Please note FreshBooks is closed Monday, February 18 for Family Day.

What’s a Family Day?

A gift from the freshly re-elected premier of Ontario; or, an idea completely stolen from Alberta.

I wanted to link to an Alberta government Web page detailing the holiday’s origin. It turns out back in 1990, their premier’s son was busted for cocaine possession. The premier decided he should be spending more time with his family, so he declared a holiday. Eighteen years later, the government still hasn’t found the right way to spin that story, I guess! So, no link for you.

Still, the idea’s catching on fast. Saskatchewan started celebrating Family Day last year, and we join the party this Monday. Manitoba also added a holiday this year, though they’re celebrating Louis Riel Day. (And really, what better way to honour a controversial figure than with a controversial new holiday?)

We’d also be remiss not to wish George Washington a happy 276^th, and everybody’s favourite non-planet a joyous 78^th.

Enjoy your long weekend if you’ve got one. See you Tuesday!

Hockey fans: it’s time to face facts. The Toronto Maple Leafs are not just in a slump. They aren’t in a hole. They are in a pit. It hurts being second-last in the NHL.

Don’t drown in your beer just yet, though. Toronto’s other pro hockey team is currently crushing in the AHL standings, first in the western conference and third in the league. Who am I talking about? The Toronto Marlies, of course!

FreshBooks and Yahoo! Search Marketing Canada have three tickets to the Toronto Marlies vs. the Hamilton Bulldogs on Sunday, February 24 at 4 PM ET, the Sunday of PodCamp Toronto. We’re giving them away to lucky PodCamp Toronto participants.

Sing the Marlies’ praises, and you could win a ticket!

All you have to do is create a 30-second audio promo to support the Marlies, Toronto’s winningest hockey team. Play your promo during your podcast this week, and then send an e-mail to podcampmarliescontest@gmail.com by Saturday, February 23 at 5 PM ET with a link to the podcast.

A panel of three judges from FreshBooks, Yahoo! Canada, and PodCamp Toronto will award tickets to the top three promos. We’ll announce the winner at the opening of PodCamp Toronto on Sunday, February 24.

Update for videocasters:

Videocasters, don’t fret. You can enter too! Just videocast your promo. Mind you, we’ll consider only the audio component just to be fair to podcasters.

Brought to you by:

I know you think we at FreshBooks work hard to roll out new releases, help our customers in times of need, and plan a kickin’ RV road trip from FOWA/Miami to SXSW/Austin.

Couldn’t be further from the truth. Ever since our newest favourite employee, Ben, acquired a copy of Rock Band, we have a new corporate goal: form the next rock supergroup. We’re well on our way.

Here are some photos from last Friday’s rehearsal.

Mike fights for his right to party.

Levi brings the Zeppelin.

One problem. With 16 employees and only four instruments, we might have some logistical issues. Then again, maybe we could just be like Broken Social Scene.

For those missing the title reference, it’s Elton!

Every year we survey our customers to get a read on how we are doing. Like last year, we are amazed and excited by the results. Check them out:

Wow! While the image above speaks for itself, just so things are crystal clear, let’s give it a walk-through.

Finding #1: FreshBooks users save valuable time

Our users reported that since they started using FreshBooks they save on average 4.5 hours a month. To put that into perspective, our customers bill an average of $80 per hour so with 4.5 extra hours a month to do their actual work (and not invoicing) they can earn an extra $360 per month. That’s over $4000 per year. Not bad for a service with paid packages that start at $14 per month.

Finding #2: FreshBooks users get paid faster & collect more

FreshBooks users also report getting paid 4 days faster, and one-third are collecting at least 10% more money than they were before FreshBooks.

Finding #3: FreshBooks users are sharing the love!

We are truly humbled by these findings, even more so by the fact that we raised the percentage of users that would happily refer FreshBooks to a friend or colleague, from our 2006 referral rate of 98%, to an incredible 99%. Find it all hard to believe? We do too to be honest, but we’ve learned from our users how they do it and we are going to spend some time in future postings explaining FreshBooks users achieve these results and how you can too.

Thank you so much!

A very big thank you to everyone who took the time to answer the survey questions… and a special “shout out” to Chef Taryn of the Savoury Chef on being randomly selected to win a $50 Amazon Gift Certificate for sharing her thoughts.

If you’re not using FreshBooks yet, sign up for a free trial to see what it’s like to save time, get paid more and faster, and look even more professional.

A new year’s resolution you can bank on

Jaye Gipson, owner of bookkeeping service Impeccably Booked and new FreshBooks customer, has always been motivated to make positive change in her own life. As she puts it, “How do you grow without change? I’m always looking for ways to make myself better.” Three years ago she felt she should motivate her friends to follow her by setting a public example. She’s been blogging at Plus Size Diva ever since.

For someone so motivated, it’s no surprise Jaye is also an intrepid serial entrepreneur. “I’m always re-assessing the work I do,” she says, “so I have several businesses I run.” Indeed, she just launched Your Virtual Rock, a new virtual assistant service, to begin the year 2008.

“I’m always looking for ways to make myself better.”

To make Your Virtual Rock a success, Jaye has an extra new year’s resolution. “I really need to be on top of my finances so I am allowed the flexibility to pursue these businesses,” she says. She has resolved to shed all her debt by the end of the year and move to a completely virtual business existence.

On top of checking her credit report, tracking her spending, and even reeling in her Christmas shopping, we’re really proud Jaye chose FreshBooks to manage her billing. “This li’l system is one I can access anywhere, anytime. I like that flexibility.”

Why would a bookkeeper choose FreshBooks?

“I try to work no more than five hours a day. Anything that helps me collect payment as fast and simple as possible will help me free up my time and keep costs down. FreshBooks is very simple, very easy to use.”

“This li’l system is one I can access anywhere, anytime. I like that flexibility.”

Five hours a day to run two businesses? Awesome. What does she do in all her spare time?

“Nothing out of the ordinary. I want to travel more. Lose weight. Play my guitar.”

When you’re in customer service, you’re in a life of service. Your day is focused on those customers’ needs: listening for them, anticipating them, identifying them, and then finding solutions and meeting, maybe even exceeding, their needs.

This insight was so obvious I’d overlooked it. Steve Rucinski reminded me of it after he interviewed me, along with Anita Campbell, at Small Business Trends Radio. He called after the show. We got to talking and he said something very simple, very honest, very illuminating: Customer service is a life of service.

It’s as unglamourous, overlooked and unappreciated a position as all positions of service can offer. It’s a life of servitude, even devotion, of putting their needs in front of yours. By its very nature it’s a humbling role. Putting others’ needs first builds a humble person. Maybe that’s why those in customer service are often such good listeners.

And maybe the nature of customer service, putting your customers’ needs in front of your own, reinforces the tendencies of others less humble to overlook or dismiss the importance of this function. How important can you be if others are always more important? Right? In customer service everyone’s more important than you, right?

Funny. Funny as in sadly ironic that so-o-o many companies communicate those upside-down values; in terms of their priorities, customer service comes last. They’ve got meetings to attend and reports to complete. The meetings are a chance to share their ideas. And the reports shout their success… and tally their incentives. No customers allowed.

A company’s mere existence is based on how well it serves the needs of its customers and staff. What’s more important than serving your customers? What better way to communicate a customer’s importance than putting their needs first?

Those needs start with their phone call or e-mail. Drop what you’re doing and answer it. It’s a simple act communicating that your work takes a back seat to their needs, even if you’re in a meeting or totalling your incentives. It’s an act of service. If done well, with genuine enthusiasm — and we’re not talking perfection, because we’re in the business of making profits, not saints — you repeat this day in and day out, and you live a life of service. And you have a sustainable business.

It can be that simple — and profitable. Lives of service always are.

I’m a ninja — a web ninja. And a photographer too. I design for clients like OfficeMax, Hasbro, Disney and Sony and have photographed bands such as Nine Inch Nails, No Doubt, Matchbox 20 and other sundry troublemakers.

“I could go into the blah-ness of describing time tracking and invoicing with notepads and Excel, but why re-live that trauma?”

But my daughters sum it up best when they tell people “mommy just colors and draws”. They don’t know the various roles I play managing clients… their expectations, schedules, budgets and nutty ideas of what Web designers do with their time.

How were things before FreshBooks?

Black and white, but not the good Holga kind. I could go into the blah-ness of describing time tracking and invoicing with notepads and Excel, but why re-live that trauma? There was paper involved, stamps, salty postal workers — oh, the humanity! It wasn’t something I looked forward to, which is ironic because billing meant I had money coming in! How silly is that?

What’s business like with FreshBooks?

Shiny! Okay, first off it’s fun to use. Excel doesn’t flash “BAM!” when I enter my time and it never will. The time tracker feature is awesome. I find I have more billable hours because I tended to round down or “under-guesstimate” how long I was spending on projects.

My clients love being able to manage their budgets. They feel informed, and an informed client is a happy client. I don’t have to explain the bill because they have an awareness of it from checking in as the project moves along.

“With FreshBooks, I find I have more billable hours.”

Plus there’s a friendly formality to the presentation that feels bigger than just a lady at her computer in her home office. It honours the client and helps give me a more professional face.

And I’ll say, as someone who makes usability and user interface her livelihood, it’s very well-designed and easy to use. I jumped right on in, ran with it and have been happy as a clam ever since.

Co-working is the popular new way to affordably share a proper office with like-minded professionals. Rather than rent an entire office yourself, a number of independents rent an office together.

Congratulations to Patrick Tanguay and Daniel Mireault, who today open the doors at Station C! It’s a beautiful new 2500 square foot co-working office in Montréal, complete with two meeting rooms and 16 desks.

Why co-working?

Most co-working arrangements are a mix of café culture and shared office space. They provide that important “home base” and a professional place to meet clients, a huge step up from the usual loud, messy, and disorganized laptop-and-cellphone-in-Starbucks.

Co-working also gives independents all the benefits of a room full of peers — keeping up with the latest industry news, people to turn to when you’re stuck, and someone to buy you a birthday cake — without the tedium of office politics. Let’s face it, not everyone can stand being alone all day long!

An interesting model

Patrick and Daniel have a really fun vision for Station C. “We want it to be a year-long BarCamp,” Patrick says, referencing the international “unconference” phenomenon.

While they rent half the desks to full-time “anchor” members for $300 per month, the other half are flex rentals for as low as $130 per month for 14 hours per week. They are also renting desks by the day to out-of-town travellers, to keep the environment full of fresh ideas and energy.

“If we only had full-time people, it would be a normal office,” Patrick explains. They even plan to host a guest lecture series for members — very cool.

Are you into co-working?

I think co-working is the future. More and more people are going independent, but being in an office has many advantages.

I’ve been a fan of co-working since I had a desk in the Centre for Social Innovation, here in Toronto. The buzz in that building is amazing. When I began tele-working for another gig, I moved to Soup.net, a beautiful green space with amazingly friendly people.

I think I would have gone insane if I’d had to work alone all day in my tiny apartment. So I wonder who else out there is interested in co-working.

Do you rent a desk in a shared office? What’s it like?

Or, are you sick of cafés and just wish you knew of a local co-working office?

Then hit the comments — maybe you can find enough like-minded folks in your city to make it happen.

It looks like the Academy Awards aren’t going to happen this year, at least not in their usual form.

Well, fine by us — that just means Juno won’t be stealing our thunder anytime soon, because we just nabbed ourselves an Editors’ Choice award from the one and only PC Magazine!

Reviewer Edward Mendelson explains why we earned four-and-a-half stars plus the big trophy:

FreshBooks tends to confirm my sense that the best online service is a highly focused one, not a jack-of-all-trades that offers everything from an abacus to a zen-koan generator.

We couldn’t agree more.

We’re the solution for your day-to-day small business needs: clients, invoices and time tracking. For folks who still require accounting features, expenses are weeks away and we’re actively soliciting feedback on our upcoming QuickBooks integration; and of course, everyone’s already got a favourite Zen-kōan generator of their own.

But when you just need to get that invoice out, we’ve got your back.

Thank you to PC Magazine for the recognition! It means a lot to us, and not just because we get to crack out the beers and celebrate — it’s because FreshBooks isn’t just some product of ours, it’s our raison d’être. We want to positively impact every single one of our users.

Speaking of which, it turns out we weren’t just the editors’ choice:

If you hire me to write for you, expect to get an invoice via FreshBooks.

Thanks, Edward. That means more than any review ever could. Welcome to the fold — and thanks for choosing FreshBooks!