Project codes
Start event titles with a short project code: JRM - Mix session, ACME: kickoff call. Track a code in the app and every matching event rolls into that project's running invoice at its saved hourly rate. Codes match as whole words, so CLnever matches “Clean”.
Hourly work
A timed event bills its real duration times the project's rate. That's the default for everything with a start and end time.
One-off flat fees
Add [Fixed: $500] (or [Flat: 500]) to any event's title and that event bills once at that price instead of hours times rate. This is the tool for a single deliverable: a mastering day, a launch-day support block, a rush fee.
All-day events only ever bill through a tag. An untagged all-day event is worth $0, on purpose: there is no implicit day rate.
Monthly retainers
Create a single all-day event anywhere in the month titled like JRM [Retainer: $2000]. That covers the whole calendar month for that project: the retainer bills $2,000 as one line, and every other JRM event that month logs its hours but bills $0. They're covered; that's what the retainer is for.
For an ongoing retainer, make that event repeat monthly in Google Calendar. Each month's copy covers its own month and bills on its own invoice.
Project phases
For deal-memo style projects, drop an all-day event on the day a phase starts: JRM - Scoring phase [Phase: $5000]. The phase covers everything from that day forward, and it ends automatically when you drop the next phase's anchor for the same project. No end dates to predict. If you do know the end, you can say so: [Phase: $5000 until 9/14].
Billing is separate from the work window. Put the phase event on an invoice whenever you actually charge it: first phase up front, final phase on delivery. The covered work stays covered either way.
What the invoice shows
A retainer or phase appears as one flat line (“JRM - Scoring phase (fixed fee)”). Covered events don't itemize on the invoice at all, and their hours stay in Insights, so your time record is always real even when the billing is flat.
Extra work inside a covered window
Tag the specific event [Fixed: $X]. A per-event tag always wins over the window it falls inside, so it bills on top of the flat fee.
The fine print that protects you
- Only events you created can define a retainer or phase. An invite from someone else carrying one of these tags does nothing.
- Clearing a retainer or phase event (the “don't bill this” gesture) turns its window off; its events go back to billing hourly.
- A flat fee can never double-bill: the fee lives on one calendar event, and an event marks invoiced once.