Freelance work was so much simpler when you were a kid, wasn’t it? You’d go around the neighborhood with your lawn mower, find customers, agree on a price, do the work and get paid at the front door. Sometimes, you’d even get a cold glass of lemonade as a bonus.

We’re all grown up now, and while our work may involve an Aeron desk chair and computer rather than a Snapper push mower and a rake, we still need to get paid. That friendly neighbor at the screen door has now been replaced by a purchasing department, an accountant or other person we count on to get our invoice paid in a timely manner.

Each of us gets bills in the mail, and we all have different systems for paying them. Businesses can operate the same way. So how do you make sure your invoices get the most prompt attention possible, get paid accurately and documented correctly? Here are five tips to help keep the wheels moving:

Know Where It Goes

This one seems simple: Make sure your invoice is going to the right person at each company for which you work. However, a little legwork on your part can eliminate steps on the receiver’s end that can slow down your payment. You may do your work for someone in the legal department, for example, but when you send that person your invoice they simply send it along to someone else for payment. Find out if you can skip a step and send it directly to the person holding the pen.

Standardize Your Invoices

Again, this one seems pretty facile, but if it was there wouldn’t be services offering to handle all your freelance billing for you. Make sure your invoices look the same every month, with all the information in the same places. Check for readability and be sure things like the amount due are clear and not easily confused with other figures on the page.

Have All The Information

Paypal has made a lot of us lazy. We give a freelance client the email address to which our account is linked and thereafter just send invoices that have the work done and the charges due. That may work fine most of the time, but what if the person who usually handles your billing goes on vacation for two weeks, gets sick or for some other reason is out of the office? Your payment could end up in limbo while the fill-in person, who is quite likely loaded down already, finds time to contact you for all the information he or she needs. Your address, phone number, etc. should be on every invoice.

Send At The Right Time

A lot of us do our freelance work on the weekends, but that’s not the best time to submit an invoice by email. Doing so can leave your invoice buried under a pile of chaff, spam, and other emails and you increase the chance of it getting mislaid, misfiled or deleted by mistake. Send during the week, preferably on a Tuesday or Wednesday.

Keep Track

Whether you do it on a spreadsheet or in an old-fashioned paper ledger, tracking your invoices is vital. It may seem like a month since you sent in your bill, but if you send a follow-up and it’s only been two weeks you may appear disorganized or needy to your clients.

Always remember that you provide a valuable service to your clients and deserve payment accordingly, but also remember that you’re not their only provider. You may have 10 freelance writers in front of you waiting for that screen door to open … and you’d better make your own lemonade.

Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net