Business Discussions

    Thank you for joining us at QuickBooks Connect to learn all about using TikTok and social media for your business.  Did you have a question that you didn't get to ask during the session? Social Media and Community experts will be available to answer your questions in real-time between 9am - 12pm PT on Tuesday 12/13/22. Simply press the 'Reply' or 'Join' to add your question as a response and you'll receive a response as soon as possible!    

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Business Discussion. Maybe you are new to the community and even new to starting a business for the upcoming New Year. Today, I have an article by Hey SoCal highlighting six steps to starting a new business. Let dive in to see what they had to say!   Clarify Your WhyThe author shared a very good analogy saying why drive a car without a destination. It would be a waste of resources and time the same way it would be when there aren't clear goals for your business mission.   Build a WebsiteAlthough having a social media presence is great, developing a website is even better. The writer mentioned that your digital presence is crucial to the success of your business.   Establish Your Target MarketKnowing whom you are trying to reach is vital because not understanding your target market can cause issues down the line. Knowing this basically determines the marketing, advertising, and other strategies, and it would be hurtful to the business i

Hi, friends! Welcome back to the Business Discussion board. On today's episode I'll be sharing a few ideas for you to share on your business' social media platforms to spread a little holiday cheer.   Testimonials. Share your favorite holiday story or memory and invite your followers to do the same. Season of giving. Use your platforms to share charities others may not know. Any little bit that can be given makes a difference. Holiday hours. Very simple, yet effective. Hours usually change during this season so be sure and let everyone know. Holiday contest. Host a home decor, or cookie decorating contest where photos are shared and followers vote for their favorite. Gift guide. I struggle to find great gifts for some of my family so gift guides are helpful! Be sure to include what you sell of course too. Local businesses. Share other businesses in your area to encourage others to shop small. Sale. Make a post about what items are discounted and for how long. Deadlines. It's hand

  Hello Community! The holiday season can be a bit chaotic, but one thing for sure is that small business owners can help alleviate any additional stress on their employees by managing them with grace. An article in the QuickBooks Blog touches on some actions that will speak volumes for employees. Let’s take a look at these 7 tips!   1. Set clear expectations, then respect boundaries2. Strive for fairness3. Let them be sick (and get well)4. Manage with empathy and compassion5. Know your team6. Change up the music7. Show your appreciation   These are all the tips! Always remember that your people are what matters most as your business depends on them to achieve its mission. Make sure to read all the tips in more depth in this article. See you next time!

Greetings, friends! The end of the work week is here! On that note, here's something to think about over the weekend. This article was presented by thepennyhoarder.com and offers some great pointers for starting a resale business. Do Your ResearchThis is the most important part - researching what you want to sell! Of course you'll learn as you go but doing a lot of research before hand will definitely be helpful. Follow Your PassionsThere are a lot of things out there that you could resale. But, if you randomly choose something that means nothing to you, you probably won't be the most successful. Choosing something you're passionate about is a great way to ensure you love your job. Think LogisticsNow, how are you going to sell? Nowadays there are more options than ever. In-person, online, or a combination of both. A lot of this depends on what you're selling but a majority of re-sellers typically stick to online sales. Pick a PlatformNext, you'll need to c

  Film award season is upon us, which inspired our QB Community team to think about some memorable self-employed characters from our favorite films. From chocolatiers, fashion designers and pirates to circus-runners, sports agents and working girls, we came up with a wide variety of cinematic go-getters. Read on -- and then tell us your favorite films in the comments below! Name: Leslie Barber, QB Community Leader Movie: The Greatest Showman Why I love it: I love this movie so much that I’ve seen it three times in the theater. It’s heartwarming, endearing and full of incredibly catchy tunes. Hugh Jackman plays PT Barnum, the creator of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. The movie follows Barnum from his impoverished youth to his rise as a great showman and businessman. He worked hard to overcome many cultural and financial obstacles, never giving up on his dream. He struggled with failure and loss, with losing himself to the limelight and with many who didn’t believe he could make i

Season's Greetings! or is it too early for that? Either way, Welcome to our QuickBooks Community, and we are glad you are here! Quick question, have you ever done a giveaway? A giveaway is a perfect way to showcase your products, increase brand awareness and keep customers engaged. But you might be wondering how to start. Here are a few tips to get you on your way.     What is your goal?Establish if you're trying to raise awareness for a new or existing product and the best time to go about it!   What is the prize?You want to highlight something that is worth keeping your audience interested and shows value. Maybe a gift card or so, a certain line from your collection, travel bonus, and so forth.   What are the entry requirements? For example, it could be something like this follow this account, repost and tag three friends to be a part of the giveaway. Or sign up for an email list could be another option. Find an easy and effective way.   Which platform s

Welcome to the QuickBooks Community, everyone! I hope you guys are doing well! Now that the festive season is approaching, you may be wondering what are some Christmas marketing ideas I could implement for 2022. Well, here are a few cute ideas to prepare your business!     Create some unique Christmas packaging for your brand. It gives a vibe of "exclusitivity" while reducing customers' time to wrap gifts and waste.   Ensure that your website has "People also bought"  or  "Items you may like" to strike up those impulse purchases! I mean, I'm guilty of doing this, and most likely, your customers will too.   Offer free shipping! This would be a great idea to implement, but of course, you would have to make slight price adjustments to cover those costs. This could be a legit make-or-break situation when consumers are making a purchase because no one wants to pay for shipping.   These are just a few ideas I believe will go a long way this season. F

The most wonderful time of the year is quickly approaching! Personally, the decorating is one of my favorite parts of the season. Here are a few storefront decorating ideas shared on the QuickBooks Resource Center...   Digital displayMovement is eye catching for sure. Digital displays are fun for any time of the year, but especially useful during the giving season as you can incorporate a variety of wintery and holiday themes.   Festive string lightsA classic! White lights, gold lights, colorful lights, maybe even color coordinating to match your business logo colors? The options are endless.   Chalk paintOh now this is fun! Dec out your storefront windows with a beautiful seasonal mural using chalk paint. Maybe even coordinate with other local shops with a recurring theme?   Frosted windowsMaybe you don't have time for a full fledged mural, so frosted windows could work! Hit the corners of your windows to give it a good snowy cozy feel.   GarlandSpeaking

Any restaurant owners here that use QB Mac Plus (desktop)? Would to chat about how you enter your daily sales into QB.  The popular solution to use a zero sum daily sales receipt doesn’t work in Mac b/c we can’t enter multiple payment items to zero out our sales. 

Have you listed your business in the top free business directories in the United States? Some perks of doing this include brand exposure, new audience or potential customers, etc. Our article for today by Data Science Central shared some Business Directories to enlist. Here is what they had to say:   Citylocal101This directory has many unique categories in which you can list your business. First, create your business profile, submit your form and, lastly, promote your company. Isn't it as simple as ABC? They also include features such as map location, contact information, and reviews.   Google Search PreviewDid you know if your business is listed on any of the top business directories, Google will show these results based on the information? Using Googe Search Preview lets you see the search engine results based on their advanced algorithm technology.   HotFrogHotgrog is a great directory as it allows businesses to adjust their listing for free such as posting, managing

  Hello Community! As the holiday season approaches, I wanted to provide some mental health tips for small business owners that were shared in a QuickBooks blog article. We all know that small businesses work the hardest during this season, so I wanted to share these 3 tips for prioritizing your mental health so you can have a successful holiday season while also taking care of yourself.   It’s important to:   1. Manage your time: Ensure that the work time you spend is productive. Setting a routine and sticking to it can help enormously with this. 2. Accept support: It is more than ok to lean on your support system and accept help. 3. Let go of what you can’t control: It’s important to keep in mind that you will hit snags along the way and come across obstacles, but remembering that this is normal and a part of the process will help you feel less overwhelmed.   Owning a business comes with many unknown factors and feelings of pressure. If you fo

Are you looking to create a functional website free of charge? Well, look no further! I found this gem by Tech Rader, which shared top resources for free website templates. Here are some of my favorites:   Squarespace is a more straightforward website builder and hosting platform that designs professional websites with no programming experience. Here are my top picks:   Colorlib is perfect for WordPress themes and templates, with over 3000 themes to choose from.   Bootstrap Themes is an open-source framework that has pre-built CSS and HTML. It is a cheaper alternative, but the quality and functionality are still good.   ThemeWagon also offers free website templates, but an additional feature is that you can create them to be precisely what you want.   They listed many more, and I urge you to check them out! Until next time family, take care and be safe! Enjoy your weekend! 

Good afternoon, Community friends! As a consumer one of the first things I do when I discover a new business is look for their website. You may be surprised that not many small business have an actual site to visit. Do you have a website for your business? If not, here are a few ideas to get you started...   Your StoryConnecting with your loyal and potential customers is huge. One thing to include on your business website is an "Our Story" section that explains who you are and what you do. This section is a great way to tell your followers more about yourself which is a great way to increase personal connection.   Clear LanguageThere's nothing much more frustrating than finding something you'd like to purchase but no info regarding price, how to pay, and means to complete the transaction. When building your website be sure to use clear, informative language that tells your customers exactly what to do to make a purchase.   PhotosPictures on your business's website are a

Looking to adapt your business to a new world? Well, look no further. Our Resource Center has given us three opportunities for small businesses to stay relevant or competitive in today's business environment.   Give your clients a chance to adopt your toolsThe key here is not to be a people pleaser but set expectations and be simple and straightforward with how to operate to avoid friction.   Stop worrying about controlling your team's time.During the pandemic, we realized that this set time of work was no longer a thing. Different ways had to be found to measure work. But this also highlighted that employees wanted flexibility, especially with remote workstations. Companies need to be open to providing flexibility. In addition, it allows you to trust your team and that they will do what needs to be done.   Revisit your pricing modelCreate a pricing model that goes with supply and demand. Again don't be a people pleaser and be fearful that you may lose clients. Changes a

I am the Business Director of the WWU FSAE Racing Team, and we are looking to start using QuickBooks! I cannot find an email on the website anywhere to directly reach out, but I have a sponsorship packet I can send in with even more information. We are a group of students that design, manufacture, and validate a formula-style racecar every year to compete in an international competition. We also run all the business aspects, which includes finding sponsors, managing finances, running social media pages, coordinating events, and more. We are hoping that Intuit would consider sponsoring us, a 501(c)(3) student organization, and we offer benefits that include, but are not limited to, various sized logos on our vehicle and team apparel, social media shout-outs and features, shop tours, and invitation to test days. We believe QuickBooks will allow us to enhance our business team and financial record-keeping. Thank you!

I am the Business Director of the WWU FSAE Racing Team, and we are looking to start using QuickBooks! I cannot find an email on the website anywhere to directly reach out, but I have a sponsorship packet I have attached to this post. We are a group of students that design, manufacture, and validate a formula-style racecar every year to compete in an international competition. We also run all the business aspects, which includes finding sponsors, managing finances, running social media pages, coordinating events, and more. We are hoping that Intuit would consider sponsoring us, a 501(c)(3) student organization, and we offer benefits that include, but are not limited to, various sized logos on our vehicle and team apparel, social media shout-outs and features, shop tours, and invitation to test days. We believe QuickBooks will allow us to enhance our business team and financial record-keeping. Thank you!

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.