Being a freelancer you need to take very good care of billing invoices. In order to collect my money on time I do file my billing invoices regularly using the standard form for that. I prefer collecting payments by means of PayPal and e-mail. I chose those two because the first one guarantees that I can receive my money quick enough and the second one apart from being quite a timely type of communication, keeps record of everything, including delivery confirmations for the product and the billing invoice too.

In the past my life was much easier as I only had one standard invoice form for everything. It was easier to keep track of things and was cutting down the extra paper work too. I was filing those forms on the computer first and when I had them there I used to print them out on paper to save a copy too. And there was the problem; there were always customers that did not want to use my form but theirs. In addition those who agreed to fill in my forms were often missing to fill them properly. Due to that I don’t even know how many different types of billing forms I have in the moment, what I know is that I have them all over the place and it’s all one big mess without a standard billing form.

I suppose that it’s just the way it is and I don’t worry too much as I am a well organized person and can always put my stuff together even if it’s all in different shapes and sizes. Some people find the way I do it a bit too complicated by that’s my way to keep track of it all and I’m happy with it. I keep a ledger with all the details of what has been billed, been paid and still requires being paid. And naturally I have backups too; I keep a paper copy, an electronic copy and a second electronic one that’s off site too of all my writing jobs.

It is absolutely crucial, especially for a freelancer to keep backup copies of all his work and billing invoices too. First of all you may always need to add something more, and what is more important you have to prove the work you’ve done if for example you’re being checked by the IRS or just a client doesn’t want to pay you. In case you have to revise an old project, no matter is it just for you or is it requested by the client it always makes a good and professional impression if you can have it right in front of you in the very moment. In addition to that it will also keep for your resume if you have copies of all your work as you’ll always have something suitable to show to a future customer that asks you about previous projects you’ve worked on, samples or anything else that can convince him to give you a job.