The Benefits of Using Invoicing Software: A User’s Story

Jake’s been a loyal user of Fiverr Workspace for the last five months. He wrote to us to ask if he could share a story with our audience. To which we said: hell yeah! This is that story. 

For nine-to-five workers, getting paid isn’t an issue. Without even thinking about it, your paycheck just magically shows up in your bank account each month. For freelancers, however, the payment process can be much more complicated.
The freelance world is one made up of late payments, currency conversion, and lots — I mean LOTS — of invoices.
Invoicing software can make this part of your business much easier. 
I use Fiverr Workspace invoicing software – and here are a few reasons why. 

Keeping track of unpaid invoices

As a copywriter, I work with a fast-paced schedule. I wake up, do my morning routine, then write for the next few hours.
When you’re busy working on consecutive projects, it’s easy to forget about invoices that have gone unpaid.
While I’ve had the pleasure of working with clients who settle their dues promptly, the occasional slowpoke is unavoidable in the world of freelancing.
If you forget to follow up on an invoice, you may never get the payment; whether the client genuinely forgot or intentionally seized the opportunity to exploit your lapse in memory. Luckily, Fiverr Workspace can ensure that unpaid invoices become a thing of the past.
When an unpaid invoice is overdue, Fiverr Workspace will send you a reminder to follow up with your client. The Fiverr Workspace dashboard even shows you how much money you’re owed in outstanding invoices to ensure that you don’t forget to follow up.
Unfortunately, sometimes following up isn’t enough — some clients refuse to pay you for no reason other than greed.
When you run into a client like this, it’s time to get physical. No, I’m not suggesting you go to their house and rough them up. Just get physical with a physical demand letter.
You can send your client a demand letter through AND CO. For just $12, Williams&Harricks will send a physical demand letter to your client to remind them of their overdue balance.
You can select the intensity of the letter, with ranges from a polite reminder to The Godfather “how are your kids?” threats. (Okay, I’m sure it doesn’t go that far, but you get the picture.)
The letter will be written for you (and sent on your behalf) which saves you the time of writing it and the hassle of going to the post office. In fact, the whole process only takes around five minutes to complete.

When people get demand letters from lawyers, they suddenly pay up. I used this with a client over the summer and they fedex-ed me a check the same week they got the letter

— Frank (@StillUpMySleeve) November 20, 2018

Integrating payment processors

Given how tough it can be to get clients to pay freelancer’s invoices, making it as easy as possible for clients to pay you can make a huge difference.
You’re in luck – Fiverr Workspace invoices integrate cleanly with numerous payment methods to ensure that the process flows seamlessly on both ends.
Once you connect your PayPal or Stripe account, your clients will be able to pay your invoices with a single click.
Many late payments are simply a result of the“I’ll do it later” mentality. One-click payment capabilities can help you get paid a lot faster, and reduce your need to deal with forgotten payments.
You’ll also increase customer satisfaction by making it easier to pay. Some of my clients have mentioned the fact that they appreciate the one-click payment system of Fiverr Workspace invoices as it saves time on their end as well.
An added bonus of this feature is that if you’re also using Fiverr Workspace to track your expenses, it’ll automatically add any payment processing fees into your expenses so nothing is missed at tax time.

Real-time payment alerts

We’ve all been there… following up with a client only to hear the words “I’ve already sent the payment.”
When you use Fiverr Workspace for your invoicing, you’ll never need to worry about such shame-filled moments since invoices sent with Fiverr Workspace notify you whenever one of your clients makes a payment, saving you from making unnecessary follow-ups.
Another benefit of having payment alerts is the fact that you don’t have to waste time logging into your PayPal account every few minutes to see if your client has paid yet.
I myself am guilty of interrupting my work to check if a payment has gone through, and all this checking adds up over time — drastically reducing your productivity (and increasing your stress levels when you’re constantly reminded of that low balance!).
Luckily, when you use AND CO, you’ll be notified as soon as a payment is made so you can focus on your work instead of constantly checking your account.

Looking professional

Sending consistent, polished-looking invoices can help you appear more experienced with clients and prospects. “I’ll send you an invoice” sounds infinitely more professional than “here’s my PayPal address.” When clients receive an invoice for your services, they’ll know that you’re the real deal – a business that has all the necessary processes in place to run efficiently. 
Invoicing is one of those things that doesn’t seem like an important part of the process at times, but not having a structure in place can certainly come back to bite you when you need it most.

Customization for your invoices

Representing your brand can be hard when you use third-party software, but Fiverr Workspace is gracious enough to offer extensive customization options. You can change the color scheme of your invoices and even insert your company logo.
The ability to stick to a consistent theme while invoicing with Fiverr Workspace is just one of the things that makes this service suite so great.
When I first set up the software, I got to customize my invoice preferences, choosing the exact same color that my brand uses, and adding my own logo to all invoices automatically. This level of customization makes Fiverr Workspace feel like an extension of my brand rather than a piece that’s been taped onto it.

Automatic invoices with Fiverr Workspace time tracking

Tracking time can help you get compensated for every second you spend working, but when you have to spend five minutes tallying your tracked time, calculating the total, and manually adding it to your invoice, the whole endeavor loses its efficiency.
Fortunately, Fiverr Workspace ensures that it only takes a few seconds to send out invoices for your tracked time — so you can track time without wasting it.
If you use Fiverr Workspace to track your time, you’ll be able to send out automatically-generated invoices that detail the hours you spent on each part of a project with just a few clicks.
There’s nothing like a time tracker that helps you save time, and that’s just what Fiverr Workspace does. To learn more about the Fiverr Workspace time tracker, read Martin’s article on the topic.

Worldwide coverage

You can set your invoice preferences to charge in a specific currency or display in your local language, which makes it easy for you to invoice all your clients — whether they live down the street or on the other side of the world.
Clients don’t have time to convert currencies, factor in processing fees, and come up with the total amount they should send. Not to mention the risk of inaccurate calculations by your clients that could lead to you getting less than you billed for.
To ensure that you don’t annoy your client by making them do the math whenever you send an invoice and that you’re paid the exact amount you billed for, use Fiverr Workspace to send invoices to your client in their local currency. You can also add local tax rates to the invoice. 
The fact that my clients don’t have to calculate the conversion rates means I get paid a whole lot faster. 

Optimize your payment process

Invoicing can be stressful at times, but when you let Fiverr Workspace handle things, the process will be much easier for both you and your clients.
The choice is up to you: optimize the payment process or continue to chase late payments.
So what’ll it be, Neo?