Invoice

An invoice is a bill that you can give to your clients, asking them to pay for the goods or services that you sold to them. As a writer, you would invoice a magazine for an article that you write; as a marketing consultant, you would invoice a business that you contract for etc.

How to make an invoice

You can create it as a Word doc, as a PDF or any other document type. Make sure that it’s not too niche (e.g. a screenshot or image file) as the finance team of the business you’re invoicing may not be able to accept it.

If you’re self-employed, make sure that it includes the following information:

• Your name
• Your address and contact details
• The business’s registered address
• A unique number (the number of the invoice) – this is up to you to decide, but make sure you keep track of the numbers that you use
• The payment terms – this is the date from which you send the invoice to the latest payment date, usually 30 days
• A quantity, description, and price for each good or service that you provided
• The total price
• Your bank account information

How are invoices used?

You don’t only use invoicing for payment but as a general method of tracking.

• Keeping track of sales
• Track your inventory (if you’re selling/creating physical products)
• To request payment
• Keep track of income for tax purposes
• To forecast future sales