Spreadsheets, paper and memory work well for a while. The cost of outgrowing them is quiet: lost time, missed payments, mistakes. Here is how to tell whether your tools are still working for you.
Read the headings first. If one sounds like you, tick the signs underneath that fit your own business. Recognising the problem is the first step, and for some of these it is most of the work.
Is this you?
Why it happens
A spreadsheet grows one fix at a time, so nobody notices the moment it stops being fit for the job.
Is this you?
From our invoice data
The typical US business in the data is still showing $8,900 owed on this year's invoices, almost all of it past due (43 businesses; some of it will be payments received but not yet recorded).
Source: Billbooks invoice data, 8,483 invoices from 112 small businesses, September 2024 to September 2026 (aggregate only, figures shown only where 25+ businesses contribute). See the study
Why it happens
Invoices, payments and reminders live in different places, and nothing brings them together in one list.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Software is bought to solve a problem in the moment and never reviewed again.
Read next
Guide coming soon.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Your own time never appears on an invoice, so it is easy to treat it as free.
Enter how many invoices you send and how long each takes, and see what manual invoicing costs you in a year. If that number is large, invoicing software such as Billbooks is the thing that removes it.
Work out the costMore problems owners run into: cash, pricing and invoicing, books and expenses, selling and leads, mindset and growth, when things go wrong. Or see every problem in one list.