When you setup your virtual assistance business, navigating through the world of possible services can be time consuming, overwhelming and frustrating. There are endless options and sometimes, we can run the risk of adding way too many services to our companies. When we do this, we pay excess fees and we end up with things we may never use.
Over the next few blog posts, we’re going to explore some of the services that I feel are the most vital for virtual assistants to have in place and why.
Accounting / Time Tracking Tools
A long, long time ago, I was using a program called MyHours.com and then I switched to tracking time in Basecamp. With both of these methods, I had to export reports every two weeks (when we did billing), breakdown the report by client, add up the total hours for each client and then manually put through money requests inside of PayPal. Time consuming, isn’t it?
That was until we met Freshbooks. Freshbooks has literally changed how I do billing and it has taken the guesswork out of where my invoicing is at, who owes me money, how many hours are billed, etc.
Freshbooks is a tool that was developed by a company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The tool allows small businesses (and medium-sized businesses) to setup an account, invoice their clients, track time on projects, import their projects from Basecamp, setup automatic invoice reminders, prepare estimates and so much more.
The way we handle invoicing and billing at BSETC now looks something like this. On the 15th and 30th of each month, I log into Freshbooks and choose the Invoicing function. By pulling a specific client’s hourly total from Freshbooks, I can auto-generate an invoice to them, add any other expenses (if applicable) and send it to them via e-mail or via regular mail.
I can also choose to bill the hours at a zero dollar rate if our clients had pre-paid hours or purchased a larger package. If clients make referrals to my company, I can add the referral fee as a credit to their account and apply it to their invoice. They also recently added in a budgeting tool which means you can now set a time / hours budget to each account and a pie chart will tell you when you are getting close to hitting that budget.
Freshbooks connects to PayPal and a few other merchant accounts so that you can accept payments electronically. When the invoice goes out to our clients, it automatically links to these payment options and our clients get to choose how they pay. Once payment is made, the invoice updates inside of Freshbooks and any hours that were billed get marked as “billed.”
The tool can also be used to prep quotes or estimates for clients and potential clients. You can draw up an estimate, electronically send it to the client or potential client and he / she can then accept it or modify it as needed. Once accepted, you click one button to convert that to an invoice.
Freshbooks has seriously cut down my time on invoicing and billing by at least 50% if not more. It’s also a much more professional option than sending money requests via PayPal and my clients have direct access to their time logs versus me having to summarize it for them.
If there is a tool that you would like us to explore, I’d love to hear from you. I’d also love to know which tools you are most curious about or where you feel there are gaps in your business. Leave your questions on our Formspring account!
