Invoices on a schedule
If you send the same people the same amount every month, the work is not the invoicing. It is remembering to invoice.
Separate the three things
- What is owed - the agreement. Changes rarely.
- Making the document - mechanical, and the easy bit.
- Chasing - the part everyone hates and skips.
Most accounting software does the middle one well and the third one badly, which is backwards.
Set the chase up first
Decide the schedule before you send anything, and write it down:
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Day 0 | Invoice goes out |
| Day 14 | A short, friendly reminder |
| Day 30 | A direct one, and it names a date |
| Day 45 | A phone call. Not an email. |
Written down in advance, none of these feel personal to send. Decided in the moment, day 30 never happens.
One thing worth doing by hand
Read the first invoice to any new client before it goes. Automations inherit the mistake in the setup, and the first one is where you catch it.