As a freelance designer and solo entrepreneur, I wear a lot of different hats. I’m constantly looking for tools that help me to work smarter and not harder.
My tool of choice for handling my business’s finances is FreshBooks—a web-based application designed for service-based entrepreneurs that generates invoices, tracks my working time, and accepts online payments. Its user-friendliness, intuitiveness, and ease of use make it a winner in my book. FreshBooks helps me to manage accounting tasks efficiently so I can get back to the activities I’d rather spend my time on.
Not convinced? If you’re struggling with keeping track of your invoices, here are some reasons why you should use FreshBooks.
Easy bank account integration
FreshBooks syncs with my business bank account, so I can always see what’s coming in and going out. This helps me keep track of my expenses in real time and easily categorize them for my records.
Online payment options
No one wants to wait to get paid. With FreshBooks, I can offer my customers multiple ways to pay online for the services that I offer, including PayPal and Stripe payments for credit cards. FreshBooks also offers the ability to set up automated recurring invoices or charge a returning client’s credit card through auto-billing.
Reporting
FreshBooks’ dashboard provides graphs and charts illustrating my monthly invoices (paid and unpaid), as well as my expenses for each month. I use these to gauge where I am with my financial goals and see where I may need to place my attention in order to reach my revenue target for the month. FreshBooks instantly generates a variety of reports, such as a balance sheet or profit and loss statement, so my numbers are readily available when I need to discuss business finances with other entities.
Time tracking
I love not having to log into another program to track the billable time I spend on client projects. With FreshBooks, I can set a timer, log my time for each task and client, and then quickly send them an invoice for my work and get paid.
Add-ons
In case the basic program features were not enough, FreshBooks also has a number of add-ons that users can integrate into the system such as Fundbox (advance invoice payments), Gusto (payroll), and Capsule (customer relationship management). When my bookkeeper told me that he used a different accounting program, I was worried that I would need to start over with another invoicing system. However, through using an add-on via Freshbooks, I’m able to connect the apps and seamlessly share data from one program to another.
These are just a few reasons that I think you should use FreshBooks for your business. Stop jumping from program to program and fumbling through spreadsheets and other documents — let FreshBooks help make managing your business accounting easier today.