Bonsai: Supercharge Your Workflow with Seamless Integrations

As a freelancer or small agency, you rely on a constellation of apps—accounting, communication, scheduling—to keep projects on track. Bonsai consolidates these by offering deep integrations that automate manual work, eliminate data silos, and let you focus on delivering value. Below, we highlight five key integration pillars that make Bonsai the nexus of your tech stack.

1. Accounting & Bookkeeping Sync

• QuickBooks & Xero Connectors: One-click sync pushes invoices, payments, and expenses from Bonsai into QuickBooks or Xero—ensuring your ledger is always up to date without duplicate entry.
• Tax Category Mapping: Expense categories in Bonsai automatically map to your chart of accounts, so year-end P&L and Schedule C reports flow directly into your accounting software.
• Payment Reconciliation: When clients pay via Stripe or PayPal in Bonsai, the integration matches the transaction in your books, reducing reconciliation time by up to 80%.

Impact: Keep your financials current and accurate—freeing up hours each month for strategic work rather than chasing numbers.

2. Calendar & Scheduling Automation

• Google Calendar & Outlook 365: Link Bonsai projects to your calendar—automatically block time when you start a timer or hit major milestones, and surface deadlines alongside client meetings.
• Meeting Links in Proposals: When you send a proposal, Bonsai can embed a Calendly or Zoom link, letting prospects book calls without manual back-and-forth.
• Deadline Reminders: Approaching payment dates or deliverables trigger calendar events—and optional Slack pings—so you never miss a due date.

Impact: Synchronize your project timelines and personal calendar, turning Bonsai into the command center for everything you do.

3. Communication & Collaboration

• Slack Notifications: Enable Bonsai–Slack integration to receive real-time alerts for signed contracts, paid invoices, or task completions in your chosen channel—keeping your team and clients in the loop.
• Zapier Workflows: With Zapier, connect Bonsai to thousands of apps—create Zaps that, for example, add new Bonsai clients to your CRM, post project updates to Trello, or back up signed PDFs to Google Drive automatically.
• Email & SMS Triggers: Automate client reminders and status updates via email or Twilio-powered SMS, using Bonsai’s templates and schedule rules.

Impact: Streamline communication across platforms and ensure important events and updates never slip through the cracks.

4. Payments & E-Commerce Gateways

• Stripe & PayPal Integration: Accept credit-card and digital payments directly on your invoices; client payments land in your connected Stripe or PayPal account and update Bonsai instantly.
• Automated Late Fees & Reminders: Configure payment rules so Bonsai automatically applies your late-fee policy and triggers friendly reminders—no manual chasing required.
• Global Currency Support: Invoice in multiple currencies and let your payment gateway handle conversion, while Bonsai tracks the correct amount due back in your base currency.

Impact: Offer flexible, secure payment options to clients worldwide and improve cash flow with automated billing rules.

5. Reporting & Business Intelligence

• Data Export APIs: Pull Bonsai data—projects, invoices, time entries—into BI tools like Tableau, Power BI, or Google Data Studio for custom dashboards and deep analysis.
• Google Sheets Connector: Automatically sync Bonsai metrics into Sheets, powering lightweight reporting, pivot tables, or client-facing status trackers.
• Webhook Triggers: Subscribe to Bonsai webhooks (invoice paid, project closed) to drive real-time updates in your internal systems or data warehouses.

Impact: Gain full visibility into your business performance, spot trends early, and make data-driven decisions without wrangling CSVs.