Author: Scott Wilson

Some Good Accounting Software for Business Use I Recommend

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For a business, to know how profitable it is, the balance sheet must be created and the state of the business put down on paper. This can be an unwieldy experience especially for new business owners with no experience in book-keeping and management. The most obvious alternative for most businesses is to hire an accountant.

This option is only practical for businesses with a large margin, but unthinkable for small business owners. The other alternative is to get accounting software and learn how to use it. These tools will save a lot of man hours and most importantly, the business money, as time is indeed money, not to mention there savings arising form not hiring a professional accountant.

Sage Peachtree Complete Accounting

  • The features provided include audit trail accounting and email invoicing. It has a user friendly and intuitive inventory control.
  • It can keep track of the vendor quantities, size the inventory etc. The initial setup is quite confusing and needs a knowledgeable individual to assist

QuickBooks Pro

  • This is an affordable piece of software, ideal for small businesses.
  • The premium features include: supplies management, point of sales, and credit card processing.
  • There are other features like creating and managing invoices, automatic billing, creating tax forms (like 1099), tracking inventory, tracking payments as well as sales expenses and creating checks.
  • This service is completely web based currently, and it supports most of the web browsers on multiple operating systems.

AccountEdge for windows

  • This accounting software handles regular and recurring journal entries and budgets can be created covering up to two years.
  • There is a sales module in which features such as quotes, invoices and work orders can be found. A purchases module keeps track of purchases as well as returns.
  • There is a contacts’ module that can track customers, and create personalized letters. There is also a feature to create tax codes for clients as well as multiple tax codes for the same.

Simply accounting pro

  • Simply Accounting Pro comes from the same software accounting as Sage Peachtree.
  • Some of the features that it has are payroll, job costing, inventory, banking and time billing. The software has an extensive help section and is intuitively designed to make it easy to use.
  • It has an accounts receivable section that can perform functions like building general quotes, creating receipts and sales orders. But this section unfortunately can not estimate shipping costs, something that the competing products can do.
  • The payroll section can allow the addition, removal and modification of an employee’s record as well as setting different pay periods that can be 26 or 52 per year in number.

Rainmaker platinum

  • This is accounting software mainly targeted at attorneys.
  • It is designed to ease the process of creating complex bills and increasing the efficiency and handling of client payments and the accounts receivable.
  • It is a response to the need for secure and innovative accounting software solutions for law firms.

How To Start a Car Detailing Business in The Perfect Way

Posted by Scott Wilson on in Business in USA 0 Comment

People who want to have their cars detailed are more than willing to pay for this to be done.  There is a huge score of business in Var Detailing. Read the following tips if you want to learn how to start a car detailing business:

Figure Out a Modus Operandi

  • If you plan to travel to the homes of people or businesses, then get supplies that will enable you to travel.
  • Consider having a base where people can bring their cars to you for detailing.  See about renting an industrial area so that people can come to you for detailing.
  • Get any necessary supplies needed for car detailing and, if preferred, a way to transport these items to homes as well as businesses where detailing can commence.

Learn the Right Way to Detail a Car

  • Get a solid understanding of the basics of car detailing.
  • Use the right products for the job and learn which are the best for detailing as well as which will provide you with the best profit.
  • Discover about any environmental issues concerning the products that you plan to use for your business.  There is an increase in awareness of green products, so going green is something that will help your business grow.

Spread the Word about Your Business

  • Get business cards as well as small brochures printed.  Carry them with you everywhere and discuss your business wherever you go.  This is a business that will grow by word of mouth.
  • Use free internet ad sites to post the news about your business.  Using Craig’s List is one way that you can let others know about the car detailing and how much they can expect to spend for this service.
  • Use local papers where ads are cheaper to also advertise.  Not everyone who you get for your business will come from the internet, so be sure to post print ads as well.
  • Make use of flyers.  This is a form of repetitive marketing that can work when it comes to advertising your business.
  • Advertise with coupon mailing.  This form of direct marketing works well for any type of service business.

Strive to Keep Existing Customers While Attracting New Ones

  • Make sure that you do what you can to satisfy your customers so that they come back for additional services.
  • Give discounts for referrals – remember that you want to make your business grow by word of mouth as much as possible.
  • Offer special savings for those who get repeat services.  This is one way to get people to keep coming back to your car detailing business.
  • Let others know that you are green – make sure that you practice environmental cautions when using any chemicals for car detailing.

Services such as car detailing never go out of demand, even in a poor economy.  This is something that anyone can do, even if they just have a small budget.  Those who are looking for a way to make extra money or even if they want to have their own business can do so when they turn towards car detailing as a business.

10 Must Read Books, If You are Planning to Start a Business

Posted by Scott Wilson on in Business in USA 6 Comments

Reading books on how to start a business is one way to learn more about the subject matter.  It is not enough to just garner knowledge about the particular business that you are in.  It is equally important that you should read up on how to operate the business too. For this, you need to understand basic principles of business.

Start With Some Basic Business Books

  • Read books that discuss how to start any type of business to give you the fundamentals of how to run a business.
  • Learn how to manage the day to day running of any business and what needs to be done in order for the company to flourish and make a profit.
  • Understand the basics of hiring employees, including how employment laws apply to the type of business you intend to start.
  • Learn the difference between being a sole proprietor of a business as well as incorporation and even starting a limited liability company.

Read Books about Financing

  • Read books on how to get financing for any business including bank loans as well as private funding.
  • Find out which grants are available for those who are starting their own business – in some cases, both state as well as federal grants can be used to begin as well as continue to operate any business that serves a community or greater need.
  • Learn how to manage funds that are set aside for a business as personal money should not mingle with business funds.
  • Read about how to create a business plan that can be used for getting a loan as well as how to prepare financial statements that are also needed for loans.
  • Have an understanding of how much profit the business can generate as well as how much of your own money you will have to put forth in order to start a business.

Books on Networking

  • Learn how certain groups, some right within your own community, can help you meet the right people as well as network with other business leaders.
  • Get the concept of networking to find others who may be able to help you get started – many businesses begin as partnerships.  This can include silent partners who are willing to finance the business but not have to deal with the every day running of the company.
  • Understand how to network to continue to help the business grow, even after you have gotten off your feet with the company.  A stagnant business is doomed for failure, in order to continue to make money, any business has to continue to grow.

Books on Managing a Business

  • Look for tips on how to hire the right people for the job, including accountants and even attorneys who might be needed to help you run your business.
  • Get information on how to manage employees of any business as well as what to look for in an employee.
  • Be willing to learn how to delegate certain aspect of the business to employees whom you can trust.
  • Learn which jobs can be outsourced to private contractors and other businesses that can end up saving you money.

There are various books on business development as well as management that can help anyone who is starting business.  The reason that businesses fail is because people who start them have a lack of knowledge of what it takes both financially as well as personally, in how to get started, maintain and successfully make a business grow.

How to Start a Casting Agency Easily – 5 Easy Steps to Start

Posted by Scott Wilson on in Business in USA 0 Comment

A casting agency can help get people into all types of movie mediums, from films to commercials.  If you want to start a casting agency, you first need to be savvy about the entertainment field.  Filmmakers are always scouting for talent for their advertisements, television shows and even films.  Here are some tips to get you get a foothold in this line:

Garner As Much Knowledge as Possible About the Industry

  • Learn as much as you can about the industry so that you can be an expert in a field.  People will be more willing to trust you if you display knowledge about the industry.
  • Join industry groups to network with those who may end up being in a decision making process later in your career.
  • Read industry publications and trade magazines to gain further knowledge of the industry.  Remember, you can never know too many people when you are in this type of business.

Establish Contacts in the Industry

  • Consider interning to get some contacts in the advertising, film or television business.  Casting companies have to provide talent to these groups.  Getting the talent is easy but establishing contacts can be key to your long term success.
  • Join groups of those in the same industry – if you are in the film industry and want to cast, be sure to join networking groups for others in film.  This gives you more contacts who can help.
  • Get your name out there.  Establish your business and get the name of the business out there in the industry in which it is in.
  • Use repetitive marketing tactics.  Be sure to get business cards, stationary as well as decals so that people become accustomed to seeing the name of your business – this establishes trust.

Set up Office

  • Develop an impressive office and set up shop.
  • Use credit card borrowing or get a personal loan to establish the business office and negotiate the price of a lease – you can have storefront property or you can have an office in a business park as well.  Regardless of where you set up shop, let others know where you are.
  • Invest in signage – this puts your name out there.  Having a recognizable name is crucial in the casting industry.
  • Attend expos and other functions. As said earlier, you should promote your business whenever possible.
  • Have an open house where others in the area can tour your business – you never know who knows who so you want to get to know as many people as possible, all the while establishing yourself as a casting agent.

Get good talent 

  • Put ads in local papers seeking talent.
  • Scout out contests that have to do with your industry to look for local talent.
  • Consider finding talent at the community level, including those who may be participating in community theater as well as school plays.
  • Develop contracts so that you can not only get good talent that you can cast but also keep the talent.

Being a casting agent and having your own agency is not difficult as long as you break the process down into steps.  The trick, in this type of business, is to know as many people in the industry as possible, develop contacts and then use those contracts to get your foot in the door, as well as find the right talent that will be cast for the job.

What Are FHA Loan Qualifications in 2012: How to Get it Easily

Posted by Scott Wilson on in Finance 0 Comment

The FHA loan qualifications 2011 been lenient quite a bit to allow first time home buyers as well as others to obtain low cost loans that are backed by the FHA (Federal Housing Authority).  Originally, these loans were used to help those who were first time home buyers get homes.  Today, the requirements are more accommodating than ever before for those who want to buy a home.

Who Can Get an FHA Loan?

First time home buyers can obtain an FHA loan if they fall below a certain income.  The income requirements for the loans vary from state to state but generally, those who make below $60K can qualify for this type of loan.

  • You can also obtain this type of loan if you have a less than perfect credit score.  Unlike conventional mortgages, these loans are backed by the federal government and enable those who are buying a home for the first time or those who may be buying in a certain location, to get a loan.
  • Single parents may qualify for an FHA loan even if they have purchased a home already.  In addition, those who have had previous FHA loans can also use this program to get another loan through the FHA.

What About Credit Issues?

  • Those who have declared bankruptcy can get an FHA loan after two years upon the discharge of the bankruptcy.  This is more lenient than conventional loans, which require people to wait 10 years after the bankruptcy has been discharged to apply for a loan.
  • Poor credit is fine with an FHA loan as they cater more to those who may have credit issues.  Check with an FHA lender in order to see if you qualify.  Do not let a low credit score prevent you from buying a house.

Benefits of Acquiring an FHA Loan

  • Low down payment: You only have to put down 3.5% today for an FHA loan.  This amount has been decreased from prior years where you had to put down 5% of the purchase price to get this type of loan.  Even those who do not have a sizeable down payment can thus qualify for an FHA loan.
  • No closing costs: The FHA loan requires that the seller puts up the closing costs for the loan instead of the buyer.  This saves the buyer even more money.
  • Low interest payments: FHA loan interest varies from state to state, but is generally much lower than that of a conventional loan.
  • More options with regard to paying back the loan: There are some FHA loans out there that have a 40 year payment plan, as opposed to a 30 year, which is usually the maximum for a conventional loan.

What Type of Property Can You Buy?

  • Property must be FHA approved.  This means that it has to pass inspection by an FHA inspector in order to close;
  • FHA properties can be located in just about any area.  They consist of both single family homes as well as multi family dwellings.  As long as the owner is willing to go FHA, they can sell their home to an FHA approved buyer.

With so many people looking to sell their property, FHA loans are making quite a comeback.  You can find an FHA lender by going online as well as see if you qualify for a home loan.

How To Start a Foster Care Agency: A Guide for you with Easy Steps

Posted by Scott Wilson on in Business in USA 2 Comments

There are few things in life as rewarding as helping needy children.  One way to do this is to start a foster care agency.  While there are many state agencies that oversee foster care, this is also possible for the private sector as well. Pay heed the following tips if you are planning to start your own agency.

Ways to Get Funding For the Agency

Private sector businesses may be willing to sponsor the agency if you have a solid business plan and are serving the local community.  When looking for sponsors, be sure to choose those that are local businesses with the money for funding and use their name in the agency name.

  • Take a look at grants to get started.  There are both state as well as federal grants that can help you get started when it comes to developing a foster care agency.
  • Look at charity organizations, especially churches.  Many churches will be willing to sponsor an agency that is associated with their church.
  • Consider bank loans as they may be available for those who have a solid business plan.
  • Be sure to create your business as a non for profit in order to take advantage of bank loans, grants as well as private funding for this endeavor.

What are the Families?

  • Get the word out with a local press release that you are looking for foster families to help care for children.
  • Be sure to use screening tools to make sure that the foster families are acceptable for those who will be put in their care.
  • Offer incentives to foster families in exchange for them caring for children in the system.
  • Be sure to use churches as well as schools to find families that will be willing to foster children on a regular basis.
  • Develop a profile of the families that are willing to foster as well as the type of homes that they have so that you can match children with the right homes for them.

Help Children Who Are In Need Of Help 

  • Contact your local state agencies and tell them about your foster care agency to see if they can refer children to you for care.
  • Contact schools and shelters in the local area as well, making sure that they know that they can use your agency for the care of children.
  • Make use of churches as well as other charitable organizations to help when it comes to referring both children for care as well as families that will be willing to care for children.

Not all agencies are state run agencies and not all of the children who are admitted are put there against the will of their parents.  Many parents who may be in financial or personal difficulty will look for an agency that is private where they can leave their children in safe hands until such a time when they can take them back again.

How To Start A Home Care Agency – Simple 10 Steps to Follow

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A home care agency is one that provides care for the elderly or those who may be infirm or not enough capable. Many people prefer to have home care for the elderly rather than putting them in nursing homes, so this type of agency is the way of the future when it comes to home health care.  If you want to learn how to start a home care agency, do the following:   Determine What You Need

  • Read up all about the law in your state with regards to home care workers as to what type of licensing the agency and workers need to have in order to work.  Some states have fewer requirements and restrictions as compared to others.
  • Get the licensing that you need in order to operate and start a business.
  • Do a market survey to see how much home health care workers in your area make so that you know what to charge for their services.
  • Discover where you can rent an office space as well as how much you will have to pay in administrative costs.
  • Consider a home office as well as outsourcing administrative costs.  This can help cut costs.

Build Up a Name in the Industry

  • Market your business at hospitals, nursing homes as well as churches and other places where you might find elderly people in need of home care.
  • Join local chamber of commerce organizations and get active in their activities and events.
  • Volunteer to write a column for the local newspaper regarding home health care.
  • Establish your business as an expert in the home health care field by using internet media.

Hire the Right People

  • Make sure that you understand the law regarding licensing for home health care workers.
  • Get bonded so that your company is insured against any thefts in the homes by workers.
  • Have workers get bonded as well.  This is low cost and will insure your business.
  • Get necessary insurance for your company.
  • Incorporate your company so as not to incur any personal liability for any risks occurring during home health care visits.
  • Document cases as well as any new medical conditions and ask that your workers provide you with a daily report as to the care of such individuals.
  • Get weekly or monthly updates from both the clients as well as the caretakers – stay hands on when it comes to this business as you always want to know if there are any problems as small problems can become larger if they are not taken care of directly.
  • Document any occurrences for future records.
  • Discover how long to keep records for this type of business as required by state law.

The home health care industry is one that will continue to grow in years to come.  Those who are in any area can benefit from this type of agency, although they are even more popular in warmer climates where people generally retire.  Just be sure that you take a look at any state regulations and licensing laws that are needed to start this type of business before embarking.

How To Start A Green Business: Start-up Guide for Business Green

Posted by Scott Wilson on in CA 0 Comment

Everyone is looking to go green and do what they can for the environment, especially commercial businesses that are under pressure to do so.  If you want to start a green business, there are many ways to do so.  Here are some pointers that can get you started in the right direction when it comes to going green:

Determine a Local Need

  • Take a look at local area businesses and see what sort of supplies and products they use.  It is easier to start any business at the local level so these are likely to be your first customers.
  • Do a market study regarding which businesses want to go green.  For example, a school district that is looking for paper would probably want to use recycled paper as long as they can get it for a good price.
  • Attend meetings as well as civic functions. This not only gets you out and about meeting people, but also helps you discover where the green needs are and what you can do about them.
  • Volunteer for committees that are focused on going green.  This can help not only the community for which you are volunteering, but also get your name out there as someone who cares about the environment.

Find Green Products Suppliers

  • Take a look at green product suppliers that will be able to get you the products that you need for your business wholesale.
  • Consider local suppliers and even entering into a partnership agreement with them to save money and take advantage of a bigger piece of the market.
  • Go global and also look for suppliers all over the globe.

Procure Business

  • Start with local businesses where you can present a business plan that will enable them to go green.  Remember that you are most successful when you help others get what they want.
  • Become active in your local chamber of commerce.  It is not just good enough to join and be a member. you want to be active so that people associate you with your business.
  • Use direct marketing to contact your target market regarding your business and how you can help them go greener.  It is advisable to give some sort of discount for new clients.
  • Make sure you use repetitive marketing as well.  Put your business name on cars, vehicles and anything else so that people become familiar with your name and establish a sense of trust, even before they use your business.
  • Have brochures as well as other information on hand to give to people who ask just what you can do for them or their business. The more knowledgeable you are regarding your business; the more likely you are to get clients.

Establish Yourself as an Eco-Expert 

  • Give free presentations about how to go green to establish yourself as an expert in this field.  Those who are considered experts in a particular business are more likely to get business than others who do not market themselves.
  • Write articles and e-books about your business and the benefits of going green.  This not only establishes you as even more of an expert and markets yourself, but also is a tool used in repetitive marketing.
  • Submit press releases to the local paper and consider writing a free column for them to promote your business.  Most local papers are looking for those who will submit free content and this can help you establish as well as grow your green business.

Review of Top 5 Antivirus Software for Business and in 2011 and 2012

Posted by Scott Wilson on in Tools 0 Comment

5 Best Antivirus Software for Business Users

1. Antivirus Software for Business

  • Most of the worlds home and business computers run a version of the Windows operating system.
  • Unfortunately, for interoperability between different computers and file format compatibility, it is very necessary for business to business communication, not to mention Microsoft’s profits, this has encouraged the rise of programmers that write malicious code intended to damage, compromise, steal or corrupt data stored on computers running Windows.
  •  This has necessitated the development of programs meant to protect the operating system form these dangerous pieces of software called viruses. Protecting the computers used by a business is critical, as it may mean the difference between the businesses surviving of going under loss.
  • Viruses have been known to target and steal trade secrets stored on remote computers, to interrupt normal business operations, or physically damage critical hardware. Listed here are some of the anti-viruses a business should consider obtaining.

2. Kaspersky business space security

  • This has features like: on-access virus scanning, on demand scanning, automatic scheduled and manual updates and a secure quarantine container.
  • This antivirus also does real-time HTTP and email scanning, as well as option for system rollback in case of an unforeseeable contingency.
  • It offers protection form rootkits and keyloggers, a secure firewall, removable storage control, as well as support for different platforms including smartphones, workstations, fileservers, and clusters.

3. ESET NOD32

  • NOD32 is considered a reputable anti-virus. Some of the features that it has are, scanning SSL encrypted traffic channels like POP3s and HTTPS for threats.
  •  It can scan your email under clients like Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft outlook, and Windows live mail to ensure the integrity of emails. Removable media can be scanned on access, or can be given full scans on request from users, and self running removable drives will have their Autorun.inf files checked before they are run.
  •  There is an option to create bootable rescue CD/DVDs or even USB media, ensuring quick recovery after unexpected system problems. Curiously the software can also prevent malicious programs from altering it or disabling it. It goes for about $430 in the market place.

4. VIPRE business premium

  • This comes with features such as on access scanning for removable media, an advanced firewall with process protection, code injection logging, boot time protection, and a Snort based intrusion detection system.
  • Web filtering is available and so is URL blacklisting and the option of blocking advertisements.
  • This software scale swell with system size and can handle thousands of clients, it is also easy to set up the suite on clients by creating .msi or .exe for push install on the command line or via group policy software installation.

5. Bitdefender antivirus pro

  • This antivirus come with standard on demand, on access, and scheduled scanning features.
  • It also features a proactive virus protection that checks for malware and new viruses.
  • The software also safeguards one’s privacy online, whether on social networking sites or in data transfers, from malicious loggers that attempt to track one’s activities online.
  • There is a safe search built in that will warn a user while online about malicious websites within search engine results.
  • There is also ingenious use of cloud computing technology to minimize the impact on one’s system while scanning for viruses.

Ideas for Starting an Art Business: How to Open Arts Business

Posted by Scott Wilson on in MD 0 Comment

Types of Businesses You can Do in Arts Field

Art-business-ideas

  • With the economy in a recession, and businesses still downsizing or at the very least not hiring more workers, this would be an ideal time for artistically talented individuals to consider starting their own businesses.
  •  All humans have an appreciation for good art, beauty and style, whether it’s in the form of a painting, or a beautifully designed dress, and many are willing to pay to acquire that pleasing work of art.
  • There are a lot of options to be considered by the prospective artistic entrepreneur, form fashion and design to sculpting, and all others in between.
  • One of the most important considerations is what kind of talent one has as well as whether they have the passion to take it up and do it to their level best, as this is required to ensure the business is viable.

A corporate art consultants

  • Art consultants give advice to individuals and businesses on how or which pieces of art to acquire.
  • This knowledge is used by clients for purposes ranging from building an investment in precious works of art to making chains of hotels aesthetically appealing to customers.
  • The art consultant is usually expected to have a thorough understanding of the current trends in the art world, and be able to tell which works are valuable, what artists are rising, and most importantly what art is not worth investing in.
  • This job is considered a stable career and the rewards are worth the work.

Buttons and badges

  • The humble badge has more uses than just holding pieces of cloth together.
  • Buttons can be personalized for any client on demand. The amount of profit that can be made is upwards of $100 an hour whenever there is work.
  • Personalized buttons can be made with printed artwork depicting team players, army insignia, political parties and the like. Some general purpose buttons and badges can be made for the general public, without any specific cause or bent.

A magazine business

  • Magazines are widely read, and despite the presence the Internet and e-reading devices, the magazine still hangs on.
  •  Magazines serve to educate and entertain their audiences; this is achieved through the articles printed in it.
  • The average magazine makes money through advertising and the better and more informative the articles are the better the response to the advertisement placed in the magazine.
  • To be able to start a magazine business one has to do some market research to find out whether the demand exists, whether there is an unmet need and how it may be met. A business plan is important once the market is identified and the niche to target is known.

Jewelry based business

  • Artistically gifted individuals can make valuable jewelry pieces that can be marketed successfully.
  • To do this, one can start business that deals with jewels, the business can be home based or even have its own premises depending on expected revenue.
  • The basic steps to take would be to decide on the type of jewelry and the price range that will be featured, create a name for the business; research the market to find out the demand and the volume of sales that will be feasible.
  • A plan should be made, and once it is reviewed and the model is found to be sound, then the state or federal authorities can be contacted for licensing as well as premises if needed.