Choose a method
Text invoice vs paper invoice
Paper gets lost in a van. A text stays in the thread. Use paper only when the customer cannot open a link and is paying you before you leave.
Keep a duplicate book for the exception, not the habit
A paper invoice book still solves one case: the customer has no phone signal, no smartphone, and is handing you cash. Write the paper then, and write the same total you would have texted. For everyone else, paper is how invoices live under the seat until the carbon copy is unreadable. A text can be searched. A PDF can be downloaded. You can still hand them the phone to read the page if you want the in-person moment paper used to provide. Do not run a paper total and a text total that differ by the call-out you remembered later.
Invoice for the emergency open and cylinder, due now: https://invoicetxt.com/i/your-link
Default to the text
It is the copy you can find on Tuesday.
Use paper when they cannot open a link and they are paying now
Same numbers, written down.
Photograph the paper if you used it
Then the paper can stay with them.
Stop double entry
One total. If the paper and the text disagree, you do not know what you earned.
What to put on this invoice
- A text for anyone with a phone
- Paper only for the cash exception
- The same prices on both
- A photo of the paper if paper was the copy they took
Questions about this job
Do older customers prefer paper?
Some do. Offer to read the page with them, or to print the PDF later. Do not assume. Ask.
Is a text easier to fake?
A random demand from an unknown number is easier to distrust. Send from the number they called, with your business name and the amount you agreed.
What about a duplicate book that is my only record?
Then the book is your ledger. Enter the texts into it, or stop and use one system. Two half-records are worse than either.
Paper is the backup for a person who cannot tap a link. It is a bad filing system for the week.
Related guides
WhatsApp invoice vs email invoice
WhatsApp is the right invoice channel when the job was agreed in WhatsApp. Email is right when the payer is a shared inbox. Send one invoice, not two competing totals.
Open guide →Best way to invoice without Xero or FreshBooks
You can send a proper invoice without Xero or FreshBooks if you do not need their bank feeds and reports. Type the line, text the link, keep the PDF.
Open guide →Simple text invoice vs full accounting software
A text invoice asks for payment. Accounting software explains the year. Most sole traders need the first one every day and the second one on a schedule.
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