Cube Escape

Self Employment - Entrepreneur Lifestyle - Business Tips and Tricks

Pursing the Entrepreneurial Dream

A couple of years ago, I decide that my pursuit of climbing the corporate ladder was fruitless. It wasn't for me...not what I wanted. I craved freedom. I've learned a lot about becoming an entrepreneur, and I'll share what I've learned with you. Getting control of your life again isn't a pipe dream. Financial, professional, and creative freedom can be yours.

What Kind of Bookkeeping Software Do You Use?

Do you use Quickbooks? Peachtree? Open Office Spreadsheets? Post-it Notes?

I’m curious what everyone uses to keep track of their finances. I use a mix of Quickbooks (even though their registration requirements are excessive) and Excel spreadsheets. What do you use?

Post a comment with what you use and why. If you don’t have a business, just post with your personal finance record-keeping preferences. I’m curious to see what everybody else uses, and why they chose to use it. I’ll start.

Quickbooks: Had a lot of great features. Good for a small corporation.
Excel: Needed some custom expense and profit tracking, so I just built it myself.

Your turn…

. 30 Jun 08 | Business, Paperwork, Money Management | Read on | Comments (0)

The iPod Touch Should Be Renamed the AwesomePod

I picked up a 16gb iPod Touch this weekend. I got it basically to be a PDA with great music capabilities. I wasn’t really sure how the PDA functionality of it would compare with a traditional PDA. After using it for a few days, I can already tell that it will be invaluable as a business tool.

If you have employees, get these for them instead of some other device. If you are on your own looking for something with some basic PDA functionality, get one of these. It can’t do it all yet, but with the release of the iPhone SDK, it’s only a matter of time before it can.

Not only have I been listening to my music collection on my iPod (AwesomePod, really), I’ve been listening to marketing podcasts, checking up on my business projects via wifi hotspots, and keeping all of my “todo” notes in one little place. Now that my “notes to self” will be in one location, as opposed to scattered and lost, I’ll have no choice but to get stuff done.

I highly recommend this product as a business tool. It’s not just for entertainment any more. Business training podcasts, videos, and applications can make you (or your staff) better at what they do. I’m already getting some good ideas listening to business podcasts. I think the device will pay for itself quickly.

Check them out here.

. 09 Apr 08 | Business Gear, Business, Paperwork | Read on | Comment (1)

Getting Behind on the Paperwork

I’ve been behind on my paperwork, and I got a little notice from the state Department of Finance Administration. I’m not in any trouble–they were just telling me that I needed to file my paperwork, or I would have to pay extra taxes. A late fee, actually. I guess that would be the paperwork laziness tax.

Well, I got it all done this evening, but the situation did bring an issue to light: Paperwork needs to be done regularly. I have read that many new businesses are horrible about their paperwork. I suppose that is because they are new to it and don’t yet have a system in place. I encourage you to get a system into place if you don’t already have one.

Thankfully, I didn’t have very much paperwork. If I did have a lot of paperwork, however, it would have taken up quite a bit of my time. I don’t like things taking up my time. In addition to that, more paperwork means more of a chance for mistakes. From now on, I’m going to keep on top of my paperwork. I just have to devise a system.

. 01 Oct 06 | Business, Paperwork | Read on | Comments (0)