Recently I started evaluating the tools I use in my freelancing business. I was looking around at tools I could use to help streamline processes. I already used 37Signals products for project management and client relations management, but I needed something that could invoice clients, send more professional proposals, and keep track of them all. I’ve heard a lot of buzz about FreshBooks, so I decided to give it a try and see what all the hype was about.

I had previously been using Quickbooks 2009 for Mac to handle all of my accounting needs. Quickbooks is a great Small Business Accounting program, but it is not customizable at all. It’s a decent All-In-One program, but it wasn’t developed for a freelancer’s accounting/financial tracking style, so I decided to move on to Freshbooks.

I read a post a while back about the 10 Bad Habits of Designers over at The Outlaw Design Blog. One of the habits that they discussed in this post was not paying for premium services that weren’t worth the cost. I have found some alternatives to Freshbooks that are free, such as LessAccounting, BlinkSale, SimplyInvoices etc. It’s great that these apps are free, but none of them work as well as Freshbooks. They are all lacking serious features and cant even come close to comparing with Freshbooks.

What is Freshbooks?

Are you a new freelancer or a recent Quickbooks convert? Here is a short description of what Freshbooks is:

FreshBooks is an online invoicing and time tracking service that saves you time and makes you look professional – Fortune 500 professional.Their mission is to deliver fast and simple invoicing and time tracking services that help you manage your business. We call these Unaccounting™ services and they will:

Easily create, send and manage invoices	Track time (for you and staff) and expenses
Send invoices by snail mail or email	Let you manage your books without an accountant
Automatically send invoices & late payment notices	Create robust reports and import/export your data

My Thoughts With Freshbooks

I signed up for Freshbooks about two weeks ago. I am halfway into my 30-day free trial, and absolutely loving it. It makes everything so easy, both for me and my clients. No longer do I have to send invoices differently to clients due to spam filtering with attachments; They are automatically sent a link every two weeks with their updated account statements. I got 5 phone calls the first day that I sent out invoices with client’s telling me how much they liked my new invoicing system better.

Automatic Invoicing

I currently am hosting websites for 13 clients. Each client has different features for their hosting, therefore has different pricing. Instead of having to sit down at the end of the month and manually type out their invoices based on my pricing spreadsheet, Freshbooks has a function that allows for recurring invoicing of certain products. So all I had to do was setup a “product” and assign it to each client, define their variation of the “product,” and click recurring invoice. That’s it. Now I don’t dread spending an hour or two at the end of each month handling my hosting invoicing!

Flexibility

Freshbooks makes invoicing incredibly easy, both for me and my clients. It allows me to generate an invoice based solely on time, expenses, or products; it also allows me to include any combination of them on an invoice. It neatly breaks down the different types into groups making it very easy on the client to handle their own personal accounting.

Time Tracking

I was previously using an Adobe Air application to track my time, then had to manually enter the info into Quickbooks. Now with Freshbooks, there are many time tracking addons for both Mac’s and PC’s. Now, I have a widget on my Dashboard that seamlessly integrates with my Freshbooks account via the API. I can select the project, client and service to track right from my dashboard. Then when I go to bill my time, It’s already in Freshbooks so I can quickly generate an invoice.

Contractors

I use a variety of contractors to handle things like graphic design or specialized programming. Before, handling the different projects they were working on could be quite a hassle. But with Freshbooks, I can actually invite my contractors to join my Freshbooks team. There, they can track their time on my projects, turn in time sheets, and we can also share important client information. It makes it a whole lot easier to manage subcontractors. No longer to I have to juggle multiple invoices and formats!

Branding

My clients like logging into my Freshbooks account because it looks very professional and is highly consistent with my brand. I customized my invoices and estimates, branded the login page and customized my account colors to match that of my website. I completely customized my Freshbook system, and my clients love it. They think I developed this highly complex invoicing system just for them!

Program Integration

Another cool feature of Freshbooks is its ability to integrate with other programs to make your life easier. Right now Freshbooks can be integrated with a number of time tracking tool and expense report software. Some of the many add-ons include:

Final Thoughts

So far I have used Freshbooks for two weeks with five clients and have gotten great results. I love the ease and simplicity of it and my clients love it as well. I just signed up for Outright, and am just getting started with that. So far it’s great. It pulled all of my data over from Freshbooks, and will definitely make things easier come tax time! I have been extremely happy with the results and will continue to use it.

Do you use an invoicing program? If so, what do you use? Do you use Freshbooks? What are your opinions and experience with it.