Startup requires you to be on toes, on toes of your brain every second because opportunity knocks very slowly…this is what so far we have observed here at Moon Invoice. The small business entrepreneurs and startup founders must have gone through few initial stages of developing a unique product and/or service mixing it with an effective sales and marketing plan-cum-strategy.

A Startup is always functioning with respect to the allocated budget wherein the core components to look after for is cash flow, sales figures, and ROI. What most startups fail to realize is the inter-relation between sales and marketing. It’s a two-way street approach wherein an effective marketing could only drive required sales but on the contrary, you require an efficient marketing team to achieve necessary sales target. Budgeting holds the key to the success of every startup business. Planning and strategizing will get you to meet the essential growth during the initial phase of the project.

Most importantly, the core reason for the failure of any startup is that they are so much focussed in completing sales target, exploring new client base, establishing the presence of their product and/or services in the unknown market that they might not be paying much-needed attention towards collecting payments from their existing customers/clients/vendors. As such your project is on a tight shoestring budget and not receiving the payment on time or at all, is the final nail in the coffin.

A study revealed that small & medium businesses were collectively owed close to £27 billion compared to just £5 billion to larger companies. Additionally, the payment was delayed for a month or more beyond the agreed point. So these businesses had to diverge their resources for chasing those late payment bills, in turn, hampering their growth & productivity.

The Remedy:

What startups need is an effective, simple and easy invoicing system which gets them financial stability as cash flow is the key element for the small business growth. Presented below are the few quickest solution that can be adapted to avert late payment by sending them timely invoices and ensuring to get paid faster and on-time.

1) Be Clear About Payment Terms:

No need to elongate the payment window for 30 days or so especially when you have already delivered your product and services to the clients. In order to receive payment within the 30 days of invoice generated, you should set your payment term to 13 days or less. Moon Invoice lets you know when your recurring invoices & expense becomes overdue.

2) Add Late Payment Fees:

We are not much keen on recommending to use this as being just a startup this might look a bit straightforward and not help the cause of building a long relationship with your client. But then again, it also doesn’t mean that you are not entitled to receive payment on-time. There are couples of ways to play in such situation. Either you could levy late payment charges first and as a goodwill gesture in building longer relation, you can waive it off later or else present them with options that they can’t ignore. With Moon Invoice, manage payment with multiple payment options with the support & benefit of PayPal button.

3) Complete Watch Over Inventory & Time:

Accurate time tracking of hours spent on task and detailed records of such transactions are much needed to keep the communication channel clear with your client especially if you’re going over budget.Moon Invoice lets you capture time logs which can be kept running even if the app is closed. You can also stay precise about the product stocks and their availability using the purchase order and invoices.

4) Clear & Easy Invoice:

Make sure that the invoices you sent are in persistent with your client’s services and hence, it paves the way if your invoices make sense to the client. Any confusion will only lead in delaying the payment. Moon Invoice is easy to use with simple user-interface, cutting-edge features, and multi-productive functionalities.

5) Professional Invoice Maker:

The last thing that you should be worried about is that your invoices should not be looking scruffy and tangled with loads of misaligned information. With 22+ professional inbuilt PDF templates, add up to 2 different signatures, facility to add multiple businesses and many more are just a few sweepstakes of having Moon Invoice as your one-stop solution for every invoicing needs.

Conclusion:

A small but smart investment in a proper invoicing system will not only save you time but also helps your business grow. Moon Invoice has everything that you need in an app. Moon Invoice, truly, is an integral part of your business with its marvelous functionalities and immaculate features.

You can ‘Try Before You Buy’ here! Get your Moon Invoice app for iOS, Windows, Mac OS, Android

Recurring Payments Vs Recurring Invoices

Recurring Payments	Recurring Invoices
Recurring payments charge the customer’s credit card account or debit card account on a predetermined schedule for the same amount as preapproved.	Send an invoice to your customer on a regular basis. The client receives the invoice but, money is not paid unless the customer approves.
A business that takes prepayment of money and sells a monthly subscription service and product. Subscription services are excellent examples of this.	A company that provides fixed services with billable hours is an excellent choice for recurring billing. For example law firms and consulting agencies.

Pros and Cons of Recurring Invoices

Pros	Cons
You eliminate the possibility of human error by automating the billing process. If you use a recurring invoice, you will not be concerned about forgetting to charge your customers for the things they ordered.	You must exercise caution while recurring billing to prevent issuing inaccurate pricing. This also holds for price changes that could take place right once an invoice is created.
If you provide your customers with the option for recurring billing, they are more likely to buy products regularly.	It could be difficult to cope with recurring invoices if a transaction fails for any reason.

Net 45	Invoice is due in full within 45 days with no early payment discount offered
2/10 net 45 terms	2% discount if you pay within 10 days; otherwise full payment of the invoice is due in 45 days
1/15 net 45 terms	1% discount if you pay within 15 days; otherwise full payment of the invoice is due in 45 days
1/10 net 45 terms	1% discount if you pay within 10 days; otherwise full payment of the invoice is due in 45 days
1/7 net 45 terms	1% discount if you pay within 7 days; otherwise full payment of the invoice is due in 45 days

Category	Net Method vs. Gross Method	Explanation
Calculation Approach	- Applies tax credits first; reduces taxable income before computing tax liability.	- Doesn't apply tax credits; computes taxable income without considering tax credits.
Tax Credit Eligibility	- Allows for greater likelihood of tax credit eligibility due to reduced taxable income.	- Limits tax credit eligibility because taxable income hasn't been reduced yet.
Itemized Deduction Requirement	- Lowers threshold requirement for itemizing deductions due to decreased taxable income.	- Raises threshold requirement for itemizing deductions due to higher taxable income.
Advantages	- Leads to lower taxable income and increases chances of meeting qualifications for other tax benefits.	- Results in higher taxable income compared to net method.
Disadvantages	- May miss opportunity to reduce tax burden if taxpayer doesn't itemize deductions or take advantage of tax credits.	- Increases taxable income and may result in higher overall tax bill.