For every small or medium-sized business, invoicing is a crucial part of its financial operations. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, understanding the ins and outs of invoicing can help you get paid on time and keep your cash flow healthy. In this post, we'll cover the basics of invoicing and share some best practices that make your invoicing process a breeze. Let's get started!
Invoicing is the process of sending a bill to your customers for products or services you've provided. A well-crafted invoice includes essential details such as:
Remember, a clear and professional invoice not only helps you get paid but also reflects positively on your business.
To make invoicing smooth and efficient, consider the following best practices:
Maroo's invoicing tools for wedding and event businesses let you create Quick or Itemized invoices, choose the payment methods you want to accept, and share an invoice by email or copied link. The workflow keeps billing clear for the client while giving your business one place to track what is due and what has been paid.
Review every installment date before sharing the invoice; a reusable template, a payment schedule and recurring invoice generation serve different purposes.
In Maroo, mark one enabled payment method as Preferred to highlight it for clients while keeping other available methods open. The tag appears when that method is available for the invoice. For a Maroo invoice with more than one scheduled payment, Autopay applies to the payment schedule rather than an individual installment. Automatic collection is separate from recurring invoices, which generate new invoices on a repeating schedule. Watch the scheduled Autopay tutorial. When you remember a total but not an invoice number, search Maroo invoices by amount to find matching records.
For a detailed job, an Itemized invoice can separate services, quantities, discounts, taxes, travel, and personnel charges. You can also add a CC email, notes, and attachments so the couple, planner, parent, or another stakeholder has the context they need. Follow Maroo's current invoice setup guide for the latest steps.
For projects that span several months, a custom payment schedule can name and date the deposit, retainer, and balance milestones on the same Itemized invoice. Align those milestones with your contract, delivery schedule, and expected expenses so both sides understand when each payment is due. Each due date can follow the invoice date, land on the event date, use a smart date set before or after the event, or be a custom date.
Happy invoicing 🎉
