Track non-billable work time.
Non-billable work is unavoidable but not free: every admin and pitching hour is an hour that could have been sold, so pricing it at your billing rate makes the overhead visible. Annualising at 46 working weeks turns a few hours a week into the four- or five-figure sum it really is, which is what justifies automating invoicing or outsourcing bookkeeping.
Non-billable opportunity cost
Non-billable hours = admin hours + business development hours; yearly opportunity cost = non-billable hours x billing rate x 46 weeks
No — pitching wins work and admin keeps you paid. Measuring it is about deciding what to automate or delegate, not about eliminating it.
Roughly 20-30% for established independents. Much higher usually signals manual processes or a pipeline that needs constant feeding.
Because that is the alternative use of the hour. It sets a ceiling on what delegating the task is worth paying for.