Online Freelancing (Part 3): How to create an Invoice?

(This article is a part of the Online Freelancing series.)

People come across invoices every day, whenever they buy products or services. Still, when it’s time to create an invoice for the services they provide, many get nervous.

And when you’re into freelancing, you have to know it all. Apart from the services you provide, you also have to outline a freelancer agreement, negotiating what you deserve, delivering the project on time and then, ensure that you get paid.

But no matter how complicated it may look, designing an invoice is one of the easiest things in freelancing. Well, there are tons of free invoice generators and invoicing software.

Also, software packages like Wave, And Co, Freshbooks and Quickbooks help you automate the process. Automatic recurring invoices, payment reminders, integration with other service providers and bookkeeping are a few of the many features available.

But there is another level of satisfaction in having an invoice template, which you can edit manually. It’s fun for the control freak in me, at least.

Have a look at my simple invoice template created using Microsoft Excel, before I dive into the details.

I have a similar Microsoft Word template, which I used earlier. Having it as a spreadsheet though saves me some time that went waste into calculations.

So, what all goes in a freelancer invoice?

Your name

Start with your name, in full. Since I do my business online, I don’t include my postal address there, but you’re free to do so. Now, there are two other details to add — your phone number and the email address — which you use for correspondence.

Date

Mention the date when you’re sending the invoice and the due date before which the payment is to be made, as per the contract.

Check — How to create a Freelancer Contract?

Name of the client

Next, comes the billing details of the client. Put their full name and postal address (if you know) along with their mobile number and email address. If your client is a company, put the contact details of the person you are in touch with, as mentioned in the contract.

Itemized description

• Name — The name of the products and services you deliver. I am mostly into article writing, so I have articles-based invoicing. So, design as per your requirements.
• Quantity — Next, comes the quantity of the products/services. OK, taking my previous example again. If I agreed on payment based on the number of words, I would mention words per article. If it’s per article payment, that’s it.
• Rate — Now, mention the rate you agreed upon, in the contract, per word, per article, per hour or per project. And it’s done.
• Amount — You can use Excel formulas to calculate the amount automatically, and also copy the formula to other cells below. Use appropriate formulas for sub-total, discount, tax and other (if applicable).

Then, let Excel calculate the final amount for you as per the formula used.

Payment Mode

At last, mention how you would like the payment. You should have mentioned it in the contract, stick to it. Except for a few, I take most payments through direct bank transfers, so I put my bank account details in the invoice.

Those are the things which go in my invoices. By the way, there are a few other stuffs which you might like to include.

Invoice no.

Numbering the invoices is a good practice, I don’t feel the need though. I name and arrange my invoices date-wise along with other files in the folders. But if you have to send multiple invoices in quick succession, you will need the numbers.

Payment Terms

Mentioning the terms of payment, late fees or advance (if any) that you agreed in your contract would be good too. It keeps the memory afresh.

And that’s it. Go through the invoice again, check if something looks odd, correct it and then put your signature on it, before forwarding it to the client.

P.S. My invoice is a modified version of the sample Microsoft Word invoice template available on the website of PayPal.