At SXSW 2008, Download Squad had the opportunity to talk to Saul and Sunir from the online-invoicing service FreshBooks, and we were really, really impressed with their customer dedication and the overall vision for the service. Today, FreshBooks has just released public industry bookmarks, making it easy for freelancers and small businesses to compare their billables with others in their field.

The benchmarks are similar to the industry data FreshBooks made available to customers before, but instead of compiling metrics from the previous 18-months (and that information is still available), snapshots for segmented industries are available on a quarterly basis to anyone who is curious.

The data is anonymous, released quarterly and primarily sourced (which prevents survey manipulation of data). Right now, FreshBooks has industry bookmarks available for web professionals, IT services, design, marketing and service providers. This is a real advantage for users who might dabble in more than one area, say both web development and design, to keep tabs on how both markets are performing.

In economically uncertain times, knowing what others are billing and having the ability to watch trends can give a small business or freelancer insight into overall market health. If I see my billables declining (and I'm not purposefully taking on fewer projects), but the overall market is remaining steady, I know I need to start evaluating my business practices.

Even if you don't use FreshBooks for invoicing -- and if you haven't tried it out, give it a shot, its interface and ease of use is top-notch -- you can still take advantage of this information. FreshBooks' co-founder made a video explaining the benchmarking data in-depth here.

FreshBooks has free accounts for users who invoice fewer than three active clients and larger packages start at $14 a month.

It's been a while since we've mentioned FreshBooks, the web 2.0 project tracking and invoicing app for freelancers and small businesses alike, but an upcoming v3.8 release is a great excuse for a refresher. FreshBooks is already pretty packed with features like creating, sending (via mail or email) and managing invoices, tracking time on projects, accepting payments and even sending late notices, so this v3.8 upate is more about refining features. Specifically:

• You can easily add staff members to any or all projects, making it far easier to bring on new personnel.
  
• Items can now be inserted into the middle of invoices, with AJAX goodness for updating the page and not interrupting your workflow.
  
• Timesheet details can be filtered by project or client, allowing you to track down just what you need.

The 'what's coming' list offers a bit more to sink one's teeth into, however, with features like quotes and estimates, future revenue reports and account statements to display all money owed and paid for a client.

FreshBooks version 3.8 lands Tuesday, April 17th 2007, and the actual update is scheduled to occur between 6:30 am and 8:00 am EDT.

Over the years I've done plenty of consulting, and I've always loathed every billing solution I've ever used. Either they locked me down to one machine (usually a Windows one) to do my billing and invoicing chores, or were labor intensive to a degree that was totally unnecessary.

Freshbooks is a breath of fresh air for the invoice weary consultants of the world. A simple interface allows you to enter invoice data, track payments and late paying clients, and even resolve disputes. Its an invoicing service that makes me want to generate a billable event, just to try it out!

A free trial allows you to manage up to three clients, and send unlimited invoices. The basic plan allows 25 clients for $14/month, which may be more expensive than some other solutions but, offers a great deal of flexibility that other options can't. Freshbooks even has plans to allow consultants to send paper invoices via snail mail, for your fussy paper-obsessed clientele.