Please note: This article contains some technical details that might not make much sense to you if you are not familiar with this type of technology. Please read through this article first without questioning things too much until you reach the main part. The other night I was working on a technical problem in the data center. We were moving a storage system from Nexus 2000 switches to Cisco’s Nexus 5000 switch infrastructure. Things did not go very well, the port channel that we wanted to have on the 5Ks did not come up. The network engineer had problems getting things to work and so we decided to fallback and revisit this issue after doing more investigation. The fallback plan was shattered when the network engineer did have problems bringing up the old port channel configuration. [Read more...]
Free Business Proposal Template Download
Acquiring new business for your new business often starts with the download of a free business proposal template. A quick search on the Internet and you get a handful of download links for these business proposal templates. You can also find lots of paid advertisements on Google for this type product (Proposal Kit). From experience I know that these free proposal templates are not always the best match when it comes to get new business. And here is why: [Read more...]
How Do You Make Proposals That Sell?
I do own two businesses. My first business was registered in 2002, but up until recently I never really had the need to write proposals. All business activity was done online and it was (still is) straight forward and simple. However, I am in the process of expanding into the local market of the city where I live. The services I am offering are search engine optimization and local sales leads generation. With my second business which was registered earlier this year all activity is done offline and I have to deal with customers in person. For this business (IT Consulting) it is important to be able to write business proposals. [Read more...]
Easy Business Accounting With QuickBooks Online
A while ago I already wrote about how I changed my business accounting from a simple Excel Spreadsheet to the online version of Quickbooks: QuickBooks Pro Online. The Excel Spreadsheet really limited me in many areas. I can tell this now because for a little over 2 months I am using Quickbooks Online and I am extremely satisfied with it. For one, it is so much more convenient to do my accounting because all I need is a browser window to be open. Quickbooks Online – without me doing anything – goes in daily and downloads the latest transactions from my bank accounts and it is fairly smart to categorize the transactions. All I got to do is double-check in most cases. This cuts down in time for me to do accounting significantly.
It also syncs payments between the different accounts – something I always had problems with when I was using Quickbooks on my desktop many years back and something I never did properly when using Excel.
I love the reporting. With 2-3 clicks I have all the data I need in front of me. I can also create custom reports and drill down into my business activity. Something I could not do before.
There is a monthly service charge, but that is motivation for me to really use the service and as a result my business accounting is more timely and more accurate. That to me is well worth the monthly fee.
There are many more items I like about QuickBooks Online, but I want to write about 2 things I do not like or better things I am not fully satisfied with.
While the online import of data from my bank accounts is working well, sometimes the importer misses 1-2 transactions. I have not been able to identify why yet. It is easy to fix for me since I do not have that many transactions per month, but still – this should work. And the other item also has to do with the importer – PayPal. I do have quite a few PayPal transactions sometimes and QB Online does not have the capability to import data from PayPal. If possible I would like to export my PayPal data and then import it, but even that is not supported at this point. I heard Intuit is eventually working on it, but I have yet to see it.
Conclusion: QuickBooks Online is a great way to do business accounting for a small business. The monthly fees are moderate ($34.95) and it works awesome in my opinion. I love the features and the few Cons are no show stopper for sure. So, I highly recommend you check it out if you are in need of an affordable business accounting system (there is a free trial available, too). Click here to visit QuickBooks Online.
Easy Outsourcing for Small Businesses
Outsourcing is everywhere and almost everyone is talking about it. It affects our jobs and we might even know a few friends or family members who lost their jobs due to being outsourced. As small business owners we need to stay competitive and certain things require outsourcing – even though we might not call it that way. However, any service that a small business receives from another company is kind of outsourcing.
Outsourcing becomes more critical when it comes to things related to the Internet and small businesses should be well aware of what can be outsourced and how to outsource it. While large businesses can work with the large outsourcing providers this is not a good option for the local Heating and Plumbing business that needs some online work done (be it SEO, PPC, or web design). Small businesses can hire a local web designer or service provider and that is a good option for some stuff, but then again there are many things that would be way too expensive to be done that way.
I started outsourcing a lot of things last year and it was a lot of work. I actually went to Craig’s List Manila, posted my jobs, interviewed peopled, and assigned the jobs to someone I felt was a good choice. However, it was a difficult process which came to a halt when I posted a new ad to hire another person and one of my existing employees applied (not knowing it was me though). In the end I found out the girl was “working” 3 full-time jobs at the same time. I don’t mind if somebody wants to work a lot, but the work I paid for did not match the hours I paid for. She worked 10 hours a day fitting 3 full-time jobs into that time frame. So, instead of having a full-time person working for me, I was cheated on by someone working part-time.
There had to be a better way and I found it in oDesk. oDesk is like a market place where buyers and sellers meet. You can find content writers, link builders, software developers, data entry professionals, and many more. As a business I can post a job, interview people, read the feedback they have received from other jobs and then decide who to hire. Once somebody has been hired, oDesk has a software installed on their computer that tracks usage. This is a great tool as I can keep track of how many hours somebody works and compare it to the results.
By using oDesk I do not have to pay $50 – $75 per hour to a consultant, I can get away with a fraction of the cost and receive the same quality of work. Not everyone on oDesk works in a country where the cost of living is so much cheaper, but you can also get connected to people living and working in the US. This is important as like for content writing you want a native speaker as an example.
oDesk can be used for many things and you should definitely check it out. Look at the jobs and see what other companies are using it for. Look at the applicant profiles and see how employees can be selected and rated and reviewed. It is easy to use. Once you post a job, oDesk takes 10% on top of what you pay to an employee. As an example I posted a data entry job at a fixed price of $30 and was then charged $33.00 for the work when it was done. The same work would have taken me 6-7 hours and so I was able to do more important work instead. The same freelancer (they are not employees actually – just using the term accordingly) now has completed 3 jobs for me. While the amount of money I paid sounds very low compared to US wages, for the country this freelancer lives in it was middle-class “salary”.
Check out oDesk and see if it can be used for some of your needs. Some stuff I do through oDesk and other things I am working with US companies. Combined it is a great solution that allows me to be competitive.