[1225]

What does the 1225 in the website name refer to?

Be prepared to be bored out of your mind, we’re going to talk about tax law!

The Dutch tax agency requires sole proprietors (or entrepreneurs in a simple partnership - a Vennootschap Onder Firma) to be able to prove that they work enough hours in their own business in order to qualify for tax breaks. And they’ve put the limit at 1225 hours per year. If you work fewer hours, you can’t claim to be an entrepreneur on your tax forms, and you miss out on some (admittedly pretty sweet) tax benefits.

This site was originally created to allow Dutch entrepreneurs to fulfil this requirement and be able to track their activities to prove to the tax agency that they did enough work on their own business throughout the year. When users from outside the Netherlands joined the site, though, things became more international and most references to the 1225 hour goal/limit disappeared.

Even after this change, though, we were stuck with the idea that there was something to this number. It’s a little over 102 hours per month. And it does make sense to assume you’re going to spend about a hundred hours a month on your business. That is a number that you can hit even if it’s only a part time thing you do in addition to your day job. So we stuck with the number, both as part of our identity and as part of our entrepreneurial philosophy.

The domain name changed from 1225uur.nl to 1225.live (but you can still use the old one!) in order to remove emphasis on the Dutch angle while still retaining the number, and stressing the fact that you can track your activities live, as you’re doing them.

Who makes this website?

This website is made by Mike van de Weijer and, occasionally, a limited number of other contributors.

Why should I track how I spend my time?

Tracking the time that you spend on your projects, regardless of if they are for yourself or for clients, is one of the best ways to find out what you actually spend your time on, and what time expenditure is actually making you money.

Imagine you have three projects. Project A is for a client who pays by the hour. Project B is for a paid online service that you operate yourself. Project C is a hobby project that will not bring in any money.

Which of these projects should you be working on?

If you take a purely economical perspective, you should work on the project that brings the largest reward on a per hour basis. Right now, that might be Project A with its straight hourly rate. But once your paid SaaS project, Project B, starts selling, you may wish that you’d spent more time on that as you divide the total income from that project over the number of hours you’ve put in and see that number surpass the hourly rate associated with Project A.

Here’s the hard truth: That’s a calculation you can only make if you’ve actually tracked your time. And what you see in the rearview mirror will obviously also inform future choices. Perhaps you’ll abandon Project A or Project C to focus all of your time on Project B. That’s a choice that’s much easier to make if you have the data in front of you.

Why should I do my time tracking online, specifically?

Let’s be honest: You do so many things online already. You’re reading this text on a computer, phone or tablet. And you don’t use an abacus for your bookkeeping either.

Tracking your time online makes sense in a world that’s moving faster than ever before. Sure, you could just use a notepad on your desk, but what happens if you don’t bring that notepad with you on a business trip? If you don’t record your time expenditure somewhere, you’re going to lose track and it’ll never get written down on that notepad hundreds of miles away.

And of course tracking your time online also allows you to create graphs, reports and invoices. You wouldn’t get that from any physical paper tracking system. Even if you were to use your own spreadsheet to track your time expenditure, that’s just going to force you to create a new spreadsheet every year, and to ensure that you have access to it anywhere in the world. It’s much easier to just use a website like this one instead.

How do I log in to my account?

On 1225.live, you’ll find the login box in the bottom right of the screen. If 1225.live doesn’t lead to a page with a login box, it might be that you’re still (or already) logged in.

How do I log out of my account?

If you’re logged in and want to log out, you can simply click the ‘log out’ link in the top right of the navigation bar at the top of your screen. If you’re accessing the website on a mobile device, you may have to open the menu to do this.

I forgot my account email address. Can you tell me what it was?

We are committed to your privacy, so if you email us from an email address that is not connected to your account, we will not be able to tell you anything about your account data. If you know the email address you used but you don’t have access to it anymore, please email support@1225.live so we can try to find a solution for you.

I forgot my password. How can I reset it?

Make sure you’re logged out (by clicking the log out link in the top right if you’re still logged in), and then go to 1225.live. In the login box in the bottom right, you’ll find a link to the password reset feature. We’ll send you an email with a link to reset your password.

How do I upload a new avatar?

To upload a new avatar, please first make sure you’re logged in. Then go to your Profile page and hit the ‘Edit profile’ button. At the bottom of the next page, you’ll find the avatar section, where you can upload a new avatar.

Please make sure that your image is no larger than 300kb. If your image isn’t already square, we’ll crop it. If your image is an animated gif, it will be changed to a still image. Please do not upload 18+ images. Any new avatar that you upload will delete the old one, so please make sure you’ve saved your old avatar if you still need it.

Why can’t I upload my new avatar?

If the ‘Edit profile’ page will not allow you to upload an avatar, that’s likely due to one of two reasons: Either your file is too big (over 300kb) or the file type is wrong. You can only upload files that are either jpg, gif or png.

Why do you need my address, phone number, website, business registration number and tax ID?

We don’t actually need your address, phone number, website, business registration number and tax ID. This is extra information that you can give to us so we can put it on the invoices that we create for you. The only information that you absolutely need to enter to use the website is an email address and a display name.

How do I upgrade my account?

For the moment, all accounts are upgraded manually. Please email sales@1225.live from your account email address so we can send you a payment link.

Can I really use the website for free?

The basic functionality of this website is completely free. You can track as many activities as you like. There are some limitations, though: Free accounts can only have ten active projects, and they cannot store client details to generate invoices, or store PDF invoices they’ve created.

What benefits will I get when I upgrade?

Once you upgrade your account, you’ll be able to set 100 active projects, rather than just ten. You’ll also be able to store client information to speed up invoice creation, and you’ll be able to store the invoices that you generate right in your account.

How much does an upgrade cost?

You can upgrade your account for only € 5 per month. And if you pay for a full year in advance, you’ll only pay € 50.

How can I pay?

For the moment, all accounts are upgraded manually. Please email sales@1225.live from your account email address so we can send you a payment link. We'll discuss possible payment methods in our email conversation.

How is the privacy of my information safeguarded?

We know that no one wants information on how they spend their time to end up being made public. [1225] does not share any user information with others, except in cases where there is a clear legal obligation to do so. An example would be if a court order were to compel us. We really only imagine this happening if you use this website to record how long various crimes took. I can’t believe I have to say this, but please don’t use this website to plan or coordinate crimes.

Can I use this website anonymously?

Absolutely! As long as you’re a free user, all you need to log in is an email address, and you can use any display name you’d like. This is still the case if you upgrade, but we’ll see your payment data, which may include your name. These payment records are kept for seven years in order to comply with Dutch tax law. You can still remove your account and all of the activities you’ve ever logged, though!

Can I remove my account?

You can remove your account, for any reason or no reason at all, any time you’d like. Just send us an email at accounts@1225.live and we’ll take care of it immediately.

What will you use my email address for if I sign up?

All free and paying users will by default only receive emails from [1225] if that’s necessary for the functioning of your account. For example, to reset your account password, or to confirm an email address change. If you’d also like to receive our newsletter, you can sign up for that separately. We will never send you spam and will not share your email address with other organizations.

Do you use cookies or any tracking technologies?

The only cookies we use are the ones that keep you logged in. [1225] does not use any other tracking technologies, such as Google Analytics or Facebook tracking pixels. We do this because we care about your privacy, but also because we think it doesn’t add much and in fact only detracts from both the manageability of the website and your experiences as a user. We do track some limited statistics, but only in aggregate and without even the option of tracking individuals.

Who has access to the data that I enter on the website?

A very limited number of high level [1225] employees have access to the raw data you enter. Normal employees, contractors and contributors do not have access to user accounts or their tracked activities.

How do I add a new project?

To add a new project, navigate to the projects page. Click the blue ‘Add a new project’ button and a form will fold out. Enter the project’s name and description and click ‘Add project.’ Your new project has now been created.

How do I delete a project?

To delete a project from your account, navigate to the projects page. Hit the ‘Edit project’ button for project you want to remove. At the bottom of the ‘Edit project’ page that opens up, you’ll see a red button that reads ‘Delete this project.’ If you hit that button, you’ll see a confirmation screen with a warning. Deleting the project will remove the project itself, as well as all activities associated with it. You won’t be able to generate any reports or invoices with the project or any of its activities. Please only hit the red ‘Delete’ button on the confirmation page if you’re absolutely sure you want to delete the project.

How do I edit a project?

To edit a project’s details, navigate to the projects page. Hit the ‘Edit project’ button for project you want to change. On the ‘Edit project’ page that loads, you can change the project title, project description, project color, and project status, and the pay rate and currency associated with the project.

Simply enter the new information and hit ‘Save changes’ to save the new project details.

You can also change the project image on this page. Please make sure that your image is no larger than 300kb. If your image isn’t already square, we’ll crop it. If your image is an animated gif, it will be changed to a still image. Please do not upload 18+ images. Any new project image that you upload will delete the old one, so please make sure you’ve saved the old image if you still need it.

Please note that saving new project details and uploading a new project image need to be done separately.

How can I set a project to active?

If you have inactive projects in your account, you’ll see a link the ‘Inactive projects’ page on the normal Projects page. Or you can go to the inactive projects page directly.

Hit the ‘Edit’ button for any of the projects on the inactive projects page and you’ll see a page on which you can change the status, as well as all the other project details.

If the website will not allow you to change the project status, it may be that you’ve run into the project limit: 10 active projects for free accounts, and 100 active projects for upgraded accounts.

How can I set a project to inactive?

To change a project to inactive, navigate to the projects page. Hit the ‘Edit project’ button for project you want to change. On the ‘Edit project’ page that loads, you can change the project status to inactive. Inactive projects will not show up on the Projects page or on the Input page, so you will not be able to submit new activities for an inactive project.

Why can’t I add more projects?

If you can’t add any new projects, it’s most likely that you’ve hit the project limit. That’s 10 projects for free accounts, and 100 projects for upgraded accounts.

It might also be that you’re trying to add a project that already exists. If your account already has a project with the exact name and description you’re trying to add, that won’t work. A red error message will inform you that this is the case.

Lastly, it might be that we’re experiencing technical difficulties. You can try again later. If that doesn’t work, please contact support@1225.live for assistance.

How can I hide a project from the projects list, input page and reports page?

The new project status ‘hidden’ that will completely remove projects from all interfaces is coming soon.

How do I add an activity?

To add an activity, go to the ‘Input’ page. There, you’ll be able to submit up to five activities at a time. Simply select (or type!) the time and date the activity started and ended, select the project the activity is associated with, and type a note with the description of the actual work you’ve done if you feel like it.

How do I edit an activity?

At this moment, it’s not yet possible to edit activities that have already been submitted. This is something that’s very high up on our development calendar, though! Keep your eyes peeled for an update on your home page.

How do I delete an activity?

At this moment, it’s not yet possible to delete activities that have already been submitted. This is something that’s very high up on our development calendar, though! Keep your eyes peeled for an update on your home page.

What do I need to add an activity?

An activity needs to have a start time and date, an end time and date and a project. Also adding a note is always a great idea, so you can check back what it was exactly that you worked on.

What is the longest period I can run a report for?

In order to keep things manageable for the website, the longest period you can run a report for is one year. Longer periods would lead to too large a number of activities to calculate or display. And once you get into longer time periods, you’re likely not interested in individual activities anymore and you’re probably looking for the aggregate times you see in the graph.

Why is my report showing up as empty?

There are a few possible reasons your requested report is showing up as empty:

1. You’ve selected a time period in which there were no activities;
2. You’ve selected a set of projects that don’t have any activities in the selected time period;

Please double check both the projects and the start and end date of the report that you’ve created.

Why does my report say there is overlap?

There are two possible ways your report may indicate overlap: You may have overlap within a project, or overlap between projects.

Overlap within a project means that there is at least one activity for the project within the reporting period that started before the previous activity (in the same project) ended.

Overlap between projects means that you've logged an activity in one project that started before another activity in another project ended. This doesn't have to be a big issue. For example, you may have been watching a video for one project while also writing an email for another project.

I can’t find all of my projects on the Reports page!

If a project doesn’t show up on the Reports page, it may be that you’ve hidden this project. You’ll have to unhide the project before you’ll be able to include it in your time report.

How do I add a client?

To add a new client, go to your Profile page and click on the ‘View stored clients’ link. This link will only show up if you’re using a paid account.

To add a new client on the clients page, hit the blue ‘Add new client’ button and enter at least a client name (for your use only) and the client’s company name. The client’s address and tax ID are optional fields. Hit ‘Add client’ and you’re all set. If something doesn’t work right, the website will show you a red error message.

I want to add a client that’s an individual, not a company. Can I do this?

You absolutely can! Even though the ‘client name’ and ‘client’s company name’ fields are mandatory, you can enter any type of information you want in there. It’s not a requirement to use an actual company name in the ‘company name’ field. You can use an individual’s name, your contact person at a company, a phone number, or something completely made up.

Why can’t I add clients?

You can only store client information if you have an upgraded account. If you’re still on a free account, you’ll have to re-enter your client’s information with every invoice that you create.

How do I change information for an existing client?

At this time, it’s not possible to edit a client’s information. This is a feature that’s on our road map for the near future. In the mean time, you can create a new client with the correct information.

How do I delete a client?

At this time, it’s not possible to delete a client. This is a feature that’s on our road map for the near future.

Why can’t I create an invoice?

The invoicing feature is being built right now. If you don’t see it yet, it might still be in development, or we’re fine tuning it a bit. Please come back later to try again.

Why can’t I store my invoice?

If you can’t store your invoice, that’s most likely because you’re using a free account. Upgrading your account will enable you to store your generated invoices.

Can I add a custom message to my clients on an invoice?

As part of the process of creating an invoice, you can enter a short text in the ‘Payment instructions’ field. Most users will use this to mention their bank account number or put in a link to an online payment request, but you can actually use this for anything. If you’d like to just say ‘I loved working for you, best regards from the beach’ that’s also fine! For anything longer than 200 characters, though, you’re better off sending them an email.