Swapped my fancy invoicing system for a plain spreadsheet after a coffee shop crash

I was at a Starbucks in Austin last Tuesday when my expensive invoicing app froze right in the middle of sending a bill to a repeat client. The barista had to bring me a napkin to write down the payment details because I couldn't get the app to restart for 15 minutes. That little breakdown made me realize how much I was paying $40 a month for something that just made me stressed. I went home and built a basic Google Sheet with columns for date, job, amount, and paid status took me maybe 2 hours. Now I can see every payment at a glance and I don't get locked out when the Wi-Fi drops. Has anyone else found a low tech fix that actually worked better than the fancy stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

william_craig717d ago

I heard someone say fancy software just gives you more ways to mess things up.

lisab3217d ago

Hold up, @william_craig7, you actually believe that? I've seen guys try to run inventory off a whiteboard and a prayer, and let me tell you, that's how you end up with 200 extra pallets of something nobody ordered and zero of what you actually need. At least with a halfway decent system you can SEE where you're about to screw up before you hit enter.

drews5517d ago

My buddy's uncle ran a warehouse for 20 years with just a notebook and never lost a single shipment.