Last time I fell into business, I didn't really keep a good track of everything I needed to. I ended up with various spreadsheets, documents, comma separated outputs from places like nochex and paypal, and a very big headache.

I've explored a variety of project management type things, looked at some invoicing packages, looked into open sources packages, and I can feel that headache coming on again.

I wondered if anyone would feel like sharing their solutions, and the sort of thing that they feel is useful for tracking above and beyond the legal/ accounting necessities (although I'd very much like to hear how ppl keep track of that kind of thing too :) )

Looking forward to lots of helpful discussion here.

Jax

Many people find a product like QuickBooks to be quite useful in keeping track of invoices and such. That type of program has the ability to interface with various bank accounts and automatically update financial information as transactions occur.

For my (very low volume) needs, I use OpenOffice.org's suite of programs, which are very similar to the MS Office suite of programs.

I keep a 'database' of vendor information, and a 'database' of inventory items. I also use a 'spreadsheet' with several 'worksheets' for keeping track of my transactions.

For budgeting, there's a fine set of spreadsheets developed by one of our forum members, jmjj215, available at http://www.youneedabudget.com. I've been using the system since Jesse was beta-testing it, and have found it to be very useful. The spreadsheets work equally well with the MS suite and the OpenOffice.org suite, in both Windows and Linux.

Hey thanks for the plug :)

I should mention that the system I designed was geared for personal budgeting use. Although it could have excellent business application if used there as well.

One trick to keeping things organized is to operate from one account only - and don't intermingle your personal expenses with business expenses. Get a separate paypal account, email address, checking account, etc. I actually use paypal exclusively for the business and have a debit card from them so that I can run all expenses from there as well.

I've been recommended to use Quickbooks for small business accounting. Not only is it supposed to be pretty good, but if you can find a CPA who uses quickbooks also, it can make your taxes cheaper and faster (if you decide not to do them yourself).

I like the oline version of quickbooks

I've been recommended to use Quickbooks for small business accounting. Not only is it supposed to be pretty good, but if you can find a CPA who uses quickbooks also, it can make your taxes cheaper and faster (if you decide not to do them yourself).

I've been using QuickBooks for a number of years and though there are some limitations, they are usually easily worked around. I've used QB for an online shoe store, a travel agency, my web business and the retail version for an appliance store.

Another advantage I truly enjoy about QB is how it synchronizes with accounts. Currently, I interface with American Express and MasterCard as well as my business checking accounts (USBank). It's likely the biggest time saver I have ever seen. A list of charges, deposits or cleared checks is displayed in QB and you simply tick each one to match which account it is associated with. (Expense, taxable, etc) The payee information is stored and it makes quick reporting of each dollar spent a breeze.

I'm sounding like a commercial... sorry. I'm currently evaluating QB for POS, retail accounting and even multi warehouse inventory management though the latter will require a plug in/module offered by a third party.

If your business involves selling retail products online, be careful of the shopping carts that claim to be QB compatible. Some are not as compatible as others so your time spent in due diligence is worth more than I can express in words.

Good luck!

how about quickbooks online? We're considering using that since we have a distributed partnership (seattle and chicago). I just want to make sure i'm not giving up too much functionality going for the online one.

how about quickbooks online?
I've heard great things about QuickBooks online. The only negative that I saw was the fact that you can't import PayPal information directly to it. Manually entering each item would be a huge headache for me. I think there is a third party that has developed a tool to make it a bit easier but I've been hoping QB online would add this feature.

I've heard great things about QuickBooks online. The only negative that I saw was the fact that you can't import PayPal information directly to it. Manually entering each item would be a huge headache for me. I think there is a third party that has developed a tool to make it a bit easier but I've been hoping QB online would add this feature.

There are a number of limitations when comparing the online version vs the boxed version. We did try the online version for the travel agency but we wanted more control over the invoicing/job tickets and quickly abandoned it.

If you have a broadband connection, it's it great (cheap) way to give QB a try though.

ok thanks! i think we'll at least try it out then.

This is a terrifically helpful post. Where else can you get such quick incisive critiquing of business products? Or recommendations to products without the huge advertising budgets behind them, that you might never have heard of except for someone mentioning them here?

I'd love to hear more about which software products readers would recommend.

Keep 'em coming! :thumbsup2

For any of you small business owners who own and operate field service companies, i.e. maid service, hvac, pc repair, janitorial, etc. I purchase a software called ServiceCEO which integrates with QuickBooks. This software has changed my business for the better and I am seeing profits I thought I never would. ServiceCEO handles, my client base, scheduling of teams, billing, invoicing, credit card processing and so much more. I own a residential cleaning business and without this software I would still be a small 3 person company with less than 100 clients. You can check out the software at www.insightdirect.com. Be ready to pay around $2500.00 for the software but, keep in mind that I saw an ROI within 3 weeks of using the software properly.

Best wishes,

Maid Patrol Inc.

Hi,

After 12 years of writing business software for other organizations, we've just release our own software that can be used for managing a small business. We've also posted a series of articles that will give people something to think about when deciding which software package will be most suited to their needs. You are most welcome to have a look.

Microsoft Office User.

Q...

Hi,

I see a lot of people have already recommended QuickBooks, which is a great start. We use the online version and it is perfect for our needs.

But no one has mentioned anything about how to keep track of your leads, customers, activities, and sales opportunities.

No business is complete without a good way to manage the sales activity and keep track of your valuable customer information.

You may want to look into Contact Management or Customer Relationship Management solutions to round out your technology platform. Some recommendations:

For the Desk top: If you are one person company and/or don't need to access your customer information from the road, ACT! and Goldmine are the market leaders.

Web based: If you are independently wealthy or just like to spend way too much money than you need to, try salesforce.com.

If you are a programmer and like to write your code to get what you need from a software package, try Sugar CRM.

Good Luck,
Kregg