How Billow works

Billow is built around the project. A project is one piece of work for one account. The invoices you bill hang off it, and so does the offer, if you send one.

The pieces

Your workspace sits behind all of it and holds the settings new documents inherit: currency, tax rate, default deposit, bank details, contract terms. See Setting up your workspace.

The full path

1. Lead: an opportunity on the pipeline board

2. Project: created directly, or converted from the lead

3. Offer: built on the project, then sent to your client

4. Acceptance: your client signs, and the project goes Active

5. Invoices: drafted from the offer, sent by you

6. Payment

A project can skip the lead, the offer, or both.

Two kinds of project

When you create a project, Billow asks which kind you want.

Project with offer is the full path. You build an offer with deliverables and prices, finish the setup, then send it from the project page when you’re ready. Your client opens a link to accept or decline. Accepting means signing it, and it makes the project Active and drafts your invoices.

Simple project has no offer and sends nothing to your client. It holds the invoices for work that doesn’t need a proposal, such as a retainer or an hourly month. See Simple projects.

You can add an offer to a simple project later. Once an offer is attached, it can’t be taken off.

Leads

A lead is an opportunity you haven’t committed to yet. It sits on the pipeline board until you hit Convert to Project, which creates the project and carries the account and the contact over. The lead then leaves the board. See Turning a lead into a project.

Projects can also be created directly, without a lead. The pipeline is on the Grow and Scale plans.

Invoices from an accepted offer

When your client accepts, Billow creates the invoices for the whole engagement as drafts. The deposit percentage on the offer decides how many and for how much: 50% gives you a deposit and a final, 0% gives you a single invoice for the full amount.

Nothing is sent. They wait in your invoice list until you pick a payment method and send each one yourself.

The deposit is set on the offer before it goes out, and it decides the whole billing schedule. Deposits and automatic invoices covers every combination.

First steps

1. Set up your workspace

2. Add an account and a contact

3. Create your first project

4. Invoice it, or build an offer and send it