the chart of accounts track expenses, income, assets and liabilities
get the tax form the business fills out and structure your COA to match, use sub accounts of those to record detail where you think you need it
items in the item list are what you do, sell, or stock - so you use items to run your business
there is no distinct industry version for you, use a service type company is my suggestion
The help files and video tutorials are helpful. QuickBooks for Dummies, and Business Accounting for Dummies are great books. QB is an accounting program and has a steep learning curve regardless of what the PR says, and some basic accounting is a requirement.
