Estimates, Invoices – Getting Paid!

How to Manage Your Estimates, Invoice, & Billing and Get Paid working Online

Odds are if you are doing some form of work online, eventually you will do more than just writing articles.  You might take a ghost writing job, try your hand at web design, SEO or SEM work, maybe even start a consulting business.

There are a couple basic things you need.  The first is an address for receiving payment.  I recommend a PO Box or UPS Suite, but sometimes you must have a bank account or physical address.

The second thing is a PayPal account.  This has come up before, but these days it is absolutely essential!

PayPal does give you the ability to send invoices electronically direct from PayPal.  Personally, I’ve used this for transactions ranging from $5 – $25,000!  It works.  But I prefer to offer something more professional when I can.  For more professional estimates and invoices I utilize QuickBooks Online.  It costs me $25 a month and I never have to futz with software upgrades, which is something to consider with Quickbooks off the shelf. 

I am an accountant myself, so Quickbooks is not intimidating.  That said, if you do not have a background in book keeping, accounting or finance, Quickbooks may be overkill.  On a side note, Quickbooks Online currently only works with Internet Explorer. 

As a possible alternative, you might take a look at GetBallPark.com.  For $12 – $99 a month you can choose a plan to fit your budget and business volume level.  The interface is fast, speedy and clean and it DOES offer PayPal Integration for plans over $24 per month.

Ballpark Pricing

Video Demonstration of Ballpark

Ballpark Screencast from MetaLab on Vimeo.