Invoicing Made Easy, Freshbooks. I still love it
I’ve sampled, tried and even changed software and cloud computing programs often the past few years, but there is one cloud-based invoicing system I’ve not stopped using: Freshbooks. I can’t find anything quiet so good for simple online invoicing. It is so simple to use. In a nutshell, Freshbooks, allows a company to keep track of leads and customers, estimates, invoices, expenses, online payments, and even simple P&L and expense reports. A small business can use Freshbooks as a complete accounting system too. In my case, I only use Freshbooks and then submit my reports to my accountant to do my tax planning, prep & filing. For my consulting business, there is no need for anything more robust like Quickbooks. What Should a Contractor Use?
I am a Freshbooks fan through and through and would love it if more contractors could use Freshbooks for their invoicing system. I know of a number of contractors who use it and like it. The only downside for most contractors using Freshbooks is that it is not a complete bookkeeping solution when you are doing things like Payroll, Job Costing or creating a Budget. It also does not have an automatic sync with one’s bank and credit cards to manage expenses. It does manage expenses, but you have to manually import your expenses. It also does not provide a Balance Sheet, only a P&L. Sometimes that is all one needs. So, if you need Job Costing, a complete Balance Sheet, a General Ledger, Payroll Solutions and so on, Freshbooks may not be the best solution. Quickbooks Online might be a better choice in that case. Quickbooks also provides simple online invoicing, but it is not as simple as Freshbooks. Only downside to Freshbooks is the cost. I’m spending about $25 a month. If I wanted a couple of my other staff members to use it, I’d quickly be in the $40+ range. That is pretty steep. I’ve looked at the cheaper invoicing programs, but I concluded that you still get what you pay for. At this point, I’m still a loyal customer of Freshbooks as nothing comes close.
About David Chism
David Chism started his business out of a passion for helping small contracting businesses grow, be more profitable and become better known to their target clients. One lifelong hobby of David is using techie gadgets. So this blog is a place where he writes about technology, marketing ideas, just for fun (humor), personal thoughts on small business and more.
