All the cool kids know that FreeAgent, the online accounting service, is the swiss army knife which keeps freelancers on top of their cash flow, billing, expenses, and taxes. But once you’ve mastered the basic functions of the FreeAgent system, there are a few neat tricks you can try to make that functionality work even harder for your business.
Give some of these a go!
1. Export contact data to your iPhone or iPad
It is vital to have your clients’ contact data with you at all times. Here is how to do it in thirty seconds.
Go to “Contacts” and select “Export Contacts.” This will prompt you to download a file called contacts.vcf. Email this file to yourself, and open that email in your iPhone or iPad. Double click on contacts.vcf in your iPhone or iPad mail. Your contacts will then be imported into the Contacts app.
Boom!
2. Basic CRM
Use the “Notes” function under each individual Contact as a basic CRM file. Get into the habit of making a brief note every time you have a phone dicussion, meeting, or new issue with the client which falls outside their project’s task management. I guarantee you won’t be able to resist the graphic of notebook paper and a piece of tape.
3. “Do we owe you anything?”
Many clients will ask this question as the end of the fiscal year approaches. When they do, give them the numbers they need with a Statement of Accounts. In their Contact record, click on Statement of Accounts and enter your start and end dates to generate a full tally of invoicing across all projects within any Contact record. You can email it to them as a PDF from within FreeAgent. There – you’re more on top of your clients’ finances than they are.
4. Automate your wrath
Remember how you obsessed over having to raise the issue of an overdue bill with a client? You wanted to be firm but polite, assertive but understanding, constructive but angry. The next thing you knew an hour had gone by and you were still hesitating at your keyboard.
Well, {bleep} that. Go to “Settings”, and under Invoices and Estimates, select Invoice Emails. In that screen, select Reminders. Create a default email to go out to late clients, and then specify when it will go out and how often. I note that it will go out three days after the invoice was due and every eight days after that. You don’t want to know what happens if it goes out three times.
5. Put invoice due dates in your calendar
Go to “Settings” and scroll down to API & Feeds under Integrations. Enable API access, and then import the .icl feed for invoice due dates into your calendar of choice. Your invoice due dates will now appear as notes on your calendar, allowing you to keep one raised eyebrow on your cash flow.
6. Store critical company records
Did you know that you get a gigabyte of secure file storage in your FreeAgent account? You can find it by clicking “Files” in the top right menu. Use this space as your virtual business archive. Upload scans of your insurance documents, tax returns, monthly bank statements, national insurance schedules, copies of your master contract templates, and anything else related to the vital operations of your business. You’ll sleep better at night.
7. Track the cost of time spent on unsuccessful project bids
Here’s a trick I came up with earlier that tells you how much of your billable time is being spent on unbillable prospects.
If you want some of this freelancer kung-fu in your life, give FreeAgent a try. You’ll even get 10% off your monthly bill.
