Best way to keep track??

[2k1yzfr1]

I have been mowing for the past few years part time and have built a pretty decent sized business. This next year I want to start keeping better track off all clients. My question is what is the best thing you have found to keep track of who owes you money. In the past couple years I have just been using a daily planner and a legal pad....whenever I mowed their yard if they paid me cash I checked off their yard for that day in my daily planner and the ones that I billed at the end of the month I just wrote down each week next to their name how much they owe me. This method was fine when I had 20-25 yard to keep up with, but now that I have 70-75 clients I need something more organized. Thanks for any help.

Justin

[Team Gopher]

Hi 2k1yzfr1,

We welcome you to visit our site and download our free software trial.

[walker-talker]

Yes, for that many accounts a billing/scheduling/routing software will help greatly. I use Lawn Monkey and love it. I can print up route sheets for my crews, if I can not come along. Complete all jobs at the end of the day with a touch of a couple buttons. At the end of the month click a few buttons and automatically invoices all customers for the month. Then comes the easy part. Fold the invoices and stuff in a double window envelope and put a stamp on it. Don't have to write in return address and mailing address. As the checks come in, pull down a list of "who owes me", check their name and fill in the amount they paid along with the check # and that's it. If you want to mail a flyer on aearating, you can choose all the existing clients (not only your mowing clients) that have used aerations and create a list and even send them a personalized letter without the hassle of putting in "dear Bob,". It does it for you. There are many out there that offer free trials......try them all then make your decision.

[2k1yzfr1]

Wow that sounds like what I need. How much does software like that run you?? How easy is it to figure out how to operate?? I looked at the Gopher website last night and saw that they want $299 for thiers which I thought was a great deal. I just want to make sure I don't get somethign that is so complicated that I get pissed at it and don't ever use it like this PDA I got for christmas!!

[precisioncut]

Quickbooks worked for me

[TJLC]

I use 3x5 index cards with all the customer info including services rendered and cost. At the end of each month I just make up an invoice, using Excel, for each customer using the info in my files. This has worked for 5 years with no problems. I'm sure there are more sopisticated ways of doing this but why make it more difficult and expensive than it has to be. Good luck.