SmallBizResource Blog -- Productivity

A Fresh Look at Billing

Posted by Gayle Kesten Monday, Feb 25, 2008, 06:01 PM ET

I've been hesitant to deviate from my hybrid Word/Excel self-made, pathetic little invoice system. Sure, it gets the job done, but it's nowhere near elegant. And other than the column in Excel that adds up how much I've billed, it lacks any trace of automation.

So I was more than up for this morning's personal tour of a Web-based invoice application that promises "painless billing." I spoke to Mike McDerment, the 31-year-old CEO and co-founder of Toronto-basedFreshBooks. McDerment's background is in Internet marketing; in fact, the original name of his company before it became FreshBooks showed up on my caller ID.

McDerment told me he originally built the FreshBooks application for himself after realizing how much time and energy he spent using -- you guessed it -- Word and Excel to bill clients. "I couldn't tell what was going on with his account," he said. "At the end of the day things weren't set up to be efficient."

But FreshBooks took care of that, and it didn't take him long to realize other small businesses could benefit, too. Make that 300,000 businesses at last tally, McDerment said.

Maybe I'll be the 300,001st. What appeals to me about this application is its user-friendly simplicity. Setting up an account, then plugging in a few clients names -- you're allowed up to three for free -- requires just the minimum amount of details. (Click here for pricing plans.) For example, if you want to e-mail your invoices, just plug in your client's name and e-mail address; if you prefer snail-mail, then type in an address and FreshBooks will mail it for you (after you've bought stamps). That's it.

Once you've input a client name, it will then appear as a choice in a dropdown when you create a new invoice. A quick click on the Invoice tab itemizes all the invoices you've sent, along with their status, which is automatically tracked straight through payment if that's handled electronically. If you receive a paper check, then you'll have to manually enter its receipt.

FreshBooks also lets you track expenses; this, along with viewing and saving invoices in PDF format, is actually a new feature the company unveiled today. Again, I found the process to log an expense intuitive, including converting said expense into an invoice. There's also a time-tracking feature that does exactly that, along with a handy pop-up timer widget.

Truth be told, I haven't tried QuickBooks to know how FreshBooks compares. McDerment described FreshBooks as a simpler alternative for when you "just need to manage your receivables." He also said his company is more than willing to hold its customers' hands the way he did mine.

"We're very service-focused," McDerment said. "The people who provide customer service are the same ones who built the software."

How do you handling your billing? What works for you? Add your comment below.

Productivity