Getting Started: Your First Invoice in 3 Minutes

A complete step-by-step guide to creating, sending, and tracking your first invoice in Pleelo — from organization setup to payment confirmation.

You're Three Minutes Away From Your First Invoice

Most business management platforms make you wade through endless configuration screens before you can do anything useful. Pleelo is different. In the time it takes to make a cup of coffee, you can have your organization configured, your first customer in the system, and a professional invoice on its way.

This guide walks you through every step — no assumptions, no shortcuts skipped.

Before You Start

You'll need:

A Pleelo account (free trial works fine)
Your business name, tax ID (EIN for US businesses), and address
The name, email, and tax ID of the customer you're invoicing
A description of what you're billing for and the amounts

That's it. No complex configuration required before your first invoice.

Step 1: Set Up Your Organization

When you first log into Pleelo, you'll be prompted to configure your organization. This is where your business identity lives — the information that appears on every document you send.

What to fill in:

Business name — This is what clients see on invoices. Use your legal name or your trading name, depending on what your contracts use.
Tax ID (EIN) — Required for most B2B invoicing in the US. Enter your 9-digit EIN without dashes.
Business address — Include street, city, and state. This appears on invoice headers.
Phone and email — Clients will see this contact info on every invoice.
Logo — Upload your logo (PNG or JPG recommended, square or landscape). This appears at the top of every invoice and document Pleelo generates.

Tip: Get This Right the First Time

Your organization settings flow through every invoice, payslip, and report Pleelo generates. Spend two minutes here and avoid having to correct hundreds of documents later. You can always update these settings, but documents already sent won't be retroactively changed.

Once you save your organization profile, Pleelo activates your workspace. You're ready to move on.

Step 2: Add Your First Customer

Before you can create an invoice, you need a customer record. Navigate to Customers in the left sidebar and click New Customer.

Required fields:

Full name or company name — How this customer will appear in your records and on invoices.
Tax ID — For B2B invoices, capture your customer's EIN. For individuals, an SSN or ITIN may apply when required for 1099 reporting.
Email address — This is where Pleelo will send the invoice when you choose to email it directly from the platform.

Optional but recommended:

Phone number — Useful for payment follow-ups.
Billing address — If your invoices need to show the customer's address.
Payment terms — Set a default like "Net 30" or "Due on receipt" and Pleelo will apply it automatically every time you invoice this customer.
Notes — Any internal notes about this client (special pricing, billing contacts, etc.) that your team should know.

Click Save. Your customer now exists in the system and is ready to be invoiced.

Pro Tip: Import in Bulk Later

If you have an existing customer list, Pleelo supports CSV import. For now, adding the first one manually is faster than setting up a spreadsheet. Come back to bulk import once you've finished your first invoice flow.

Step 3: Create the Invoice

Navigate to Finance → Invoices and click New Invoice. You'll see a clean invoice creation form.

3a. Set the Invoice Header

Customer — Select the customer you just created. Their billing info will auto-populate.
Invoice number — Pleelo auto-generates this in sequence (e.g., FAC-0001). You can override it if you need to match a specific numbering scheme.
Invoice date — Defaults to today. Change it if you're backdating.
Due date — Calculated automatically from the customer's payment terms, or set it manually.
Currency — Defaults to USD. Switch to EUR, CAD, or another currency if needed.

3b. Add Line Items

This is where you describe what you're billing for.

Click Add Item and fill in:

Description — Be specific. "Web design services — March 2026" is better than "Services." Your client should understand exactly what they're paying for without needing to call you.
Quantity — Number of units, hours, or items.
Unit price — The price per unit.
Tax rate — For taxable lines, apply the sales tax rate that matches your nexus and the customer's shipping state. Pleelo applies it to the line total automatically.
Discount — Optional. Apply a percentage discount per line if you've agreed on preferential pricing.

Repeat for each product or service you're billing. The invoice total updates in real time as you add items.

3c. Review Totals

The invoice summary shows:

Subtotal — Sum of all line items before tax
Tax (sales tax) — Total tax calculated across all taxable lines
Discounts — Any line-level discounts applied
Total due — What the customer owes

Double-check everything before saving. Once an invoice is sent, you can still issue a credit note to correct it, but it's cleaner to get it right before sending.

3d. Add Notes (Optional)

The Notes field appears at the bottom of the invoice. Use it for:

Payment instructions (bank account number, transfer details)
Thank-you messages
Special conditions ("Payment includes $25 late fee after the due date")

Step 4: Send and Track Payment

Save the Invoice

Click Save. The invoice is now in your system with a status of Draft. At this point it exists but hasn't been committed to your receivables yet.

Send or Download

You have three options:

Email directly from Pleelo — Click Send by Email. Pleelo generates a professional PDF and sends it to the customer's email on file. The invoice status changes to Sent and Pleelo logs the send timestamp.
Download PDF — Download the invoice as a PDF and send it yourself via WhatsApp, email, or however you communicate with this client.
Share a link — Pleelo generates a secure payment link your customer can open in their browser to view the invoice and confirm payment.

Track Payment Status

Back in your Invoices list, you can see the status of every invoice at a glance:

Draft — Created but not yet sent
Sent — Delivered to the client
Partial — Client has paid part of the balance
Paid — Fully settled
Overdue — Past the due date with an open balance

When the client pays, record the payment by opening the invoice and clicking Record Payment. Enter the amount, payment method, and date. Pleelo updates the balance and status automatically.

Automatic Overdue Tracking

You don't need to manually flag late invoices. Pleelo compares the due date against today's date and marks invoices as overdue automatically. Your receivables dashboard always shows your current exposure — how much you're owed, how long each balance has been open, and which clients need follow-up.

What You Just Accomplished

In about three minutes, you:

Configured your organization with the information that appears on all your documents
Created a customer record that can be reused across all future invoices
Built a line-item invoice with tax calculations
Sent the invoice and have a system to track payment

Every future invoice for this customer takes under a minute — the customer information, tax rates, and payment terms are all remembered.

Next Steps

Now that your first invoice is out:

Set up more customers — Build out your customer base so you're ready to invoice anyone quickly
Explore recurring invoices — If you have clients on monthly retainers, Pleelo can generate and send invoices automatically
Connect your bank account — Once payments start coming in, use Pleelo's bank reconciliation to match bank deposits against your invoice records
Review your receivables dashboard — Get a live view of what you're owed and how long each balance has been outstanding

Ready to Send Your First Invoice?

Pleelo's invoicing module is designed for business owners who need professional billing without a six-week implementation project. If you haven't created your account yet, you can start free — no credit card required.

Start Your Free Trial →

Already a user and have questions about advanced invoicing features? Our support team is available via the in-app chat. We typically respond within a few hours during business days.