Why you're here
If you're for consultants, you already know these problems
1
That $8k monthly retainer felt great until you tallied up 50 hours of calls, Slack, and revisions.
2
Fixed-price projects routinely overrun, and you don't know by how much until invoice time.
3
Your research tools, your CRM, your Zoom — they all power every engagement, but only one client gets billed the cost.
4
Your effective rate is a mystery because you've never subtracted tools, subs, and time accurately.
How Hustlay helps
Everything bent toward the way you actually work
True effective rate
Every engagement gets logged hours. Profit-per-hour tells you who's worth the seat and who needs a rate bump.
Split overhead across clients
Your CRM, research subs, Zoom — split across active engagements so each client's cost-to-serve is honest.
Retainer vs. project vs. hourly
Tag engagement type. Compare margins across models so you can favor what pays best.
Travel & expense tracking
Flight, hotel, meals auto-categorized. Reimbursable vs. absorbed clearly separated.
Pro invoicing
Invoices that don't look like freelancer templates. Branded, clean, professional. Track opens and paid status.
Client management
Customer record with invoices, activity, notes. Know the full LTV of every relationship.
"
One of my retainers was effectively $42/hour. Sounds fine until you realize I charge $250. Renegotiated or dropped them all. Best quarter of my career.
J
James O.
Growth consultant · 🇬🇧
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