How Not Using Technology is Making You Poor
Okay, well, some technology can make you feel poorer initially (I’m looking at you MacBook Pro). But honestly, using the crap out of available technologies is really the key to maximizing the time you spend doing that thing that makes you money. And when you spend more time on tasks that translate directly into dollars, you get more money!
It is simple math really.
You – money = poor
You + technology = more money
Not convinced? Oh I see, you prefer story problems. Sure thing.
How Technology = Make Money, Money
Sally Solopreneur spends 1 hour every month creating invoices, tracking down payments and generally managing the process of getting paid. Seems like a good use of time, right? She does, after all, need to get paid.
Well, wrong & right. It isn’t a good use of time, but every business owner absolutely, 100% needs to get paid. It isn’t a good use of Sally’s time, or your time for that matter, because value isn’t being created here. And, more than likely, she (and you) really dislike this whole process and it has been known to not get done on time. This isn’t fun, it isn’t “billable” time, so here’s where technology can help…
Get Paid Auto-Magically (a.k.a. Subscriptions)
If you get the same amount of money from clients every month, this is a perfect candidate for a subscription. You do the work 1 time to set it up, the client enters their payment info (checking account or credit card) and then the money lands in your account monthly. Hooray!
If you already have an invoicing system, check to see if your system has subscription capabilities. If not, you can use PayPal buttons as a way to get started (you don’t actually have to use the button, you can just send the link via email for clients to sign up). Most ecommerce platforms or plugins have recurring billing or subscription capabilities, so if you are using one of those, see if that will work for you.
Bundle Up Your Goodies (a.k.a. Packages)
Perhaps you sell packages. Fantastic! That is, as long as clients are able to purchase those packages without you having to be involved. And no, you don’t have to have a website to achieve this. If you are invoicing for each package, or worse, invoicing after the client has had their first session, you are costing yourself some serious dough.
If you do have a website – set up a page with purchase links for each of your packages (or a page for each package, whatever works for your business). Don’t have an ecommerce system? No problem. Go create a PayPal button for each package. Don’t get all fussy about how the buttons look. You can either use their buttons, or just grab the link from the “Email” tab and create your own button on your site. Or just us a link. The point here is that your clients can click & pay.
If you don’t have a website – no biggie. You’ll still need to go create PayPal buttons for each package you offer. You’ll completely ignore the button stuff and instead grab the link from the “Email” tab and put that in a safe place (like an Evernote Note called “Package Purchase Links”).
Now you can go create email templates to send out after each discovery call with a potential client (or networking meeting) so they can just click & buy. You can also create short links or QR codes to put these purchase links on printed materials, like business cards or sales flyers.
The other alternative here if clients are purchasing time packages is to use a scheduling system like Acuity, YouCanBook.Me or Calendly (or one of the other dozen or so out there). You can set up your packages there, and clients will go to a page hosted by that service to purchase AND to schedule.
Slave Labor (a.k.a. Hourly Billing)
You might be saying that there’s just no way around spending time on getting paid because you work on an hourly basis. Sure, you’re unlikely to completely automate billing when charging per hour.
However, I’m willing to bet a new pair of shoes (because that is my go-to bet), that there are some serious time/stress/effort/money-saving improvements you can make to your process. These improvements likely will save you 50-75% of the time you are currently spending on this no-money-making activity.
Your first evaluation: do your time tracker and invoicing system talk to one another (or are the same system)? You should be able to push a button and spit out an invoice. For real. It is a thing. At bare minimum you should be able to export your time and import it to your invoicing system.
Absolutely no manual entry of time is allowed. That sh*t is costing you serious money. How much? Just multiply how much time you spend on invoicing by your hourly rate. If that number is depressing, it is definitely time for a different time tracking or invoicing system.
If you aren’t already using an invoicing system with a built-in time tracker, get one. Or, find a time tracker that integrates with your invoicing system. I’ve used FreshBooks and Toggl. While Freshbooks has a built in timer, it didn’t suit my needs, so I use Toggl because it directly integrates with Freshbooks. Figure out how you like to work then ask around. Search around. A little research and a little time invested will go a long way.
More Money-Making Time
Now that you’ve upped your use of technology when it comes to getting paid, how much more are you going to make this month? This part is the FUN math! Just take that time you are saving and multiply it by your hourly-rate because you’ll be applying that time to your highest value-add task (you know, that thing you actually charge money for). Or better yet, invest that time for big returns by working ON your business.
The Happy Ending
Back to our story problem. Let’s say Sally Solopreneur created a “store” page on her site by crafting PayPal buttons for her 3 service packages. Now she takes 15 minutes each month to check that everything looks good in her PayPal account. With that extra 45 minutes, or 0.75 hours, at her hourly rate of $100, she can make: 0.75 hours x $100 = $75 more dollars a month. That’s $900 a year!
So what are you waiting for? Help your clients out by giving them easy ways to pay you by employing technology. It isn’t hard, most of these services are free or very low cost, and you can spend more time sharing your unique gifts with the world (while getting paid).
Billing & Payment Service Options
I get it, not everyone is a PayPal fan. But that doesn’t mean you can’t set up a link for your clients to purchase, or a subscription. Here are a few options. Spoiler alert: the only one that comes close to PayPal in providing the range of options at the best rates is Amazon Payments.
- PayPal
- Amazon Payments
- Selz – transaction costs are more than PayPal,
- Quickbooks Payments (no, you don’t have to use Quickbooks to use this)
- PaySimple
What other areas of your business are draining your pocketbook by your lack of technology use? Let me know in the comments.
