Speed up Basic Accounting with Quickbooks Simple Start

My wife owns and operates a small business that has no budget or need for elaborate financial and accounting software, so the thought of spending hundreds of dollars on the stock of off-the-shelf products was daunting.

Intuit came to our rescue with Quickbooks Simple Start, a free full service application that you can download to manage income and expenses, develop basic invoices and bills, and provide standard simple business reports.

Virtually every small business could benefit from this solution. Even professional accountants recommend this solution to their small business clients to help them start out with good financial discipline and reporting.

I've used the software and found it incredibly easy to get started. We simply set up the business account details, configured a few menus, and were underway.

The product is for any small business or home based business with few employees. You can easily track all of your income and expenses, build and customize simple invoices, write and track checks, and even manage payroll.

The standard free solution even has 14 basic business reports so that a small business owner can present accurate financial data to a bank, loan officer, investor, or partner in a professional manner.

I was very impressed with the on-screen tutorials, and the free software even comes with limited customer support for the initial period. Simple Start is not a free trial. It's a free edition of the software for your business to implement without charge or penalty. As your business grows and you require the additional services of the bigger solutions, I'm sure that Intuit hopes that you will upgrade to a new edition of QuickBooks, but there's no obligation to purchase anything.

In a world where you get what you pay for, QuickBooks Simple Start is the rare exception to the rule. This package is one of the best free applications that you will find for your business. Check it out, today!

Save Time and Money with Google!

Many business owners and managers get caught by surprise at the high cost of general applications for their business computing needs. Operating systems are generally included with any computer purchase, but all of the specialized applications that users require can run up a huge tab.

The Business Perspective has covered a few alternative applications that are available at low or now cost. Names like Turbo Project, Basecamp, Roboform, are great specific applications when specialized needs pop up.

But, what should a new business manager do across their entire platform? What is the essential software that a small business needs on each computer in their business? If you had to buy spyware protection, virus protection, email, security, search tools, basic graphics software, and other general applications for each computer, a business manager can easily spend $300-$500 per machine.

I recommend visiting Google for help. Google has a wide variety of business friendly applications available at low or no charge for small business.

Google Pack, a free download for anyone, offers Google Desktop for comprehensive file search capabilities, Security software for virus and spyware protection, screen savers, file sharing, Instant Messaging, graphics software like Picasa, and even Skype for VoIP calling.

Google Apps is a more complete business application suite that provides each user with email, word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, and other office productivity tools. For a very low monthly user fee, everyone in a business can enjoy a replacement solution for expensive Microsoft productions, all powered by Google.

Visit the Google Options pages to see a long list of great information services, blogs, mobile tools, and free or low cost applications to make life easier for your business users.

Turbocharge your Projects!

I manage a lot of projects at work, often with different budgets, teams, and subject matter experts. Planning these projects and keeping everything organized can be a real chore.

Of course, I have the option of buying the latest Microsoft Project edition, for several hundred dollars a pop. MS Project is a great tool, and I use it fairly frequently for charts, planning, schedule adjustments, and budgets. However, most small businesses don't actually use all of the features in MS Project. And, for $400+ per license, few have the budget to buy too many copies.

Enter Turbo Project from OfficeWork Software, LLC. Turbo Project comes in three flavors, Express, Standard, and Professional. Each is available in a Free Trial, and all have similar core features to MS Project.

The Express edition of Turbo Project offers point and click interfaces for creating plans, schedules, and task lists for small projects. It's easy to use, has great features, and a very low price. You'll be able to create Gantt charts, track dependencies, adjust schedules, and print reports within minutes of getting started. I found this edition much easier to use than MS Project.

The Standard package offers better resource planning, budget tools, and resource libraries. You can import directly from MS Project, Word, and Excel, as well. Consider this a full featured Project tool at a fraction of the cost of other packages.

For anyone who makes their living running projects and teams, consider the Professional edition. You can create complex projects, assign resources, track progress, create and manage tasks and assignments. Gantt charts are a breeze, and with multiple views, Professional offers users different reporting options for virtually any stake holder perspective.

All the plans are available on free trial for up to 30 days. OfficeWork Software offers training and webinars, as well as easy access to support tools in the various products. For the price, you can't beat Turbo Project, so if you find yourself managing projects and struggling to do it within spreadsheets and emails, give Turbo Project a try.

Please Log Me In!

So, I work three hours away from my house. I typically commute in on a Sunday night, and return home on Thursday night, with one day a week in my home office. VoIP really makes my life easy because when I get back to the house, I simply plug in my computer, update my Cisco 7940 Phone, and it's almost like being there.

Until, of course, this week. I drove nearly all the way to my office only to discover that my computer was still on my desk... at home! I had to turn around, drive nearly three hours to the house, then leave for work before dawn on Monday.

All of that driving, and wasting $4.15 per gallon gasoline, could have been avoided if only I had known about Log Me In, a remote desktop application available free from Log Me In, Inc, a Boston area tech company with offices around the globe.

According to their website, Log Me In offers businesses with "secure, easy-to-use and cost effective solutions for remotely supporting, connecting and accessing digital information, applications and Internet-enabled devices." They are certainly true to their word. I downloaded Log Me In's software to my laptop, then set up a test. I left my laptop turned on with an Internet connection, then logged into it from a borrowed computer. In just a few minutes, I had logged into the website, connected to my laptop, and logged into my system. I was able to use my local files from my borrowed machine and get work done.

The basic package, LogMeIn Free, provides basic remote desktop applications, and the company offers LogMeIn Pro with expanded features, including file management, shared printing, meetings, and other useful features.

Small business users can use LogMeIn to keep track of the office from their home office computer. They can also let remote workers log into an office machine for desktop printing and easy file sharing. Small businesses that don't have full time technical support for a network will find LogMeIn an inexpensive and easy way to stay connected remotely.

LogMeIn compares favorably with services like GoToMyPC and PCNow from WebEx, but is significantly less expensive to use for most small business owners. It's not difficult to use and requires only basic computing knowledge and a good Internet connection. I'm a fan, so you should certainly check it out.

I never want to forget my laptop again, but it's certainly nice knowing that I can get by for a few days in case I screw up again.

iPhone Turmoil

Well, it's official, our company supports the new 3G iPhone.

When our CTO, an Apple aficionado in every respect, bought the original iPhone, I asked about support for corporate email. I'm a Blackberry addict, and I was curious about how it handled email. That's really all I use the crackberry for, anyway. The original iPhone really didn't do a great job of displaying and automating email functions because it didn't support Microsoft Exchange, the dominant player in hosted email.

With the new 3G phone, email support is better, but still not quite in league with the RIMM products. It's not quite so fast or quite so easy as my Blackberry, and the flat panel keyboard doesn't provide the tactile feedback that the RIMM devices do, so typing will take some major adjustment for users.

The iPhone is by far the superior phone, however, and it offers all the fun applications available from Apple. I'm interested in the new VoIP feature. Some of our team use their iPhones via WiFi in the office, but now, Truphone iPhone app is now available to make your iPhone a VoIP Phone.

It remains to be seen how it will integrate with other systems, but it seems to me that Apple is likely to be the first to merge desk phones and cell phones to operate more artfully together.

Anyone with experience with the new 3G iPhone, please let us know your thoughts. I'm considering a switch, but still on the sidelines.

AT&T is making the move harder to rationalize, too. The price drop on the hardware is wiped out by the increase in service charges by AT&T. For me, with 1000 T*Mobile minutes, unlimited email and unlimited data for $79.99 a month, a comparable AT&T plan would be more than $119. That's a heck of a premium for a slick phone.

Tell me what you think!