Yes, you can restore that deleted QuickBooks transaction!
August 12, 2009
Your buzzing along in QuickBooks with a nice rhythm going as you work through your data entries. But the phone rings and when you get back to business, you duplicate a transaction. No worries … just delete it. Oops! You’ve accidentally deleted the wrong entry — now what?
Well, it’s time to discover a great feature in QuickBooks called the Audit Trail. I’m not saying it will save you every time, but it’s a safe bet you’ll find this feature comes in handy, once you know it’s there. QuickBooks automatically tracks all your additions, deletions and modifications made to transactions in your data file. The Audit Trail is arranged in order of the user who last affected a transaction, then by transaction type.
Select Reports from the navigation bar. Go to Accountants & Taxes, then select Audit Trail. Change the Date Entered/Last Modified drop-down box to adjust the date range currently displayed. Once the deleted entry is located, make note of the account and memo details to reenter the transaction. Voila! You are back where you started.
It’s Official…I’m Master Cart Certified!
July 17, 2009
As a Virtual Assistant, I have learned that the growth of my business truly relies on my ability to continue my education. When I review my goals and budget throughout the year, I incorporate training that reflects those goals for growth or expansion into complimentary areas.
Last year, several of my clients requested shopping cart and affiliate management assistance for their online businesses, as a companion to their bookkeeping tasks. I decided to educate myself beyond my self-starter adaptability and enrolled in several cart courses. I am proud to note that I have now completed Practice Pay Solution’s Cart Strategist and Cart Technician training to become Master Cart Certified in the 1ShoppingCart brand system. I am happily displaying their logo!
And very shortly, I will be even prouder to display another cart certification … but I’ll leave that a surprise. Go ahead … toot your own horn, and let me know what you have in the works.
Has Your Client Asked You to Charge Less?
June 26, 2009
This is a comical video for anyone who has ever had a client request that you lower your rates.
As business owners, we do need to be able to identify areas where deals can be negotiated, but it is much more important to be able to identify areas where scrimping can actually hurt your business. Spend your money where you will receive the most value, whatever that may be: increased productivity, improved time management, or greater quality of life. The benefits to move your business forward will far outweigh the cost. Watch and learn. am5nr293hu
Intuit Small Business Town Hall on Using Social Media
June 23, 2009
I am happy to say Intuit, makers of QuickBooks software, is continuing to improve. They are building their Small Business Community with town hall events, webinars, training, conferences, Ask the Expert events and more. This Thursday, June 25 at 9am PT (12pm ET), the Town Hall topic will be Using Social Media to Grow Your Business. Join Michelle Long, CPA and the following guests as they discuss how to use social media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, for effective marketing.
- Scott Wilder – Small Business Group at Intuit
- Chris Kim – Senior Marketing Manager with Intuit
- Dante Layton – Owner of Dante Layton, Inc.
- Ruth Perryman – Owner of the QB Specialists
Cost is free and there will be a Q&A session following the discussion. Hope you can make it!
Adding To My Ideal Client Profile
June 22, 2009
Have you started developing your ideal client profile? It is important for every business owner to identify who that ideal client is and create a list or profile. At first, this was a challenging concept for me to grasp coming from the corporate world where I really had no choice in who I worked with. As a Virtual Assistant, I work with many different clients and have been continually learning who meshes with my personality. When our partnership is successful, I make note of those characteristics. Having this profile has helped me initiate conversations with potential clients as well as feeling comfortable letting clients go if our styles don’t blend.
Most recently, I added a very key characteristic to my client profile. A potential new client noted that she was direct. A bell went off in my head because I am too, but I hadn’t identified it. As a bookkeeper, I find this works very well with several of my extremely busy clients. I like to be quick and to the point in my emails. My questions are small and words few but there is no love lost in the directness of my message or their quick reply. We are not ego involved in the communication.
I struggle with email because fluffy writing does not come naturally to me. In fact, I normally don’t charge for my email time because I know this. I must carefully craft emails writing and rewriting sentences to get my message across. Just this past month, a client let me know they prefer email over phone contact and it proved to be more than challenging. I was told I spent too much time answering an email. Initially I felt discouraged but now realize that had I relayed my direct communication style to this client ahead of time, I may have been able to spend less time crafting and worrying if I was going to offend her in some way. Adding directness as a core characteristic to my client profile will definitely encourage me to seek such partnerships with my future clients. What characteristics would you include?
