Once in a while I will start doing some product reviews. Not because I will get paid by them (in fact I don’t allow sponsored posts here as a rule), but because I think the readers might get some value out of it, especially if I review a product that I use or mention a lot on the blog.
The first one will be about FreshBooks. They have been a sponsor of Daily Blog Tips for the past 6 months, and I was glad when they first arrived because I was already one of their happy users. Sometimes I also get emails from readers asking me what they should do when a company that is advertising on theirs blogs asks an invoice, so I figured not everyone might be aware of what FreshBooks offers.
The Service
FreshBooks is basically an online invoicing tool for freelancers and small business owners. After registering an account, you will be able add “Clients” to your account. Those are the people will be sending an invoice to, either for a work that you performed, or for your advertising fees and so on.
Once your client is added, you just need to select it and click on “Invoice.” You will then see the invoice interface, and there you will be able to add the product or service, its description, the price per unit, the numbers of units and so on. After that you just need to click on “Send” and your invoice will be automatically sent via email to your client.
Now some people might be asking themselves: “Why should I use this instead of just writing a quick invoice on my word processor and emailing it to the client myself?”
There are many reasons to. First of all the invoice will look more professional. I tried to make one on word but it was looking really bad. The FreshBooks ones instead looks like this:
Secondly, they also offer advanced features that might come useful either for you or for your clients. For example, they have a live time tracking tool that you can use if you bill your clients by the hour (like web designers do). Your clients will receive a login and password to access their invoices online if they want. You can automate the process of sending invoices and manage them under a single interface too.
The Price
How much does it cost? That is the good thing about FreshBooks: their basic offer is free. The limitation is that you can only manage 3 clients at the same time, but other than that it already comes with all the features that you would get with the paid plans.
If you give them a try and find that you like it but need to manage more clients, the second tier plan will allow you to manage up to 25 clients at the same time, and it costs $14 monthly.
So if you often need to send invoices to companies and clients, give them a try. I have been using the service for over one year, and it just gets the job done.
