Developing Best Practices: Accounting
Developing best practices for your business is important to do at the onset of any business. Today’s blog will discuss how Paralegal Power uses Freshbooks to do our billing and how we discovered Freshbooks to be the best practice.
My partner is an educated man with a degree in business. He is working on completing his MBA as we speak. Needless to say, he is very knowledgeable when it comes to the accounting side of our business. So when we purchased Quickbooks I expected him to love it, maybe even be a little fun for him. I don’t know, lol.
I Got, Got, Got, Got No Time
I personally abhor the accounting side of the business and cringe at the thought of taking an accounting course. But he loves all aspects of business, so to hear him complain about the “learning curve” made me even more apprehensive to embrace it.
I am at a stage in my life where I really don’t want to learn new software. It is no longer exciting to me. My time is precious. And I don’t think I am being unreasonable whatsoever. If Monday.com can automatically send an email to my client updating them when I change the status on a task, then, by all means, my accounting software should be intuitive.
It just becomes extremely time-consuming to have to figure out new software anymore. Coupled with the fact that this is not even my favorite thing to do, despite giving it a try, I just never made Quickbooks work for me.
I Work For A Fee – Pay Me
I wasn’t going back to creating generic invoice documents, pdfing them, emailing them to the client and filing it away. Because I need to get paid. Sending a paper invoice and waiting for a check in the mail or to be summoned to pick up a check is not the life for me. I need the convenience of accounting software that is easy to use and will allow me to accept payments online.
This cloud of Quickbooks confusion actually had a shiny silver lining for me because it led me to find Freshbooks. And Freshbooks isn’t just accounting software…
- it tracks my time, and…
- it generates my retainers and…
- makes sure my retainers are signed and…
- generates all the tax reports my partner needs.
But moreover, I do not need a degree in physics or an MBA to use it. The entire format is clean and easy to navigate.
Freshbooks estimates that it will save you 16 hours a month and I believe it. The mobile version is so complete and easy to work on, I can handle all of my invoicing from my phone while I am waiting for my son’s football game to start. I really feel like it pays for itself when it sends automatic reminders for unpaid invoices and automatically adds the late fees for me. All the time I used to spend chasing my money is the time I spend earning more money now.
Perfect Fit for Attorneys & Contract Paralegals
I am sharing this on the Paralegal Power blog because I not only think it is the best software for contract paralegal firms, but I feel like this software was built for law firms of any size. Especially small law firms and solo practice attorneys who are disproportionately burdened by timekeeping software expenses.
I wouldn’t recommend Freshbooks if it wasn’t able to track time for each client, just what attorneys and contract paralegals need. I am very familiar with how expensive time tracking and billing software for law firms can be. And I feel like Freshbooks could really save a lot of firms time and money while keeping track of billable hours and making sure invoices are generated, sent and paid.
Free Registered Agent Service for 1 Full Year Included in ALL Paralegal Power Business Formation Packages
Freebies
If you are a paralegal interested in starting your own paralegal firm or an attorney just setting up your practice, they have a free download of “Breaking the Time Barrier,” which is an easy read on billing that everyone who wants their time to be given the value it deserves should read.
They also have a truly free 30-day trial that you can use without entering your credit card information, and I have posted a coupon link at the bottom of this post for 50% off the first three months.
You can actually use their absolutely free invoice generator without entering any credit card information, ever. They have a selection of templates that include one for legal professionals. We love the tool so much we wrote a blog about it.
Get Your Business Formed & Freshbooks For A Year
We are so impressed with the software and know that contract paralegal firms need it to reach their maximum potential that we are now adding a full year’s subscription with our Paralegal Firm and Complete Business Formation packages. So if you are interested in Freshbooks and need to get your business legally formed, check out our business formation services for the freshest options.
Thanks for checking in to today’s blog, you are the most important part of the Paralegal Power Blog.
In addition to Registered Agent Services for a full year, these business formation packages also include:
3 1/2 Months of GSuite
1 Year of Freshbooks
AND
1 Year of Monday.com.
Check out our previous blogs.
About the Author
Valentina Zapata Harris
Mother | Advocate | Blogger
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