Think social media is a fad? Think again. If your business is not taking advantage of the social media revolution, you are ignoring a lot of potential customers! Consider this: Over half of the world’s population is under 30 years old and 96 percent of them use social networks. Studies show that spreading the word about your brand to 50 million people will take 38 years by radio, 13 years by TV, 4 years on the Web, 3 years for iPod… and yet, Facebook has over 200 million new users in less than a year. That doesn’t include other social media sites like Twitter, MySpace, or LinkedIn. Now, do you think social media is still a fad? Read the rest of this entry »
Hooked on E-Bills! Is It Working?
May 11th, 2010 by issa
Your business is up and running on the Web. You receive your first batch of orders. The demand for your products or services is even better than you anticipated. You become overwhelmed handling invoices, bills, and payments. Perhaps you are new to the electronic way of doing things and miss the traditional way of billing your customers. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. Studies show that at least 84% of businesses still prefer paper billing. Read the rest of this entry »
Clueless? 10 Things Your Business Simply Can’t Miss!
May 4th, 2010 by issa
Every dollar counts. This is more than a mere fact in any business, big or small. There are days when everything was inked ledger. With modern technology comes innovative ways of making invoices and estimates. It’s always about the fastest solution that gets you paid in a fraction of a second. In other words, it’s all about CONVENIENCE. Read the rest of this entry »
Hate Billing?
April 27th, 2010 by issa
Admit It! You don’t like reading bills, so much more on making a bill yourself. All those numbers and details can give you so much headache as if you just had a bad hangover. Doing your invoices can be a very messy affair. No wonder many still dread getting into the number game with their calculators, papers, and pens. When getting paid or paying someone is a major part of doing business, big or small, is there a simpler process for you to work on?
Read the rest of this entry »
Online Invoicing for the Savvy Freelancer
April 20th, 2010 by issa
You may be a seasoned freelance expert, but that doesn’t mean you have already mastered the art of invoicing. Who loves Math, anyway? Making your invoice on paper or on the web is not a fun task to do. If you want to get paid for all those long weekends of work without play, you need to reinforce the habit of doing your billing right. It’s high time to get that paycheck and grab yourself some rewards for your hard work. Read the rest of this entry »
Between Perks and Perils
April 13th, 2010 by issa
When the future of work greatly depends on minimizing the office clutter, going paperless is becoming a reality sooner than we think. The clear and present danger imposed by global warming has created an urgent calling to go green. Did you know that in the United States alone, nearly 4 million tons of copy paper are used each year? Now, that translates to more than 700 billion sheets. Read the rest of this entry »
Online Invoicing: Myths Busted
April 6th, 2010 by issa
If you were to be asked to do your entire invoices online, would you do it? Perhaps, there’s a tiny voice of doubt inside your head telling you not to. Going paperless and doing your bills purely online is something that many are not yet prepared to do. For this reason, we see the failure of having a 100% paperless office, even after a decade of having positive thoughts about it. The answer is simple: We are humans. We love to hold tangible things and we don’t trust something we can’t physically touch or see. Read the rest of this entry »
Please, just once, say: “I don’t know”.
August 20th, 2009 by Joan Petruska
That last post – the drawing of the various ways business can be built or ruined – had me mesmerized. What was the one negative element that really stood out for me ?
Aha ! “Hotel Know-It-All”.
Is there a “know-it-all” in your networking group, or on your team? How can they be recognized? Usually you will know by the 2nd or 3rd encounter. Read the rest of this entry »
Road to Business Success: What route are you taking?
August 11th, 2009 by Dave Kollasch
Click to view full-size
Well, if a picture is worth a thousand words, then this picture pretty much says it all.
Image contributed by The Rails Team
Small town. Metropolis. Same Problems.
August 3rd, 2009 by Joan Petruska
One of my favorite blogs is Small Biz Survival, not because I live in a small town, but because I am partial to them. They all have a local eatery with great pies, burgers, and conversation – and only the “locals” know about them.
So what does this have to do with Invoicing?? Lots. Recently Becky McCray posted an article on why businesses “procrastinate on invoicing”. Her conclusion: “It’s not fun”!
True, true, true.
Becky suggests 4 ways to attack the invoicing procrastination bug – all of them valid.
Why you procrastinate on invoicing and what to do about it
The question then arises: Which one will work for you?
I think that the answer lies in the type and size of your business. Mega-businesses may have more leeway on time for receivables. Micro-businesses, however, usually rely on healthy cyclic or even immediate payments.
Do you need consistent and timely turn-around of “work-performed to payment-received”? If so, then your habits need to become focused on getting that invoice out immediately. What could be more convenient to the micro-business owner than electronic invoicing?
Sharp, professional, customized invoices (or estimates) can be e-mailed to your customer’s computer from your laptop or smartphone. Do it before you even pull your truck out of their driveway! You can even set up automatic e-mail reminders for due dates – for those “procrastinating customers”.
For the Micro-business owner who thinks like a conglomerate, electronic invoicing may be “just the ticket”.
See you later. I’m off to the Beach Hut Café. They have the best breakfast along the eastern Florida coast. It’s a “local” thing !
