NimbleBilling V.01
UPDATE : An online demo is available here!
As a sole proprietor and “freelancer” it is never easy wearing all of the hats, especially when I am knee deep in bugs and get a sales or support call. One of the most troubling issues I have is with asking for money. I never have a problem creating the invoice but it is that bloody send button that kills me.
Because of the above – I have decided to finally get organized and put together an automated invoicing application so I don’t have to worry about billing – the computer does for me. Basically you point your browser to a web app and adda few items to a job list – then save. Here’s a screencast that should demo it better than I can type it :
Here’s some of the functionality summed up in a brief list.
- Add / Edit / Delete Clients
- Add / Edit / Delete Invoices
- Add / Edit / Delete Jobs
- Add / Edit / Delete Taxes
- Add / Edit / Delete Services / Products
- Auto Email Invoice
- Download PDF Invoice
It probably does a lot more but I am too excited to complete the PayPal module.
Be sure to check back for updates – a version will be available for you shortly!
I know you are in the development business, but isn\’t this recreating the wheel? There are plenty of decent web apps that are out there now that does all of this for you. This way you can do what you do best, not worry about billing issues.
*THIS IS NOT A SALES PITCH!*
We started looking at moving from Quickbooks to a web based for our business as we do not need all the bells and whistles of Quickbooks. I looked at https://lessaccounting.com/ and it looks decent. It is free for a majority of people!
You are absolutely correct – the only difference is that my initial goal was to integrate this application with Asterisk and have my clients called with a balance update (like the banks). Using one of the existing apps – I was unable to run my cronjob passing the calldata to my * box. This functionality has been added and works great – so mission accomplished.
I also really didn’t want my invoices branded with someone else’s business (usually you have to pay for unbranded invoices with these free services). Nor did I want someone else with all of my billing info / client list.
Thanks for the comment Dave.
It is in a way re-inventing the whell – probably the best one out there I have seen is http://invoicemachine.com/home – thing is it doesn’t do exactly what I want, nor is it “free”.
Ok, stupid question for ya
I am a company. I am at an extension. How do you call me? Do you assume that there is an IVR and push the extensions and thus not worry that a human may actually answer the phone that is not the person you intended to call? Are you going to setup ‘texting’ the bill to them?
Also, if you have to have your clients called with balance updates . . . you might want to find new clients
There is this very OLD technology that solved this issue. I didn’t require coding per se, or even ‘puters. It was called . . . a retainer. Yep. This solved the whole issue. Never have to worry about not being paid, just pull from the retainer.
Dave, I really appreciate your feedback – but the bottom line is that I wanted to write this software, you know – for me. Anyway if you think it is a bad idea; we get it. There are a few users who absolutely love it and I am very happy about that. In the case of an IVR the script waits a 30 second timeout. I totally agree with your retainer argument – and I have several; but as any independent contractor I have many loose jobs as well that sometimes need reminders. The really neat part is that there are feature requests to have a job timer and notification method – so when something is nearing a due date I am reminded by page, or email.
It is just fun to write – frankly it doesn’t make a difference to me whether you find it useful or not.