I still remember the exact moment. I hit “send” on my very first Billi invoice…And minutes later, the notification popped up: PAID. IN. FULL. Cue the happy dance. The is this really happening? moment. The flood of gratitude. Because this wasn’t just another invoice. This was the first $5,000 I made through Billi. A platform that didn’t exist until we dreamed it up, coded it out, tested it, tweaked it, and turned it into something real.

Let Me Back Up…

Over the years, my business has evolved into this wild, beautiful, multi-offer machine. It’s a mix of client work, passive income, memberships, and digital goods. You name it, I’ve probably dabbled in it.

But trying to run all those moving parts? It’s been a full-on juggling act.

I needed something that actually fit the way I run my business, something that didn’t feel like I was forcing square pegs into round holes. So instead of waiting for someone else to build it…

We built Billi.

Not because I wanted to launch another tech company.
But because I needed a tool that worked for me.
And guess what? If it works for me, I bet it’ll work for you too.

That First $5,000

Let’s talk about that moment again, because whew. It was magic.

I created the invoice in seconds inside Billi. Sent it over. And my client? She paid directly from her phone, without any back-and-forth.

Simple. Seamless. Instant.

It was one of those full-circle, “I can’t believe we actually did this” moments.

We weren’t just testing buttons and dreaming in Google Docs anymore.
Billi was real. And it was working.

Why This Matters (For Me and For You)

One thing I’ve learned? The easier you make it for someone to pay you, the faster the sale happens.

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling $20 templates or $2,000 services—
If your checkout is clunky, slow, or confusing… you’re losing people.

With Billi, we took all the guesswork out of getting paid.
Invoices are beautifully branded. Mobile-friendly. Click and done.
No friction. No fuss. Just money in the bank and time back in your day.

We’re Just Getting Started…

What gets me really excited?
We’re not stopping at invoicing.

We’re about to launch public shop pages, and let me tell you: this is the part where I scream from the rooftops. 🥳

You’ll be able to list all your services, offers, and digital products in one beautiful public storefront. Your customers can browse, book, and buy without you lifting a finger.

And Billi’s got all the good stuff under the hood too:
Client management
Calendar Scheduling
Task tracking and to-do lists
Projects + appointments

It’s like the tool your business has been dreaming of… but way more fun to use.

Want to Be Part of It?

The most fun part? You don’t have to sit on the sidelines.

You can sign up right now for free → https://hellobilli.com/
And if you’re the kind of person who loves dreaming big and building smart, we want your voice in the room.

We’ve got a public idea board where you can upvote features, suggest tools, and literally help shape what we build next.

This isn’t just my platform. It’s ours.

🗳 Vote for Features → billi.frill.co

This first $5,000?
It’s just the beginning.
But it was a massive reminder that when we create with purpose and build tools from our actual needs, amazing things happen.

So if you’ve ever dreamed of running your business in a way that feels simple, beautiful, and actually fun…

Your seat at the table is waiting.

Because this? This is where everything starts to change.

Come try Billi → https://hellobilli.com/
No pressure. No payment required. Just possibility

Oh, and before you go…

We’re doing things a little differently around here.
Billi is 100% free to use.
No monthly cost. No upgrade needed. Just you, running your business with ease.

Instead, we take a small 1% of any sales you make through Billi,
so as you grow, we grow.

It’s our way of staying invested in your success.
Because we believe in building something together.

There’s something powerful about being part of the beginning. About seeing the messy middle, the behind-the-scenes, and still choosing to show up and say, “I believe in this.” That’s what you’ve done. Whether you’ve cast a vote, shared your thoughts, or simply made an account to explore—you’re not just watching something grow. You’re helping build it. And that kind of support? It’s not just appreciated. It’s the heartbeat of everything we’re doing. We didn’t create Billi to chase trends or mimic the giants in the industry. We created it because we knew small business owners like you deserve better—something built with real people in mind, shaped by feedback, and rooted in community. We’re not backed by venture capital. We don’t have a 30-person dev team or deep pockets. We’re going into this 100% bootstrapped. No outside investors. Just two small business owners who saw a gap and decided to build what we wish existed. Something simpler. Smarter. Built for the way we actually work.

And here’s what makes this story different:

We’re not building Billi alone.
We’re building it with you.

When you don’t just build for your users, but with them.

The direction we’re taking Billi is directly influenced by what you told us matters. We’re listening. We’re building fast. And more importantly, we’re building in the right direction, because it’s your direction too.

The Reality of Starting Something From Scratch

Let me be real with you.

Building something from the ground up isn’t always glamorous. It’s early mornings and late nights. It’s learning as you go. It’s celebrating small wins while staying focused on the big vision. It’s patching together what you can with the time and resources you have, and then showing up again tomorrow to make it better.

We don’t have a massive team. We’re not a polished tech company with a full-scale support department and a never-ending marketing budget.

We’re a team of two with big hearts and a whole lot of ambition. And yet, because we’re small, we get to do something that the big platforms can’t always do:

We get to stay close to the people we’re building this for.

And that, I truly believe, is our biggest strength.

If you’re a small business owner, you know how unpredictable things can be. Some months feel like magic. Payments come in, new clients say yes, and you’re riding that wave of “This is working.” Other months? Not so much. You’re still working hard, showing up for your people, but the cash flow isn’t quite cooperating.

This is where most CRMs completely miss the mark. They expect you to pay a monthly fee no matter what. Whether you’re onboarding five clients or zero, the bill still shows up like clockwork. It doesn’t matter if you’re on vacation, revamping your services, on maternity leave, or in a quiet season of business. You still have to pay.

That never felt right to us.

So we built something very different. We built Billi to be a tool that actually supports the way small businesses really work. It’s completely free to use, and we only take a small 1% fee when you get paid.

Let’s walk through exactly what that means.

What “Only Pay When You Get Paid” Actually Looks Like

With Billi, you can create invoices, send contracts, manage clients, track projects, and stay organized—all without ever entering a credit card. There’s no monthly fee. No free trial countdown. No subscription that sneaks up on you.

We only make money when you do. So if you send an invoice for $100 and your client pays through Billi, we take 1%—that’s $1. You keep the rest.

That’s it.

No setup fees. No hidden charges. No pressure.

If you’re in a slower month, you’re not paying anything. And when the money is coming in, our platform simply takes a small portion so you’re never paying out of pocket just to keep things running.

I never thought I’d be writing this blog post. After selling the Essential Studio Manager (ESM), we closed that chapter with full hearts and high hopes. We believed the new owners would carry the torch with care, support the community we built from the ground up, and keep making ESM better for all of you, the creative, service-based business owners we built it for.

But if you were part of the ESM Facebook group, you already know how the story unfolded.

Support vanished. Updates stopped. Messages were completely ignored. And it broke our hearts.

Because you didn’t just buy a tool — you believed in us. You trusted us to make your business a little simpler, a little more streamlined. And watching that trust dissolve after we handed it off… that’s something we’ve carried with us ever since.

The posts we saw in the Facebook group, the ones pleading for help, asking if anyone was still listening, they weren’t just coming from faceless users. They were you. The real people Jon and I had gotten to know. The ones who helped us shape ESM from the very beginning. Who cheered us on through every new feature launch, who gave thoughtful feedback, who showed up for us as much as we hoped to show up for you.

Watching that community go quiet felt personal. And it’s a big part of what brought us back.

We had zero plans to build another CRM. Not a hidden someday. Not a maybe. Not even a backup idea scribbled in a notebook. When we sold the ESM we were ready to put the CRM world in the past.

But the silence where there should’ve been support? That lit something in us. Not out of spite, but out of love. Out of respect for the business owners we set out to serve from the very beginning.

From First Project to Full Circle

Here’s something not everyone knows: ESM was actually Jon’s very first project. He literally built it as he learned how to code. And the fact that so many of you used it, loved it, and grew your businesses with it? That will always be one of the proudest milestones as entrepreneurs.

But Billi? Billi is different.

Billi was built by an expert, by someone who now has years of experience building full-scale, high-functioning platforms. It’s not just a CRM with a fresh coat of paint. It’s a full reimagining of everything we wish we could have done back then.

We took every lesson, every note, every piece of feedback (and yes, every moment of burnout and “we should have done this differently”) and used it to create the CRM we always wanted to build.

Meet Billi

Billi is the result of that journey. It’s everything we dreamed a CRM could become — and more.

Built for service-based entrepreneurs

Clean, friendly design (no learning curve required)

Powerful tools without the overwhelm

Transparent pricing with no gatekeeping

And yes, we’re actually here when you need support

But what really sets Billi apart is just how beautifully simple it is to use. The UI? It’s stunning. It feels warm, welcoming, and modern. It doesn’t look like enterprise software, it looks like something made for you.

We know running a business is hard enough. Your CRM shouldn’t make it harder. Billi strips away the clutter and gives you what you actually need to manage your clients, send contracts, get paid, and stay organized. That’s it. No bloat. No fluff. Just ease.

Let’s Talk About Pricing

Now here’s the part we’re most excited to share: Billi is 100% free to use.

No monthly fees. No pricing tiers. No paywalls on features.

You only pay a 1% flat fee on any invoices paid through Billi. That’s it.

So if you’re not actively booking clients or making money? You don’t pay a thing.

And when you are? That tiny fee helps us keep Billi running, improving, and growing — without ever forcing you to upgrade to some “Pro Plan” to get access to the good stuff.

But here’s what most people don’t know:
This idea wasn’t born from some calculated business plan. We didn’t sit down and say, “Let’s build a CRM that’ll generate millions.”

This started as something much more personal.

We just wanted to build something for our ESM users, something they could actually use. Something they would love. And when we started talking about pricing… everything in us said: we don’t want to do this the way everyone else is doing it.

We didn’t want crazy subscription models. We didn’t want tiered pricing. We didn’t want to gatekeep features or make people feel like they had to pay more to do more.

So I threw out a wild idea:
What if we kept it really simple? What if we charged a tiny percentage on paid invoices, and that’s it?

That way, no matter how big or small your business is, no matter what season you’re in — you’d always have a CRM you could count on. One that doesn’t drain your budget. One that grows with you.

This pricing model was a no brainer for us. Because we believe:

Tools should empower you, not penalize your growth.

Great software should be accessible, not exclusive.

And if you’re just getting started or you’re in a slow season, your CRM shouldn’t feel like a financial burden.

Billi was built with this in mind,