The job: money in. Everything else in 360books can wait until after this works.
1. Put your banking details in first — Settings → Get paid — banking details (bank, account number, reference). They print on every invoice, so EFT customers can pay you from day one. If you have a PayFast account, connect it under Settings → Accept card payments and invoices also get a Pay now card/EFT button. 2. Add the customer — Sales → Customers → New. Name and email at minimum; add their billing address and VAT number now if this will be a full tax invoice of R5,000+ (the VAT Act wants both on it, and capturing them here keeps every future invoice compliant automatically). 3. Create the invoice — Sales → Invoices → New. Add lines: description, quantity, unit price, VAT rate (15% pre-fills if you set it in Settings). Totals compute as you type; nothing posts to the books yet — it's a draft. 4. Issue and send. Issuing posts it to the ledger (debtors up, revenue up) and emailing it delivers a PDF plus a View & pay link — a public page where your customer sees the invoice and pays by card or EFT, no account needed. 5. Get paid. A card payment records itself. An EFT shows up when you import your bank statement — match it to the invoice and it's settled. You can also record a payment by hand under Sales → Payments. 6. Switch on reminders — Settings → Approvals & messaging → automatic reminders, and overdue invoices get chased politely without you thinking about it. The age analysis report shows who owes what, in 30-day buckets, whenever you want the picture.
That's the whole loop. Details and edge cases (recurring invoices, credit notes, statements, quotes your customer accepts online): Sales & invoicing.