Business Discussions

Hello ladies and gents! I'm stopping by to share an article I read in the QuickBooks Resource Center that covers the importance of inventory reports and a few different types of these reports. Let's take a closer look.   "An inventory report offers a real-time summary of your existing stock. Further, it distills key details such as stock levels, the fastest selling products, category performance, and other important data like inventory status and performance."   Reports are a great way to stay organized and to show you how your business is growing. This is the same for the specifics of inventory reports, aka "your truth." "Good reporting habits lead to profitable business decisions and, ultimately, a high-performing and sustainable business."   There's a variety of inventory reports available. Here are a few to get started:   Inventory Detail reportMost business use FIFO, or the first in first out method for inventory, and so does this report. The data of

Hello, friends. Welcome back to the Business Discussion board. I wanted to take a minute to share an article with you that I read from entrepreneur.com that discusses a few myths regarding SEO. If you're unfamiliar, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is generalized as a set of rules used for optimizing your website so it can achieve higher rankings in search engines' organic results. The higher the ranking, the more people will view your website. Here are a few myths to take into account to hopefully make the process a bit easier. SEO is a one-time thingThere is a common misconception that SEO only needs to be reached once. However, on the contrary, once your website reaches a higher ranking you'll need to work at keeping your placement. The article shares a link for some great practices to keep your website optimized. Local SEO is not worth itYou may be a small business owner, dreaming of nation-wide expansion and might think reaching a local mar

Want to better understand a person's character, values, work ethic, and so forth? If so, you're in for a treat. In business especially, during the hiring process, you want to ensure that you are hiring the best of the best, and knowing their personality will assist in creating that productive work environment. Well, here are ten personality questions to ask when trying to learn about people.   How would your best friend describe you? Who has left a lasting impression on your life? What is a lesson you learned from your greatest failure? If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why? How do you measure success? What do you value the most in your professional life? What motivates you? Which holiday is your favorite and why? What do you think is the key to maintaining healthy relationships with others? What is a character trait you would like to change and why?   This will definitely aid in building that bond and creating a healthy company culture and relationsh

  Happy Tuesday! Are you a small business owner of an accounting firm that has felt some risk when it comes to hiring young professionals? If so, then this discussion might just be for you. I want to share with you the tips that an article in Firm of the Future shared when it comes to helping someone grow personally and professionally:   Value work-life balance Create opportunities Know your team’s strengths and weaknesses Invest in your young staff as it increases retention Celebrate your young staff’s growth   The takeaway from this article is that celebrating growth in individuals is important. Their career advancement, even if it ends up being elsewhere, ends up being a reflection of the growth they had within your own firm. I hope you explore this article in further detail and find it insightful. See ya next time!

I am looking for some feedback about what other Quickbooks ProAdvisors charge for their time to travel out of town with a client.  My client wants me to attend a budgeting seminar for his industry with him so we can directly apply the information for his business. He is willing to pay for time + expenses but I'm not sure what is an appropriate to charge him.  Has anyone traveled with a client and billed for their time?  

How have you set up your quick books chart of accounts for your business? Do you set up each "budget" like Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical, Countertops, insulation, etc. as a cost of goods sold categorization? Then set up each house as a project?  My husband subcontracts everything out, and we are moving away from excel into the real deal with Quick books (ha), so any help in setting the system up for success given his industry would be very much appreciated! 

Hello Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Community! I hope today was highly productive for you. But before you leave for the day, I have a quick question. Are you trying to figure out how to write content for your website or naturally want to become better with your writing skills? Luckily, Niche Pursuits shared a comprehensive list of the best online writing courses. I know you may have many things going, and trying to figure out how I can incorporate this, but if it benefits your business, why not take the risk? Here is a list of a few of my favorites.     SurferSEO- Topics include competitor analysis, search intent, etc. Passive Income Geek-Topics include SEO tips, monetization strategies, etc. Udemy-Topics include keyword research, copywriting skills to improve sales, etc. Masterclass- Learn from top writers like James Patterson. Malcolm Gladwell, etc. Writing with Flair- Topics include creating simple, clear, and elegant text, learning the secret sauce of good wr

    Hello QuickBooks Community! Today we are chatting about advice. I’ve received all sorts of guidance over these first few years in my career, but I’ve been wondering what my top piece of advice would be if someone younger than me asked. Would it be:   Prioritize work-life balance?Establish Strong boundaries?Build a support system?Create a backup plan?   This is just something I've been thinking about but now I want to hear from you! If you could offer one piece of advice to someone earlier in their career, what would it be? Tell us why in the comments below.

Hello QuickBooks Community Members! I hope all is well. Today, I want to share the gem with you from our Firms of the Future with tips to generate referrals with minimal time required. Here is what they had to say:   Be worth of referrals.Quality and professionalism can go a long way when it comes to clients. Once customers are happy with your services, in most cases, they will refer you to others. Most importantly, if there is a problem, be quick to address those to deliver awesomeness in the end.   Clarify ideal referralsDo you know which types of clients and services will make an ideal referral for you? Learn to identify those clients and work the room as they say.   Ask for referralsHave you asked your existing clients to refer you? Many people fail to do so. Well, the writer here listed a variety of ways. Verbally when you provide them with their tax return (or other services). Request testimonials for your website or reviews elsewhere. Statement in your email sign

Hello, friends! For today's Business Discussion topic I'd like to share an article I recently read on entrepreneur.com that guides you through building a successful business. Let's dive in...   Getting Started Research your industry. Create a strong branding strategy. Get organized and plan for success. Hire the right people and give them the support they need to succeed.   Market Your Business Create a logo. Develop an effective marketing plan. Build relationships with key players. Promote your business online. Make use of print advertising.   Manage Your Finances and Budgets Review your expenses regularly. Create a budget and stick to it as closely as possible. Get creative with how you save money. Understand your credit score and use it wisely. Make use of insurance policies and other financial protections available to businesses.   Develop a Quality Team of Employees Consider personality fit. Consider skills and experience. Consider cultural fit

Hello, Community fam! How are you guys doing today? Quick question, do you gather feedback from your employees? Studies have shown that getting input from your employees can aid in being a better leader and so forth. But the question you may ask is, how do I ask these questions? Here are five ways to ask your employees:   How could I help you be more productive with work? When managing the team, do you see any areas I can improve? How do you prefer to receive feedback about your job? With working on this current project, do you have any feedback thus far? Do you have any feedback that will assist me in being a better manager?   These are just a few ways you can ask your employees. But knowing this will definitely aid you in developing your leadership style. Bill Gates said it best, "We all need people who will give us feedback. That's how we improve." Until next time my friends, be safe and take care. Au revoir!

Happy Friday, Everyone! I hope you guys are doing great! Can you ever have too many tips and tricks? I think not. Well, ReadWrite shared seven tips for small business marketing! Here are my top 3 favorite ones:   Email MarketingThis is very cheap and easy to set up a newsletter or email campaign. You can even use this opportunity to highlight products or services to bring awareness to customers. Email Marketing can even assist with targeting certain groups to increase your ROI.   Develop a Detailed Marketing PlanThe author highlights some good marketing strategies to help you achieve your goals, such as: Identifying your target audience. Creating a persona for each persona in your target audience. Determining what types of content will resonate with your audience. Creating an online presence on social media platforms and other websites. Creating a marketing calendar to keep track of when you will post content   Focus on Content MarketingThe more content you create, t

    Hello Community! Are you struggling to find inspiration or simply just looking for more? I know I am and that’s why I wanted to start a conversation about this. I came across an article from freedom.to that goes over some tips on how to go about  reigniting our inspiration.    Here are just a few!   1. Do Something Different 2. Make sure to keep some things consistent 3. Read 4. Write, draw, doodle… 5. Collaborate 6. Listen to music 7. Spend time in nature   All of these tips along with many more mentioned in this article will help you get back on track, so make sure to check it out. The main message here is to always be open to inspiration. I would love to hear from you so please let us know in the comments below how you get inspired in your daily life!

Good afternoon, Community! You've reached the Business Discussion topic board. Today I want to share an article I found on the QuickBooks Firm of the Future site that gives some great pointers on the importance of accurate financial reporting. This is a topic that many can benefit so let's take a more in depth look...First and foremost, accurate reporting allows business owners to make the best operating decisions. To get the best reporting, you can use this 4-step process outlined in the article:    Start by asking your client (or yourself, as the business owner) some questions. What kind of reports are you looking for? What data is most important to view in said reports? Garbage in, garbage out. Take note of your current accounting processes. Is the information therein being entered in timely and accurate matter? If the answer is no, your reports will not be where they should be. Review your software. We like to recommend QuickBooks around here, but you'll want t

Good afternoon, Community friends! I hope this day is treating you well. I know many of you here are small business owners. Business owners wear many hats and the title owner can be exchanged with "CEO", "boss", and even "leader." Today I want to talk about a few qualities that make a good leader.   HonestYour business and your employees are a reflection of you. Making honest and ethical decisions will overflow to your team.   Good CommunicatorGood communication is key to any and all relationships in life. A good leader will communicate with their team, keeping them in the loop, so nothing's missed.   ConfidentSimilar to intuition, having the right amount of confidence in yourself is also an important trait. Your employees will see how much you believe in the work you're all doing.   CreativeNot all of your decisions or tasks will be strictly black and white. Times will arise when you need to be creative to ultimately reach your end goal.   CommittedA good lead

      Hello QuickBooks Community! I have a question for you. What does personal branding mean to you? Well, according to this article in Firm of the Future, personal branding is described as the “intentional efforts to define and promote what you stand for as a person”. When you view it this way, personal branding becomes an exploration and expression of how you view yourself, your work, and your profession. I’m here to share a roadmap that can show accountants and tax professionals how to focus on personal branding to help scale their firm quickly.These are the steps:   Step 1: Identify your audienceStep 2: Articulate your unique perspectiveStep 3: Pick a theme to championStep 4: Spread your ideas, one channel at a time   The key takeaway is to start small and grow later. The important focus here, according to this article, is working towards building a brand that reflects your personality and beliefs. Make sure to check out the full article wi

Im planning to make a software that helps learning any language from movies. Fairly simple to make. It will allow to watch a movie and enable/disable/change either subtitles and language and re-watch specific trunks easily. Design and creation is not a problem at all, what im not sure about is how to monetize the the whole thing. I already thought about Freemium, subscription plan, software fee, ADS, but none of those i think will work i suppose.Any idea how i can monetize my idea?

It's Friday!! Welcome everyone to the Talk About Your Business page. Are you excited about the weekend? I know I am.  I can't wait to catch up on some shows I missed and be lazy for a few hours. Anyway, before you get ready to sign off for the day, I wanted to share this gem from Entrepreneur about maximizing team results by managing the whole employee. This was undoubtedly an interesting read. Here are some points they shared:   Individualized managementPersonality-wise for someone who is an introvert when potentially getting a management position, they would have to come out of their shell more to lead the team. In another sense, if you are an extrovert, they may be moments where you have to tone it down a bit when communicating with others. Each person is unique. It is essential as leaders to take note of these things to understand your employees more. That way, you are better able to cater to their needs. The writer mentioned she video calls her staff individually to che

  Welcome to Connect with QuickBooks! This thread is your opportunity to ask your questions about features, updates, and bug fixes to the QuickBooks Tier 3 Support Team.    This team includes senior support specialists and engineers with an advanced level of QuickBooks knowledge and insight into the product roadmap. They are the perfect team to answer your questions about if a certain feature is in the works, if a bug is on track to be fixed, or if there is a workaround for something you’re struggling to accomplish.   The team will be available on 9/22 from 11am - 2pm PT. Simply post your question as a response to this post and you'll receive an answer as soon as possible. If you're new to the community, here's how to participate:   Press Join the Conversation to log in to the community. Once logged in, press Reply. Write your question as your reply to the post. Press Post to submit. Keep an eye on your notifications for a response from one of our QuickB

Hello Community! Today I wanted to chat about a topic that has come up at a Content Symposium that I’ve been attending all week. The Content Design leader for the Mailchimp team went over how they go about finding the right tone when it comes to creating content for their brand, so I thought I’d share! Here are the 3 broad questions they ask themselves when creating their brand’s tone:   1. Who are you talking to? 2. What state of mind are they in? 3. What does this writing do?   I found these to be simple, yet useful when thinking about voice and tone! What are your tips and techniques when it comes to this? I’d love to hear what you have to say so please feel free to let us know in the comments below.  

Hello, friends! Thanks for joining us here on the Business Discussion board. We know loyal customers are vital to small business, but I believe it's safe to say employees are a close second. The QuickBooks Resource Center recently featured an article that details what employees are looking for from their employers. Let's take a look... Flexible work hoursA healthy work/life balance can be hard to come by. Flexible hours are a huge help in that aspect. As an employer you may also consider the opportunity for your employees to work remotely. Personalized recognitionPeople enjoy hearing they're doing a good job. Personalized recognition for a job well done can come in many forms, and can differ depending on the work being done. A couple of ideas may include a small gift card and a thank you note showing your appreciation, or maybe an extra 30 minutes added to their lunch break. A focus on diversity, equity, and inclusionAlso referred to as DEI in the business world, di

Good afternoon ladies and gents! I hope you all have had a fabulous week so far. I'm stopping by to share an article with you that I found on legalzoom.com. It offers a complete guide to creating a secure website for your business. Let's take a look...   Vet Your Web Developer and IT SupportYour site will become the face of your brand, where you interact with customers, and where they will often make purchases. With that being said. hiring a good web developer should be a top priority. Here are a few ways to check them out before giving them the job:   Check their portfolio Review references Ask them about their implementation of legal must-haves Request a quote Determine if they can meet deadlines   Install an SSL CertificateSSL stands for secure sockets layer, which is a minuscule data file stored on a web server to protect your company website. Without an SSL, your website can be more vulnerable to hackers. The more protection the better!   Select a Secure

      Do you ever wake up and automatically start spiraling over all the things you must accomplish for the day? If so, then you're not alone! As I was feeling overwhelmed the other day with my never-ending to-do list, I came across another post from Headspace on LinkedIn on the topic of gratitude. This post focused on the ways you can make gratitude a part of your daily routine. I love what they shared, so I wanted to share it with the QuickBooks Community as well! These are the tips:   ✍️  Start your day by spending five or more minutes journaling about what you're grateful for.   ✍️  Have gratitude check-ins during the more challenging parts of your day.   ✍️  Reflect on the positives at the end of the day.I found these tips to be simple, yet effective, and I have started implementing them into my morning routine. How do you implement gratitude into your daily life? We want to hear from you so please let us know in the comments belo

Welcome to the Quickbooks Community! Today, I want to share this exciting piece about e-commerce trends small businesses should know from our Resource Center. Let's go ahead and dive in: Increase use of voice assistantsThis includes assistance such as Alexa, Ok Google, and Siri. Voice assistance has now become a part of the online shopping experiences, especially for users that may be visually impaired. This structure can help you keep ahead of competitors and set you apart for you as business owners!   Strengthened consumer privacy preferenceAdd zero-party data so customers can customize what information they would like to share with you. This way, you provide a personalized experience based on their permission and feedback.   ChatBotsAccording to researchers, in 2022, 85% of businesses used chatbox to interact with customers, and 53% of users prefer this method to call a customer service representative. Famous companies such as Amazon, Sephora, and Loreal participate in th

Good afternoon, thanks for tuning in for another topic on the Business Discussion board! Today I want to talk about emails. Emails are an important part of business life and sometimes they can be a little tricky. Here are a few pointers on wording your emails...like a boss.     Taking a while to respond: Instead of, "Sorry for the delay." maybe try, "Thanks for your patience."Your schedule matters: Instead of saying, "What works best for you?" you could say, "Can you do 4:00?"You're welcome: "No worries" may sound better as "Always happy to help!"Help with understanding: "Hopefully that makes sense." doesn't sound very confident, but "Let me know if you have any questions!" does.Build even more confidence: Instead of "I think we should..." you could say "It's best if we..."You made an error: "Ahh my bad!" could be better said "Nice catch! Thank you for letting me know. I've attached the updated file."Lastly, if you just can't find the words: *tries to re-word