How Do I Create an Invoice for a Home Business?

Invoicing customers is key to creating positive cash flow.

Creating customer invoices is an important part of minding your cash flow when you're just starting a business. Some independent contractors and small business owners have the budget to have preprinted, custom-designed invoices created for the business, but if you don't have the additional cash for specialty forms, you can create your own invoices using a spreadsheet or word processing program.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Spreadsheet or word processing software

Instructions

1. Type the word "Invoice" at the top of the page.

2. Type your business name and contact information directly below the Invoice line. If you include your address, phone number and other business information on the form, you can place each on a separate line for clarity and ease of reading.

3. Skip a couple of lines and type the date you are creating the invoice.

4. Assign a number to the invoice. Consider purchasing a rubber stamp that will automatically increment the stamp number by one each time it is used if you plan on numbering the invoices sequentially. That way you completely avoid duplicating an invoice number.

5. Skip several lines to make reading easier, and then type the name of the person or business who will receive the bill. Add the contact information for the person or business below the name if you desire.

6. Skip a couple of lines, and then enter a date for the work you performed, a description of the work performed and the charge for the work. List individual items on separate lines until you have listed all the work performed for the customer.

7. Add the word "Total" and a total for all the work performed at the bottom of the list of charges.

Tips & Warnings

• Once you've created a template, use the Save As (or similar) feature in the software to re-use the form for different customers.

References

• Of Zen and Computing: How to Make an Invoice

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish