4 ms·

Long-time freelancer here. As a solo freelancer I never had enough clients and projects at one time to need anything more complicated than a spreadsheet to pro

Long-time freelancer here. As a solo freelancer I never had enough clients and projects at one time to need anything more complicated than a spreadsheet to produce invoices. Solo freelancers have hard limits on billable time and number of clients/projects they can juggle at once. Freelancers running a business by hiring other freelancers will need something more than invoicing, because they will have payroll and taxes to contend with. Freelancers who mainly use piecework sites like Fiverr or Upwork don't have to invoice, because those sites do it for them. Some of my customers have their own time/work tracking systems that I have to use, but then I don't have to invoice. Since 2014 I have freelanced through an agency that does invoicing for me. They use Google Sheets for time tracking and handle the rest for me. Ideally freelancers move their long-term clients to retainer arrangements, which makes invoicing even easier, or not necessary at all. As for paying for credit card or PayPal, I always added that in to my invoices, passing it along to the customer transparently. They could choose to pay by bank transfer (free for me) or in the old days by paper check. If they used a credit card they paid the processing fee. No one ever complained about it. I have seen lots of invoicing tools, and lots of low-end CRM systems, targeting freelancers. None of them seem worth the trouble to me. Tracking time and sending out invoices just doesn't seem like a hard problem, and I want something with the least friction, so I use a spreadsheet.

wdunkley 2y ago
Thanks so much for sharing your perspective—it’s incredibly valuable to hear from an experienced freelancer! It sounds like simplicity and low friction are your key priorities, and it’s great to hear how you’ve streamlined your invoicing over the years. Out of curiosity, if there were an invoicing platform designed to be as effortless as a spreadsheet but with added features like automatic payment reminders, integrated time tracking, or transparent expense tracking for clients, would that spark your interest? Or are there specific pain points you’ve encountered (even minor ones) that you think invoicing tools haven’t addressed well?
- gregjor 2y ago
  I may occupy a small niche of freelancers. I generally have long-term clients on retainer, or I charge by task/deliverable. I rarely have to track my time in detail. When I do I track in 30 minute increments, so I don’t need per-minute time tracking. I have never had a client who needed payment reminders. I invoice net 15 days. Because I’m doing business with clients I trust I don’t worry about no-pay/slow pay. I generally don’t incur expenses for my clients. If they need to pay for something I have them pay directly, so the domain name or hosting account or whatever goes in their name on their credit card. I don’t resell or mark up those kinds of things. I suppose other freelancers have different needs but I have never needed anything more than a spreadsheet template that I can save as PDF from and send by email.

wdunkley 2y ago

Thanks so much for sharing your perspective—it’s incredibly valuable to hear from an experienced freelancer! It sounds like simplicity and low friction are your key priorities, and it’s great to hear how you’ve streamlined your invoicing over the years. Out of curiosity, if there were an invoicing platform designed to be as effortless as a spreadsheet but with added features like automatic payment reminders, integrated time tracking, or transparent expense tracking for clients, would that spark your interest? Or are there specific pain points you’ve encountered (even minor ones) that you think invoicing tools haven’t addressed well?

gregjor 2y ago
I may occupy a small niche of freelancers. I generally have long-term clients on retainer, or I charge by task/deliverable. I rarely have to track my time in detail. When I do I track in 30 minute increments, so I don’t need per-minute time tracking. I have never had a client who needed payment reminders. I invoice net 15 days. Because I’m doing business with clients I trust I don’t worry about no-pay/slow pay. I generally don’t incur expenses for my clients. If they need to pay for something I have them pay directly, so the domain name or hosting account or whatever goes in their name on their credit card. I don’t resell or mark up those kinds of things. I suppose other freelancers have different needs but I have never needed anything more than a spreadsheet template that I can save as PDF from and send by email.