Hey community members! What process or software do you use to bill your clients? I've read about Freshbooks and I'm testing there product out. Is anyone here using them?
I use MS-Word saved as .pdf. one of the Invoice Templates. I include an hours breakdown at the bottom of the page.
The process is that I send it whenever we agree, (project milestones, monthly and so on), and expect payment within our agreed timescale. If they want me to do one of their timesheets too/instead of, that's OK as well.
Never found the need for it. Since 1986, I have always had to record every minute of working time, by 15-minute intervals, for each of the corporates I worked in, so I find it easy.
The paperwork only takes me minutes to do, so no real issues.
I receive payment by PayPal, BACS, Direct Bank Transfer, International Money transfers, whatever is easiest for the client. Smaller jobs tend to be done by PayPal, where I try to get the client to meet the cost of the transfer.
I'm just starting out and have a meeting with my first client. This is helpful. When you say smaller jobs by PayPal, what qualifies as small? (10,000 or below).
I normally paypal upto about $1000 only. After that they should be able to
use existing and more "professional" payment methods. Check all fees before
committing!
I also just use a Word doc that I convert to PDF. To make calculating easier, I have an Excel spreadsheet inserted into the Word doc. In the spreadsheet, I provide a breakdown of my work each day with: [project name] (sometimes I'm working on multiple projects for one client) | [hours spent on the project] x [my hourly rate]. In the last column, I provide the all the dollar amounts and then the grand total automatically calculated at the bottom. Pretty simple.
So far, how often I should invoice and how payment is delivered has been up to the client and is always in the contract. I typically receive a check or direct deposit and invoice either weekly or monthly.
I've also thought about using something like Freshbooks, but don't feel like my invoices and expenses are complicated enough. I do my own taxes with no problem.
I use a product called QuickBooks Pro to do all my accounting and invoicing. It is similar to Freshbooks. I find it very useful because I can track everything in one place - when it comes time to paying my HST (similar to VAT in UK) I can just run a report.
I receive payment by direct deposit, cheque, and paypal ( whatever works best for the client).
I use the same as Nancy: QuickBooks Pro. It provides you with a full set of books, which can be very useful come tax time and any other time. You can use as many or as few of its features as you'd like to start, and it can expand to handle a lot more as your business grows.
I've recently looked at going lighter and more mobile for accounting, but haven't found anything worth moving to yet. I eliminated FreshBooks pretty early in my search. I don't remember exactly what the the deal breaker was, but it couldn't do what I wanted it to do.
Most clients pay me via direct deposit and a few pay by check. I haven't had anyone ask to use any other form of payment yet.
9 Replies
I use MS-Word saved as .pdf. one of the Invoice Templates. I include an hours breakdown at the bottom of the page.
The process is that I send it whenever we agree, (project milestones, monthly and so on), and expect payment within our agreed timescale. If they want me to do one of their timesheets too/instead of, that's OK as well.
Simple :)
how do you receive payment? Check, PayPal, etc. Why don't you use an invoicing software? Wouldn't it be easier to manage the paperwork for tax time?
Never found the need for it. Since 1986, I have always had to record every minute of working time, by 15-minute intervals, for each of the corporates I worked in, so I find it easy.
The paperwork only takes me minutes to do, so no real issues.
I receive payment by PayPal, BACS, Direct Bank Transfer, International Money transfers, whatever is easiest for the client. Smaller jobs tend to be done by PayPal, where I try to get the client to meet the cost of the transfer.
I'm just starting out and have a meeting with my first client. This is helpful. When you say smaller jobs by PayPal, what qualifies as small? (10,000 or below).
I normally paypal upto about $1000 only. After that they should be able to
use existing and more "professional" payment methods. Check all fees before
committing!
I also just use a Word doc that I convert to PDF. To make calculating easier, I have an Excel spreadsheet inserted into the Word doc. In the spreadsheet, I provide a breakdown of my work each day with: [project name] (sometimes I'm working on multiple projects for one client) | [hours spent on the project] x [my hourly rate]. In the last column, I provide the all the dollar amounts and then the grand total automatically calculated at the bottom. Pretty simple.
So far, how often I should invoice and how payment is delivered has been up to the client and is always in the contract. I typically receive a check or direct deposit and invoice either weekly or monthly.
I've also thought about using something like Freshbooks, but don't feel like my invoices and expenses are complicated enough. I do my own taxes with no problem.
I use a product called QuickBooks Pro to do all my accounting and invoicing. It is similar to Freshbooks. I find it very useful because I can track everything in one place - when it comes time to paying my HST (similar to VAT in UK) I can just run a report.
I receive payment by direct deposit, cheque, and paypal ( whatever works best for the client).
I use the same as Nancy: QuickBooks Pro. It provides you with a full set of books, which can be very useful come tax time and any other time. You can use as many or as few of its features as you'd like to start, and it can expand to handle a lot more as your business grows.
I've recently looked at going lighter and more mobile for accounting, but haven't found anything worth moving to yet. I eliminated FreshBooks pretty early in my search. I don't remember exactly what the the deal breaker was, but it couldn't do what I wanted it to do.
Most clients pay me via direct deposit and a few pay by check. I haven't had anyone ask to use any other form of payment yet.
Good to know. I'll check out QuickBooks Pro. Thanks all.
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