When it comes to managing the finances of a business, it is certainly not a very exciting task. It can prove to be quite cumbersome and boring. Moreover, if one is not from accounting background, managing finances will seem like a herculean task. And the fact is that most of the designers do not prefer to take care of finances even if it is an integral part of a business.
In order to run a designing company successfully, mere designing skills are not sufficient. You need capital to run your business successfully. And for that you need to send an invoice to your clients so that they can send you your fee. Mentioned below are some great freelancing tips for freelancers and designers who are about to start their own company.
First and foremost, you need to find a powerful and a robust invoicing solution. Although there are plethora of online invoicing apps available. These online invoicing apps are designed keeping in mind the requirements of freelancers. Some of these apps are available for free, while others come with a price tag. The paid invoicing apps are available in different price range. The price of an app depends on the features provided by it. The more features an app has to offer, the higher will be the price.
Other than generating the invoices, an online invoicing app also helps a lot in saving a good amount of time and allows you to manage an archive of invoices in an efficient manner. An effective professional invoicing application helps you in searching previous bills, figuring out received funds. It also makes other such tasks a lot easier. Therefore, you should select an invoicing application carefully based on your basic requirements. Some apps are available with just one time fee, while others are available with a monthly subscription fee.
Secondly, you need to keep your clients well informed. Whatever policies you have set for your business, for instance- payment terms, hourly rates, pending amounts etc should be conveyed to the clients very clearly. If a client finds something irrelevant in the invoice, they may want to clarify it and this will result in a delay in your payment. Therefore, it is imperative that when you send your invoice, you should make sure that the client is aware of everything that you have mentioned in the invoice.
Thirdly, you should define all your policies well. Good clients always pay on time. But sometimes due to certain reasons there could be a delay in the payment. Here is what you should do if a client does not pay on time.
1.Determine how many days you want to give to clients for late payments.
2. Decide the amount of late fee that would be levied.
Once you set up the policies, you should also be flexible enough to accommodate some exceptions. For instance- if a client has a genuine reason for the delay in the payment, you should waive the late fee.
Fourthly, you should include your contact details in the invoice. Your contact details should be there stated clearly. Also, you can include some basic information about your business. You can include information like you name, company name, address, contact number and the email id. Including your contact details makes sure that the process gets accelerated and the client knows whom to contact if the need arises.
You should also include client’s information in the invoice. This is very important. It helps in establishing the fact that you are expecting payment from them. And if there is a non payment issue, you can always use the invoice as an evidence.
Another important thing to be mentioned is the due date of the invoice. State clearly by when the client should make the payment. If you do not mention the due date, you will not be able to implement your late fee policies. After designing the policies for non payment, you can include them as a note in the invoice.
Lastly, and importantly, you must mention the mode of payment which you accept. This will help clients in knowing how to transfer your fee to you. Also mention the details of the recipient. If you miss out on any important information, it may delay your payment.
