These days, if an invoicing program isn’t automated, it’s unlikely that a small business or sole proprietor will use it. Forget Excel formulas, it’s about seeing your billable time, recording your expenses and sending invoices, all with a phone. Welcome to the mobile billing department.
Karen Geier is a digital and social media consultant, a writer and the co-founder of an event-planning startup called Shyndyg. She has no time to sit down and figure out her accounts when she could be out meeting clients. Recently, she asked on Facebook for accounting suggestions and, after researching, she went with Toronto-based FreshBooks.
“I have an accounting program that I was using, but it was too manual,” says Ms. Geier, who likes FreshBooks because she believes it’s easier to use, has all the tools in the cloud and allows her to send invoices from her phone. She also makes use of the billing tool.
“I use their expense importing feature that syncs with my bank account and credit card, so I can see what my billings versus expenses are at a glance, and also I can add those items directly into invoices with one click. I also use their timekeeping service for jobs where I bill by the hour.”
Mike McDerment launched FreshBooks about 11 years ago in the basement of his parents’ home. For Mr. McDerment, co-founder and chief executive officer, invoicing was a pain that had caused a fateful crisis, as is documented on FreshBooks’ site. He inadvertently lost an important invoice when he saved another over top of it – a mistake that inspired the creation of FreshBooks.
The tool was first built to manage invoicing and tracking for small businesses. “The pain is around creating invoices, sending invoices, following up with clients, collecting payments, updating their books,” Mr. McDerment says. “And one day they realize it’s painful every single month and they have to make it stop, so they go and find something. And then they find us.”
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