Small Business Invoice Template

A small business invoice is an important document that lists all of the services provided to or by a small business. They are essential, as it means that the service provider can get paid on time and without any confusion.

Poorly written professional invoices will lead to a barrage of questions from the client and depending on how forgetful they are or how aware they were of the services provided, they may also get angry with payments that they don't recognize.

The result is that small business owners get frustrated when their time is wasted answering questions about work that has already been completed and payments that should have been made. Free invoice templates are a good way to get a lot of the correct information in place quickly.

If you want to save yourself a lot of time and frustration as a contractor for a small business, you need a clear free invoice template, one that accurately and succinctly describes the work.

The exact content of that small business invoice will depend on the contractor, client, and work, but it could include the following:

• Creative Services: Copywriting, content writing, design services (logos, infographics, ads), jingles, and more.
• Development Services: Web domain costs, web development costs, and server fees.
• Consultations: Expert advice from SEO gurus, markets, human resource professionals, and operations experts.
• Hiring: All staff costs and any fees paid to employment agencies for the procurement of those staff members.

A good invoice should also make it easy for the client to submit payment. If they have to jump through too many hoops, they'll just shelve it for another day, and when that day comes around, it'll be pushed further and further back. Before you know it, several weeks have passed and you still haven't been paid!

So, to summarize, a small business invoice is used to define work submitted to a small business owner and to ensure that payments are made in full and on time.

You can bill your clients by sending them an invoice. There are a few things to get right with your billing. Here's a short list:

• You can bill by the hour, milestone, or project. 
• Hourly billing is really common and you can use Indy's Time Tracker to track your hours easily. You can even add your time tracks to your invoices as line items.
• Milestone billing is useful for larger projects that will take place over several weeks or months. Set some milestones, such as the delivery of first stages, and send an invoice when those milestones happen. 
• Billing by the project is very common for freelancers. Once the client approves the final proof, send them the bill.
• Many freelancers take a deposit at the beginning of the project. This protects you from shady clients and sets you up for cash flow success. Deposits up to 50% are normal.
• You should set out your billing and payment terms in your contract. If you don't have a contract, use Indy's Contracts tool to create one before you start work.
• Once you finish the work or pass the milestone, send the client an invoice. If you don't have an invoice, you can use Indy's invoice generator to create a professional invoice in just a few moments.
• Recurring invoices are useful if you must create invoices that are basically identical but repeat each week or month.

That's it! Those are the basics of how to bill someone for your work. 

Short answer: 

Most freelancers work 36 hours per week and charge $21 per hour according to a survey by Payoneer. Experience level is the most important factor in determining the best hourly rate to charge. New freelancers usually charge a lower amount, while experienced experts charge two to three times the average rate for their industry.

Knowing how much to charge for your work is a complicated area. We want to help freelancers, so we're going to give you some general tips here about settling on the best amount to charge clients for your services.

Let's think about this from a few different perspectives:

First, how much do you want/need to earn? You should create your rates to reflect what you need to earn. Keep in mind that you won't get paid for some of the things you must do, such as preparing your taxes, looking for more customers, and weekly admin work. So, your hourly or project rate needs to be a little higher to make up for the unpaid work that is part of every freelancer's life.

Second, how much do others charge for similar services at your level of expertise and experience? This question can be a little difficult to answer, but you can just ask. Join a Facebook group and ask. Call a local competitor and ask. Once you know what they charge, you can go under that if you're new to the market or over it if you're the boss.

Another massive item you should plan for is taxes. You'll be paying your own taxes as a freelancer, so your rates should incorporate the taxes you'll eventually have to pay. The average tax amount paid by Americans, for all taxes, is about 29%. This means you'll end up paying $3 in taxes out of every $10 you earn. Price your work to pay your taxes and be left with the income you want.

Your best rates will be different, because everyone's market is different. What works on the East Coast might not be successful in Nevada. Try a few different price points until you find the rate clients accept and you can live on.

This part is simple! Here's a step-by-step guide to getting your invoice done:

1. Open one of Indy's Freelance Invoice Templates.
2. Add your business branding and information.
3. Insert your client's contact information.
4. Number your invoice in a useful way.
5. Fill in the lines with your work completed and the cost per task/hour.
6. Check the invoice total and details.

Once you've finished these six steps, you are ready to send your invoice to your client. Save it in your Indy workspace or download it as a PDF. Then, email it to your client so they can pay you.

Indy offers an all-in-one platform for freelancers and small businesses to manage all their admin work. When you sign up with Indy, your invoicing gets better because the other tools work together. For example, you can use Indy's Time Tracker to note the time spent on a project. When you're ready, the Invoice tool can automatically pull your unbilled hours for the project onto your invoice to make it ready to use. This makes your billing more accurate and saves time as well. When you set up your customers and projects with Indy, your entire workflow becomes smoother.

Paper invoices are worse than digital invoices. With a digital invoice, you can collect payments online, send automatic payment reminders, and send professional invoices in seconds. Digital invoices are completely legal and can be stored forever at little or no cost.

Indy can help you set up multiple invoice template formats, create recurring invoices, and streamline your invoicing process. There are other invoice generator apps, but Indy is really suitable for creating invoices as a freelancer. Its suite of tools can simplify your billing process and help you manage your business finances.

Online payments are definitely the way to go. They make recurring payments easy, calculate and manage sales tax automatically, and save time when you need to send invoices. You can get paid online by transfer to your bank account or you can accept credit cards.