Create Your Down Payment Invoice Sample for Legal with Ease

Down payment invoice sample for Legal

[Music] hey i'm angel and i'm britney and welcome to the truly small channel today we're going to be talking about invoices so why it's important for your small business what goes into making a great invoice and how to avoid late payments from your clients so that you can get paid faster so what is an invoice an invoice is the bill for an account between a buyer and a seller indicating what was sold and how much for unlike a bill that you receive at the restaurant invoices aren't typically due immediately and are for buyers and sellers that regularly work together so what goes in an invoice so the first thing that you need for your invoice is definitely your business name and your info your business name is foundational to a professional invoice it defines your business and establishes your brand and of course it's important to have all of your contact information there as well and the next thing that you need is an invoice number so an invoice number is a unique number that you assign to your invoices and it helps you organize your files and it gets you ready for tax season and next you want to include the date of your invoice so the date of the invoice is the date that the invoice was generated super simple and an important part of an invoice is your payment terms it's up to you to decide what payment terms work best for you and your clients so that could be net 30 net 15 due on receipt if you find that having longer payment terms isn't working for you like enough 45 or net 60 try shortening it just speak to your client and see what works in relation to getting paid you want to of course include the quantity of goods supplied or the hours that you've worked depending on whether you're working as a contractor providing services selling products this will obviously change and then you want to include your client information so it's really important that you get this right and get the client's full name and address or their business address next you want to decide if you are charging a flat fee or an hourly rate again this is going to depend on the industry that you're on your position what your what services or products you're offering but essentially this is the amount that you are charging per hour or the amount of services or products that you're providing and the next thing is any additional fees or taxes it's always important to include taxes within your invoice so that it's transparent for your customer and your clients the last thing is going to be the total amount charged for your invoice so this is including the taxes and fees renis mentioned of course you can include any discounts or if they've already paid a deposit all that gets added here as well but this is the grand total of your invoice to get you started on your invoicing journey we have three more tips to share with you guys on how to avoid late payments a late payment is essentially when your client is paying you past the due date or your payment term timeline tip one keep track of your payment schedule having a reliable schedule will help manage the collection of your accounts receivable if you're using accounting software like truly small accounting all of this will be accessible from the invoices page the dashboard will give you visibility on who owes you money and how long that invoice has been overdue tip two the power of a follow-up once you have your payment schedule organized you can easily follow up with your client when it comes close to that due date or timeline of your payment term all you have to do is hit the arrow next to your save button in your invoice creator hit preview and send and this will allow you to send your invoice again along with a customized message to your client we recommend sending a nice message with your gentle reminder that their payment is due tip three provide a different payment method sometimes all a client needs is an incentive to pay quicker is a more convenient payment method if you're using truly small accounting you can set up credit card payments easily a payment link will be sent out with your invoices so your customers can pay on the spot now that you've got the vases covered it's time to go and get paid invoicing doesn't have to be complicated it can actually be quite an enjoyable process so long as you set up the right systems lean on the tools where it makes sense and solidify good invoicing habits right from the get-go if you didn't take any notes don't panic click the link in the bio to get our free guide that's it from us at truly small if you have any questions make sure to leave a comment below we're here to help with whatever you need as you grow see you next time bye [Music] [Music] you