If you’re a business owner, service provider, maker, freelancer – you (hopefully) invoice regularly. Just as I love a peek inside someone’s closet or refrigerator or supplements cabinet, I also love to notice how different people submit invoices. It says a lot about you, funny enough. What you’re doing, on a deeper level, is saying “I’m offering you the best of what I can do, and this is how much it costs.” It’s kind of intimate, actually. So why, at times, are invoices such an afterthought? Why have I gotten so many of them from freelancers or interns or vendors with wonky spacing, typos, incorrect math…it’s the most overlooked aspect of what is actually part of your brand, and surprisingly, an aspect to your marketing.

I got this typewritten gem from my painter the other day. I love it because someone, somewhere, took the time, on a TYPEWRITER, to send me a $200 bill. Not much money, but a beautiful service provided, all consistent with the gentleman who owns the business, who puts a Mr or Mrs before addressing anyone, including himself!

It doesn’t matter so much that you take a fancy digital approach to submitting fees for products or services rendered, or a more old school one like the above, or even a hand written one – as long as you do it with the thoughtfulness that this exchange very quietly demands.

You did something. For someone. Make the last gesture of the transaction as lovely or at least as consistent, as the quality of your work.

And…here’s to paying bills and sending bills. Paying them means you’re using your money. Sending them means you’re generating it.
All of it’s good.