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Your first week in Experi

Set up the right business, create a useful first draft and understand the dashboard before adding automation.

3 min read
beginnerUpdated 2 Sept 2026
Dashboard with the selected Oakfield Garage workspace, invoice snapshot and unbilled-work totals.
The demo business at a glance. Invoice receipts and the wider revenue cards have different source coverage when Other Sales is enabled.Fictional demo data · Captured 2 September 2026 · Open image for full size.
More screens from this workflow
Invoice table showing fictional draft, sent and paid workshop invoices.
Find the right invoice. Statuses and payment histories are synthetic examples; no email or money transfer took place.Fictional demo data · Captured 2 September 2026 · Open image for full size.
Explore the product tour →

Use this checklist to move from an empty account to a business you can review confidently. The screenshots show Oakfield Garage, a fictional demonstration; the totals are not customer results.

Before you start

Have your business contact details, payment instructions and one client's billing details ready. Check Settings → Account & Billing for your own plan. New accounts receive a 14-day Pro trial without a card; Free allowances are lifetime totals, not monthly resets. See current pricing.

Set up and make a first draft

  1. Check the business name in the header. If you belong to a team, choose its workspace before entering records. Your sign-in email is not the workspace selector.
  2. Review the business profile in Settings: name, address, contact details, currency and payment instructions. Only enable tax options appropriate to your business.
  3. Open Clients and add the person or business you bill. Check the billing email carefully.
  4. Choose Create invoice, select that client and enter the work, quantity, unit and price. A blank invoice is always a valid starting point.
  5. Save the draft. Open it again and check the client, dates, totals and payment instructions. Creating a draft does not email your client.
  6. Use Print → Print draft copy if you want to review a paper layout without issuing the invoice.

Read the dashboard

Outstanding means issued invoices still awaiting payment; it is not revenue already collected. Drafts are unfinished documents. Review overdue invoices in Chasing, and use Unbilled Work for billable time and expenses not yet attached to an invoice.

An empty panel can mean there are no relevant records, or that the feature needs Pro or workspace access. Verify the workspace before trying to recreate missing data.

Build the routine

Start with one real workflow and add tools when you need them: templates for repeat jobs, inventory for parts, projects for tracked work, and reminders for overdue invoices. Do not enable automated sending until client emails, due dates and business sending approval are correct.

Next: a garage job from start to finish, workspace switching or the product tour.

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Build a mechanic invoice using reusable labour and parts, then choose email delivery or a paper handover.

Bring non-invoice sales into Financials once

Record counter or ecommerce sales, classify business activity and understand management results without double-counting income.

Review overdue invoices and choose the next follow-up

Use the dedicated Chasing view to distinguish automatic follow-up, paused work and invoices that need attention.

Read cash flow, quarterly summaries and tax estimates

Understand the dates, assumptions and source records behind each report instead of treating every total as cash in the bank.

Bring project time and expenses into an invoice

Track billable work against a client project, review what remains unbilled and avoid charging for the same entry twice.

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