Invoicing instead of factoring

I invoice everything myself. Most of the brokers are a simple signed bill, numbered and complete invoice, and rate confirmation. Get trucking pro from fogline. Makes everything really simple 4 small scale operation. Will use quick pay at times if direct. But never factor. 3-5% over a years gross is a lot of money. Over 5-10 years is a new house or truck at least.

 

I'm glad you don't want to use factoring, no sense in giving somebody else part of your hard earned money.

Factoring is basically nothing but a high interest loan.

 

Just get an invoice template (spreadsheet) off the web and customize it to suit your company and logo, add each customer as you go. Create a folder (called "loads", maybe?) and inside it save a master copy of the invoice there and create folders for each customer inside the "loads" folder then as you go just fill in the information for each customer on the master invoice and save it in that customers folder. When you do a load for XYZ just create a folder inside of XYZ's folder and use the date as the folder name. "12_26_16" or I suppose invoice number, your choice. Since you already have an invoice made up with XYZ's information in the XYZ folder all you have to do is update that invoice for that load 'rate/date/load#/invoice#' and just export it as a pdf document in that date folder along with the rate con and then scan the bol and any other document (lumper, tolls, pictures, etc) and save them in the date folder as well. Then all that you need to send that customer for that load is all in that folder. Same as if there is a claim, it's all there.

Create another spreadsheet to track the invoices. come up with a numbering system and a ID system. For the number I just picked a random starter number like the date backwards (162512 the next would be 162513 ...) would have been my first one. For the ID I abbreviate (sorta) like; CH Robinson = CHRW. Make the spreadsheet to state what each column is for 'invoice#, Customer, date invoiced, date due, amount due, invoiced method (trans, mail,email) paid, unpaid , etc' whatever tickles your fancy. The spreadsheet that I made, when I put date invoiced in, the due date is automatically calculated into the next column and to make it easier to spot on day 30 the cell that the due date is in turns red. It also has a cell that states the number of days till due. I have a "paid" column that takes either a Y or N if Y that cell is green and the rate is in a column name "paid amount" and has a cell that calculates the total for paid amount. If it is a N that cell is red and puts the amount in the unpaid amount column and again calculates the amount in a separate cell. The spreadsheet also has a tally to tell me the next invoice number to use which I could just as easily look at the list used but the tally beats scrolling down for it.

While on the spreadsheet kick. I also have a sheet that does my cost per mile, all expenses, miles, dead head, rate per mile listed just push in the numbers and it spits out the cpm.

I also made one that well I dunno what to call it, but it calculates times, hours, breaks, fuel cost, gallons used, what rate to shoot for and more lol. My main idea was to calculate appointment times and ideal rate so all I had to do was drop in dh, loaded miles, appointment times, load time if other than the default 2 hr. and it would spit out a guesstimate (pretty close actually within reason of course) of arrival time to receiver. So when calling I already knew what I wanted and when I could get there. This was when I first started out just as a double check and so I wouldn't be delaying while on the phone. For fun I added lots f extras like, when I would have to take a 10's while rolling with time and start time after the 10. If I got there early roughly how many miles where lift with the time to leave to get there. Also the low cut off rate, ideal rate and the hells yes rate extra drop rate. I even tries to get it to fill out a mock up log book for a visualization. What started as a "can I make the times, is this a good rate" evolved into an experiment of how well/accurate/through can I make this thing. I still use it some times, I mean it's the same as using a calculator but gives me a lot more info.

I also creaded spread sheets for maintenance done with costs, date and by whom as well as pm due dates. (DOT auditor loved it).

I kinda got the idea from the fog line software truckin pro, I downloaded the trial and said no way I'm gonna pay for that. So I pretty much created my own...

Anyways, yeah an invoice lol

 

I make spreadsheets for EVERYTHING. I think the detailed organization and readily displayable information at a glance, is key to success. Knowing when, where, and how my money and time is moving on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. Having this data is the only way to know how well you're doing and what changes you need to make

 

I found this simple web site for invoices seems to work well for me.I think you get 4 for free and then they want $9.00 a month.The site keeps a record of all the invoices you create. www.invoicehome.com

 

An invoice is essentially a template, paper/or electronic. Paying someone for that seems silly. Most of the work is in simply owning a laptop.

 

Quickbooks online if you're actually going to run it like a business. It will do everything you need it to do from any device.

 

You guys who send invoices, not using factoring, how many invoices (1 out of 45?) charge off, remain unpaid, or you're unable to collect. Do you have to calculate this risk into potential loss of revenue? Or these situations are rather sporadic?

 

A lot of brokers pay within 30 days. Some pay within a week.
People that are starting out new and don't have the revenue to cover fuel and everything might want to consider factoring until they get enough saved up or until the checks/deposits start coming in.

If you're already set and able to wait for the money to start coming in, quick books is a great program... But if you're comfortable with making your own invoices, one of the easier ways I've found is using Microsoft Word or Exel and downloading the already made up invoices and just changing the info on the invoice.

Make sure however, that you keep track of your invoice numbers. Not only will it make accounting and auditing easier, but giving the same broker two different invoices with the same invoice number could screw someone up.