Free tool

Founder Time Audit

Find out what an hour of your time is worth, see where your week actually goes, and get a ranked list of what to delegate first. Your answers stay in your browser.

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  • Saves as you go
  • Copy or print the result
1

How much is your time worth?

Your hourly value is what you earn divided by the hours you work. Your Buyback Rate is a quarter of that. Anything someone else could do for less than your Buyback Rate should leave your plate.

Count
Income is salary plus distributions. Revenue gives you the upper bound.
$
Counted over weeks a year.
Your hour is worth
$0
Add your numbers above.
Your Buyback Rate
$0
Work that costs less than this to hand off, hand off.
2

What fills your week?

Open your calendar and your sent folder for the last two weeks. Tick every task you do most weeks and put down the hours. Then mark each one: does it drain you or give you energy, and does it actually need you?

Drains / Energizes: how you feel doing it, even if it matters. Only me / Someone else: could a trained Right Hand do it with a checklist?
Ticked: 0 h a week across 0 tasks
3

Your time audit

Sorted with the DRIP Matrix: does it need you, and does it drain you. Delete what shouldn't exist, automate what you can, then delegate the rest.

Get my hours back
Freedom 40 guarantee. Attend the Delegation Mastermind, follow the onboarding plan, and meet with your Right Hand 10 minutes daily. If you don't get at least 40 hours back within your first 30 days, your next month is on us.
The method

What is a time audit?

A time audit is a written record of where your working hours actually go, priced against what an hour of your time is worth. It turns "I'm busy" into a list of tasks, hours and owners.

Most founders guess where their week goes. The guess is usually wrong in the same direction: more inbox, scheduling and admin than you'd admit, and less deep work. You can't fix a week you haven't measured. So measure it first, then decide what goes.

This template uses two ideas. The Buyback Rate: your income divided by your hours, divided by four. And the DRIP Matrix: every task sorted by whether it needs you and whether it drains you.

How to

How to run a time audit in 30 minutes

  1. Price your hour (5 minutes)

    Take what you earn from the business in a year. Divide by the hours you actually work in a year. That's your hourly value. Divide it by four and you have your Buyback Rate.

  2. List what fills your week (10 minutes)

    Open the last two weeks of your calendar and your sent email. Write down every task that shows up most weeks, with a rough number of hours. Inbox, scheduling, travel, follow-ups, reports, hiring, personal admin. Be honest. Nobody else sees it.

  3. Mark energy and need (10 minutes)

    For each task, two questions. Does it drain you or give you energy? Could someone trained do it with a checklist, or does it truly need you? Gut answers are fine.

  4. Sort, then pick three (5 minutes)

    Doesn't need you and drains you: Delegate. Needs you and drains you: Replace with a senior hire or a system later. Doesn't need you but you enjoy it: Invest, keep it and time-box it. Needs you and gives you energy: Produce, protect it. Pick the three biggest Delegate tasks and hand them off this week.

Want more precision? Track two full weeks instead of working from memory. Same sort, better numbers.

What should I delegate?

What to delegate first

Start with work that repeats every week, follows rules, and is easy to check: your inbox, your calendar, follow-ups, travel and the CRM. It's the fastest win, and it trains your Right Hand on how you think.

The order matters. Delete first, because handing off work that shouldn't exist just spreads the waste. Automate second. Delegate what's left. For the full matrix, read what to delegate to an executive assistant. For how to hand it over without micromanaging, read how to delegate as a founder.

Week 1

Inbox and calendar

Triage, routine replies, scheduling and rescheduling. Daily, rule-based, and it gives you back mornings.

Month 1

Follow-ups and the CRM

Updating records after calls, chasing replies, sending proposals and invoices. Nothing falls through.

After that

Projects and systems

Research, reports, hiring admin, SOPs and the automations that keep it all running.

Common questions

Time audit FAQ

What is a time audit?
A time audit is a record of where your working hours actually go, priced against what an hour of your time is worth. You list your recurring tasks, the hours each one takes, and whether it needs you. The output is a short list of what to delete, what to automate and what to delegate.
How do I calculate how much my time is worth?
Divide what you earn from the business in a year by the hours you work in a year. If you earn $300,000 and work 50 hours a week for 48 weeks, your hour is worth $125. Divide that by four to get your Buyback Rate: $31.25. Anything someone else could do for less than that, buy it back.
What should I delegate first?
Recurring, rule-based work that drains you: inbox triage, scheduling, travel, CRM updates and follow-ups. It shows up every week, it's easy to check, and handing it off frees time right away. Keep the work that needs your judgment and gives you energy. The full list is in our guide on what to delegate to an executive assistant.
What is the DRIP Matrix?
A way to sort tasks by value and energy. Delegate: it doesn't need you and it drains you. Replace: it needs real skill and drains you, so build a system or hire someone senior. Invest: it doesn't need you but you enjoy it, so keep it and time-box it. Produce: it needs you and gives you energy. That's where your week should go.
Is this time audit template free? Do you store my answers?
It's free, with no signup. Everything runs in your browser. Your answers are saved on this device only, so you can come back and finish later. Nothing is sent to us. Use Start over to clear them.
When does a full-time Right Hand pay for itself?
When the hours you'd hand off, valued at your hourly rate, are worth more than the cost. A Pareto Right Hand costs $3,600 a month month-to-month, or $36,000 a year on the annual plan, plus a one-time $3,000 placement fee. The audit above runs that math on your numbers. If it doesn't add up yet, it says so.
What to delegate to an executive assistantThe matrix: what to hand over first, and what to keep.
How to delegate as a founderHand work off without it coming back to you.
Hire an executive assistant from Latin AmericaWhy our Right Hands are in Latin America and how we vet them.
Get matched with a Right HandThree hand-picked profiles within 24 hours of your Matching Call.
Get Matched

Hand off your Delegate list this month

A Pareto Right Hand is full-time, works only for you, and completes 40+ hours of training before day one. Book a Matching Call and get your first three profiles within 24 hours.

Freedom 40 guarantee: attend the Delegation Mastermind, follow the onboarding plan, and meet with your Right Hand 10 minutes daily. If you don't get at least 40 hours back within your first 30 days, your next month is on us.

Get Matched Back to the audit