Billing and Online Invoicing Software

Filed in archive home business software on February 10, 2010

Starting your own business at home can produce many positive impacts on your life: less stress, a sense of accomplishment, even more flexibility. But in the end, there's one thing we are all certainly looking for with every venture: money.

Cold hard cash still makes the world go round, at least from an economic perspective. So it's important to think about money and how you'll get it, during the start up phase of your business. Here are some options for how to get paid:

Cash/Check Only: It's simple and direct, but not immediate and sometimes less simple for your client.

PayPal: Not terribly secure. There's a lot of risk with PayPal.

E-Commerce: Great but more expensive. Biggest drawback to a full e-commerce site is that is hard to use it for services as opposed to products.

Online Invoicing: If you offer a service, not a product, online invoicing is a great option. It allows your client to pay however they are comfortable, online or by printing in the invoice and paying with traditional methods. It also allows you to track payments, direct deposit to your bank account, etc.

I use Intuit Billing Manager. It is a free online service; you just pay the credit card processing fees (not much). It's a fantastic service and I've never even wanted to try another one. They allow for recurring payments, automatic invoicing, alert you to received and posted invoices and have great customer service. It's awesome. You can even customize the invoices with your logo and personal preferences. Completely worth looking into.

What do you use for your billing?