Yesterday, while listening to the radio on my drive home, I heard someone talking about “the end of currency.”  In other words, that very soon we would all rely exclusively on electronic methods for payment.

As someone who hardly ever has cash in her wallet, I was quite happy to know I’m on the leading edge!

I love using my credit and debit cards.  I’m able to track every single penny I spend and there’s no pesky change to manage.  I can slip a card into my phone case (sometimes I’m even able to use Apple Pay and skip the card altogether) and away I go. So convenient.

I also love getting paid by credit card.  No paper and, with just a couple of clicks, the money goes straight into my bank account.  My accounting software (Xero) is automatically triggered by Square (my credit card processor) to create an invoice for each deposit and Bazzaam! … I’m done.

How about you? When it comes to the payment options you give to your clients, how easy are you making it for them to give you their money? (Hint: the easier and more convenient you make it, the sooner and more frequently you’ll get paid).

And, do you provide a variety of simple, predeveloped options or do you struggle to figure it out each time?

If you’re concerned about the complexity of accepting electronic payments, don’t worry; it’s simple to set up and way easier than it was even five years ago.  Here are two examples to get you thinking:

1. 1. Repeating Payments.  One of my clients is a healthcare professional; she needs to accept co-payments from her clients every day.  She’s a solo professional with a small office and it has to be simple.So we set up a “Square Store” for her with all her co-payment amounts and session fees as products. When a client hands her a credit or debit card she whips out her phone, plugs in her Square reader, chooses the correct product (co-pay or fee) and swipes.  Done!
   2. International Payments.Another client has lot of international transactions so he offers PayPal as a way to handle them (Square doesn’t handle transactions from many non-US countries).He logs into his PayPal account, chooses “Request money,” and enters the email address of his client and the fee amount. The client then receives an email with a link to pay.  They can pay with a credit card or from their own PayPal account balance.  This is also a great option if you have a large company client who pays with varying amounts.

These are just two examples … there are many more.

How about set up and payment processing fees?  Yes, they do exist.  But … they are small and if you consider how much time and effort you spent tracking and chasing money (and sometimes not getting paid at all), the benefits far outweigh the costs.

Here’s how I look at it:

Life before digital processing: The check is in the mail.

Life today: The money is in my account.