# Run Solo Studio: Automate Unpaid-Invoice Reminders with the Solo Operator Stack

> Free lesson: import Run Solo Studio's W2 workflow into n8n, connect your Notion Finance database and get one weekday email listing overdue invoices.

Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/run-solo-studio-unpaid-invoice-reminders-n8n · Updated 2026-10-18 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com)

## Practice it step by step

[Start the free practice](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/runsolo-invoice-reminders)

[Take the free module: why it matters, practice and a quick check →](https://learn.ynteractive.com/courses/n8n-jump-start/16)

You do every step yourself in a practice copy of Run Solo Studio. It checks your work as you go, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on. Free, about 10 minutes, and nothing touches your real accounts. [Open full screen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/runsolo-invoice-reminders)

Free · Live now · [AI Automation for Consulting & Agencies](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/industry/consulting-and-agencies) · Run Solo Studio · n8n · Notion · Stepthrough partner · ~10 min · 27 steps · Intermediate

Updated October 18, 2026. Built against the tool’s current screens and checked step by step. [How we check this lesson](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about#how-we-check)

If you work alone, nobody else is watching your [invoices](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/invoice). Run Solo Studio's Solo Operator Stack is a Notion workspace plus six import-ready [n8n workflows](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/workflow), and its W2 workflow, the invoice overdue reminder, checks your Finance database every morning and emails you a list of overdue invoices. In this free business-case lesson you put a price on chasing invoices by hand for a made-up solo consultant, then import W2 into n8n, fill in its CONFIG node, connect Notion and your email, set it to run on weekdays at 9 in your own time zone, run a test and read the digest it sends. Then you match each late invoice to the right follow-up step. The node names and fields are the real ones, and the test run used made-up invoices on a real n8n workspace. This is my own lesson, not an official Run Solo Studio course.

**Stepthrough partner.** Run Solo Studio links to Stepthrough’s free lessons, and we feature Run Solo Studio in return. The lesson itself is our own.

## At a glance

| Question | Answer |
| --- | --- |
| What you build | A business case for solo consultants who chase late invoices by hand: price the weekly check, then import Run Solo Studio's W2 workflow into n8n, point it at your Notion Finance database, set a weekday schedule, test it and get one morning email listing every overdue invoice. |
| Tools | Run Solo Studio |
| Time | About 10 minutes, 27 steps in 8 parts |
| Level | Intermediate |
| Cost | Free |
| Ways to learn it | [Practice it step by step](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/runsolo-invoice-reminders) |

### The 8 parts, in short

1. Hours spent chasing invoices: Look at what is owed, Put a price on chasing, Meet the Solo Operator Stack.
2. Import W2 into n8n: Open the workflow menu, Point to Import, Import from file.
3. Fill in CONFIG: Open CONFIG, Set your inbox, Paste the database ID, then close.
4. Connect Notion and email: Open the Notion node, Set up the credential, Paste the integration secret, Open the email node, and 2 more steps.
5. Set the schedule: Open the schedule, Weekdays at 9, Close the trigger, Open the workflow menu, and 2 more steps.
6. Test run: Run a test, See the digest, Read the reminder.
7. Pick the tone: Match the tone to the days late.
8. What it saves, and how to get it: What this saves you, Do it for real.

**Part of:** [AI for Consulting & Agencies](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/paths/ai-for-consulting-and-agencies) (step 22 of 22)

**Part of:** [AI for Finance Teams](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/paths/ai-for-finance) (step 16 of 17)

**Part of:** [Business Automations with n8n](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/paths/business-automations-n8n) (step 14 of 14)

**Part of:** [n8n Jump Start](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/paths/n8n-jump-start) (step 16 of 16)

**Part of:** [AI Apps Worth Knowing](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/paths/partner-tools-ai-apps) (step 36 of 42)

## The business case: a weekly hunt for who owes you

Picture Dana Ortiz, a made-up solo marketing consultant. Three clients owe her $7,450: one invoice is 7 days late, one 14 and one 21. Every week she opens her invoice list, works out who is late, and decides what to say to each client.

Here is the arithmetic, using example numbers you should replace with your own. Say that check and the reminders take about 2 hours a week, or about 8 hours a month. At $100 an hour that is about $800 a month of her time, and in the weeks she forgets, the money simply waits longer.

## What W2 does, and what it does not do

W2, Invoice overdue reminder, runs on a schedule (the file ships with every day at 09:00) or by hand. It reads your CONFIG node, asks Notion for every Finance row whose Status equals Overdue, turns them into one digest (a subject like Overdue invoices: 3 and one line per invoice with the amount and due date) and emails it to your own address. If nothing is overdue, it sends nothing.

It never emails your clients and never creates invoices. The digest points you to two items in the Stack's library: S10, a follow-up cadence (soft reminder at 3 days past due, firm at 7, final notice at 14, then decide at 30), and P11, a [prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/prompt) that drafts the soft, firm and final emails. You check each invoice is not disputed and send the reminder yourself.

## Who this is for, and what you need

Freelancers, solo consultants and anyone who sends their own invoices. To follow the lesson you need nothing: it is a practice copy with made-up data.

To do it for real you need Solo Operator Stack from runsolostudio.com ($79 one time), its Notion workspace (Notion Free or Plus works, per Run Solo Studio), n8n (self-hosted is free, n8n Cloud is a paid plan), a Notion internal integration, and an email account n8n can send from through SMTP or Gmail.

## Step 1: import W2 into n8n

In n8n, click Create workflow, open the ··· menu next to the workflow name, point to Import and choose From file. Pick W2-invoice-overdue.json from the n8n-workflows folder of the download.

The canvas shows two triggers, Cron — Daily 09:00 and Manual Trigger (test), then CONFIG, Notion — Query Overdue, Aggregate digest and Email digest to operator. The Notion and email nodes show warnings until you attach credentials, which is expected: the file ships with no secrets.

## Step 2: fill in CONFIG

Open your Finance database in Notion as a full page and copy the 32-character ID from the address, after the last slash and before ?v=.

Open the CONFIG node. Set NOTIFY_EMAIL to your own inbox and replace REPLACE_FINANCE_DB_ID in FINANCE_DB_ID with the ID. TIMEZONE in CONFIG is for reference only, and W2 does not use CLIENTS_DB_ID.

## Step 3: connect Notion and your email

Open Notion — Query Overdue, under Credential click setup manually (not Connect to Notion), keep the API Key connection type and paste your integration's Internal Integration Secret. In Notion, share the Finance database with the integration (···, Connections). Leave the filter as it is: Status equals Overdue. If your Status option is spelled differently, the query finds nothing.

Open Email digest to operator and pick your SMTP credential, or create one with your mail provider's host, user and app password. From and To both read NOTIFY_EMAIL from CONFIG.

## Step 4: set the schedule and time zone

Open Cron — Daily 09:00. The expression 0 9 * * * means minute 0, hour 9, every day. For weekdays only, use 0 9 * * 1-5.

The workflow's time zone ships as Europe/Oslo. Open the ··· menu, choose Settings and set Timezone to your own, such as America/New York, then save. Otherwise 9 in the morning means 9 in Oslo.

## Step 5: test it, then pick the tone

Click Execute workflow next to Manual Trigger (test). In our test run the Notion step returned 3 items, Aggregate digest produced one item with the subject Overdue invoices: 3 and one line per invoice, and the email node sent that text to the NOTIFY_EMAIL address.

Open S10 in the Stack's SOPs & Prompts and match each invoice to its step. On October 17, Maple & Pine (due October 10) is 7 days late, so it gets the firm reminder. Brightwater Bakery (14 days) and Northfield Dental (21 days) get the final notice. Draft each with P11, read it, and send it yourself. When the test works, publish the workflow.

## Mistakes to avoid

- Leaving the time zone on Europe/Oslo, so the morning email arrives at the wrong hour.
- Forgetting to share the Finance database with the Notion integration, so the query returns nothing.
- Renaming the Status options or properties in Notion. The workflow matches Status = Overdue and reads Name, Amount and Due date exactly.
- Switching the workflow on before a manual test with a sample Overdue row.
- Sending a firm or final notice before checking the invoice is not disputed.

## Links

- [Solo Operator Stack (Run Solo Studio)](https://runsolostudio.com/solo-operator-stack/): the kit this lesson teaches: a Notion workspace, six n8n workflows and an SOP and prompt library. $79 one time, as listed on its site in October 2026. Run Solo Studio gave us a free copy as partners.
- [n8n](https://n8n.io): the automation tool the workflows run on, self-hosted (free) or n8n Cloud (paid).
- [Notion integrations](https://www.notion.so/my-integrations): where you create the internal integration whose secret n8n uses to read your Finance database.

## Try it yourself, free

Reading the steps is a start. Doing them is how it sticks. The interactive module walks you through every click in a practice copy of Run Solo Studio, checks each step, and never touches your real accounts.

[Start “Run Solo Studio: Automate Unpaid-Invoice Reminders with the Solo Operator Stack”](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/runsolo-invoice-reminders)

## Step by step: Run Solo Studio: Automate Unpaid-Invoice Reminders with the Solo Operator Stack

All 27 steps of the interactive module, in order. In the module you watch each one, then do it yourself in a practice copy that checks your work.

### 1. Hours spent chasing invoices

1. **Look at what is owed.** Dana Ortiz runs Ortiz Strategy Co., a one-person marketing consultancy (made up). Three invoices are past due, **$7,450** in all, and the oldest is three weeks late. Click the **overdue list**.
   Meet Dana. She runs a one-person consultancy. Three clients are late paying. Seven thousand, four hundred and fifty dollars in all. The oldest is three weeks late.
2. **Put a price on chasing.** Every week Dana checks her Finance list by hand, works out who is late and writes the reminders: **about 2 hours a week**, about 8 hours a month. At $100 an hour that is **about $800 a month** of her time, and the weeks she forgets, the money waits longer. These are example numbers, so swap in your own. Click the **total**.
   Every week, Dana checks the list by hand. Who's late? By how much? What should she say? About two hours a week. At a hundred dollars an hour, that's about eight hundred dollars a month. These are example numbers.
3. **Meet the Solo Operator Stack.** **Solo Operator Stack** from Run Solo Studio is a Notion workspace plus six import-ready n8n workflows. **W2, Invoice overdue reminder**, checks your Notion Finance database every morning and emails you a list of overdue invoices. It does not email clients: you send those, with its follow-up cadence and email prompt. It costs $79 on runsolostudio.com. Click the **Solo Operator Stack** card.
   Run Solo Studio sells a kit called the Solo Operator Stack. It's a Notion workspace, plus six n8n workflows you can import. Workflow two checks your invoices every morning, and emails you the late ones. It doesn't email your clients. You still send those yourself.

### 2. Import W2 into n8n

4. **Open the workflow menu.** These are real n8n screens. In n8n, click **Create workflow** and you get a blank canvas like this one. Next to the workflow name, click the **···** menu.
   From here on, these are real n8n screens. Create a new workflow, and you get a blank canvas. Next to the name, click the three dots.
5. **Point to Import.** Point to **Import**.
6. **Import from file.** Click **From file**, then pick **W2-invoice-overdue.json** from the **n8n-workflows** folder of the Stack download.
   Then pick the W2 file from the n8n workflows folder in your download.

### 3. Fill in CONFIG

7. **Open CONFIG.** W2 lands on the canvas and takes the name **SOS W2 — Invoice overdue reminder**: two triggers (**Cron — Daily 09:00** and **Manual Trigger (test)**), then **CONFIG**, **Notion — Query Overdue**, **Aggregate digest** and **Email digest to operator**. The red triangles mean those nodes still need an account. Double-click **CONFIG**.
   W2 is on the canvas. Two triggers. Then a CONFIG node, a Notion search, a digest, and an email. The red warnings mean they still need your accounts.
8. **Set your inbox.** **CONFIG** holds IDs and settings only, never passwords. **NOTIFY_EMAIL** is your own inbox: W2 emails you, not your clients. Click the **you@example.com** value and type your address.
   CONFIG holds your IDs and settings. Never passwords. NOTIFY EMAIL is your own inbox. The reminder comes to you, not your clients.
9. **Paste the database ID, then close.** In our test, NOTIFY_EMAIL now reads dana@ortizstrategy.example (made up). Open your Finance database in Notion as a full page and copy the **32 characters** in the address, after the last slash and before ?v=. Paste them over **REPLACE_FINANCE_DB_ID** (here 1a2b3c4d5e6f47a8b9c0d1e2f3a4b5c6, made up). TIMEZONE here is only a note, and W2 does not use CLIENTS_DB_ID. Close with the **×**.
   Next, the Finance database ID. Then close the node.

### 4. Connect Notion and email

10. **Open the Notion node.** Double-click **Notion — Query Overdue**. It gets every Finance row whose **Status** equals **Overdue**.
    It finds every Finance row where the status is Overdue.
11. **Set up the credential.** The file ships with no secrets, so there is no credential yet. Under **Credential**, n8n offers **Connect to Notion** or **setup manually**. The Stack uses a Notion internal integration secret, so click **setup manually**.
    The file comes with no passwords in it. So there's no Notion credential yet. The Stack uses a secret key.
12. **Paste the integration secret.** The **Notion account** form opens with **API Key** selected. In Notion, create an internal integration (notion.so/my-integrations), copy its secret and paste it into **Internal Integration Secret**, then click **Save**. In Notion, connect the integration to your Finance database (···, Connections), or the query finds nothing. Click the **Internal Integration Secret** box.
    In Notion, make an internal integration, and copy its secret. Then, in Notion, connect your Finance database to it.
13. **Open the email node.** Back on the canvas, double-click **Email digest to operator**.
14. **Connect your email.** **From Email** and **To Email** both read NOTIFY_EMAIL from CONFIG, and the **Text** lists the overdue invoices. Under **Credential**, click **Connect to SMTP**.
    It sends from your address, to your address. Under Credential, click Connect to SMTP.
15. **Fill in SMTP and save.** Fill in **User**, **Password**, **Host** and **Port** from your email provider (465 with SSL/TLS on is common; many providers want an app password). Then click **Save**. We left this empty in our test, so nothing could be sent.
    Fill in your email provider's settings. User, password, host, and port. Then save.

### 5. Set the schedule

16. **Open the schedule.** Double-click **Cron — Daily 09:00**. Schedules live in the trigger node, not in CONFIG.
    Now the schedule.
17. **Weekdays at 9.** The file runs every day at 9: the expression is 0 9 * * * (minute, hour, day of month, month, day of week). Dana only works weekdays. Click the **Expression** box and change it to 0 9 * * 1-5.
    It runs every day at nine. Dana only works weekdays.
18. **Close the trigger.** It now reads 0 9 * * 1-5. Close the node with the **×**.
    Done. Close it.
19. **Open the workflow menu.** Nine in the morning, but in which time zone? The file was written for **Europe/Oslo**. Click the **···** menu next to the workflow name.
    Nine in the morning. But where? The file was written for Oslo.
20. **Open Settings.** Click **Settings**.
21. **Check the time zone.** When we imported the file through the menu, **Timezone** showed our account default, **America/New York**. Check it matches where you work: click the box, pick your zone and click **Save**.
    Check the time zone. Ours showed New York, our account default. Pick yours, and save.

### 6. Test run

22. **Run a test.** Test by hand before you switch on the schedule. Hover over **Manual Trigger (test)** and click **Execute workflow**. This is our test copy: Notion and email are switched off, and a test step supplies three made-up overdue invoices in Notion's format.
    Always test before you switch on the schedule. Hover over the manual trigger, and click Execute workflow. This is our test copy, with made-up invoices.
23. **See the digest.** Every node that ran turned green, with item counts on the lines: **3 items** went into **Aggregate digest** and **1 item** came out. Double-click **Aggregate digest**.
    Everything turned green. Three invoices went in. One digest came out.
24. **Read the reminder.** The **OUTPUT** has a **subject**, "Overdue invoices: 3", and a **body** with one line per invoice: name, amount and due date. With your SMTP account connected, that is the email W2 sends you every weekday. Click the **output**.
    The output has a subject, and one line for each late invoice. That's the email you'd get every weekday.

### 7. Pick the tone

25. **Match the tone to the days late.** The email points you to **S10** (the follow-up cadence) and **P11** (the client email prompt) in the Stack. S10 says: soft at **D+3**, firm at **D+7**, final notice at **D+14**. On October 17, Maple & Pine is 7 days late, so it gets the **firm** email. Brightwater Bakery (14 days) and Northfield Dental (21 days) get the **final** notice. Click **D+7, firm reminder**.
    The email points you to two guides in the Stack. Soft after three days. Firm after seven. Final after fourteen. Maple and Pine is seven days late, so it gets the firm one.

### 8. What it saves, and how to get it

26. **What this saves you.** Every weekday at 9 Dana gets one short list of who is late, instead of checking by hand. She still writes and sends each client email herself, with P11, and checks it is not disputed first. Click **What this saves you**.
    Every weekday at nine, Dana gets one short list. No more checking by hand. She still writes and sends each client email herself.
27. **Do it for real.** Solo Operator Stack is **$79** at runsolostudio.com, with the Notion workspace, all six workflows and the SOP and prompt library. You need n8n (self-hosted is free, n8n Cloud is paid) and an email account for n8n to send from. When the test run works, publish the workflow so the schedule runs. Click **Do it for real**.
    The Solo Operator Stack is seventy nine dollars, from Run Solo Studio. You'll also need n8n, and an email account. When your test works, publish the workflow.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is this an official Run Solo Studio course?**

No. This is my own lesson, made with Run Solo Studio's agreement. Run Solo Studio gave us a free copy of Solo Operator Stack as partners so we could build and test it.

**Does W2 email my clients?**

No. It emails you a list of overdue invoices. You write and send each client reminder yourself, using the S10 cadence and the P11 prompt that come with the Stack.

**How much does Solo Operator Stack cost?**

$79 one time, with a 14-day money-back guarantee, as listed on runsolostudio.com in October 2026. n8n Cloud, if you use it instead of self-hosting, is billed separately by n8n.

**Can I use Google Sheets instead of Notion?**

Not as shipped. W2 reads the Finance database of the Stack's Notion workspace. You could rebuild the query step for another source, but the lesson follows the file as Run Solo Studio ships it.

**Did you run it for real?**

Yes, on a real n8n Cloud workspace on October 17, 2026, with made-up invoices only. Notion and SMTP were not connected there, so a test-only step returned the same rows in Notion's format and the email node was turned off. The digest text in the lesson is the real output of that run.

[Start this module free](https://learn.ynteractive.com/modules/runsolo-invoice-reminders)

## Terms in this lesson

Plain-English definitions, each with an example from a free lesson.

[Invoice](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/invoice) · [Workflow](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/workflow) · [Prompt](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/prompt) · [Self-hosting](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/self-hosting) · [Integration](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/integration) · [Manual trigger](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary/manual-trigger)

[The full AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary)

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