If you are a freelancer or run your own small business, you know you have to deal with what is probably the worst enemy of the entrepreneur: accounting and taxes.
Taxes are very different depending on the country and form of business you run (sole proprietor, limited company, etc.) and we will talk more about this soon (stay tuned). Let’s start with accounting.
This is a thing we have to deal with every day. From a consultancy invoice for a client to business expenses to tracking time of a project, to finally get paid.
When I started with client work as a consultant, I used an excel spreadsheet template for all the invoicing, kept a folder with all my business expenses receipts and used a note on my iPhone for time tracking. It was tedious. These are the three tools I use to keep this under control:
3.SLIMVOICE
The simplest way to create an invoice, period. Perfect for a one-time project, big or small.
As they put it: “Give a man an invoice, and he will get paid for a day. Don’t teach a man to invoice; it’s not that freakin’ hard.”
A must-have in your toolbox, and free for life.
2. AND.CO
The jack of all trades. AND.CO integrates almost everything. I use this when doing advertising deals with Valdour because it allows you to create and sign contracts very very easy and their tracking tool is amazing.
Especially good for digital nomads, as it offers things like different languages and standards when invoicing international clients and real-time conversion in case you bought something in EUR, your local currency is USD but you have to invoice the client in GBP. Just great.
The iPhone app is beautiful and works fantastic. Also, free for life.
1. QUICKBOOKS SELF-EMPLOYED
The ultimate solution for freelancers. This is what will actually save you a lot of hours and a lot of money.
I love Quickbooks because it makes deductions incredibly easy. Have a meeting with a client? Take a photo of the receipt, it automatically selects the data and adds it to your account. Facebook Ads invoice? email it to your account, ready to get deducted on your next quarter.
It even tracks mileage automatically. I literally saved over $1,200 last year because of this feature that no one else has. The iPhone app is incredibly easy to use.
When creating an invoice with a client, you can also get paid instantly with a smart button on the invoice via wire transfer or any card. Forget about checks.
Try it for FREE 30 days and get 50% for an entire year, you will have all your personal and business expenses under control, file your taxes automatically (with bigger deductions thanks to their built-in system) save thousands of dollars per year and much more.
