Business Discussions

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It's finally Friday! I know we're all ready for the weekend but maybe you've just recently had a major "light bulb" moment for a brilliant business idea and it's time to get the ball rolling.     Today, I want to take a moment to share a few ways to brainstorm and protect your new idea. Here are a few tips that were recently published by Forbes:       1. Identify a niche. You may have already done this step, but identifying what the market needs is key. Spending time and effort on something you think consumers will love, only to find out otherwise can be pretty discouraging. You can avoid this by studying your best-selling products and checking your sales results compared to industry standards. From here you may be able to come up with an offshoot that no one else is selling.   2.  Do market research on your new business idea.Expand your initial market research by focusing on your new idea. Take a closer look at your customer base to see where y

Hello, everyone! I wanted to stop by today and talk a little about marketing. Specifically, differences between marketing for an online based store and a physical brick and mortar location. Since I'm not a business owner myself, I wanted to get an inside look from someone I know who has done both. I spoke with a family member [Kara S., Owner of Heart + Soul Boutique] who previously ran her business online and recently transitioned to an actual storefront. Here's what she had to say:   Brick and MortarA physical location for your business makes marketing easier, as it draws people in on its own. This can be as simple as people being out and about on any given day and just seeing your store and stopping by to check things out. Social media holds a major role when it comes to marketing and updating your customers as inventory circulates. This is a great way for your customers to stay engaged and interested. Without a website where they can purchase your product, they may be more apt

Hello All, I just discovered the Community, despite having been using Quickbooks for six months now. I am Brazilian, with a degree in Law in Brazil and a Certificate of Paralegal Studies in the USA, where I live since 2017. I work with legal translation in the areas of Intellectual Property and Immigration. I'm also a Notary Public in Florida. Anyone who wants to learn more about me, feel free to visit my website at www.scglawandlanguage.com. Have a great day, everyone! 

Good afternoon, Community! Today I want to talk about blogging. I know about blogging but at the same time, I didn’t really know what blogging was. Does that make sense? No? Ok, how ‘bout a definition. According to Wikipedia, a blog is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries.   That leads me to ask – do you currently use a blog for your small business? I found that this practice is a great way to casually inform and interact with your clients and customers. Aside from positive engagement, there’s so much room for creativity in a space of your own. Some great ideas I came across for blog topics include:   Sharing the history of your business in a storytelling format. Sharing a customer success story. Discussing future plans. Creating a list of influential people to follow on Twitter. Answering FAQs. These kinds of discussions allow avenues to open up for personal interaction with y

Hey everybody, and happy Friday! We’re already in the third month of 2020 and daylight savings time is upon us. I’m sure you’ve got big plans for this year, and an extra hour during the day means there’s more time to work on those plans. I’m here today to share a few helpful tips I found that will help you stay on top of the game. Here we go:   Break down big projects into small tasks with staggered deadlines. Extended projects go hand-in-hand with a variety of deadlines and checkpoints. So you don’t get overwhelmed, it’s always a good practice to break each project down into manageable tasks. Additionally, making sure major deadlines don’t overlap is something to always keep in mind.   Prioritize tasks that depend on other people. As a business owner, you’re in charge of overseeing each project to completion. But, you also have a variety of other duties and you’re only one person. Don’t be afraid to divvy up responsibilities, and help yourself by allowing others to help you.

We are a small business in Charlotte NC.  We are wanting to hire a office assistant.  We have received a lot of resumes for the position but one thing that scares us is the job hopping.  No one stays at a job for more that 2-3 years.  Its a big investment to hire people that won't stay at a job longer even if the pay rate is good.What are your thoughts?

  There are a multitude of strategies out there that businesses use to try to boost sales. As a small business owner, I’m sure you’ve tried several. Does it ever feel like these may be quick fixes and aren’t really helping in the long run? Forbes recently published an article that offered four universal truths of successful business sales. Here’s what they had to say: Stop selling to your customers. Instead, start helping your customers.I’ll go ahead and say it, there are times when I really don’t want to hear a sales pitch. I just need some help. Promoting your product or service in a way that truly helps your customers rather than just selling, will ultimately bring about a more positive engagement. Given the amount of information available with today’s technology, when a potential customer reaches you, they’ve already made part of the buying decision. Now it’s your turn to let them know how you can help. Take advantage of technology to maximize your efforts.Paper and pencil r

Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a lovely Wednesday so far. I thought I’d stop by and switch things up with today’s post. The other day I read about the importance of having a daily routine. Some of the points mentioned were that a routine:   Makes us more efficient Reduces our need to plan Creates structure in our lives Saves time Instills good habits   I don’t know about you, but I could certainly use an increase in each of those areas. My daily routine includes waking up, showering, getting dressed, and then, I can’t stress the importance of this enough – coffee. I usually work at home so after the coffee gets started, I get my computer up and running. I log into the Community and start browsing posts to see where I can help out. Around 11:00am, I take a quick break. During this time I usually make some brunch. Lunch time is around 1:00. I try to get outside and take a quick walk to get some air and refresh my brain to finish up the work day. After a few more ho

To build and maintain a successful business relationship, it's important that both parties are happy.  Share your experiences in the comments below. 

Hello! I have a consulting firm where most of the consultants are 1099 contractors (a few just receive referrals and pay a commission back to the firm). I am trying to set up QuickBooks Online to track this well. As a general example a consultant might have 10 total clients. They work with each a few days per year. The cost to the firm is ordinarily comprised of the subcontracting cost of the dedicated consultant plus possibly some reimbursable expenses. To date I have very little else to expense on a per-client basis.  Also, each consultant pays a monthly fee to be part of the firm, so they are both a CUSTOMER and a CONTRACTOR at the same time, which is painful. I have a few questions/challenges and I'd love your thoughts. Can I have the same company (the consultants are all LLCs) be both a CUSTOMER and a CONTRACTOR? My research says no. I need to enter all the same information twice and have one character in the name slightly different. What a pain.I am using

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” – Willie Nelson   Running a business is hard work. That may be the understatement of the year. It takes so much time, effort, and probably even some blood, sweat, and tears. Through all of that, it may be difficult to maintain a positive way of thinking. I read an article that offered some great pointers on how to build a positive resilient business mindset.   Celebrate the challenges of the journey How you approach challenges can have a major impact on your level of positivity. Try this on for size: Rather than thinking, “Darn, I have to go to work today!” adopt the way of thinking, “I get to go to work today, and move one step closer to achieving my dream!” A good tip is to have a designated journal and write down each challenge of business ownership, along with the solutions as they come. Boost your self-belief As a person who started a business, you’re already in a very sma

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snap Chat, you name it! We probably all have at least one of these accounts set up that we use on a daily basis. I follow countless businesses and use these platforms to stay connected with family and friends, post silly memes, and maybe too often, share pictures of my cute kid. But social media is also a great tool that can be utilized for your business as well!                       Small businesses can use social media to connect with hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people they may not have been able to previously reach. Did you know you can even create your own ad within the systems? You can make a specific campaign, select your traffic, create audience tests to see who’s viewing your ad, and control the amount you’d like to spend.   We have this technology right at our fingertips, so why not put it to good use? These modern avenues allow us to update our viewers with new products or

Greetings and salutations, to all. Okay, let’s tone it down. It is Friday after all! I hope you all are ready for the weekend like me.   I wanted to take a moment to ask, how do you keep your business’ culture thriving? Do you do this by constantly checking numbers and records to make sure everything is where it should be? Do you plan fun events that get your name out to the public? I stumbled upon an article that offered one, yes one, thing to always remember that will ultimately keep your company culture on track.       What is this one special thing you ask? Your vision. Not your eye-sight vision, but your company’s overall vision of goals and what you’d like to achieve. Other than the state of being able to see, vision is defined as, “The ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom.” Yeah, that’s what we’re talking about!   I’m curious to know, and I hope you’ll take the time to share with us your company vision. The umbrella state

I use intuit online for payroll, they only file 1099s for federal filing, then tell you to look up what to do for your state.  I'm in California, and the link tells you NOTHING about the 1099 filing form for the state. Does anybody have information on this? Thanks so much

Happy Wednesday, folks! We’re half way to the weekend.   Since I began exploring here in the Community, I’ve came across a pretty expansive variety of business types and industries. Whether you’re an independent marketing consultant, hometown baker, a photographer, or anything in between, we all come from very different walks of life.   I’d like to use this particular post to ask you all to introduce yourselves and share your industry! This is also a great opportunity to connect with business owners who are in the same line of work or share similar interests.   Let us know!

I have a small retail store. The problem that I have is that I sell items that is delivered in batches i.e. I order 1 box of cat food and receives 5 packages in the box which I sell separately. So if my stock level is down to 3 items and I create a Purchase order I need to order 1 items (box of 5). So when delivered I copy PO to Bill which automatically increase my stock levels. the problem is that it only increase the stock level by 1 instead of 5. I can't amend the qty before I copy to bill as that will increase the PO value incorrectly.  I would appreciate any advise on how to deal with this. currently after I copied to bill I manually adjust quantity but it assigns it to stock shrinkage which is messing up my financial information. Regards,Danie

Are there things in your daily life that have transitioned to the digital age and you think would have been better left alone? On the other hand, perhaps you can think of a system or two that are in dire need of being pulled head-first into the twenty-first century. A recent Forbes article lists Five Planning Practices That Ensure Legacy Modernization Success.   I quickly realized that these ‘modernizations’ have been happening all around us, all the time, for as long as I can remember. Think about the systems your business uses for accounting, payroll, scheduling, time management, communication, inventory, quality control, etc. Were you using those same systems 10 years ago? Even if you were, I’d bet they’re shadows of their former selves.     Now think back to a time when you transitioned to a new system. Inevitably, there were pains of change. How could the transition have gone more smoothly? That’s the focal point of the piece, and there are a couple steps that reso

Strive mightily for high ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but don’t forget that your feet are necessarily on the earth.        Theodore Roosevelt, 1900   This quote came to mind when I was recently reading an article about encouraging customers to leave positive online reviews.   The article is a great guide to setting up online reviews (and some of the most important things to keep in mind when you do!) but it all comes down to the same thing - dream big, but work hard to make those dreams come true.     With immediate access to Yelp, Google reviews, online app store reviews, Facebook, and others, customers have a ton of information about you and your business before they ever click on your website or walk through your front door - and in a recent survey, 93% of them said that online reviews make a difference in their buying decisions.      So how about you, what has your experience been with online review site

Hello fellow QB'ers! I've just started a bookkeeping business in Portland, OR and thought I'd stop by and introduce myself :) I'm relatively new to QB although I've been in accounting and finance for about 25 years. I've worked for public, private, and international corporations with my most recent role as Finance Director for a software company. Unfortunately the unthinkable happened this past spring: the business was acquired and all finance functions were moved to the new headquarters on the east coast. Prior to the acquisition, I had always hoped to start a bookkeeping business at some point in my career so I would definitely say that this is a natural progression for me (albeit about 5-10 years ahead of the "game plan".. yikes!!).  My expertise lies in revenue recognition, cash flow forecasting, budgeting, variance analysis, multi state sales tax, payroll, and also other misc items such as benefits administration, international sales tax/VAT and just about anything else you c

Excuse me, do you know how much a polar bear weighs? .... Enough to break the ice!     Okay, that was kind of silly. But, it may be worth a try when you're working to build your network. If you're anything like me, you might be a little shy. If you're at an event and looking to connect with other business owners, it's important to make a positive, memorable impression. Business cards are helpful, but you want others to be able to match a face to the name.   I'd love to hear your stories about how you break the ice. Do you have a unique conversation starter that never fails? Do you share your business "elevator pitch?" Let's hear it!   Additionally, if you haven't been to any events to network in person lately, you're always welcome to connect with others here in the Business Discussions page!

I am purchasing flights and lodging with my credit card points.  How do I enter this transaction to show the expense to the jobs?  I do not want to leave these out on my job costing and for billing purposes! 

After 6 weeks I am starting to think I made a mistake in choosing QB Online for my business, I hope I am wrong as I have put a lot of time and effort to get this up and running. My company sells products to two markets - the public and then also to resellers / dealers. As such, there is a pricing structure whereby the reseller gets a discount. (Problem no.1 - QB does not allow line item discounts)I have almost 2000 products (Problem no.2 - QB has a limit of 1000 when importing - ergo double the work to change prices)My country uses VAT (Problem no. 3 - QB does not allow the change of the word TAX displayed on invoices / quotes) I have to display my VAT number on all sales documents (Problem No. 4 - QB adds in "Tax Registration" before the number)Some products have different discounted amounts (Problem no1 part 2 - i can use the discount field at the bottome which will apply only one % to the entire quote)Some of these issues are overcome when creating my own templates and importing, th

I have a client with whom I am beginning to help clean up her books. Her p&L shows a huge loss because it looks like she might have been tracking inventory incorrectly. She has a dress shop where she buys sample dresses, customers come in, and then she orders them a dress. She currently has two different types of inventory assets: store inventory (assuming these are the samples) and customer inventory (assuming this is when she is waiting for customers to pick up their dresses). It all seems a little overly complicated, and because most of these dresses are one offs, it seems like this opens her up for many mistakes. I want to advise her not to use inventory items for her products. My ultimate goal is to simplify her workflow so she can more directly be in control of her books. MAYBE for her "samples" that she can convert to cogs if she sells them off the rack. I just don't see the necessity for any of this to show up on the balance sheet? She also has many items tha