People often ask me: “Why on earth did you decide to create your own invoicing software?!”.
The first time I heard this question, I was sort of taken aback. Why DID I do this? After all, I’ve always been one for using the right tool for the job and not re-inventing the wheel. So why did I do something that, at first glance seems like re-inventing the wheel?
Let’s start with why I needed some sort of system in the first place. In the early days of running your own business, it is fairly easy to keep track of things. You don’t necessarily have many customers or orders, so using something like excel makes a lot of sense. It’s free after all!
That is until you start waiting for payments that never come… And on top of that, now you need to produce financial statements at the end of the year! Chaos!
Ok, so then you start looking into online invoicing and accounting platforms. Or you reach out to your accountant for help. And this is where you realize that by not being an accountant, you are far too detached from your own business! Sure, you can rely on your accountant to manage your invoicing and virtually everything related to the financial position of your business, and to some extent, you should certainly do that.
The problem with all of this is that you, the business owner, do not have real time financial information about your business. So there arises the need for some invoicing tool. But there are so many of them available online, so why not just use an existing one? The answer lies in who created the tool. You see, when accounting and/or invoicing systems are developed, it is common for them to be built from the point of view of the accountant. This makes it overly complicated for the business owner who does not want to be bothered by accounting jargon but still would like the ability to see how their business is doing.
So, having started a software company with the ability to create awesome software at low cost, I decided to try and build something that is made from the point of view of the business owner. Something that makes the following super simple and intuitive, while keeping in line with required accounting principles:
- Managing your customers
- Managing quotes and invoices
- Keeping track of outstanding payments
- Easily sending professional looking documents to your customers
- Reporting on all of this in real time!
So now I look back at that question and I say to myself: We’ve created something really amazing. Something that we as business owners love to use. Something that actually solves a common problem for business owners. And I’m proud of that.
If you are a business owner, I urge you to give stratuShop a try. It really is MADE for you.