A business owner’s pride and joy is payday. While income can fluctuate when you work for yourself, it’s best to make the payment process run as smoothly as possible.
When I first became self-employed, I used Paypal to send invoices and get paid. It was free to use and I only had to pay a fee on my earnings. It was simple but I ultimately ended up graduating to invoicing software.
Most invoicing software programs aren’t free, but they are convenient and helpful for most business owners. If you’re wondering if you should invest in an invoicing program, here are 3 questions to ask yourself to help you decide.
1. Am I Being Charged A Ton of Transaction Fees?
Getting charged high fees just to get paid is not worth it. There are many different ways to invoice and if you accept debit or credit card payments, you may face some high fee charges. Accepting different forms fo payment is not all that bad.
You probably want to offer that convenience to clients and let’s face it, who wants to wait around for a paper check each month?
Switching to a low-cost credit card processing service for your invoices may be able to help you save a ton of money allowing your business to increase profits.
2. Do I Have Trouble Keeping Up With Payments?
One of the best benefits of using invoicing software is that most paid programs will help you keep up with payments and sometimes even expenses for accounting purposes. Not to mention, you may not even have time to figure out if you’re collecting payments securely and protecting your personal data and your client’s personal financial data.
Invoicing software can help with this. If business has started to pick up and you’re sending more invoices, you need an easy system to help you keep track of what’s going out and what’s going in.
You may even want to pull data and track income over time. Using invoicing software can make your life much easier come tax time and provide you with more peace of mind as well.
3. Am I Spending Too Much Time Sending Invoices?
Time is money. This is very literal when it comes to sending invoices. It can be exciting if you find yourself sending tons of invoices each month, but it can also become pretty time consuming if you’re not careful.
By using certain invoice software systems, you can cut down on the time it takes you to send an invoice. Some systems allow you to set up recurring invoices or set up draft invoice templates to make the process quicker. If you need to add in discounts or additional fees, you’ll want to use an invoicing system that accommodates these needs.
You may even find that your service sends reminders to the recipient to make sure they received your invoice and pay it. That way, you don’t have to constantly follow up with clients in order to get them to remember to pay you.
Summary
As your business grows, it’s important to systemize the way you get paid. Investing in invoicing software is a great solution for most entrepreneurs but you want to make sure you’ll get plenty of ROI from whatever services you choose to get.
