The paperwork side of a one-person business, set up one job at a time.
Simple systems for quotes, follow-ups, bookings, invoices and receipts. Each one uses tools you already have, and starts with a made-up sample job.
Six jobs sit behind every booking
Follow-up is the first one with its own tool, and it's ready now.
- Catch the inquiry In the guide
- Quote it In the guide
- Book it In the guide
- Follow up Free tracker, ready
- Get paid In the guide
- Keep the records In the guide
Free follow-up tracker
An Excel file that flags every inquiry waiting on you, including the ones with no next step or no date written down. Those are the easiest leads to lose.
It comes with 14 made-up inquiries, so you can watch it work before you delete them and add your own.
- Build it in Excel22 KB
- Add 14 sample inquiriesOct 25
- Flag what needs you6 flags
- Download itfree
Customer copy
| Flag | When |
|---|---|
| Overdue | The next step date has passed |
| Today | The next step is due today |
| Next 2 days | Due tomorrow or the day after |
| Needs next step | Nothing written down to do next |
| Needs date | A next step with no date |
| Fix date | A date typed as words, like "Tue" |
Excel file, 22 KB. Made for Microsoft Excel. If you open it in another spreadsheet app, check the Due column before you rely on it. It won't remind you, and it won't collect inquiries: you open it and type them in.
See how the tracker worksLatest guides
Plain how-tos for the work around a quote, from the first reply to getting paid.
The One-Person Back Office
A PDF guide to the back-office jobs of a one-person service business, with a $0 setup for each, checklists and a free sample.
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The two questions are optional. They tell us which trades and quoting habits to cover first.
What you won't find here
- Fake screenshots or made-up results
- Income claims
- Tools we haven't used ourselves
- Ten apps to do one job
If a spreadsheet does the job, you don't need the subscription yet.