I am so screwed
I’ve gotten myself into hot water, and it’s entirely my fault. My PO Box has been devoid of paychecks for two solid weeks! But it has nothing to do with me being short of work. The reason is much more simple and insanely more stupid than that:
I don’t do my invoicing.
Horrible! Unthinkable! Irresponsible! I own my own business. It’s the only way I get paid. What possible excuse could I have for not invoicing?
Well, I have several excuses, but none of them make any sense, even to me.
- I hate money.
No, really. I hate everything to do with money. I hate how people define their worth from it, and I hate how people fight about it. Dealing with money, i.e. sending out bills, is always my lowest priority. I’d rather cold call all day than send out invoices for an hour. I’m not kidding. - When I get blue, my productivity suffers.
When DJ and I broke up a few weeks ago, I felt pretty sorry for myself for a while. I did keep working, of course, but my lower priorities went by the wayside. I didn’t do my May newsletter, and I didn’t do much billing. - Most of my clients work with me on an ongoing basis, and I can’t figure out where a good stopping point is.
Yeah, I should just pick two days a month and bill through that date, right? But I don’t… because I really hate to bill. - Sometimes I feel bad.
Ok, this is the dumbest reason yet, and it doesn’t happen often. But just the other day I received a referral from an old college buddy. The woman he sent me was starting her own business and needed someone to fix the business proposal she paid another copywriter to put together. She is on a very tight budget and the guy had taken the money she had set aside. So I was extra.I thought my part would be 2 hours, but it took me 3, and there was no way I could fix everything that it needed to be ready to roll (she needed to do more research, plug in numbers, etc.). So I gave this back to her overbudget and not completed, and she was so upset, not at me but the situation. So not only did I offer to give her another hour of editing for free once she filled in the blanks, I also have delayed billing her for the three hours because I feel guilty. Yeah. Dumb, dumb, dumb. - I suck at accounting and record keeping.
The longer I put off invoicing, the longer it takes me to figure out what to invoice, so I avoid the task even more. And it’s worse… when I get a check, I frequently don’t mark it as paid in my system, so I have to spend a half hour digging through the floorboard of my car and the bottom of my purse to find the receipts from the bank from three weeks ago.
I want to hire someone to help me with this, but the only time I remember to think about trying to find somebody is WHEN I HAVE NO MONEY! See the problem? It’s like the only time you remember that the roof leaks is when it rains and you can’t fix it.
By the way, you would logically assume that as of now I’m caught up with my invoicing because of the problems that happened last month. You would be very, very wrong. Yesterday I the stress caused me to binge on four small boxes of raisins and four fruit roll-ups (hey — they were the sweetest things in my house). Then my belly hurt, so I decided I couldn’t do my invoicing.
Ok. Ok. As usual my Friday night planner is free, so I’ll stay home and bill.
Claire on 06 Jun 2008 at 8:33 am #
Could you work out a trade arrangement with an accountant-type buddy? You write promo stuff for them in exchange for them handling your invoicing and accounts receivable? I’d offer, but I’m like you. LOL.
Beth on 06 Jun 2008 at 9:01 am #
I’d love to do that. I’ve got a wonderfully organized friend, and we’ve talked about her helping. But when we get together, we forget to talk about business. And, frankly, I’m embarrassed I can’t just buckle down and do this thing.
Ingrid on 06 Jun 2008 at 9:28 am #
After that, I am sure you are not laughing about my anal-ness now, huh.
I do not feel your pain and cannot empathize (sp?). Me, I freak out if I am a penny/pence/euro off my bank statements, and I have 4 accounts going.
Even though you do have the carrot/stick approach going, carrot – will have money to buy food and eat; stick – anxiety. Remember this feeling and maybe it will help you get your invoicing done.
JB Dryden on 06 Jun 2008 at 10:28 am #
I’m no accountant, but I’d be happy to give you some invoicing tips. I use an online software that works great, and always keeps me on track. I’m also a little disorganized, so it helps a bit with that, too. Let me know. I’d be more than happy to work with you in a trade-payment basis.
Sara Best on 06 Jun 2008 at 11:08 am #
I actually put my invoicing for each project in my day timer as a task that needs to be accomplished that day. It reminds me when the invoices need to go out and prevents me from getting too far behind.
And I know what you mean about feeling bad. Sometimes I find myself feeling reluctant to send an invoice out – especially to a new client. I feel like we’re new friends and here I am asking for money.
So ridiculous! I think it’s a girl thing.
steph on 06 Jun 2008 at 2:15 pm #
I suck at business and I have no interest in anything “businessy.” But I do my own invoicing (with Quicken, which is quite simple), only because it’s actually rather easy for me, and because I am desperate to be paid. I do the job and I send an invoice. Because it’s mostly for books, there is no scrambling or catching up to do with that, and I usually have only one job, one client, at a time. Most of the time, the invoice is formality and for my own records because I already know what I’m getting paid since they listed the amount in the contract. The problem is they lose my invoice or forget to hand it in to their payroll dept. and I am paid late every single time.
I too do work for free, though I’m often told not to. It’s a guilt, thing, yes, and that’s why I haven’t raised my rates in a while as well, though I could easily stand to according to the going rates now for editing!
Ah, the joys of freelancing. But we still wouldn’t trade it for anything, would we? Have you done any searches for tips on this on other freelancing blogs? I can’t afford help myself either, but I often find free advice on freelancing sites or even in the comments of my own blog!
Sarah on 07 Jun 2008 at 2:52 am #
At 1st thought… ARE YOU SERIOUS? This is your paycheck? Your way of living!
2nd thought… We all have things we absolutely HATE doing – me – grading. Despite the idea that this is my students’ paychecks, I always put it off until I have a 3-inch pile of papers and then it is overwhelming. I then don’t spend near the time I should – just hurry and get it over with (then I find that they didn’t get the concept, and I already moved on!).
Anyway, I still have to do it, and you still have to invoice. There is no other way around it – you have to get paid, and people have already put aside the money to pay you. Some are different (your friend on a tight budget) but a lot is just business.
You have to pay bills, just like everyone else. You are not charging a huge amount, and you are doing them a great service.
Love you, but get to work!
Beth on 08 Jun 2008 at 2:32 pm #
Ok, ok, ok! I just caught up on all of my invoicing. It took about three hours. I also discovered a time-tracking tool in my accounting system that will simplify my invoicing tasks a whole helluvalot.
Thanks for the tips and the encouragement. On to the next challenge.
PS — can any of you chime in on my love life? You were so helpful with the accounting advice… Sigh. Just thought I’d ask.
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