Free Invoicing Software

What is the best way to get my invoicing done fast and painlessly?

I have outstandings from more than a year ago that i haven't done because invoicing is so repulsive to me... what is the easy solution that i haven't thought of yet?

Public Comments

1. First of all, learn Microsoft Excel or a comparable spreadsheet program. It is a powerful organizational tool that can decrease your time spent by unfathomable amounts. It can be set up with "conditional formatting" that will highlight/change font color depending on the criteria that you enter at set up. There are also formulas that can make your life infinitely easier. If you can take the extra time, this all can be learned online by the help function on this program at no expense. If you don't have the time, courses are available through many community colleges and online courses that do not cost an outrageous amount of money. You can even find good cd courses that are cost effective by seaching "learn excel", as well as some free tutorials.
2. As an entrepreneur (business consultant), I have to deal with invoicing once a month. If possible, could you provide some more details regarding what exactly you have a problem with? Do you have to pick through your credit card statements to find transactions? Do you have to look through time and expense reports from your employees? What exactly is so repulsive? Given the information you've provided, here are a few thoughts/recommendations: 1. YOUR PROCESS -- Make sure you have a clear process that everyone involved can follow. I developed a spreadsheet for all of my sub-contractors to fill out every week that records their time and expenses. It's the same form used every month/week. It's the same deadline every month/week. It's the same procedure every month/week. If you can get people "broken in" regarding the way to do it, there's no confusion (though there are occasional reporting mistakes that you have to watch for -- but that should be part of your process too). If you have to do tedious things such as picking through credit card statements to find applicable transactions, then perhaps you should get a separate credit card to help you segregate your "invoiceable" transactions from your "non-invoiceable" transactions. Do anything and everything that you have to do in order to make the invoice process as easy as possible for you. (The easier you think the process is, the more likely it is that you will actually do it.) 2. YOUR TECHNOLOGY -- Incorporate smart technologies to make things easy for you, your employees and your customers. The forms that my sub-contractors fill out every week are Excel spreadsheets. They email me their spreadsheet every week. I have a "master spreadsheet" into which I copy their information. It's simply a matter of copy/paste. In addition to Excel, I have an eFax account. If my sub-contractors have expense receipts to submit, I simply have them fax the receipts to my eFax account. I receive an email from eFax containing a PDF (Adobe) file which contains a copy of their expense receipts. Speaking of Adobe Acrobat, I also use this software in my invoicing. I convert the Excel timesheets to a "read-only" PDF file. I combine that with the PDF expense file and an invoice cover letter (also in PDF). Then I email the one PDF file to my client. And that's it. Everything is done electronically. I don't touch any pieces of paper. I found an invoice software service (that you use over the Internet) last year that looked pretty good but I never got around to buying that software. 3. OUTSOURCING THE TASK -- The strongest suggestion that I have for you is to HIRE someone to do your invoices for you! I'll bet you a dollar that it wouldn't take you more than an hour or so to complete one of your invoices. Even so, you obviously have a mental block against doing this work. Rather than seek counseling to find out WHY you have an aversion to this invoicing task, just give it to someone else so they can get it done! You may have to hold their hand and show them how it's done the first time or two. However, any reasonably intelligent person should be able to pick up the process and do it to your satisfaction (perhaps exceeding your expectations). I assume that you don't like PREPARING the invoices. You would probably enjoy looking through invoices that another person has prepared (in order for you to validate it before sending it to your client). Since this task requires relatively little time, it shouldn't cost too much to have someone else do this. You could hire a trusted friend or relative to do this for you for a nominal fee. I'm afraid that improving your invoice process or getting new invoice technology will not address the central issue here: you just don't like doing it (and it's nowhere written in stone that you have to like it doing it)! Let someone else who loves the details do it for you. (No, it's not too complicated for someone else to figure out!) Good luck!