My customers and retainers live in a spreadsheet. What changes?

You stop maintaining a tab per customer and a row for every cycle. Each customer and their retainer schedule is in Wrenbase. The monthly invoice goes out automatically. The status updates when they pay. The spreadsheet that needed manual upkeep just goes away. If you've got a customers list in a spreadsheet today, drop the file in and Wrenbase imports it.

How do I stop rebuilding the same invoice every month?

Set the schedule once. Wrenbase drafts and sends the invoice on the day you pick, every month or any cadence you want. Auto-send for customers you trust. Hold-for-review for the ones you don't.

Can I bill hourly and flat-fee on the same invoice?

Yes. Mix billable hours with flat-fee retainer lines on a single invoice. The customer sees an itemized bill. You see a clean total. No second tool, no second invoice.

How do I chase a late retainer without making it awkward?

Wrenbase sends the reminders, escalating over time. Friendly first, firmer later. You pick the tone. You can edit the words. To the customer, it reads like a billing system, not you asking again.

What if a customer goes on hiatus, or I take a month off?

Pause a retainer for a month, a quarter, or until you say so. Wrenbase stops sending. The schedule resumes when you flip it back on. No deleted customers, no rebuilt schedules, no awkward conversation about skipping a cycle.

Which retainers are paid? Which are late? Right now.

Cash Pulse shows every retainer invoice with its current status: paid this cycle, awaiting, or overdue. One glance and you know who to follow up with, who to thank, and who to rethink.

Can I see what each engagement actually made?

Yes. Make an engagement a project and it gets its own live P&L: what you billed, what you collected, what you spent on anyone you paid to help, and the margin. Retainer work and one-off project work roll up separately.

For independent professionals

Same customer.
Same retainer.
Different month.

You work with repeat customers on hourly or monthly retainers. You want the invoice to send itself, the late-payment chase to stop being your job, and your practice to feel like an operating system, not a stack of sticky notes.

Set up your first retainer Common questions

Maple Publishing · Editorial retainer

$2,500 · monthly · 1st of month

Active

Mar 1

Sent

Apr 1

Sent

May 1

Sent

Jun 1

Scheduled

Jul 1

Upcoming

Aug 1

Upcoming

Wrenbase sends each cycle. You see it in your inbox before it goes.

Your practice

A practice runs on rhythm,
not effort.

The first of every month should not be the day you rebuild eight invoices from scratch. The 15th should not be the day you remember to chase a customer. The end of the quarter should not be the day you reconstruct what happened.

Wrenbase takes the recurring shape of your work and makes it operational. You spend your hours on the practice. The billing happens on its own schedule.

This month at a glance

5 of 5 sent

Maple Publishing

$2,500

Paid

Hartwell Legal

$1,800

Paid

Vance Ventures

$3,200

Sent

Jordan Books

$1,400

Paid

Lin Studio

$900

Overdue

Cash this month

$9,800

Operational maturity

Operate like
the customers you work for.

Consistent invoices. Predictable schedules. Clear payment history. Professional reminders. The same operational rhythm larger firms rely on, without adding overhead.

Your customers are law firms, publishers, startups, agencies. Your own systems can feel just as established.

Your practice, on display

Consistent invoices

Every retainer, the same shape every cycle.

Predictable schedules

Customers know when to expect the bill. So do you.

Clear payment history

Every transaction, traceable. Nothing is on a sticky note.

Professional reminders

Tone you choose. Words your customer expects.

The customers you serve already expect this. Now you have it.

Predictable revenue

The month stops starting from zero.

No first-of-the-month panic. No 15th-of-the-month chase. Just the work and the rhythm.

1st

5 retainers sent

Auto-drafted overnight. Approved at 9 AM.

7th

3 paid

Standard retainer customers pay within a week.

12th

Reminder goes out

Vance Ventures · pre-due nudge in your tone.

15th

4th payment lands

Vance pays after the reminder.

20th

Late retainer flagged

Lin Studio is 5 days past due. Firmer reminder queued.

30th

Month closes

Cash Pulse: $9,800 received. Detective work: none.

Operational calm

A calmer way to run recurring work.

Cash Pulse puts your retainers, your reminders, and your revenue in one quiet view, so you know where you stand each month at a glance.

See Cash Pulse →

May at a glance

Live

Retainers · this cycle

Maple Publishing

$2,500

Paid

Hartwell Legal

$1,800

Paid

Vance Ventures

$3,200

Sent

Jordan Books

$1,400

Paid

Lin Studio

$900

Overdue

Received this month

$6,300

of $9,800 billed

Next sends

Jun 1

5 retainers

Jun 12

Lin reminder

One view. No spreadsheet. No 6 AM panic.

Your stack, plus one layer

Keep the tools you already work in.

You draft in Docs. You track tasks in your board. You reconcile in your accounting app. Wrenbase does not replace any of that. It sits beside your working tools as the retainer-billing and money layer, so the tools stay where they are and the billing has a home.

Your working tools

Where the actual work happens. Nothing here moves.

Google WorkspaceMicrosoft WordGoogle DocsNotionGrammarlyCalendlyQuickBooksTrelloAsana

Bookkeepers, keep reconciling in QuickBooks. It stays your book of record.

plus

Wrenbase

The retainer-billing and money layer beside them.

Recurring invoices that send themselves
Payment status, live
Reminders in your tone
Per-engagement P&L

Got a customer list or last year's numbers in a spreadsheet? Bring them in by CSV import, live today. Export your file, drop it in, and your customers land in Wrenbase ready to bill.

However you charge

Six ways a practice bills. One system.

A retainer this month, a per-project quote the next, an hourly block on top. You do not pick one billing style and live with it. Set the shape per customer and let each one run.

Monthly retainer

Recurring

Same customer, same amount, every cycle. Maple Publishing at $2,500 on the 1st, sent without you touching it.

Per-project

One-off

A manuscript edit or a book proofread quoted as a flat fee. Jordan Books signs off, you bill once, it closes.

Hourly block

As worked

Tracked hours billed on their own or stacked onto the retainer line. Hartwell Legal gets both on one itemized invoice.

Ongoing bookkeeping

Recurring

A steady monthly fee for the books. It runs on the same schedule as every other retainer in your roster.

Coaching package

Fixed term

A set number of sessions billed up front or across the term. Vance Ventures on a twelve-week package, tracked to the end.

Translation project

One-off

A defined body of work priced per word or per document. Lin Studio's project quoted, delivered, and invoiced clean.

As your practice grows

More customers. Same operating rhythm.

The system that worked at five retainers works at fifty.

When

When a customer's payment behavior changes

Then

Open Cash Pulse

See which retainers are quietly drifting late. Catch the change at month two, not month six.

Learn more →

When

When a customer starts billing you back (sub-contractor)

Then

Use Wrenbase Intake

Your contractor sends their bill through your branded link. Sanctions and fraud checks run automatically.

Learn more →

When

When your retainer book crosses currencies

Then

Switch to multi-currency invoicing

Bill the UK customer in GBP, the German customer in EUR, the Canadian customer in CAD. Each invoice tracked in the right currency.

When

When invoicing every retainer becomes the bottleneck

Then

Hand it to an AI agent

The AI agent drafts and sends each cycle, within your spending caps and approved customer list. You stay in control of every rule.

Learn more →

Built for

Repeat-customer work that pays the rent.

Script editorManuscript editorCopyeditorProofreaderGhostwriterContent writerTechnical writerBookkeeperAccountantFractional CFOVirtual assistantExecutive assistantSocial media managerSEO specialistParalegalTranslatorBusiness coachCareer coachNotary

Your words, in Wrenbase

You keep your language. It maps underneath.

You don't learn accounting words to use Wrenbase. What you already call things maps onto the ledger objects that make the month add up.

In your practice	In Wrenbase	What it drives
The client	Customer	Who you bill, with their whole history
The retainer	Recurring invoice	Sends itself each cycle
A matter or engagement	Project	Its own live P&L: billed, collected, spent, margin
People you pay to deliver	Vendors	Bills in, screened, counted against the project
What you actually keep	Project P&L → Cash Pulse	Read live, not rebuilt in a sheet

Projects · Per engagement, live P&L

Know what each engagement actually made.

Make an engagement a project and it gets its own P&L. Billed, collected, spent on anyone you paid to help, and margin, without a spreadsheet.

See how projects work

Meridian rollout · Overview

on track

Profit margin

60%

Outstanding

$1,000

Budget

$14.6k left

Cash timeline, next 6 weeks

Weeks 1-2 run cash-negative before Meridian's payment lands in week 3. Consider nudging invoice #4.

Common questions

The things every practice owner asks.

My customers and retainers live in a spreadsheet. What changes?: You stop maintaining a tab per customer and a row for every cycle. Each customer and their retainer schedule is in Wrenbase. The monthly invoice goes out automatically. The status updates when they pay. The spreadsheet that needed manual upkeep just goes away. If you've got a customers list in a spreadsheet today, drop the file in and Wrenbase imports it.
How do I stop rebuilding the same invoice every month?: Set the schedule once. Wrenbase drafts and sends the invoice on the day you pick, every month or any cadence you want. Auto-send for customers you trust. Hold-for-review for the ones you don't.
Can I bill hourly and flat-fee on the same invoice?: Yes. Mix billable hours with flat-fee retainer lines on a single invoice. The customer sees an itemized bill. You see a clean total. No second tool, no second invoice.
How do I chase a late retainer without making it awkward?: Wrenbase sends the reminders, escalating over time. Friendly first, firmer later. You pick the tone. You can edit the words. To the customer, it reads like a billing system, not you asking again.
What if a customer goes on hiatus, or I take a month off?: Pause a retainer for a month, a quarter, or until you say so. Wrenbase stops sending. The schedule resumes when you flip it back on. No deleted customers, no rebuilt schedules, no awkward conversation about skipping a cycle.
Which retainers are paid? Which are late? Right now.: Cash Pulse shows every retainer invoice with its current status: paid this cycle, awaiting, or overdue. One glance and you know who to follow up with, who to thank, and who to rethink.
Can I see what each engagement actually made?: Yes. Make an engagement a project and it gets its own live P&L: what you billed, what you collected, what you spent on anyone you paid to help, and the margin. Retainer work and one-off project work roll up separately.

The first of the month should take zero of your time.

Request a demo Get Started See other solutions

Same customer.Same retainer.Different month.

A practice runs on rhythm,not effort.

Operate likethe customers you work for.

The month stops starting from zero.

A calmer way to run recurring work.

Keep the tools you already work in.

Six ways a practice bills. One system.

More customers. Same operating rhythm.

Repeat-customer work that pays the rent.

You keep your language. It maps underneath.

Know what each engagement actually made.

The things every practice owner asks.

The first of the month should take zero of your time.

Same customer.
Same retainer.
Different month.

A practice runs on rhythm,
not effort.

Operate like
the customers you work for.