Don’t forget that Facebook has come out with Timeline for Pages. You Business Page will be converted to the new look on March 30th Even if you don’t have time to update the entire page, there are some updates that are definitely necessary. I did some research on the subject and came up with some great articles to help everyone out. Read my post on Business Darlings that tells you all about it. Click on link below:
FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR PAGES! ARE YOU READY?
It’s tax time again. That dreaded time of year when we all cringe whenever we hear the word! Over at Business Darlings I’ve written a few posts on the subject and figured it was time to share over here! Read the summaries below and then take the time to read and educate yourself, I tried to make it as painless as possible.
A Quick List to Prepare Yourself for Tax Time!, gives you a brief rundown on some of the basic items you need to get yourself prepared before going to that appointment with your tax professional or accountant.
A QuickBooks Tax Tip and list of Deductible Business Expenses, talks about tagging your deductible business expenses in QuickBooks. I also share a list of some of those common expenses and the link to June Walkers book about taxes Self Employed Tax Solutions. I think it’s a great book on taxes, a subject that we don’t want to read about but know that we really should. June makes it a little easier.
In my Happy New Year post I shared a post from last March called It’s that time of year again! The post asks how your going to prepare your taxes. It talks about the different solutions out there for preparing your taxes and directs you to one of the best articles I’ve read on the subject called Tackling Small Business Taxes.
Happy Reading and Have a great day!
I’m sure I’m not the only one that has been puzzled and confused by all the Facebook changes that are going on. And with more coming in the next few weeks, I’m sure the confusion will continue. The good thing is, there have been some great articles written to help us get through and figure it all out. So every time I found an article this week that was helpful in explaining all these changes, I bookmarked it so I could share with you. Here’s my list so far, I’m sure I’ll be adding to it when the new Timeline comes out!
Major Facebook Upgrade: This Week in Social Media written by Cindy King at Social Media Examiner
Customize Facebook News Feed with Your Favorite Pages written by Janine Gregor at Business Darlings
Five Facebook Changes and What You Need to Know written by Andrea Vahl at Social Media Examiner
What I Like About the New Facebook Timeline Profile, Privacy Settings, and News Feed written by Kristi Hines at Kikolani.com
How to Use the Facebook Timeline: A Complete Walk-Through of the Redesigned Profile written by Josh Constine at Inside Facebook
As the changes continue to roll out over the next few weeks I’ll add to this list, and please if you’ve come across any articles that have helped you, add them in the comments below, so that we can all help each other figure these changes out!
A few weeks ago on Business Darlings I wrote about how important it is to have a budget. I think it’s important for both your business and your own personal finances.
According to an article I read recently a good rule of thumb for where you should be spending your money is as follows:
25-30 percent on housing
15-18 percent on transportation
16 percent on food
The remainder to be divided between discretionary spending and savings
Do you know if your spending is in sync with this breakdown? Have you ever prepared a budget to see where your money goes to? Creating a budget helps you spend responsibly and achieve your goals. It also helps eliminate stress. Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to stress over money! You’d also be able to avoid that “money” argument because you’d always have the answers!
If you’d like to read the rest of the article, hop over to Business Darlings and read it here.
Have a great day and remember to smile, life isn’t so bad 
If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been? I apologize; I’ve been doing all my blogging over in the financial section of Business Darlings. Which is great, I love the site, but I also know that I should be posting over here on my own blog too. I should be at least sharing with you what I’ve been writing about over there.
So with that said, here’s a bunch of links to all the different articles I’ve been writing about QuickBooks. I’m sure you’ll find them helpful for setting up or working with QuickBooks in your own business.
Getting Started with QuickBooks
Customer Payments and Deposits with QuickBooks
Past Due Reminders with QuickBooks
Reconciling your Bank Accounts with QuickBooks
Customize your QuickBooks Invoices, make them your own!
If you have any questions or comments on any of the articles please leave a comment or contact me at deb@gemsvirtualoffice.com Thanks for reading and have a great day.
Does the thought of organizing and paying your bills make you cringe. You might have receipts everywhere, in the car, crumbled in your purse or wallet, and the invoices that need paying are probably buried in the papers on your desk or email box. Does this sound like you? Here are some suggestions in how to organize all that paperwork and handle the accounts payable side of your bookkeeping.
1. When you receive invoices that need to be paid, immediately place them in a folder, either in a file drawer or the in-box on top of your desk, labeled invoices or bills to be entered . Set aside some time at least once a week to enter them into your bookkeeping software. After you’ve entered the invoices, file them in a to-be paid folder. Depending on how many invoices you have, you can file them all in one folder or alphabetically by vendor. If you are going paperless, scan the invoices into your computer and file them the same way, in a file folder for Vendor invoices to be paid on your desktop.
2. Before you can enter any of these invoices and bills you’ll need to create a chart of accounts. Keep your chart of accounts simple. The chart of accounts is a listing of all your balance sheet accounts(assets and liabilites) and your income statement accounts(income and expenses). You’ll use these accounts when entering your transactions. Most accounting software packages will suggest a basic chart of accounts for you to start with. You can then add or delete accounts as you see fit.
3. At the same time your entering invoices to be paid, briefly look at any unpaid invoices you’ve already entered to make sure they aren’t due to be paid this week. Instead of looking at the invoices manually, run a quick unpaid bills report. You can then either print any checks needed using your software or pay them using on-line banking. On-line banking is a free service with most major banks, and you can enter the amount of the invoice and schedule it for payment before the due date. And with many accounting software packages you can accomplish this right within the software itself. The benefits of online bill pay is that it saves on postage and also by scheduling before the due dates you’ll avoid any late fees. Just remember if you pay the bills directly from your bank website, you will also need to enter those payments in your accounting software.
4. Reconcile your bank statements monthly. Try setting up time on your calendar the week the statement is received. You don’t want to put this task off because the longer your accounts stay unreconciled the harder it will be to find errors. If you have been disciplined in entering your transactions each week, it shouldn’t be a time consuming process and can easily be accomplished using your software’s reconciliation function.
5. Don’t forget your credit card purchases. If you’ve set up your credit cards as accounts they will need to be reconciled on a monthly basis the same way you reconcile your checking account. So be sure that you’ve been entering the charges daily or weekly. Credit cards statements can also be treated as regular bills, where you enter the bill for payment just like the rest of your monthly bills. If done this way you obviously won’t have an account to be reconciled every month.
6. If you use PayPal, you also need to set up this account similar to how your checking account is setup. And it will also need to be reconciled each month. With PayPal you can download the monthly reports for reconciling. To keep yourself current though I would also recommend doing this on a weekly basis to record any deposits and payments, and then reconcile on a monthly basis.
We’ll talk about handling your accounts receivable another time. We don’t want to forget that. You have to be invoicing customers and making deposits to pay all those bills we just talked about. Are you feeling frustrated and flustered with the thought of bookkeeping? Don’t worry, your not the only one. I think most business owners consider bookkeeping a dreaded task and put it off as long as possible. Unfortunately it’s not something that can be put off altogether unless you decide to outsource to someone that actually enjoys bookkeeping. Even then you shouldn’t ignore it completely, to effectively run a business you need to know what’s going on in every corner of it.
How do you stay organized? I’d love to hear your suggestions.
This week on Business Darlings I talk about Bookkeeping terms that every business owner should be familiar with. I know you’re thinking boring!! But it’s really important that you understand them (or at least have heard the words before), so that when your talking with your bookkeeper or accountant you’ll have a vague idea of what the hell they’re talking about.
In future posts, either here or on Business Darlings we’ll discuss all of them in more detail. Before you know it you’ll be wondering why you didn’t bother to pay attention sooner (or not). Anyway I know some business owners are really clueless when it comes to Bookkeeping, and that’s really not the smartest way to run a business. Its fine to delegate (what most consider) the boring data entry and number crunching to the bookkeeper, but I hope that you’re looking at reports at least on a weekly basis.
OK, enough of my preaching on why you should be reading it, just go read it! You’ll find the post here.
Are you thinking of starting a Virtual Business or looking for some new strategies to help build and grow your current business? Then be sure to check out Business Darlings. A new business magazine focusing on Virtual Businesses. There are sections with tips and tricks dedicated to Marketing, Social Media, Software, Technology, Business Coaching, Finance and more!
Business Darlings is set to launch tomorrow, February 14th, and I’m very excited and honored to have been asked to offer my advice, opinions and idea’s in the Finance section.
Here’s what Christina Nelson, owner of VOS Team and Vital Office Solutions, and the creator of Business Darlings has to say about the launch.
I am so excited to be able to give back to the industry that has been so good to me. Business Darlings is a labor of love and I am very proud of what we have accomplished so far.
Business Darlings is an online magazine/blog focused on providing tips, inspiration, direction and motivation for YOU to start and build a Virtual Business.The Virtual Industry is BOOMING and it’s time you got your piece of the Internet. Having a Virtual Business has some unique challenges and we want to help you get the answers you need to face, and overcome, them (or beat them into submission, whatever works lol).Business Darlings has been blessed with (so far) 8 wonderful experts (7 Darlings & a Dude) who have agreed to volunteer their time each week to bring you the information you need to be successful. Plus, we are always looking for more experts to add (email me to see if we need someone with your skills contact@businessdarlings.com). Pop over to http://businessdarlings.com and bookmark us for the launch on FEBRUARY 14th (yep Valentine’s Day)
There is no doubt that throughout your life you have heard the phrase, “It’s not what you know, it’s whom you know.” The simple fact of the matter is, no matter how talents or gifted you are, and how many fantastic ideas you have, how much hard work, and energy, and ambition, and drive you have bubbling inside of you, it does not and will not matter if no one knows you exist. The times have not changed. It has always been like this. You need to get your name out there. You need to meet people. You need to network.
A lot of people consider networking to be a “dirty” business because they feel it seems insincere, or manipulative, or that people come across as self-centered, but you should not approach networking with that mindset, and if you have well-developed social skills you should be able to spot those who have the same motives that you do. Networking is about building genuine, mutually beneficial relationships.
The best excuse in the world for people not to network is their claim that they are shy or introverted. The easiest way to overcome this is to network with people who share the same common interests as you do. After all, what brings you out of your shell, and to life, and fills you with adrenaline more than talking about something you are interested in? So start off going to networking events where you are certain there will be others that share your interests. This should not be difficult to do. Of course another piece of advice to give that is easier said than done is, “get over it. Be bold. You have ambition. You want to succeed. You need to overcome obstacles in your path. If being shy and introverted are two obstacles, than tackle them right away.
Networking is an ongoing process. It is not something you can do once or twice and then never do ever again. It will take you a lot of time and effort to build a network of people you can call, count on, depend on, and reach out to if you want or need something. At the same time, you want to be able to let as many people as possible know about you so they can do the same. After all, networking is a reciprocal game. It takes two to tango. Put on your dancing shoes.
Be interested in other people. If you want other people to be interested in what you are doing then it would certainly help if express interest in what they are doing. To warm up your engines you should begin by contacting distant relatives and old friends and let them know what you are up to. They may be interested in what you are doing, and may know others who are interested, too.
Always remember that networking is an investment in you, your business or organization, and in other people. Think about how much time you can and will save in the future if you know the right people to call when you need advice or need to hire someone, as opposed to tracking down the information you need cold.
Whenever you network, find out what your new friends and acquaintances do for a living and for fun, and, if possible, find out the same about their spouses or significant others.
Invite people out. Don’t just limit your networking to events, conferences, trade shows, etc. if you really hit it off with someone then meet them socially, perhaps for coffee. Establish a bond. Connect. Be a friend. Everyone could use another friend. Be a good listener. Be as generous as you can with your time and any constructive advice you can offer.
One of the best things about Face Book is it allows people to stay connected all the time, and not lose touch. You can see when their birthday is and touch base then. You can send them private messages concerning a topic they may be interested in.
As you meet people, focus on spending your valuable time with those who are the best fit for you. There is no doubt that you have a lot of ideas and a lot of potential and a lot to offer. Network as often as you can, but choose quality events and quality people because your time is valuable, and so is theirs.
Remember to make networking fun. Meeting other people and finding out what they do for a living and fun can be incredibly interesting. And if they can help you or you can help them in the future, well that makes networking an extra benefit for all.
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