Nicole:
Q: I’m using a simple but archaic invoicing process:
I type up invoice in Word, save it as a pdf and send to my clients on the first of every month. I keep an Excel spreadsheet to track invoices and payments. My projects range from $1,200 to $25,000. Monthly invoices for some clients are the same amount every month and for others, differ by work completed the prior month. I don’t (lucky me!) have any problems collecting payment but wonder if their is online system or something you recommend to streamline my process?
A: I like your approach here. It’s not archaic. It’s simple, you understand it, and it tells you what you need to know.
Who owes you? And how much? And when it comes time to do your taxes and year-end books, you can figure pretty quickly who paid you, and how much. Yes, there is some fiddling and figuring to do.
My guess is, you could go for years like this and be just fine. There is no big reason to complicate things.
There are online services, such as Freshbooks.com and blinksale.com that might save you, I don’t know, maybe 90 minutes’ work per month. They let you render an invoice with somewhat less typing. And, they automatically generate reports on what is outstanding. And what every client has paid you so far this year. And maybe let your clients pay with credit cards if that’s helpful.
But there’s a monthly charge. And you do have to spend a little time figuring it all out.
If you are nerdy about paperwork, you may find such services fun and helpful. Especially if you have to generate a lot of invoices each month.
Otherwise, keep doing what you’re doing. Until it becomes an utter pain in the ass. In which case, you will be making a ton of money, and paying for an online service makes more sense.
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Yes! Agreed!
If you are nerdy about paperwork but don’t want a “cloud” solution, the other option is to fancy up your Excel sheet. Pivot tables are awesome.
But sometimes I find myself playing with pivot tables instead of clocking billable hours, so there’s that.
Hello,
Great article and a lot of truth in it. I do agree that you probably save at least 90 minutes per month if you change to an online invoicing software. However, it really depends how busy you are and how much you “like” the entire accounting part of your business.
I work for a company called Invoiceberry, which also offers an online invoicing software, similar to the ones mentioned above. However, we are more UK and US focused and also offer free plans for small businesses. Have a look at our software if you have some spare time.
Best,
Ben
Until very recently I’ve used the same Word/Exel system but I got fed up with the time it was taking. Now I use Exel macros to automatically create the invoice. I enter the numbers in the speadsheet, run the macro and poof! I save the new Excel sheet as a pdf and voilà, one invoice – with the added advantage of no copy/paste errors.