The Small-Business Owner’s Guide to Slaying the Paperwork Monster

What makes us go into work on a Sunday and miss out on the lie-in?

What makes us get up at 4.00 am and work until 11.00 pm?

It isn’t our love of paperwork, that’s for sure.

But the paperwork monster is still there, lurking under your desk.

Unless you feed it, it gets irritable and starts distracting you, eating into your time.

Sure you can ignore it for a while

You can put off raising invoices and talk to your clients instead. We don’t blame you.

In fact, talking to your clients is one of the top two or three things you can do to run a successful small business.

But

Either you feed the monster or it will jump on your back when you’re not looking and eat your energy.

Here’s the secret to slaying the paperwork monster…

Calling all small-business owners… are you focused on what really matters?

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It. Doesn’t. Care. Who. Feeds. It.The paperwork monster is greedy. But it isn’t picky.

This is the 21st Century. You don’t have to create invoices manually any more.

The days of fiddling around with templates – in Word or Excel – are behind us.

(And let’s face it, even when you can get them to work for one invoice, they always seem to need tweaking for the next one.)

2

Feed me!

The two ways to create an invoice*

OR

The old wayHit File_OpenSearch for folder with invoices in itSearch for last invoice for this clientRealise there are no previous invoicesOpen last invoiceHit File_Save_AsThink of appropriate file name“That file already exists”Think of another appropriate file nameType new client’s details onto invoiceDelete blank lines so total isn’t outside the templated areaDelete old invoice items and amountsType in new items and amountsGet calculator and multiply items by amounts to get sub-totalsType in sub totalsClear calculator and add up all sub-totalsType in totalIf VAT-registered, clear calculator and multiply total by 20% to get VATSave invoiceSave again as PDFSwitch to email programCreate new emailType in client’s email address and subject lineType message to clientSend emailRealise you forgot to attach PDF, and resend emailSwitch back to Word and print out invoicePunch holes in invoice, find pen and write due date on itGet up and walk over to shelf where invoices folder is storedFile invoice in folderPut plaster on where ring binder caught your fingerSit down

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* The new wayLog in to Numberjuice

Click ‘create invoice’

Enter client details or select them

from drop-down menu

Add items and amounts

Select payment terms

Hit NEXT

Hit ‘email and save’

“Show me the money”In the film Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise plays the title character, a sports agent.

His client, Rod Tidwell, gets him to scream “Show me the money” down the phone at him.

Jerry gets to keep his client. We can learn from Jerry.

OK, there’s no need for screaming.

Jerry Maguire: Show me the money!

Rod Tidwell: I need to feel you, Jerry!

Jerry Maguire: Show me the money!

Rod Tidwell: Jerry, you got to yell!

Jerry Maguire: [screaming] Show me the money! Show me the money!

Rod Tidwell: Whatcha gonna do, Jerry?

Jerry Maguire: Show me the money!

Rod Tidwell: Unh! Congratulations, you’re still my agent.

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But turn the page for the truth…

… once the project is completed,it’s YOUR money -– so don’t leave it sitting in your clients’ bank accounts.

Nobody is going to voluntarily send you money they owe you – unless you ask for it.

Even the clients who love you more than life itself still need you to send them an invoice.

Putting off sending an invoice is like seeing a big bag of money on a table, labelled “This is your money, please take it”

– and leaving it there.

We all enjoy the “doing” part of our business, but even though we don’t enjoy the paperwork we still have to do it.

5

You are NOT running a charity

If you don’t get down to invoicing you’re not running a small business, you’re running a charity.

Except nobody’s donating money.

It’s time to get real about paperwork.

Nobody said it was going to be fun but you can’t run a successful small business without it.

6

Why only fools do their own invoicingAccepting you need to create invoices is one thing.

Figuring out the cheapest way to do it is another.

Take Geoff and Jane. They run their own small businesses.

Geoff does his invoicing manually, in Excel.

“It’s free,” he says. “Why would you do anything else?”

Jane’s not so sure.

She raises 10 invoices a month, on average.

Each one takes her about ten minutes from opening

the document to filing the printed-out invoice.

That’s an hour and forty minutes.

She charges her time out at £50 an hour,

which makes a total of £83.33 a month, £1,000 a year.

She reckons that if she can find a way of automating her invoicing

she could be keeping a big chunk of that £1,000 for herself.

Good news, Jane. You can!

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You get your book-keeper to do your books.

You get your accountant to do your accounts.

So get someone – or something – else to handle your invoicing.

Builders use drills to make holes. Designers use Photoshop to create graphics.

Wedding planners use flowers to make centrepieces.

Running your small business means using the right tool for the job.

If you want to write a letter, use Word.

If you want to model your supply chain, use Excel.

If you want to create an invoice, you need the right tool.

Word and Excel are not the right tools.

The trick is to minimise the pain8

Small businesses of the world unite – you have nothing to lose but your paperwork monsterWe believe it’s time to reclaim what’s rightfully yours…

The time you waste creating invoices manually.

The money you’ve earned that’s sitting in other people’s bank accounts.

The joy of working for yourself.

We believe in automating paperwork.

We are .

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Help me!

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is the website where you get invoices done for you, quickly, smartly and cheaply.

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