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. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘invoice’
Hooked on E-Bills! Is It Working?
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010Clueless? 10 Things Your Business Simply Can’t Miss!
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
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. (more…)
Online Invoicing for the Savvy Freelancer
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
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. (more…)
Small town. Metropolis. Same Problems.
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
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 !
Interview with the Founder – More “meat”
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
Below is a series of questions a business associate posed to Dave recently. I was given permission to post them and Dave’s answers. I thought it would add more “meat to the bones” of Greenerbilling.
M: Dave, Web invoicing applications are out there. What makes yours different?
D: What’s different is that it’s based on my logic — I knew what I needed as an invoicing system for my business, but it wasn’t out there.
M: How is your logic different from the others?
D: I guess the easiest way to answer that starts with being a “blue collar” business owner. My focus was on billing and getting paid for my labor.
I wanted to keep it simple, focusing only on what’s necessary to help the small business owner stay on top of billing clients and collecting payments.
M: Is this another “accounting” application?
D: No, this is not another “accounting” application.
My understanding of “accounting” involves, among other things, tracking and itemizing expenses, balancing checkbooks, managing credit cards and loans, and applying tax line items. Therefore, by keeping Greenerbilling focused on “billing” and “getting paid”, I am not crossing “that fine line” into what I consider “complete accounting”.
Plus, I wanted to keep it truly international. Greenerbilling offers extensive currency formatting. So, by focusing on billing and getting paid, rather than complete accounting principles, our subscriber base can be worldwide.
M: You mentioned Greenerbilling with an international focus. How many countries currently have subscribers to Greenerbilling?
D: I am really pleased to say that we have subscribers in over 45 countries right now. And there’s certainly a BIG market left for expansion.
M: What kind of businesses are using the application?
D: It runs the gamut of product and service providers, primarily among microBusinesses. Blue collar, trade professionals, consultants, freelancers, and wholesalers . . . just to name a few. Right now we’re at over 50 different business types.
M: How have you met the challenges of servicing all these business types?
D: That’s a great question! The entire team is dedicated to treating each subscriber as a fellow business owner, not as a customer. We ALL pay very close attention to each subscriber inquiry and need. Every single page of the Greenerbilling application invites feedback. It is this feedback that drives the development of Greenerbilling — and always will.
M: You seem really passionate about this.
D: I’ve been a business owner too long to discount the importance of customer relations. Customers are the building blocks of every successful business. I have kept the following quote posted in my office for over 10 years:
“There is only one boss — the customer. And he/she can fire everyone in the
company from the CEO on down, simply by spending his/her money elsewhere.”
-Sam Walton
Founder of Wal-Mart
M: You mentioned your Team. Tell me about them.
D: Well, good business practices say to surround yourself with the people who are best at what they do. That’s exactly what I’ve done. I consider myself a strong visionary, but am not gifted in coding (among other things).
So, my core Executive Team consists of myself and two others, an Operations Professional and a Marketing Professional. Expand that team to include my tech staff – headed by a well-established, successful, and dedicated Web Developer. Add to the mix, a top-of-the-line Designer. Glue it all together with attorney and accountant groups that keep everything “floating in the right direction”.
I can honestly say that Greenerbilling wouldn’t be headed for world-class stature without them.
M: What do you see in the future for Greenerbilling?
D: I see Greenerbilling becoming the best invoicing system out there; providing a state-of-the-art, remote work platform. It will always provide a rich user experience for business invoicing.
M: Can you be more specific?
D: Sure. We continue to develop new features for Greenerbilling. For example, this week, we have a totally new “look and feel” to the application and Web site. We enhanced the “curb appeal” of Greenerbilling. It’s really important that our users enjoy the look of what they have to work with.
In addition, the application now includes Estimates – definitely a major feature and asset to our subscribers. There are a lot more things “in the works”, but I can’t get into them right now.
Greenerbilling – Who, What, Where, Wow!
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
I have been known to most people as “Dave Kollasch – professional rollerblader” – who, starting at 15 years of age, toured the world in the sport of extreme inline skating (even holding the record for longest rail-slide – 394 feet). My sponsors included Senate and Razors.
Long before Internet-based invoicing, I was billing my sponsors from wherever I was in the world. I would create these invoices by hand and fax or mail them, hoping for prompt receipt and payment. This tedious process continued for 7 years. Between opening a skate shop (at age 19) and starting a lawn service business (at age 23), it was obvious that I needed a faster, high-tech, solution to address low or high volume invoicing.
Ready-made computer programs did not allow me to create estimates, submit invoices, or track time when I was away from my desktop computer. Using QuickBooks*, for example, I found myself immersed in accounting principles that are “like glaciers, when all I needed was an ice cube”.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention! Consequently, I began constructing a Web-based invoicing system that comes from the perspective of an entrepreneur – not an accountant. To help small business, Greenerbilling has “reinvented the ice cube”.
Greenerbilling provides:
- graphic invoicing and estimating via e-mail
- an earth-friendly snail-mail alternative to doing business
- all data safely and securely stored on remote servers
- a universally compatible, state-of-the-art remote work platform
I’m excited over the direction Greenerbilling is heading. The biggest bonus that I see is the feedback that comes from our users. They are providing wonderful ideas, needs specific to their business, and valid critiques that propel Greenerbilling to greater success.
Watch this blog for future posts of Greenerbilling In the News and product updates. Plus, let the Greenerbilling Team know what you need and how we can help.
*QuickBooks is a registered trademark of Intuit, Inc.
