Trying to Get Paid Faster? Square Invoices Can Help. Square makes it easier for entrepreneurs to manage invoices, track payments, and more.
By Entrepreneur Deals Edited by Jason Fell
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In 2009, a then small startup called Square (which was co-founded by Twitter's Jack Dorsey) proposed a pretty disruptive idea: What if the cash register became obsolete? After all, clunky point of sale systems have proved to be a major source of frustration for small businesses, who were forced to use unintuitive technology that made even the simplest of tasks, like editing orders or printing out a simple receipt, difficult. Its alternative to the machinery that had dominated brick-and-mortar for the past few decades? The Square Reader, a small device that attaches to a smartphone or tablet and allow users to easily swipe their debit and credit cards to get their receipt immediately emailed to them. And thus began Square's journey to simplifying and streamlining tasks for businesses across the globe.
While many of us have already interacted with the Square Reader (there are over three million merchants who have used it to process over $12 billion in transactions a year), fewer have tried out Square's other offerings. This includes Square Capital, Square Payroll, Square Cash, and Square Invoices. Consider the latter product an especially solid secret weapon for small and large business owners, freelancers, entrepreneurs, or anyone else who needs to manage their payments and recurring invoices.
The idea behind Square Invoices is simple: it's an all-in-one solution that allows owners and entrepreneurs to manage their business from pretty much anywhere. The platform can be accessed via the online Square Dashboard, the Square Point of Sale app, or the Square Invoice app (both on iOS and Android devices). There, you will be able to get paid and pay others easily.
Its invoicing feature allows users to send either ad-hoc or recurring invoices to their stored customer contacts. This reporting can be as detailed as you like and can include itemized details, tax and discount information, personalized messages, and attached documents (such as PDFs, contracts, or photos). You can even track instantly when a customer or vendor has viewed and paid your invoice, scheduling reminders for any outstanding payments along the way. And by adding your online banking information to the platform, business owners can get their invoices paid directly to their accounts.
Of course, this is really just the tip of the iceberg. The service also boasts instant access to funds for Square Cardholders, exportable invoices that you can then import into software such as Excel, as well as a secure system to send online estimates for future jobs to prospective clients.
Combined, all of these features make it easy for subcontractors to chase down any unpaid work they've completed, for restaurants to send their orders and payments to suppliers, and for company bookkeepers to efficiently keep tabs on all of their incoming and outgoing financial records in one place.
The proverbial icing on the cake here is that Square Invoices is an affordable product to add to any accounting workflow. Its invoices are always free to send, and there are no hidden monthly fees involved. The company only takes a 2.9 percent processing fee and an additional $0.30 for any invoices paid online, as well as a 3.5 percent processing fee and an additional $0.15 charge for invoices paid with a card on file.
If the saying time is money is true, then consider how much time you're bound to save keeping track of important financial documents. It's worth giving Square Invoices a try for that alone.
