A client told me my invoices looked unprofessional and that changed everything

I was sending out the same plain text invoices for two years, just a list of hours and a total. A client in Austin emailed me back saying it looked like a high school project and they almost didn't pay. I spent an afternoon setting up a proper template with my logo, payment terms, and a clear breakdown. It boosted my payment speed by about a week on average. Has anyone else gotten feedback that forced a big change in how they run their business?

3 comments

3 Comments

ivan46213d ago

Yeah, a clean invoice template is one of those things you don't realize matters until someone calls you out on it. I added a simple payment link and due date in bold after a client "forgot" to pay me for three months. Small tweaks like that really do make a difference in how seriously people take your business.

the_jessica13d ago

I used to think invoices didn't matter but @ivan462 is right, the template changed everything.

blair99013d ago

Three months of pending invoices? I feel that pain. I once had a client pay me in a roll of quarters and a gift card to a pizza place I didn't like because they "lost" my invoice. Now I have my payment terms in bright red bold letters and a big friendly reminder two days before it's due. The client even said it felt like I was a real business now, which hurt a little, but at least I'm getting paid in actual money these days.