Invoice for Freelance Work: 8 Mistakes Freelancers Need to Avoid When Invoicing

While you may love freelancing, you probably don't love the work involved in actually getting paid. Generating an invoice for freelance work for clients and tracking payments can be tedious and time-consuming and it is something many freelancers neglect.

If you are new to freelancing or treat client invoicing as a bothersome afterthought, you could make invoicing mistakes without realizing it. These mistakes can cost you time, money and clients. With Lunafi, you no longer have to worry about how to write an invoice for freelance work. The more your business grows, the more time you can spend on invoicing, and the more costly mistakes can become.

Here are eight invoicing mistakes that could be costing you both time and money and a solution that can save you on both.

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Are you making any of these invoicing mistakes? See which ones apply to you and take steps to correct and prevent them.

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1. Failing To Number Your Invoices

If you don't have a useful system for finding and tracking your invoices, it can lead to missed payments and bookkeeping errors. Each invoice for freelance work should have a unique identifying number so you can quickly locate and track it as necessary. 

2. Forgetting To Add a Due Date

Some clients won't be prompt on payment if the invoice isn't crystal clear as to when payment is due. It could be embarrassing for you and them if you must send a late notice for an invoice that they didn't know was late. 

Plus, collections are likely your least favorite task. Don't let vague or absent due dates be the reason you have to pester someone for payment.

3. Not Sending Your Invoice When Work Is Complete

If you don't have some effective invoicing procedures in place, you might forget to send an invoice now and again. Then you really won't get paid. Don't rely on memory. Create and follow some basic invoicing procedures or use a system that will automate the invoicing process for you.

4. Failing To Itemize Your Services

When you perform multiple services for a client, each service should be broken out on the invoice. Some clients will need this information for their own accounting. An itemized invoice will save them the inconvenience of requesting one and you the time to send an updated one.

5. Not Following Up When Payment Is Late

Simply hoping a client will eventually send you payment won't usually get you paid. While it might be a hassle to keep up with outstanding invoices, it is necessary if you want to get paid for your hard work. 

6. Sending an Invoice for Freelance Work That Includes Errors

Errors on invoices can appear unprofessional, and they are inconvenient to the client if they have to follow up with you. Worse is if you under-bill a client and they pay you less than what you should be making. If you're prone to sending out incorrect invoices, it might be time to automate your invoicing.

7. Having Unclear Pricing of Items or Services

Clients don't like wasting time deciphering an invoice, especially repeat clients. Pricing and descriptions of products and services should be consistent and clear on every invoice you send. For instance, if you provide web content for clients, don't call it "writing services" on one invoice and "blog posts" on another if it is the same exact service you are providing each time.

8. Sending an Unprofessional Invoice

You might think that only your work for clients reflects your professionalism, but an invoice for freelance work is just as critical. Spelling mistakes, pricing errors and a sloppy invoice design can make a client question your professionalism and whether to hire you again.  

How to Write an Invoice for Freelance Work

Rather than trying to remember how to write an invoice for freelance work and check each element for these common mistakes, why not use an invoicing program that will prevent them? Lunafi makes managing your invoices simple, and it will save you a lot of time. Time saved on managing your business can be spent generating more income.

Here are some of the invoicing tasks Lunafi invoicing will do for you or make easier for you to manage:

• Auto generate a sequential Invoice ID on each invoice for easy tracking
• Add due dates to invoices with preset values or custom ones
• Auto send invoices or send them at a scheduled time
• Allow you to itemize your services easily
• Automatically send payment reminders
• Let you set customized pricing by item, quantity or hourly rates by service
• Generate professional-looking invoices

To find out how easy and robust Lunafi invoicing is, start using Lunafi invoicing today. You can have professional-looking invoices for your clients in less than a minute.

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