quick books

[sotc]

i have quickbooks and never learned it so its fallen by the way side. i have a bookkeeper so i dont really need it for that. what i want is my customer data base. so when some one calls i can throw their name in and it will pop up and say i removed a tree for them for 500 bucks, they took a month to pay me and what ever other details i want to remember. and i want this to be easy, will quickbooks do that? or another program?

 

[brendonv]

Yep, quick books will do that. I bought it because everyone said how easy it was, yada yada, BS. They have classes to teach quick books, that's says enough. I'm not a computer geek and I don't have the patience for it, there for I don't use it to it's capabilities.

So now I just use it to store paying customers names, and it'll show what jobs have bean done for them. I also just use it to balance my account and keep track of expenses.

Damn this box is tiny.

 

[sotc]

thats what happened to me to, i started to try and 2 days later gave up on it!
so your not the guy to ask for help?

 

[vharrison]

sotc, I use it everyday and would be glad to help you with it.

 

[Paul B]

If I go buy the program will you do my books too V ?

 

[sotc]

well i better get it installed on this computer then, thanks

 

[Canuck]

Willie I can help you out as well. The hardest thing with quick books is getting it set up to work the way you want it to. After that its super easy. I recently upgraded to 2008 and its even easier.

 

[sotc]

cool, im trying to find it as its been 2 years and a different computer. i hope it will load on this machine to. or shoul i just go get 2008?

 

[Canuck]

If you have vista get 2008. The others will work but with limited functionality. Although the reworked the entire program for 2008 and I think its a better all around program. If all you want it for is customer management there has to be better software than quickbooks for that

 

[sotc]

xp
yeah just for cutomer data base, i have a bat to manage them

 

[Canuck]

Do you have outlook? You can do handle all that stuff through outlook.

 

[sotc]

yeah i was just looking at that, i have ms office.

 

[Canuck]

For quickbooks to tell you how much they spent, when they paid etc you would have to start doing you invoicing with QB. Honestly though I do all my estimates and invoices with QB and its super efficient. Once you have an estimate you just click on create invoice and it makes an invoice. Also you only enter customer data once. If you do the same thing for them multiple times you can copy their previous invoice.

 

[sotc]

ok i have this years jobs in my "contacts" in ms outlook. can you guys tell me how to "back up" my info? i hear some of you say thats important to do often and i have no idea how to do it

 

[Newfie]

ok i have this years jobs in my "contacts" in ms outlook. can you guys tell me how to "back up" my info? i hear some of you say thats important to do often and i have no idea how to do it

Me neither, but you can take a class to learn that program too.

I love using quickbooks. Estimates, invoices, keeping track of recievables, bills, client data, you name it. A learning curve just like any new piece of gear or equipment.

 

[top hopper]

Whats so tough about quickbooks?

I basically just use the checking register and invoicing function.

Just by entering check transactions, and client information for invoicing you can do all things you want by pulling the right report.

Wanna know how much you did in pruning last month? Last year?

Wanna know how much you spent on fuel this fiscal year versus last?

Wanna print out statements with finance charges for overdue invoices?

Wanna write / print / send each and every client a letter with printed envelopes and labels?

Wanna current profit and loss?


Quickbooks does all of this and it is quite simple actually.

If you can enter and balance or reconcile a checking account register and enter invoicing information you can get everything I mentioned plus more.

My point is its very simple, and just requires you to actually enter the data ( and code it correctly).
I would think your accountant would want it or something similar.
When I started my company, one of the first things I did was hire my accountant, and the first thing he did was install Quickbooks on my cpu and insist that I use it.
I can bring him current financials backed up onto a flash drive and he can work on my books at his place, and im not packing tons of papers and documents around either.

I love my quickbooks. One of my favorite features is the report feature. I love looking at financial trends that the company has endured.
Fuel this year vs last,
insurance this year vs last,
pruning revenue vs removals,
etc, etc,

 

[sotc]

that is great info to have. i just take my check register, bank statements and receipts into the bookkeeper and they do their thing. maybe i will look into a class, i dont think outlook will do all that.

 

[Canuck]

Whats so tough about quickbooks?

I basically just use the checking register and invoicing function.

Just by entering check transactions, and client information for invoicing you can do all things you want by pulling the right report.

Wanna know how much you did in pruning last month? Last year?

Wanna know how much you spent on fuel this fiscal year versus last?

Wanna print out statements with finance charges for overdue invoices?

Wanna write / print / send each and every client a letter with printed envelopes and labels?

Wanna current profit and loss?


Quickbooks does all of this and it is quite simple actually.

If you can enter and balance or reconcile a checking account register and enter invoicing information you can get everything I mentioned plus more.

My point is its very simple, and just requires you to actually enter the data ( and code it correctly).
I would think your accountant would want it or something similar.
When I started my company, one of the first things I did was hire my accountant, and the first thing he did was install Quickbooks on my cpu and insist that I use it.
I can bring him current financials backed up onto a flash drive and he can work on my books at his place, and im not packing tons of papers and documents around either.

I love my quickbooks. One of my favorite features is the report feature. I love looking at financial trends that the company has endured.
Fuel this year vs last,
insurance this year vs last,
pruning revenue vs removals,
etc, etc,

And that is why quick books rules and why I use it. I suggested no quickbooks because willy said he only wanted to keep track of what work he did for customers in the past. I use my tablet w/ quickbooks and a mobile printer and it is smooth as hell. All my client, estimate, invoice, job info is only a click away. When I get fuel, I enter the expense in quickbooks before I pull away, same with parts from the saw shop etc.

 

[sotc]

i don't know if I'm disciplined enough but it sounds good

 

[Tom_Scheller]

One of my favorite features is the report feature. I love looking at financial trends that the company has endured.
Fuel this year vs last,
insurance this year vs last,
pruning revenue vs removals,
etc, etc,

...and the charts too! Color, 3D, pie, you name it, any flavor you want. It really is great to get a visual idea of what your company looks like.

TS

 

[Newfie]

i don't know if I'm disciplined enough but it sounds good

As a business owner you owe it to yourself. You can't just be a tree guy anymore.

 

[TheTreeWiseMen]

As a business owner you owe it to yourself. You can't just be a tree guy anymore.

Agreed, I've been finding that out over the past year. I use Arborsoftworx and my Mrs uses Quickbooks for everything else.

 

[sotc]

I use Arborsoftworx and my Mrs uses

how do you like this program? which one did you get?

 

[Canuck]

I've been seriously considering aborsoftworx, it syncs with quick books right? Looks like a great tool and it would go nicely with my tablet.

 

[TheTreeWiseMen]

I got the 'commercial' Arborsoftworx package and yes, it does sync with quickbooks. It is a good system, takes a little getting used to though.....computers never were my strong point. Hoping to upgrade to the 'municipal' package at some point, probably when I land my first municipal contract......this year fingers crossed. Help and support from Arborsoftworx themselves is pretty good too. They are now using the tag line, "How do you turn a phone call into an appointment, into a proposal, into a work order, into an invoice, into a statement, into a repeat customer?" I know because my Mrs came up with it, clever bird that she is! If any of you guys get Arborsoftworx, I'll try and answer any questions you might have.