A business is a strenuous and frustrating task to bring about, regarding your mental health AND your finances. Mistakes will be made aplenty and the only true way to learn is through trial and error, especially in the field of invoicing. This is an area where many new businesses fail to get right.
You own a business and provide a product or service, so you should be paid accordingly. You need to make a living just like everyone else. However, in the hustle and bustle of looking after everything, certain items may be missed on invoices, costing you money down the road. Even though you may have given them a great gift, you don’t want to repeat it so read on for more information on the 8 things that most owners miss out when invoicing their clients/customers.
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Consulting
Before any project or sale is carried out, a number of meetings or quotes/communication will occur and no doubt take up a lot of your time. A lot of businesses tend to provide this initial situation for free in order to secure the job but they don’t actually give any real advice. Make sure that your time is not wasted and anything extra is to be billed as consultation fees. This will keep the questions to a minimum and still pay you for your time.
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Travel
You may find situations where travelling to certain places will have to be carried out. However, this is costing you extra so you should be invoicing your clients for travel costs as it is not up to you to cover them. They want your product or service and are not paying you for petrol or anything else you require. Always expressly communicate your procedure and how you will expect reimbursement to avoid any negative issues or problems later on.
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Related Extras
If there are any related extra that you find yourself having to pay for in order to carry out the job, you need to invoice your client for it. Traveling, meals, and the like are all expenses that are usually expected to be paid for by the client so make sure you iterate it clearly at the beginning of your arrangement. Don’t go overboard and cost the client an arm and a leg but always keep your receipts for proof of purchase and don’t get irritated or insulted if the client needs to check some expenses with you too.
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Research
All of that research that you carried out to actually get the job rolling along is something that needs to be charged for. The client should have either done this research themselves if they wanted to save money or pay you for it, there is just no other alternative. Research is something that takes up too much of your time and if you are not at least getting something for it, you will find that your motivation wanes and your quality decreases. Use some time tracking apps to track how much time you spent doing certain things to prove to your clients that you have taken the time to provide them with this service. You can also use this data to create prices for future jobs and figure out where most of your time is going.
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Supplies
As you have a to run a business, it is not unthinkable that you will already have most of the materials, stationary, hardware, software, and other items you may need to serve your customers, but if there are any specific things you need for the job, you will have to charge your clients for them. Bill them for anything that was used exclusively or specifically on their product or service but remember to mention this before you actually get some signatures or payments. Printing and copying are two such services that can be billed to your clients, for example.
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Mailing
With technology these days and the range of communication available, you will most certainly carry out a lot of your services and administration online, but if you do have to deal with physical items or services that can’t be provided digitally, you will have to charge the postage, shipping, and handling to the customer. If you had to buy any mail boxes or items of the like, be sure to include them too! Everything costs something and it shouldn’t be you who has to foot the bill.
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Credit Card Fees
Today, it is impossible for you not to provide any credit card or online payment facilities with your business. It is more widely utilized than cash and the fact that customers will be done quickly with a few clicks or taps is mutually beneficial. With this however, comes credit card fees and it really is your decision whether you charge them to your customers or take the hit yourself. It is something people implement a surcharge for and those little transaction fees will definitely add up in the end.
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Burning Out
There is absolutely no price on your mental health but there will be times when you have irritating customers who will NOT leave you alone. It is the same everywhere and while you can eventually cut them out of your client base, there will always be new ones who will be there to take up the mantle. Instead, why don’t you offer some free consultations and then charge for every phone call or email etc. that you have to reply to and deal with. Your time will now be worth it, you’ll be happier and more attentive, and your customers will stop calling you all the time if it will cost them money.
When your customers know exactly what the deal is from the start, you will see the difference in both the costs for the consultations and for your pocket. Your time is very precious so act like it is!
