With the way the VA Business is growing, I'm finding it more and more difficult to keep up with the actual time I spend working. I've been using the "monthly rate", but I spend so much more time on different projects that I should be earning more money.

Does anyone have a fool-proof way of billing/invoicing that isn't too time consuming? I'm open to any suggestions at this point. Thanks in advance!


Sincerely,
Carmen

Hi, Carmen.

I recently started using FreshBooks and was billing hourly for projects (per page for transcripts). Then this past week a client asked to go flat fee instead of hourly. I based the fee on an estimate of hours, so it works for me 'cause then I know when to stop, or if I can throw in some extra time. FreshBooks has a timer for recording stop/start times that I use for EVERYTHING, even non-billable items, just so I can see how much time I'm spending on each task.

That said, it still isn't fool-proof if I don't remember to hit "start/stop"! It doesn't take time to record my entries, just have to remember that part. Setting up my invoices/preferences took a little time, but now they're good to go. Once I got over three clients I switched to the paid version, and I'm happy with it.

I've "played" with software that records your work in the background so you don't have to keep track of time yourself, but it's too expensive and more detailed than I need.

Good luck!

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Juliana Williamson-Page
Monterey Paralegal

My time has been hourly lately, so for me, I have a file for each client which includes my signed contract and project notes. When I'm working on a specific clients project, I keep track of my time on a sheet of paper. During the week I update my hours in Quickbook and email my invoice directly to the client. I find this works well for me and is simple. In the future I'll move to paperless, but it's not part of my routine now, so I prefer what's easiest now.

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The Doctor's Rx
"The Doctor's Prescription for Success"

That sounds great to me... I may try something like that for now. Thanks for the advice!