Years ago there wasn't that many choices for macs in terms of billing software, so along with most of the crowd I went with Quickbooks. For years I stuck with them, although most of the features I didn't use as I'm a one-person studio, but I couldn't find another application that could offer some of the more advanced invoicing features I had gotten used to. When I realized I had to upgrade Quickbooks to work with my upgraded OS, I wasn't that thrilled about investing almost $300 for software where 80% of the functions weren't being utilized. So, I buckled down and started doing a bit of in-depth investigation into new invoicing software. After trying out a handful, I happily found Billings.

Too many procedures to get even the simplest task done. Too easy to lose track of invoices. Too many sub menus and sub-sub menus. Just a bloated application overall. I hated even having to start up the damn thing, so I'd wait until I had several invoices to do at once. Not the most efficient way of tracking my billing I must say.

Although I was intimidated by the concept of "slips" at first, I was intrigued about all the great features I read about. The retainer feature is killer. The reports are fantastic. The ability to import a csv file of all my client contacts without having to enter them in one-by-one was a big factor for me, too.

The timed slips. That is a great feature. I love how I can just start a new timed slip, associate it with a project, and then forget about it while I'm working. I love that I can pause it and restart it and it keeps track, but if I make a mistake I can still edit it afterwards. I love how I can add more timed slips to the same project, and then at the end I can invoice for all the slips at once, or pick and choose which slips to include. Great feature.

Billings has allowed me to concentrate more on working with my clients instead of worrying about having to invoice them - which by now should be apparent is an aspect I hate. I'm a creative person, not an accountant! By keeping accurate track of each moment I spend on a client's project, I'm able to invoice them correctly instead of guesstimating times. Each slip also allows me to add comments and details that I can then choose to add to the invoice if I wish - thus eliminating or reducing uncomfortable discussions of where the time was spent (an unfortunate scenario which doesn't happen often, but does creep up from time to time). I can instantly see at a glance which invoices are coming up, which are due and which are overdue, and with the super easy one-button statement creation, I can easily send out gentle reminders to my clients who may have fallen a bit behind. Prompt and accurate invoicing = prompt and accurate payments.