’s a useful addition, feel free to pass it on!

Jeremy

Download Jeremy’s Gig Tracker spreadsheet here: Gig Tracker Revised