How Ubuntu Freelancers ended month-end billing disputes and grew client contracts with Toggl

About

Ubuntu Freelancers is a South African remote staffing agency specialising in supporting mental and behavioural health practices across the United States.

Founded in 2022 by Di Luden and Ryan Scheepers, Ubuntu matches US mental health practices with remote professionals from South Africa who work as part of the practice’s own team. They handle the day-to-day running of the practice: patient intake, scheduling, client communication, insurance verification and billing.

The support doesn’t stop at the placement. Ubuntu recruits carefully, then keeps training and mentoring its team members, and builds a community around them. The idea is simple: use technology to take care of the admin, so the people involved can focus on what matters most in mental healthcare, which is empathy, good judgement and real connection.

Toggl is part of the technology side of that balance: since 2022, every hour Ubuntu's team works for clients is tracked, shared and invoiced in Toggl.

Results with Toggl

• Went from a few Free plan users to 50 active freelancers (and their Toggl setup grew with them)
• No resistance from freelancers, and no formal training needed beyond a few onboarding videos
• Uses reports as evidence to expand client contracts when clients ask for more work
• Freelancer payroll for 50 people takes their bookkeeper about 5 hours per cycle
• Replaced end-of-month billing disputes with live visibility for clients

"[Sending clients reports] has definitely helped us to expand our contracts with our clients."
— Di Luden, Co-Founder, Ubuntu Freelancers

Challenges

Before Toggl, Ubuntu Freelancers' team logged their hours in their own Google Sheets. That didn't work for clients who wanted to see time as it was tracked, not a summary written after the fact.

"They didn't want people to say, 'I worked from 12 until 1 doing invoice recon.' They wanted the clock to start, and they wanted to be able to see the actual seconds of what someone was doing."
— Di Luden

Invoicing was the other problem. Each freelancer worked out what they were owed from their own sheet, and the numbers rarely matched.

"They would then have to calculate themselves how much money they were owed by us. And there were always discrepancies, and that caused me major headaches."
— Di Luden

As clients started hiring several freelancers at once, Di also had no way to see how many hours each client used, who worked the most, or which clients were most profitable. That data was spread across everyone's private spreadsheets.

Solution

One place for every hour

Ubuntu Freelancers started using Toggl in 2022, on the Free plan, after their largest client at the time recommended it. For the first time, all their time data sat in one place.

"It was information that didn't exist before, so it really did feel like a major life transformation."
— Di Luden

A team that wanted to track time

The freelancers were glad to move. With a start button and a description for each entry, they no longer had to defend their hours when a client questioned them.

"They were really excited to move to Toggl because they were able to then click their start button. When they press stop, they could write what they did, and it made everything a lot clearer for both the client and the team member."
— Di Luden

Live visibility instead of end-of-month disputes

In the early days, Ubuntu Freelancers shared live Toggl report links with clients, so they could check hours and work at any time. Questions came up as the work happened, not when the invoice arrived.

"By giving them that live access, we kind of put the responsibility on them and said, here, you need to track this. And if there's any issues, you need to let us know. [Live access] gave us credibility, and it also gave us peace of mind."
— Di Luden

The client who first recommended Toggl is still with them, and some clients have since started using Toggl in their own businesses.

Reports that make the case for more hours

When a client asks for more work, Di pulls a report showing where the contract stands. Tracked time also shows clients what tasks really involve. A "quick" call to an insurance company might mean 20 minutes on hold and 20 minutes on the phone.

"I'm able to pull that report, send it to the client and say, more than happy to help you. This is where we are currently sitting. If you want us to add this task, we are going to need a few more hours."
— Di Luden

Invoices and payroll from the same data

Each freelancer is added to their client's private project before they join, so it's the only project they see. They track their time, create their invoice in Toggl and save it there, using a naming format that makes every invoice easy to find. Invoices then go into QuickBooks, which Ubuntu Freelancers chose because it integrates with Toggl.

"We've already assigned them to their project. It's the only project that they can see. So it's not confusing."
— Di Luden

Before payroll and client billing, the bookkeeper pulls saved reports to double-check every invoice. For 50 freelancers, the payroll side takes about 5 hours. Di can also adjust what each report shows, depending on who it's for.

"If I want to send something to a client, I can hide what the cost is, or if I'm sending it to the team member, I can hide what the rate is."
— Di Luden

Growing without switching tools

Onboarding is a set of Loom videos alongside Toggl's own guides, showing new freelancers exactly what their workspace should look like. As the team grew from a handful of people to 50, the setup grew with them.

"We've just been able to grow with Toggl, and nothing's ever broken. We've never had to say, 'Oh my gosh, this is not working.'"
— Di Luden

Why they'd recommend Toggl

"It's very easy to use, it's very self-explanatory. I don't have to spend any time actually training someone on how to use it. They can figure it out themselves."
— Di Luden

For Di, support matters as much as the product. If a problem occurs, she gets an answer from Toggl support and a follow-up to check whether the solution worked.

"You're not waiting weeks and weeks and weeks for people to come back to you. And then there's always a follow-up."
— Di Luden

A good fit for agencies that bill clients for freelancers' time and want clients to see the hours as they happen.