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Self employed invoice example for Sales

[Music] hey guys this is rainey from osasempley.com invoices 101 invoicing is an essential part of any business most likely any job you've ever had involved invoices in some way or another even if at the end of your day all you saw was a paycheck if you've never owned your own business or have never worked with accounting your first question might be what is an invoice and do i really need them simply put an invoice is an itemized list of services or purchases and the amount owed the customer may call this their bill once the invoice or bill is marked as paid the customer may now call it a receipt as a nanny invoices serve as necessary legal documents that can be used to show how much money you are owed for services performed additionally invoices are an easy way to receive payments and give both you and the parents a document for personal and business taxes let's get into some of the nitty gritty of setting up using and sending invoices for your nannying business don't get paid in cash back in my communication article nanny and parent cooperation i talk about the importance of leaving a trail of communication this is a trail of proof here's part of that article it is important to have a trail of proof of that communication you need to be able to show the parents what has been communicated between you and them and anyone else involved part of your responsibility communication wise as a nanny is to keep track of this proof part of that communication involves what you discussed concerning payments and rates not only do you tell parents what you will charge when you are first getting started but you continue to reiterate this information to them through your invoice they should see the following how many hours you worked what your hourly rate was charges you made in their behalf expenses any notes you want to leave them through the invoice by sending an electronic invoice you as the business owner get to see when and if the invoice was paid this leads us to an important point if possible don't get paid in cash there's nothing inherently wrong with getting paid cash it's dependable you don't have to worry about a check bouncing however there are a few setbacks you don't inherently get that trail of proof you have to do extra work bringing it to the bank creating receipts and marking them as paid if the parents can't pay you the day you're at work or if your schedule changes you have to wait until the next time you're at work to get paid it's much easier for either you or the parents to miscount the money owed ending up with you getting underpaid or overpaid which can be just as bad you can eliminate all of these problems by starting out with electronic invoicing services honesty is the best policy if you were overpaid always check with the parents to see whether it was an accident or not don't ruin your relationship over it you might say but i'm young and just starting i don't have any money to invest in expensive accounting software lucky for you all of what i use for my invoices is free i personally use wave invoicing and the cash app bonus if you sign up with the link i provide in the article affiliated with this podcast we both get five bucks both of these services are free and super easy to use cash app is also useful because it deposits money straight into your bank account this gives you bank statements that you can keep for taxes later next you need to have a bank account this is something you're going to need for handling payments electronically with something like the cash app bank accounts are very easy to set up and again they're basically free even so you may benefit from looking into a credit union as an alternative to your traditional banks these are what i've used most of my life and i've found that they often have better interest rates and are easier to work with but of course this will vary depending on where you live and the options in your area i'd encourage you to look at local options and ask friends and family what they use pro tip we keep all of our business expenses on a separate credit card that is only used for our nanny business this makes bookkeeping and invoicing much simpler doing things this way i don't have to pour over hundreds of personal purchases to find the few business expenses in my bank statements how to set up an invoice it's true that invoicing is a part of accounting which is a complex world it is also true that accounting involves a lot of math dates and records what all of this does not mean is that your invoice needs to be complicated in fact setting up your invoice is very easy especially with software like wave using wave you can even send invoices using your phone in just seconds it is important however that you take some time when getting started with a new client to set your invoice upright an important point to remember is to keep things as clear and simple as possible here are the key features you'll need the date the invoice was sent the date the invoice must be paid by who the invoice is to be paid to the client's name description of the services paid for which include days worked hours worked hourly rates and additional expenses which can include mileage or house and family purchases in wave you'll be prompted for most of this information making the process fairly simple before in the nanny parent cooperation article i repeatedly mentioned in passing that you can communicate through your invoice however i didn't go into detail there let's take a look at how you can actually implement such a system and how you could get feedback through avenues other than your invoices cooperation a multi-patch series that examines different aspects of communication in a nanny's career the series starts by taking a look at the importance of cooperation between the nanny and the parents find this series on my website ososimply.com this is something that many companies do they ask clients for feedback about their services directly in their invoice perhaps the invoice is an email and it suggests that you reply to the email with your feedback or you get a link to a survey as a nanny you can do this too often as parents are paying you they feel more at liberty to speak their mind about something which is a good thing whatever you do don't obscure the spot that they can leave feedback and make sure to read any feedback you're given don't give them the option to communicate with you through your invoice if you're not going to read it another option would be to use the invoice comments as the kids daily log first parents will see what you did with the kids that day for example you took them to the library you went on a walk you took a nap after you left you made a note of that in your invoice the parents read that and noticed the baby slept great that night so the parents leave a comment saying please do that schedule again on the other hand maybe you say something like this you lounge around the house all day play pretend for a bit and watch some movies basically you had a lazy day which is okay occasionally later the parents noticed that the kids were restless that night they could make a note of that telling you that they would appreciate less screen time they'll notice patterns with the kids based on what is going on in their lives and leaving a spot on the invoice for commenting and feedback is a really smart way for both of you to communicate about the kids remember the parents may or may not be checking daily logs but they will be looking at your invoices if they expect you to keep working with them be firm but friendly be clear be on time remember you are not watching their children out of the kindness of your heart you're running a business though you may love the kids the parents and your job you need to make money regularly sometimes you will be shorted money not reimbursed for expenses paid late or otherwise inconvenienced in these circumstances it is important that you remain calm but communicate with them in a firm yet friendly manner would i be a good nanny as long as you can be likable and assertive when necessary with the family there are many jobs for all personality types for example let me again quote a previous article after sending an invoice and receiving a payment compare these two numbers if you notice you weren't paid enough double check your invoice math if your math is right be kind but firm try sending a quick text i just got the payment thanks for being on time i did notice a discrepancy of x amount of dollars do you mind shooting that over as soon as possible in that example we don't beat around the bush but we are also not overly blunt we get to the point in a friendly manner you can basically use the structure for any such issues you need to resolve one compliment them i just got the payment thanks for being on time two point out the issue without blaming anyone i did notice a discrepancy of three offer the solution do you mind sending me that as soon as possible one point to keep in mind is that if you expect the parents to act professionally concerning invoices you need to be professional as well this involves communicating clearly and punctually families want you to be professional someone who respects them and their time receipts remember the taxes when it comes to owning a business honesty is important this means paying taxes honestly when the time comes and it will to make this process as simple and pain-free as possible keep records of everything keeping records can be easy simple and may only take a few seconds or minutes a day if you are using all of the advice in this article which will make things easier on you you will already have most of what you need your invoices serve as records for yourself never throw these away in fact most of these can be kept digitally for an indefinite amount of time these can be easily printed off as needed in hand with your invoices are records of payments made to you this is how you keep an accurate record of your income additionally this doubles as a receipt for the parents part of what you do as a nanny is making the parents life easier and you can add to that service by giving them detailed receipts the part we haven't touched on yet is extra purchases these might be expenses that you need to charge the parents for or it might be things that you need to run your business gasoline software services office supplies a portion of your internet expenses work clothes nanny printouts items for your nanny bag keep the receipts for both kinds of purchases additionally if you are using a separate credit card for business expenses that can serve as an accurate record when it comes to doing your taxes if you haven't already go ahead and read the article handling payments as a nanny it serves as a sort of precursor to this article that we released a few months ago handling payments as a nanny in this article go through the process of handling payments dealing with late payments and other problems the business side of things can be complicated if you have any questions about invoices taxes for your business or have specific situations come up that you don't know what to do with contact me i want to help you keep going and do the thing that you love oh so simply thanks for listening check back for our next article on friday you