Why A “Shark Tank” Mistake Is Causing Countless Freelancers To Burnout

Discover how a common mistake from the TV show Shark Tank is leading countless freelancers into burnout — plus the number-one tool I personally use to avoid making this devastating mistake myself.

Do you watch the show Shark Tank?

My fiancé and I are kind of obsessed.

But in case you haven’t seen it, ​Shark Tank is a show where entrepreneurs pitch a panel of investors. 

The investors are the “Sharks.” 

And the entrepreneurs try to convince the Sharks to give them money in exchange for a percentage of their businesses.

Shark Tank has been on TV for more than a decade now. So at this point, the entrepreneurs really have their pitches dialed in.

But that wasn’t the case for the early episodes.

In the early days, the Sharks would tear the entrepreneurs to shreds all the time for not knowing their numbers.

And there was nothing more embarrassing than when the founder of a physical-product company didn’t even know how much it cost to make their stuff.

I mean, come on…

If you don’t know how much it costs to make your product, how the hell do you know how much to charge for it? 

Or how much you can afford to spend on advertising?

Or most important, how much profit you’re actually making?

From the outside, it’s obvious this is a huge problem. 

And it’s easy to judge these entrepreneurs for being “dumb”…

But The Sad Truth Is You’re Probably Making The Exact Same Mistake In Your Freelance Business Right Now

Because as freelancers, the number-one cost we have is our time.

Yet if I asked 100 freelancers to show me a report breaking down where their time went last month, I bet at least 95 of them wouldn’t be able to do it.

That’s just as bad as a physical-product business not knowing how much it costs to make their products.

And it should be just as embarrassing, too.

Because if you don’t know how much time you spend on your business, you can wind up in a situation where you’re working longer hours for less money…

Without even knowing it!

And that’s a recipe for burnout. Which is not where you want to be.

Especially since there are now tools out there that take away this problem and make tracking your time dead-simple.

My Favorite Time-Tracking Tool Is Called Timeular

Timeular comes with an eight-sided “dice.” And you can assign an activity to each side.

Then when you put it on your desk, the Timeular software starts to track the time for whichever activity is facing up. (Here’s a picture of me tracking the time for Freelance Like A Pro right now while I’m writing this article.)

And whenever you switch tasks, all you have to do is flip the Timeular device over to a new side and get to work.

Which is so much easier than keeping a tab open in your browser or using an app on your phone.

Plus you can also add tags and notes to the time entries in the software to make it easy to sort and reference the data later. So you can get insanely granular if you want.

But that’s not the important part…

The important part is that Timeular makes tracking your time dead simple — even if you only use the main features.

Which Is Why I Think Every Freelancer Who Takes Their Business Seriously Needs One

Now before I go further, you should know I’m not getting paid to mention this.

This is the exact time-tracking tool I use myself.

And like I said, I’m a huge fan of Timeular. To the point where I signed up for the Lifetime membership of their Pro plan for $249.

But if you’re new to Timeular and want to give it a shot, I recommend that you start with the 6-month Pro plan.

That way, you can try out the tracker and the software for half a year — all for less than 50 cents a day ($79).

And if you love it as much as I do, you can always upgrade to the Lifetime plan after that.

So check out everything you get with Timeular now — then choose the 6-month Pro plan on the pricing page to get started.

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Now let me show you how to make freelance clients come to you — like clockwork — using a simple, 30-second conversation…

All the details are inside my free business blueprint 30-Second Referrals.

With this free PDF, you’ll discover how to use a simple, 30-second conversation to get two referrals from every single client you sign. (I’ll even show you exactly what to say during this conversation with my word-for-word script on page 13.)

That way, you can make clients come to you like clockwork. And you can fill your pipeline with more new business than you can handle.

But there is a small catch…

30-Second Referrals is only available to members The Freelance Like A Pro email list.

So enter your best email below to join us and claim your free copy of 30-Second Referrals now. (And you’ll get my members-only emails to help you run a more profitable and stress-free freelance business, too.)

Thanks for the freelancing guide and the emails that you've been sending out — the 30-second referral method is so stupidly simple, that it's genius!

Connor Inch, Freelance Copywriter