Create Your Virtual Assistant Invoice Template for Customer Support Effortlessly

Virtual assistant invoice template for Customer Support

[Music] when should you invoice a client before working with them or after if you send your bill before you do the work will it have a negative impact on your relationship well the potential client run away if you ask them to pay after you complete the work what if they don't pay what if you don't get your money hello welcome to the desired done podcast I'm your host Billy Gardner if you feel uneasy about invoicing clients you're not alone new vas are always worried about this and the topic comes up a lot inside my membership Community here's what I usually recommend to va's have your clients pay before you do any work this might make you feel uncomfortable but there are a few reasons why this is a good idea for one you won't have to hunt down your hard-earned money after completing the job the reality is not everyone is good at paying their bills it's not fair to you to have to chase down your money or not get paid at all it's a waste of your time and energy getting paid up front also ensures the client is legit and serious about working with you asking people to pay beforehand will also eliminate anyone trying to scam you out of money the truth is It's Not Unusual in the VA world to ask for money up front when I was a VA I never ran across anyone who had a problem with it if a client refuses to follow your payment process or objects to any of your core policies they're not the client for you I simply would have turned a client away if they didn't want to follow my rules if the potential client feels nervous and doesn't want to pay right away because they don't want to get ripped off either you could offer them a trial package or a few hours so they can try your services and establish a relationship that being said there are some situations where you may not want to ask for money up front or won't be able to for example the payment process will be different if you're a subcontractor for another virtual assistant or agency when you're a subcontractor you're hired to assist with someone else's client work typically you'll be paid ing to the number of hours you work and will therefore be paid after you do the work another reason for not invoicing a client in full immediately is if you're doing a large project like designing a website you could invoice them fifty percent before you start the work and 50 right before completing their work and another reason why you might want to send a bill later is if you have a client you've worked with before and Trust sometimes it's easier to do some work for a client and build them afterward as long as you know they are a good payer there shouldn't be a problem as with anything listen to your gut don't do it if you feel uncomfortable with it I want to address the fact that scammers are trying to scam va's all the time typically these people are on job sites like upwork or Fiverr but they might also reach out to you directly and the way they try to scam va's vary they may pay too much and ask you to give them the extra money back which is a scam where they steal money from you or they may ask you to pay for equipment another thing they'll do is they'll ask you to invoice them through QuickBooks I have a podcast episode on this topic if you want to learn more I'll link to it in this week's episode description my main advice is this do not be so desperate to get a client that you throw your processes or intuition out the window you tell the client when and how you invoice them you also have the right to turn down a client or stop communicating with someone whose demands are out of line you are your own boss you are now responsible for getting your money follow your gut follow your processes and be confident your ideal client will have no problem with this be sure to have your business policies in place before you book your first client include them in your contract and be prepared to discuss them on your Discovery calls your policies include when and how you get paid your work hours how clients can reach you and so on need help starting your VA business I'd love for you to check out the introvert VA Club it's full of amazing resources for starting your VA business such as courses templates and a forum where you can ask all the questions you want and get the answers you need for me my team and other introverted va's it's a supportive community and we're always having discussions like this one thanks for listening if you enjoyed this episode please follow And subscribe talk to you soon bye [Music] thank you