Business Discussions

In the first article of this two-part series, I explained how to value-price your work with your new clients. It’s always easier to change your pricing/billing plan when you take on new clients, as they are eager to get on board and have no knowledge of your past hourly billing method.     It’s a little more difficult when you start to migrate your existing clients who are accustomed to the hourly billing. Put on your psychologist’s hat here and remember that most people do not like change. You are going to need to sell them on this new way of billing by giving them something in return.   Here’s how I successfully approached the challenge:   Make the pricing migration at a good breakpoint. I chose the beginning of the year. You can also do this when an existing client’s contract expires. Sell your client on your offer of “unlimited access” for bookkeeping support. Let them know you are available to them whenever they need you, and you won’t be setting a timer and

Congratulations! Your practice is growing, and that feels great. Question is, are you making a profit? If you’re not, it could be because you’re invoicing based on an hourly billing method. I relied on hourly billing for years, and I ended up undercharging for my services, losing track of my hours and, if you can believe it, sometimes even forgetting to invoice my clients!   I knew I was losing money working this way, but I never made the time to figure out how to change things. Then I started hearing the buzz around “value pricing” and “fixed pricing.” Could a new approach to pricing increase my revenue? I was willing to spend time and money to find out.   First, I signed up for a session at QB Connect with Ron Baker who is known as the father of value pricing. I also started paying attention to Mark Wickersham. Mark is an engaging guy with razor-sharp wit who is a pricing expert for bookkeepers and accountants.   I devoured Ron Baker‘s book, Implementing Value Pricin

It’s a bit scary, isn’t it? You’re all comfy-cozy in your desktop world with your small collection of desktop clients - but you also want to grow and expand your business. Where do you go next? This was my journey to shift my practice from Desktop to the cloud.   Moving Clients from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online   Step 1: Learn QuickBooks Online The first most important step is to learn that online software. If you’re a QuickBooks ProAdvisor (and if you’re not you should be - it’s free!), take the test, pass the test, and take the advanced certification. What you learn will set you up for success.   Step 2: Convert your company file to QuickBooks Online You’ll need to learn how to convert your desktop files, of course, so you might as well start with your own company data file. (After all, that’s what you’re going to be doing with your current customers!) Starting with your own file gives you a playground to practice and to see the results:   Create a po

Several years ago, I was happily working in QuickBooks Desktop. I had a comfortable bookkeeping service with a handful of clients who kept me busy 50 hours a week. My daughter had a baby and was on maternity leave from her job at the bank. When she had to go back to work, she was miserable. She missed the new baby terribly. The idea popped into my head that I could grow my business and hire my daughter. She could work from home and be with my grandson. I could expand my business. It was a win-win.   I had already begun to realize that the world was shifting to the cloud. A little voice had been telling I needed to learn QuickBooks Online. But switching platforms takes time and effort. I’d been using Desktop for more than 15 years, so I was comfortable with it and knew it well. Couldn’t I just stick with Desktop?   When my daughter came on board, I made sure she got certified in QuickBooks Online. After all, she might be my successor in this business someday. I already had

    Imagine if managing your precious dollars was straightforward, painless and fun. Dawn Fotopulos, CEO of DF Consulting, Inc. and author of Accounting for the Numberphobic: A Survival Guide for Small Business Owners is on a mission to turn that dream into a reality. A seasoned pro when it comes to sharing financial advice with small business owners, Dawn is dedicated to helping people who work for themselves feel confident and informed about money matters. Here, Dawn explains why your balance sheet serves as a truth serum by painting an accurate picture of your business.   Do you know your numbers?   Are you financially literate? If you’re like the majority of people who work for themselves, the answer, sadly, is no. Dawn says this shortcoming has lead to an epidemic of entrepreneurial failures. It also explains why Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit, believes “if we could improve the survival rates of small businesses by only 5%, we could eliminate the unemployment probl

  When it comes to building a successful brand, entrepreneurs must think carefully and strategically from day one. Seasoned business pro Julie Gordon White says it’s never too early make smart tactical decisions about everything from what you name your business to how you market it on social media. Here, Julie shares five tips for getting your brand-building off to a great start.   Keep your own name separate from the name of your business   “You should definitely own the URL with your name and direct it to your business URL. But for any business to live on after being sold or acquired, it must have its own name. That’s why my company is called The WELL for Women Entrepreneurs and not Julie Gordon White, Inc.”   Create a strong “brand partnership” between the business and the founder (yep, that’s you!)     “The business identity must be so strong it can remain solid and stable after a change of ownership. The way to accomplish this is to build a "b

Hi everyone,  I'm new here.  My name is Debbie and I have a Health and Wellness website. I just started and have a lot to learn. Any tips would be appreciated!

Quarter three has ended and quarterly tax payments are in, congrats!   We're buckling down for the end of the year, which means quarter four taxes and annual taxes will be here soon. There are some common tasks most self-employed workers have to do to prep, such as:    Organizing total income, total expenses, Tracking and reporting how much you drove for business (i.e. miles), Maintaining receipts Tallying up sales tax Anything else? How did you do with these tasks during the third quarter? What did you learn, what did you wish you had known ahead of time? Did you run into any challenges?    If this isn't your first rodeo, what advice would you give to a first time self-employed tax-payer? If this is your first year as a self-employed tax-payer, how are you feeling? What questions do you have and is there anything you could use help with? 

Welcome to Community Conversations! In this ongoing series, QB Community Founder and host,Leslie Barber, sits down with small business owners to talk about what’s great and what’s tough about working for yourself. You’ll hear loads of ideas, insights and inspiration. We invite you to sit back, listen and learn!  Here’s what you’ll find in this episode of Community Conversations ...   Romy Taormina is the “Nausea Relief Chief” who founded Psi Health Solutions, Inc. and invented fashion-forward, acupressure wristbands called Psi Bands. Romy says even after being in business for a decade, managing operations, cash flow, inventory and manufacturing is still plenty challenging. She tells us how she figures it all out, one analytical step at a time.    Julie Gordon White is a popular business coach, an award-winning entrepreneur, a bestselling author and host of QB Community’s Momentum to $1 Million group. A top priority for Julie? Helping women business owners ch

Name: Mitch Daugherty, co-founder Organization: Built Oregon & Little Boxes Location: Portland, OR Launched: 2014 Built Oregon, which owns Little Boxes, started as a storytelling venture by co-founders Mitch Daugherty (left) and Terry St. Marie. Their initial idea was to tell the stories of Oregon entrepreneurs via podcast and articles. A successful crowdfunding campaign and a few stories later, they realized they’d unearthed a goldmine of local consumer-product entrepreneurs. Mitch and Terry brainstormed about how to elevate and help these small, local businesses, and the current iteration of Built Oregon took shape. Now, after four years of operating as a nonprofit, Built Oregon has shone the spotlight on many of Oregon’s small consumer-product businesses (think: chocolate, kombucha, beer, coffee, hot sauce, jewelry and more) by offering an accelerator program and an annual festival. Another key promotional event is Little Boxes, a three-day, post-Thanksgiving shopping scavenger

Welcome to Community Conversations! In this ongoing series, host Leslie Barber sits down with small business owners to talk about what’s great and what’s tough about working for yourself. You’ll hear loads of ideas, insights and inspiration. We invite you to sit back, listen and learn! Here’s what you’ll find in this episode of Community Conversations ... Michael Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work, shares his best practices for hiring. Remember, says Michael, finding someone who is technically proficient may be a lot less important than bringing in someone who gels with your business values and your business culture.    Romy Taormina is CEO of Psi Health Solutions, Inc. and inventor of fashionable wristbands proven to relieve nausea. Romy believes it takes village to run a successful business, which makes hiring the right people critically important. She says finding a good fit is way more likely when you ask prospective employees lots of probing questions.  

We all know that death and taxes are inevitable, and here’s something else we’d like to add to the list: When your business requires shipping a product to a consumer, something will go wrong. Not every time, of course, but, at some point, small business owners will have to navigate a sticky customer service situation due to a missed delivery date, a broken item or some other shipping-related snafu. How you handle it can make or break your business reputation, especially during the high-pressure, high volume holiday shopping season. Instead of being caught off guard, it pays to spend some time planning how you’ll handle mishaps. This post will help you get started. Create an amazing “post-purchase” experience Think your customers don’t have a “post-purchase” experience? Think again. Whatever communication does (or doesn’t happen) between you and your customers once they’ve bought something from you is, by definition, your post-purchase experience. (If you do zero outreach aft

Don't say you never get a day off! Maybe you work weekends, or have a hard time feeling relaxed when you're supposed to be "out of office." But no time off, ever? Not buying it.   So...let's define "day off" as any significant period of time during which you can 1) choose your preferred activity in a 2) non-stressful environment that requires 3) no connectivity to work-related email or other forms of communication that may rope you back into professional mode unless the the house is truly on fire.    What do you do? Where do you go? How do you find that moment of restorative peace?

Hi friends, It’s time for me to be moving on from the QB Community for a new adventure. Before I go, I want to let you know that growing this community and getting to know so many of you has been the honor of my professional career. As a small business owner myself, I know how rewarding and challenging your work is. I’m grateful that you’re willing to share the highs and lows of your entrepreneurial adventures and hearing your stories of grit, grace and tenacity truly has been a privilege. Here’s to your continued learning, growth and success!  Wish you all the very best, Leslie

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM). We all know protecting our business data and systems needs to be a year-round priority, especially given the unsettling reality that security incidents and data breaches are on the rise globally. You may not be able to fend off technically savvy and extremely determined hackers, but you can certainly take small but meaningful steps to batten down all your cyber security hatches. Here are four best practices for protecting your data brought to you by the crack security team at Intuit. Lock it when you leave it. Prevent unwanted (and unwarranted) data exposure by locking your computer or mobile phone any time you leave it unattended Be alert – and suspicious. Fraudsters are more sophisticated than ever. Be extremely wary about anyone who is trying to convince you to give up potentially compromising information. When in doubt, don’t do it. Stay secure when you work remotely. Don’t get lax when you’re out in the field or wo

when a company sells to other states, how does it need to report sales tax?

Hello,Question: Can we claim any of the precription medicne?if so what category we put under when using Self employed ?do you put under Health insurance premium? thanks

HelloI searched on this topic didn't see anything. I have a new client who's business just sold off a big part of it, so I'm taking over the remaining bit, and they are leaving a brick & mortar location for a virtual world.  Question - is there a recommended way to handling A/P for this remote company with an approval loop built in?  Currently they have a A/P email account, but still get paper bills as well. The owners will be handling paper billing at this early juncture. I don't see them using scanner for all those bills. Obviously the ones we can convert to internet payment can go to the email.  The owner wants to handle manning that account and then forward payments to my email as approved.  One stone age solution would be to give them USPS envelopes and they send paper bills to me on a weekly basis or something. While it would cost few bucks I'm OK with that.  Recommended process for dealing with a clients A/P who is remote to

During the crazy holiday season, it’s easy to prioritize your business over well, everything. We’re here to remind you that losing sleep, eating poorly, staying Superglued to a screen or otherwise connected to your work 24/7 is not in your best interest. Remember, when your mental, physical and emotional health suffers, so, too, does your business. To keep every aspect of your life humming, here are some tips and strategies from folks in the QB Community to help you and your business not just survive, but thrive, during the holiday crush. Resist the Red Dot Syndrome The dot in “Red Dot Syndrome” refers to the notification icon alerting us that someone or something needs our attention. QB Community member and licensed therapist Nani Waddoups (@PDXGardinista) points out our addiction to instantly responding to anything and everything is disruptive, to say the least. To combat Red Dot Syndrome, Nani believes we all need to create (and protect) uninterruptible time to be tech-free or othe

Welcome to Community Conversations! In this ongoing series, host Leslie Barber sits down with small business owners to talk about what’s great and what’s tough about working for yourself. You’ll hear loads of ideas, insights and inspiration. We invite you to sit back, listen and learn! Here’s what you’ll find in this episode of Community Conversations ...     Caroline McAbee, the owner of Faith Financial Consulting, says building trust with clients is critical for her business success – and everyone else’s. Caroline shares why she loves working with passionate entrepreneurs who aren’t afraid to ask for help.     Julie Gordon White is an award-winning entrepreneur, business coach and host of QB Community’s Momentum to $1 Million group. She explains how she talks about money with her kids and why she’s a fan of “matching” what they contribute to a purchase. Spoiler alert: Julie says it’s never too early to start nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit! &nbsp

  Welcome to Community Conversations! In this ongoing series, host Leslie Barber sits down with small business owners to talk about what’s great and what’s tough about working for yourself. You’ll hear loads of ideas, insights and inspiration. We invite you to sit back, listen and learn! Here’s what you’ll find in this episode of Community Conversations ...   Adam Wegener, founder of Trash Amps, built a business around the portable Mason-jar amps he started making back in college. Adam talks about getting Trash Amps off the ground thanks to financial investments from friends and family. He recalls spending long nights in his mom’s garage building one amp at a time – an experience that shaped the way he scales his business today.     Romy Taormina is CEO of Psi Health Solutions, Inc. who turned drab wristbands into fashionable accessories that help relieve nausea. Romy admits she didn’t set out to revolutionize the industry, but telling the story of her bran

  A business plan is your big idea put down on paper. It’s the roadmap for how to start and run your business, and it’s the document you’ll share with potential investors or funders. Presenting a clear, well-thought out, comprehensive business plan is an excellent first step for any new business owner. Another bonus of writing one? As you complete each of the nine sections of the plan, inevitably you’ll further clarify your vision for your business and hone in even more on your ideas and strategies.   So, where do you start? Open a blank document and paste in the nine section categories below. Next, ask yourself a series of key questions to help you explain and describe your endeavor in detail. Last? Share your awesome business plan around and get yourself some investors!   (If you want to take a stab at writing your first business plan but prefer a faster approach for now, Julie Gordon White’s 10-Minute Business Planner is a great way to start.)   The nine sectio

a family member wants to enter into a salaried partnership with a silent investor, where he would receive both a salary as well as a percentage of the profits. Is this a good arrangement? Are there any likely problems that would pop up down the line?

  As a small business owner, cash flow is critical to your success, so understanding how to quickly deal with payment holds and how to avoid them is important. In this article, we will guide you through specific scenarios and provide best practices to avoid payment holds.   In order to have the best possible experience, we encourage you to read through this entire article.  If you are short on time and need some quick guidance, you can also click on the individual links below to jump to the areas that interest you the most.   ContentsHow to Challenge a Chargeback Good to Know - The Chargeback Process Best Practices - How to Avoid/Reduce Chargebacks When Should You Call Merchant Services? How to Challenge a Chargeback  Recall from our last article, that a chargeback is a transaction that has been disputed by the cardholder or card issuer. If you wish to challenge a chargeback, you must do so in a timely fashion because there is a brief window of opportunity.

What’s not to love about a national observance dedicated to making someone else feel good? It doesn’t take much to show your appreciation for another person, whether it’s a friend, a family member, a fellow entrepreneur or even a stranger. This is a perfect day to do something nice for your community, too. Below are just a few ideas for getting your generosity juices flowing. Check out our list, and then add to it with your great ideas! Bring coffee and pastries to your favorite small business Pick up trash while you stroll in your ‘hood Pay it forward (literally) by putting extra time on a parking meter Bring some fresh-cut flowers to someone you do business with – the UPS store, your accountant, your dog walker … At the tollbooth, cover the charge for the car behind you Take a day away from business and volunteer in your community garden, at a local school or in the public library Treat your team to lunch or take everyone out for ice cream! Offer a flash “Do Something Nice Day” sal