Most of the money a small business loses is lost before the invoice is paid: in the quote, in the price, in the extra work nobody billed for. Check which of these habits are yours.
Read the headings first. If one sounds like you, check the signs underneath against 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
Quotes get built from memory under time pressure, so contingency and margin are the first things left out.
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Is this you?
Why it happens
Invoicing feels like admin that can wait, and every day it waits is a day added to when you get paid.
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Is this you?
Why it happens
An invoice that does not show what was done, when and at what rate leaves the client to fill the gaps with doubt.
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Is this you?
Why it happens
Raising prices means a conversation you expect to go badly, so the price stays where it was while everything around it moves.
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Is this you?
Why it happens
A discount feels like the safest way to win, and there is no rule for when to hold the price.
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Guide coming soon.
Is this you?
Why it happens
The scope was never written down, so there is no line to point at when a request goes past it.
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Is this you?
Why it happens
A quote is sent and treated as finished, when for the client it is one of several they are weighing up.
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Guide coming soon.
Is this you?
Why it happens
Hourly billing is the easy default, and it ties what you earn to your time rather than to what the work is worth to the client.
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Is this you?
Why it happens
The price starts from a guess at what the client will accept, so there is no cost underneath it to stand on when you send the quote.
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Is this you?
Why it happens
Charging it feels like it could cost you the client, so the fee stays in the small print, and a fee that is never charged gives nobody a reason to pay on time.
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Put your real costs and your price into the calculator and see the margin that is actually left. If invoices going out late is the leak, Billbooks turns an approved quote into an invoice in one click, so it can go out the day the job ends.
Check your marginMore problems owners run into: cash, books and expenses, selling and leads, mindset and growth, when things go wrong, tools. Or see every problem in one list.