Allison runs a music studio where she provides piano lessons to several students in greater Seattle area. Her students range from young kids training their fingers on the keys for the first time to adults who want to rejuvenate their interest in music. Allison is one of the first users and beta adopter of the invoicing application from SimplifyThis. I have known Sanjay, one of the founders of SimplifyThis for some time. He had been hinting me that he and some of his friends were working on a web based invoicing application especially meant for self employed professionals like me. He would often come by and inquire about how I run my business, how do I track payments, where do I advertise, how do I get new customers etc. After a few discussions, he unwrapped the covers of project XO to me. I had been using email as my invoicing tool, and Excel to track payments, and never really found the need to use Quickbooks or any other accounting package. This application felt right for me, and I agreed to become a beta user. Well, the first thing that struck me about it was how easy and intuitive it was to use. Despite not having used any accounting or invoicing application so far, I still found myself at ease with using this application the first time itself. The layout of functionality and information was very logical and clear and I did not have to get any instruction or read any help to start using this application.
I was not using any formal invoicing application or process so far. I bill my students only for the lessons that they take, and my rates vary by students. Some of my customers proactively kept track of tuition fee and lessons, and would write me a check at the beginning of the month. To the rest of the customers, I used to send emails indicating the number of lessons that I gave and the amount they owed. This entire process was quite problematic and difficult to manage. I kept track of the lessons and the rates for each student in an Excel worksheet. Then I had to copy and paste this information in individual emails, calculate tuition and sibling discounts by myself, and repeat this for every customer. This was just not efficient. Another problem was in tracking payments. It was very difficult for me to track who has paid and who has not, how much have they paid, and if there is a remaining balance due. Matching payments to tuition keeping track of balance due was something I used to do manually, and it was really hard and cumbersome, and sometimes led to confusion and dispute over balance due and payments with customers.
I am using Simplifythis for four main things: (i) keeping track of the lessons that I give to the student, (ii) sending out invoices, (iii) reminding customers of overdue payments, and (iv) tracking payments. This application has made it really easy for me to track the lessons that I give every day. All I need to do it record the lessons in SimplifyThis, and it takes care of creating invoices at month end, automatically applying rates for individual customers, and emailing invoices to the customers. This makes it really convenient for both my customers and I to track the lessons and takes away any dispute. Also, I do not need to remember individual rates. This has been a big help to me. When my customers give me checks, I just record payments against them, and this application automatically applies it against the customer account, carrying forward balance due or overpayment to next month's invoice. Occasionally, my students buy music and practice books from me. I just track these charges also in this application and they get automatically included in the following invoice. It is very easy for me to glance over the application and know who is late in payments, and I can send a reminder to them. Simplifythis has been a great timesaver for me.
Well, there are a few things that I would like to see in SimplifyThis. Sometimes, my students forget about pre-scheduled lessons. If SimplifyThis could send a lesson reminder to them, it would help me a lot.
Thank you.