invotrak blog

We’ve just put the finishing touches on a whole new set of features for Invotrak: Project Tracking! You can now enter your project information (estimates, quotes, tasks, etc) and record timesheets against it. Invotrak will keep a running tally of the time spent on your projects, giving you a snapshot of your progress any time you like.

Let’s say you’ve just put together a proposal for a client and they’ve given you the go-ahead (yay!). Now you need to make sure you stay on budget as you work. Well, what better way then in the same app you’re using to invoice your client?

All you have to do is enter your proposal details into Invotrak. Break the proposal down into pieces (called tasks) and assign an amount of time for each task. Then, when you (and your employees) record their work for their timesheets, assign the entries to one of the project tasks. From now on, whenever you go to the Projects tab in Invotrak, you’ll see your current progress, a handy pie chart, and all of the timesheet entries recorded for each task.

Now, when a client asks “So, where do we stand“, you can answer just by checking Invotrak!

Of course, why not go a step further and have your client log into Invotrak and check for themself? Just create a client account for them, and they can login whenever they like to check their project’s status.

To get started with Invotrak Projects, you’ll need to first sign up for a paid account. Then, you can start tracking an unlimited number of projects.  Or, check out all the other great things Invotrak has to offer.

We hope you like the new Projects feature. Be sure to let us know what you think on our user feedback forum!

One thing that many freelancers struggle with is finding new clients. For some, the thought alone can make them shudder. The fact is, there are actually many ways to go about finding new clients, both online and offline.

Job Sites – Freelancing is gaining in popularity, and many employers now understand the benefits to hiring them. There are many freelance job sites available to help bring employer and freelancer together.  Some popular choices are www.guru.com and www.elance.com.

Don’t forget to look at your local Craigslist and even your local paper’s classified section. You never know when you’ll find a great opportunity.

Social Media Sites – Interacting with business owners on sites such as Facebook and Twitter can be a great way to find new clients. Remember though, that social networking is about building relationships. If you start out by creating a profile and immediately spamming people about your services, you won’t get very far.

Instead, offer valuable information. It’s okay to tie in what you do and how you could help a business. You’ll be surprised at how many people approach you and ask for your help.

Traditional Networking – The internet has made it very easy to network with people from all over the world, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore your own backyard. Interacting with local business owners is important. Some people prefer to work with local freelancers, so make sure that the businesses in your area know you are available. Call your local Chamber of Commerce and find out when their next meeting is. This is a great way to introduce yourself to your local business community.

Word Of Mouth Referrals – Let your current clients know that you have openings for new clients. Your current clients interact with other business owners, and since they know the quality of your work, they will feel confident in recommending you to their associates. As an incentive, offer your current clients a discount on future work for each new client they refer to you.

Just Ask – If there is a company that you would love to work with, write them and let them know. They may have an opening that hasn’t been opened to the public yet. And if they don’t, they may keep your letter on file for when they do.

Tell People What You Do – Most importantly, don’t be afraid to tell people about your services. It’s okay to bring it up in a conversation. The person you are talking to may not need your services, but they may have a friend who does, or they may have heard about an opening.

Now that tax season has officially ended, it’s time to think about next year.  Tax season can be very frustrating. There are lots of documents to sort through, receipts to find, and forms to fill out. You can make next season a lot easier by setting up an organization system now.

Using a system like Invotrak can make this process easier. When you use this system, you will be able to keep track of your invoices and earnings. Each month, you can print them all out and add them up to keep track of your total monthly income.

You will also want to keep track of your expenses. Remember to include all business expenses, including business supplies, lunches or dinners with clients,  expenses associated with attending workshops, seminars, and conferences, as well as a portion of your rent or mortgage and utility bills (if you work from home).

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We’ve just updated Invotrak with a new power user feature, which should help reduce the “client clutter”.  Now, you can mark clients as being active and inactive.  An inactive client will no longer appear on the Timesheets or Record Invoice pages, and should help reduce confusion.  Hope you find this useful, and be sure to let us know what you think!

We’ve just added two new user-requested features to Invotrak: dates for timesheets in invoices you generate, and customizable invoice statistics.

Timesheet Invoice Dates
If you’re using the timesheet features of Invotrak, you’ve no doubt seen how easy it is to create stylish invoices from your work data.  One thing that’s been missing though has been the ability to insert dates into your invoices.  Now, when you create an invoice, you can optionally insert the date you set for your timesheet entries.

If you haven’t tried the timesheets feature, you’ve been missing out!  Log into your Invotrak account and click the Timesheets tab to start tracking your work.

Revamped Invoice Statistics
Why stop there?  We also added another user-requested feature: the ability to customize your invoice statistics box.  On your Invoices page, you’ve no doubt seen the Statistics box on the right.  It’s a handy way to see your invoicing activity, but it wasn’t very sophisticated.  Now, you can change the period these statistics are shown for, giving you at-a-glance details of your financial situation.

We always make user-requested changes a priority to Invotrak.  Since we started the site nearly two years ago, we’ve always relied on our users to tell us what they need in an invoicing application.  So keep the feedback coming!

Let’s keep the updates coming for Invotrak with another new feature: Basecamp integration!  Every user (subscriber and free) can now connect their clients to Basecamp accounts and pull data into Invotrak.

If you’re not already familiar with Basecamp, it’s a great project management and collaboration tool used by a lot of people (freelancers and large companies alike).  In many cases, you may be working with a client that has a Basecamp account setup.  Using Invotrak, you can now connect to that Basecamp account and import items into Invotrak!

Check out the screencast to see it in action:

Here’s how it works.  First, you need to enable API access in your Basecamp account (the Basecamp Account Holder must set this).  Once that’s done, log into Invotrak and go to your Clients section.  Then, choose the client to link the Basecamp account to, and click the Setup Basecamp Access link (it’s in the bottom-right of the client page).  Enter your Basecamp account details and click the Continue button.

You can also assign one or multiple projects to a particular client.  In some cases, you may have a Basecamp account for several clients or projects.  When setting up Basecamp access, just select the projects you’d like to associate with the client.

Now, let’s add a timesheet entry based on a Basecamp ToDo item.  Go to the Timesheets section.  Either do Manual Entry or start the timer with the Punch clock and do some work.  Next, click the client that has Basecamp access and click the Select From Basecamp link.  This will bring up a dialog that lets you choose the ToDo item (from ToDo lists, to keep things organized).  Click your ToDo item and then save your timesheet entry.  You can also click outside the dialog box to cancel

We’re working on further Basecamp integration now, and we’ll have more updates soon.  As always, be sure to let us know what you think!

In addition to all the new things we’ve added to Invotrak, this most recent update also has a new Feedback link on the right.  When you’re logged into the site, you’ll see this button.  Clicking it will bring you to our new UserVoice page.

In our quest to make the process of invoicing less painful and more streamlined for the people who have to do it on a regular basis, we’re looking to get more of your input.  In fact, as part of our most recent update, a feature we snuck in was the ability to completely customize the emails that are sent out to your clients.  A feature that was requested by a user of ours.

We’d like to get your take on Invotrak.  Tell us what you need in an invoicing service, and we’ll do what we can to help.  One caveat: not all ideas or suggestions will be implemented.  Some things just aren’t right for Invotrak.  But there are many other things that we can do to improve, and we want to know.

We’re making invoicing better, and we’d like your help.  Check out our UserVoice page and let us know what you’d like to see in Invotrak.  Thanks!

We’ve been on a roll lately with Invotrak, and right on the heels of client accounts, we now have a revamped invoice generator, complete with templates! In addition, we’ve streamlined the process of creating invoices from timesheets, and even added company logos for good measure!

Creating an Invoice
As a recap, creating an invoice in Invotrak is very easy. Simply go to the Record Invoice page on the Invoices screen, and enter the invoice details (amount, when it’s due, etc). Once you’ve recorded this invoice, you can then enter each of the line items using the handy line item tool on the right.

When you’ve got all the components of your invoice entered, the next step is to generate a stylish PDF. Click on the Generate Paper Invoice link, and tweak the settings as you like. Free account holders are restricted to the Basic Business template, but upgraded account holders can choose from any of the template styles (including several that incorporate your logo).

When you’re happy with your settings, click the Generate PDF link at the bottom. After a moment, a PDF will popup with your invoice, in the template style you chose!

Invoices from Timesheets
If you bill by the hour, then you’re going to really save time using Invotrak’s timesheets feature. As you go about your work, enter your hours and a description of the work performed into the Timesheets section. Then, when you’re ready to invoice, click the Review Timesheets link at the top. Filter out the timesheets you’re interested in, and select them. Use the Create Invoice tool on the right to assign the selected timesheet entries to an invoice (or create a new one if you like).

Each of your timesheet entries will be attached to the invoice as line items, along with the time worked and an hourly rate. You can even change line items later if you like (such as times when your hourly rate changes).

Now that you have your invoice, use the Generate Paper Invoice feature to create a stylish PDF of the work you did!

Here’s a video showing how to create an invoice from timesheet entries:

Company Logos
But wait, there’s more! Invotrak now allows you to upload your company’s logo to attach to your invoices, and it’s very easy to do! Just go to the Settings screen inside Invotrak and click on the Logo image. Upload a JPG or PNG file of your company’s logo, and Invotrak will do the rest!

Check out the video to see how to add a logo in Invotrak:

When creating an invoice, some of the templates have space for logos. If you have a logo uploaded, Invotrak will automatically place the logo on the invoice. You’re invoices have never looked better!

We hope you like the new additions to Invotrak, but we’re always looking to improve. Be sure to let us know what you think, and keep an eye on this blog for more updates.

Happy new year everyone! We thought we’d get the new year started off right by introducing a new feature for Invotrak subscribers: client accounts!  You can now create accounts just for your clients, giving them access to view invoice and timesheet information you’ve recorded.

Let’s say you have several clients, Big Company and Little Company.  For both, you’d like to give them access to see the status of invoices you’ve issued to them.  In addition, you don’t want Big Company to see any timesheet entries you make.  Setting this up is very easy:

First, go to your Settings page and click Add User (it’s in the right column inside the Account Access box).  On the next screen, enter the email address of the person you’d live to give access to, and choose Client as their role.  Another drop-down box will appear allowing you to say which client this account belongs to (let’s say Big Company first).

Once you click the Add User link, an email is sent to that person with details on how to login and a password they can use.

Second, click on the Clients tab at the top of the page, and select the company you just assigned the client account to (say Big Company).  You’ll notice that in the right column of this screen there are additional details about access.  You can also choose to set whether the client has access to view timesheet entries or not (for Big Company, uncheck the box).  When you uncheck or check this box, it updates automatically on the server, though you should always double check by leaving and returning to the page.

That’s it!  Your client can now access the Invotrak records you’ve recorded for them, and see the status of their invoices and your timesheets whenever you like.  A couple final notes:

• Clients can’t make any changes to anything you’ve recorded.  They can’t recorded any invoices or timesheet entries, or make any changes (like adding payments).
• By default, client accounts are given access to your timesheet information.  If you don’t want clients to see your timesheet details, make sure you go to the Clients tab, select the appropriate client, and uncheck the checkbox on the right (called “Allow timesheet access”).
• You can remove and enable/disable client accounts just like any employee or admin account.
• A single client can have multiple client accounts (for instance, one for a manager and one for an accountant).

We hope you like the new Client access feature.  If you’re an Invotrak subscriber (Basic, Premium, or Unlimited), you can add as many client accounts as you like.  And be sure to let us know what you think - we add new features based on user feedback.

There’s a good overview in the Wall Street Journal today on collecting overdue payments in tough times.  As the economy hits more people harder and harder, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to get paid for your work.  In good times, it’s usually not difficult to get paid, but these days it’s much tougher.

The article suggests a few strategies I’ve pointed out in the past, starting with setting a policy before you begin working with a client:

This policy may include when payments are due — preferably, no more than 30 days after a service or good is provided — and how overdue bills will be handled.

Within a couple days of an invoice going overdue, you should begin the process of contacting the delinquent client and working out when payment will be received.  Starting with phone calls that ask for an ETA on payment, then following up with written notices in the mail (using “the big red-white-and-blue Priority Mail envelopes from the Postal Service … since they relay urgency and garner more attention than a regular plain white envelope”).

If a client still isn’t paying their bills, then the next step is to consider using a collections agency.

The Wall Street Journal: Better Collection Policies Are Past Due For Many