Shoutout to the accountant who told me to send invoices the same day I finish work

I used to wait until the end of the month to bill everyone at once. A bookkeeper in Denver told me I was losing money because clients forgot what the job was and argued about hours. Now I send each invoice within 2 hours of finishing, and my payment time dropped from 45 days to 12 days. Has anyone else had a small change like that speed things up?

4 comments

4 Comments

samreed2d ago

Oh man, I gotta push back a little on this one. In my experience, sending invoices that fast can actually backfire sometimes - it makes you look desperate or like you're trying to sneak something through before the client double-checks the work. I had a client once who got annoyed because they felt rushed to pay, and it actually hurt our relationship for a few months. Your mileage may vary, but I think the bigger factor is just being consistent and clear about what you're billing for, not the exact timing. Plus, 45 days to 12 days sounds like a huge jump that might have more to do with the type of clients you landed around that time rather than just the invoicing speed.

craig.olivia2d ago

Maybe it's just me, but I wonder if the clients who responded well to fast invoicing were already the kind who pay on time anyway. Like, did you notice a difference in how reliable the late payers were after you sped things up? idk, I've seen some freelancers say fast billing works great for them, but others say it just makes anxious clients more anxious. Curious if you tracked that split at all or if it was more of an overall shift.

caleb_bell52d ago

Right? Same thing happened to me and it totally backfired.

the_laura2d agoMost Upvoted

@caleb_bell5 lol yeah same, it can totally blow up in your face. Rushing invoices just made my reliable clients feel hassled and the slow payers didn't speed up at all. It's like you're punishing the people who were already decent.