How I got my time back with HiMama billing and payments

Center Name: Bright Beginning Childcare LLC | Location: Richmond, Virginia

THE CHALLENGE

Not enough time to get billing done, and constantly working evenings and weekends

“I needed a way to make things easier for myself. I had been using a handwritten system of invoices and receipts, and it was so time consuming that I was stuck getting things done every weekend.” 

Miriam Owens is the owner and director of Bright Beginning Childcare, LLC, a preschool located in Richmond, Virginia. Miriam opened her center doors and welcomed her initial families 7 years ago. After 5 years of operating her center on pen and paper, Miriam realized that something had to change. She was spending her personal time on evenings and weekends catching up on billing and payments, and thought there had to be a more efficient and professional way to get this work done.

Billing was the least desirable part of my job, and also the most time consuming. It is not where I wanted to be devoting so much of my time. I was using multiple spreadsheets to keep track of everything, yearly tax receipts were a growing monster, and I found cash app and venmo to be an unprofessional method for collecting payments. I wanted to get away from that and make tuition payment a professional exchange

Miriam Owens

Miriam was looking for a solution that would make billing easier, cleaner and more professional. 

“I realized it was time to invest in myself and my business. I knew the cost would be worth it for me as it would give me back that precious time in my life. Once time has passed, it is gone, and I was looking to be a good steward of my time and be able to focus on what was most important.”

THE SOLUTION

Miriam brought HiMama billing into her center last year and has never looked back. 

“Doing manual billing and payments was becoming a nightmare. I am a firm believer that if something can be easy, it should be easy, so I set out to optimize my processes and get time back.” 

To make this transition to HiMama billing as simple as possible, Miriam did two things. She embraced a growth mindset, knowing there might be a bit of turbulence through this change, but it would be worth it. She also worked very closely with a dedicated billing specialist and HiMama’s support team to make sure everything was running smoothly. 

It only took a matter of 2-3 days to get set up and feel confident with HiMama billing, and honestly that is probably adding on a day. I had so much support from HiMama during the process. They held my hand and genuinely wanted to make sure I was okay

Miriam Owens

At HiMama, every new billing and payments customer is assigned a dedicated billing specialist for support during the transition and to ensure centers and families families are set up for success. For Miriam, this helped her feel more secure and confident during their transition from pen and paper to HiMama.

I felt like the HiMama team was really listening to me, and willing to do whatever they could to help me. I knew right away that I was with the right company.

Miriam Owens

When it came time to introduce HiMama billing to the parents at her center, Miriam sent them HiMama’s pre-created templates and instructional videos, and her parents took to it right away. She sends invoices out to the parents on a weekly basis, and they now receive their invoices and send the payments right from their phone. This makes things much faster and more convenient for her families. They also appreciate the level of professionalism that Miriam is working to bring to Bright Beginning childcare. 

THE RESULT

“I no longer work on weekends, and I spend maybe 10 minutes a week checking in on the invoices and payments. HiMama billing is such a well-oiled machine, I really don’t have to do anything.”

After just a few days Miriam had HiMama billing operating smoothly at her center. She checks the invoice page where the invoices are automatically generated once a week, and she says it takes “2 seconds” out of her day to click send. She can then track the payments that parents are making through the automatic payment status updates in HiMama billing.

Getting that time back in my life has been the number one piece of value for me. Before HiMama billing, I felt like I was stealing a bit of time from different areas to devote to billing and bookkeeping. I no longer have to do that. I am now able to spend that time with my children, going to the library or to the craft store. Really anywhere I want, because it is my time to use however I want to, and that is huge

Miriam Owens

Not only has Miriam been given precious time back on her weekends and in her classroom, but she has increased her parents’ satisfaction in their payment process and has brought her center to a more competitive level of professionalization. 

Within just a few days Miriam went from long hours and extreme burnout with her billing process, to a quick 10 minutes a week and a higher quality experience for her and her families. 

Bright Beginning Childcare is one of many HiMama customers who have quickly become billing experts and saved more than a full day’s work with HiMama’s billing and payments platform. Fill out the form below to learn more about how our billing and payments feature can help you!