ARC&Co. Design is a web design and digital marketing agency run by solo business owner Abby Connolly, serving small business owners through branding and ongoing marketing retainers. As the agency grew, Abby needed a simpler way to get paid, without more admin or losing money to processing fees.
She moved invoicing from HoneyBook into Relay, where she could send invoices, track payments, automate follow-ups, and categorize revenue in QuickBooks alongside the banking she already managed day to day.
"I feel like I have more control over what's happening when I invoice through Relay."
— Abby Connolly, Owner, ARC&Co. Design
Company Outcomes
$900–$1,200 saved per year in transaction fees
3 hours saved per week on invoicing and administrative work
Payment timing improved from approximately 6 days to 4
Before Relay: Invoicing sat outside the rest of the business finances
Abby started ARC&Co. Design in 2022 while she was still in college. As the agency grew, so did the number of tools involved in managing its finances.
ARC&Co. used spreadsheets for projections, QuickBooks for accounting, and Relay for day-to-day cash management. HoneyBook handled proposals, contracts, and invoicing.
HoneyBook still worked well for outlining scopes of work and contracts, but Abby became increasingly frustrated with using it to collect payments.
"I never loved that HoneyBook was taking a percentage and floating it for a couple of days," she says. "I thought, I don't want the middleman. If I can just do this through my bank, why wouldn't I?"
Every invoice meant a little less of what she'd earned actually reached the business, and even after a client paid, Abby still had to wait several days before she could put that money to use.
The issue wasn't having another tool. Abby wanted incoming cash to be easier to track, faster to access, and connected to the system she already used to manage her money.
The solution: Moving invoicing into Relay
Abby discovered Relay Invoices after she had already started using Relay for banking. Once she decided to move her invoicing workflow over, the transition took around two weeks, including setup, learning the feature, and telling clients where to expect invoices.
"It was pretty seamless," Abby says. "It was just a matter of figuring out how the invoicing worked, which honestly took me one time to get."
ARC&Co. still uses HoneyBook to share scopes of work and contracts. Abby then creates and sends the actual invoice through Relay.
Automated reminders reduce client follow-up
Relay automatically sends invoice reminders, removing a task that previously fell to Abby or her studio manager.
“When I send an invoice, having the follow-up reminder emails go out automatically means that's one less thing I or my studio manager have to do,” she says.
Recurring invoices handle repeat billing
For ongoing clients, Abby uses recurring invoices so that repeat payments no longer require the same manual setup each month.
"Recurring invoices is the most recent feature I've added, and it's a game changer," she says.
QuickBooks categorization happens at invoicing
Abby can categorize revenue for ARC&Co. Design while creating the invoice, helping ensure it reaches QuickBooks correctly without another reconciliation step later.
"Every time I invoice somebody, I'm categorizing it right then," she says. "It feels more thoughtful, like this is going to be in the right place when I look at QuickBooks."
The impact: Less admin, lower costs, and faster access to cash
ARC&Co. Design sends four to eight invoices a month, and Abby estimates the business saves about three hours a week on follow-ups, reconciliation, and admin. The switch has also cut transaction costs by an estimated $900 to $1,200 a year.
Money that used to take about six days to reach her account after a client paid now lands in about four, on a timeline she can count on. Because reminders go out automatically, Abby knows when to expect payment instead of guessing. And because she categorizes each service while invoicing, there's no QuickBooks cleanup to sort out later.
"I actually like looking at my account now, whereas before I didn't want to look," she says. "It gives me more confidence in my business finances, and it's making the business run more seamlessly."
Relay: Bringing getting paid into the same financial system
ARC&Co. Design didn't need to replace every tool in its workflow. It just needed invoicing to work more closely with how the business already managed its money.
For a creative business owner who'd rather spend her time serving clients and growing the agency, that's the win: a payment setup that runs with less attention and gives her a clearer view of the business.
