When you’re juggling the demands of starting a small business, every minute of your day matters – and so does every dollar that comes in the front door.

Try as you might to budget your time appropriately across the different areas of your business, it’s all too easy to become so caught up in the work of your business – that is, serving your customers – that you continually put off the sometimes tedious work of actually invoicing them.

Nonetheless, it’s critical to the immediate and long-term success of your business that you manage your cashflow. Luckily, collecting payment from your customers doesn’t need to be a chore when you have the right tools and processes in place to help take care of the financial aspects of your company.

Invoice Electronically

Are you still creating invoices in Microsoft Word and then printing them out to mail to your clients? You can save time (and trees) by moving to electronic invoicing.

If you use accounting software, it almost certainly includes a feature to invoice your customers electronically. Simply by eliminating “snail mail” from the invoicing process, you’ll be able to secure payments both easier and faster.

What’s more, many electronic invoices also invite customer to pay immediately online, which means you won’t have to wait for a check to arrive in the mail to get paid either. Your customers will likely appreciate the convenience of this payment option, and your business’ bottom line will benefit too.

Automate What You Can, Optimize What You Can’t

Electronic invoicing isn’t the only way in you can better manage your time and get paid faster.

The software you use for electronic invoicing will likely have other features built-in, such as project management and time-tracking, so be sure to take advantage of them. Tracked time can usually be transformed into an invoice and emailed to customer with just a few clicks, and when electronic payments come in from customers they can be automatically recorded.

What’s more, by using and customizing ready-made templates for things such as emails and being able to enter your daily debits and credits rapidly in a digital environment, you’ll further optimize the time you dedicate to managing your small business’ books.

Keep Your Finger on the Pulse

As a business owner, it’s absolutely crucial that you understand where your business stands financially – whether you’re in the office or not.

Using a cloud-based tool to manage your business’ finances will allow you to log into your accounting system at any time and any place you have an internet connection.

With this convenience, you can easily invoice your customers more frequently, oversee the time tracked by your employees and make sure money keep s moving in the door.