If all freelancers and small business owners in general have one thing in common, it’s likely the fact that the invoice is the single most important document they deal with on a regular basis. Invoices are more than just documents used to keep track of work as it’s being performed, they’re pretty much the “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory-style” golden ticket required to get paid for a hard day at the office. Depending on the number of clients you have, you may spend time generating a new one each day. However, the end result is worth the time and effort, right?
It may surprise you to learn the answer to that question is yes and no. While getting paid is important for any freelancer, recurring invoices in particular could actually cost you more money without you realizing it.
The Problem With Invoices
The problem stems from the “snowball effect” — the time and effort required to properly bill your clients can balloon, in effect expanding the cost as well.
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that the process of properly creating an invoice for a single client takes you about 20 minutes. You make sure the contact information is correct, you make sure you’ve clearly outlined exactly what type of work you’ve performed and when. You verify payment information each time and properly detail precisely how you expect to get paid.
Multiply by the Number of Clients
Now, let’s say you have 10 clients that you work with on a regular basis. That 20 minutes suddenly turns into 200 minutes (or 3.33 hours) each week of work. Three and a half hours you’re not getting paid for. Depending on your hourly rate, how much more money could you bring in if you were able to instead focus on actually generating new work instead of dealing with finished business?
Quick Tip: Now you see the inherent problem with recurring invoices and invoicing expenses. Unfortunately, it’s one that small business owners have looked at as a “necessary evil” for far too long. Luckily, this isn’t a problem you have to endure any longer.
Viewpost
Instead of manually creating invoices day in and day out, try an alternative method with Viewpost’s latest new feature, recurring invoices. Viewpost takes invoicing services to the next level by not only remembering line items once you’ve entered them to save time when you’re working with a new client, but also allowing you to automatically generate recurring invoices when you work repeatedly with existing clients.
If you know that you need to bill Client A for X number of dollars every Wednesday, there’s no sense in taking time out of your busy day to build another invoice from scratch on Tuesday night. Set up Viewpost to send out the invoice automatically, and then track the invoice through every stage of approval and payment — all without additional effort or manual entry required by you.
In the life of a freelance professional or small business owner, it really doesn’t get much better than that. You have the peace of mind that comes with knowing all of your clients are being properly billed exactly when they should be, and you can remain focused on productive work at the same time. Automating your invoices in this way not only helps save you time and money, but it also affords you the biggest benefit of all: the freedom to run the type of business you’ve always wanted, free from the compromises that reams of paperwork often cause.
If you think that automated recurring invoices could help your workflow, get started today.
