Archive:
November, 2011
Are you still dreaming of the paperless office? Meet Francois (@francoisbotha), an ambitious business owner in Cape Town who manages his whole business in the cloud – only the creative ideas are sketched out on paper. Maybe that’s why he looks so relaxed?
Francois uses FreshBooks to manage his invoicing. He also uses Podio’s platform for online collaboration, managing projects and to connect his invoice data from FreshBooks. Combined, these two tools allow Francois to be “in the fortunate position of never having to deal with paperwork.”
Want to find out how Francois made this work? Register here to join Podio and FreshBooks in an online conversation with Francois about how he runs his business on December 6th, 5pm CET / 8am PST. There’s limited space, so make sure to sign up soon. In the meantime, here’s a quick Q&A with this creative entrepreneur:
You’re running two pretty nifty-looking businesses in South-Africa – can you tell us more?
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On a recent trip to Portland, Oregon we were lucky enough to meet Rick Turoczy, known to many for his amazing blog Silicon Florist and for running PIE – The Portland Incubator Experiment.
For those not in the know, PIE is a partnership among Google, Target, Coca Cola and Wieden+Kennedy; the largest privately-held advertising and communications company in the world. It serves as a hub for community, entrepreneurship, and creative thinking and a collaborative center where brands, tech, and culture meet to explore and redefine brand experiences. To us they are really about offering the option of Entrepreneurship to people with great ideas (a goal FreshBooks loves supporting!).
Please take a look at the video from our visit to learn about the cool things Rick is launching through PIE.
“Many artists are unaware that they are self-employed and running a small business” says Ashley Proctor, owner of Creative Blueprint and Manager of the Foundery, a new co-working space for artists and entrepreneurs in Toronto, Canada.
Creative Blueprint has developed a range of programs that assist emerging artists and entrepreneurs in navigating the art market, something Ashley noticed was a growing need. Now, with the goal of helping entrepreneurs develop a self-sustaining and rewarding practice, she’s tackling one of the biggest challenges for emerging artists: finding a suitable and affordable space to work. The Foundery is just a spit and polish away from welcoming back members to the space but we caught up with Ashley in the new digs to hear more about her journey and the excitement of launching another new biz.
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Kirsty Logan
At FreshBooks, our world revolves around our customers. We have a motto: FreshBooks takes care of its employees, our employees take care of our customers, and our customers take care of FreshBooks. With that in mind, we make it our mission to make sure our customers have more time to do the extraordinary, unique and creative things they do. Along the way, we get the chance to showcase some of the amazing people that take care of us so darn well. Meet Kirsty Logan, a freelance writer, editor and teacher based in Scotland whose short fiction has been published in over 80 anthologies and literary magazines including Best British Short Stories 2011. She let us in on how she pursued her dream job:
How did you get started?
I’ve been writing stories since I was tiny: weird little fairy-tales, then teen-angst poetry, then hopelessly self-conscious fiction – but I only started taking myself seriously as a writer a few years ago. Somehow, writing a few short stories has morphed into a career that now includes writing articles, teaching creative writing, doing freelance editing, running workshops and performing at literary events. Two years ago I was just a waitress in a tea-shop, writing stories on checkpads when my boss wasn’t watching!
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We are pretty excited that ReportAway! for FreshBooks is available for all our BlackBerry users. Running a business can be challenging when you can’t always be at your desk to get work done. This app brings the power of FreshBooks into your hands so that no matter where you are, it’s easy to send invoices, track expenses and manage clients on the go, right from your BlackBerry.
Give ReportAway! a try for the first time between November 29th & December 15th, and you will automatically be entered to win 1 of 4 BlackBerry PlayBooks (16GB). ReportAway! for FreshBooks can be downloaded in BlackBerry App World.
Over Canadian Thanksgiving, the FreshBooks support team took a trip down to Las Vegas to learn more about delivering amazing customer service from the folks at Zappos and more importantly, to visit some awesome customers and share their stories with the world. David Story is a FreshBooks customer who started his own company called “Story Airways” (AKA Vegas Night Flights) after taking flying lessons for several years. He came from a finance background and moved to the world of soaring through the clouds and doing what he loves from tens of thousands of feet up above the ground.
Story Airways is a private touring airline that flies people around Las Vegas to see the breathtaking sights. The trips launch from Las Vegas and can span a few hours, seeing Las Vegas from above, perhaps Los Angeles and San Diego, or even the impressive Grand Canyon (one of David Story’s favorite places). The best part about the experience is how personal it is. The plane fits 5 people and the pilot, and feels like a small limousine when you go inside. David Story prides himself on being able to convert skeptics, or people who are afraid of flying, into comfortable and enthusiastic air-travelers.
Story Airways is yet another example of a fantastic, innovative, and inspiring company that uses FreshBooks to take his mind off the pain out off running a business, because if you really think about it, invoices are the last thing you want your pilot worrying about when you are in the air.
Accounting guru Eric Matthews from thatbookkeeper.com gives us a special preview of our upcoming Tax Thursdays series! We know a lot of small businesses struggle with taxes, so we’re hoping to help make this a little easier by featuring advice from leading accounting professionals every second Thursday from January to April. Don’t miss it!
For some of you, you’ve spent the whole year preparing for tax time. You make sure you ask for receipts from the cashier, mark what’s office supplies and what’s personal and even scan them to keep a digital copy, just in case. And then the moment that final tax slip shows up in the mail, you sit down and get started. An hour or two later, you’ve got the return triple-checked and ready to go.
For the other 99.9% of people, however, tax time happens a bit differently. The files to remember are in that 3 ft tall pile of “keepers” (a pile that also contains personal receipts, overdue utility bills, and 3 month old flyers). When you realize that the April deadline is looming near, the final few days usually turn into a blur. Fueled by panic and coffee, you manage to get to the end of the return. You have no idea if it’s accurate. You may have forgotten about hundreds of dollars of deductions you could have claimed. The goal becomes about just getting it done. You promise yourself that, next year, it will be different.
Well, guess what? It’s next year! To avoid the tax season scramble and to keep your promise to avoid history repeating itself, you’ll need to decide on one of two approaches now before the year is out:
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Do you log hours in FreshBooks and then turn them into an invoice (or want to start)? Now you can do it in less steps!
Add un-billed time directly to any invoice
When you create or edit an invoice, any un-billed time for your client can be added right there on the spot. This is great when you want to add some more hours to an existing invoice, or generate a super-quick invoice for your billable time. This works very similar to adding re-billable expenses to an invoice (another handy feature for getting the invoice out the door!)
In order to be able add your un-billed time, you need to be logging your billable hours in the Time Tracking tab.
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If you’ve watched an episode of the “Office” around the holiday season you know that people in offices give gifts and usually you need to look them in the eyes and say thanks for things like napkin rings and ironic taxidermy.
Not only do we feel your pain (we’ve been there) but we have a solution! Wouldn’t it be great to get something funny and perhaps ironic in the mail and say “Thanks” with no guilt?
That is where the the FreshBooks Secret Shmanta Event! comes in, hosted of course by our buddy, Shmanta!
Don’t know Shmanta?
Shmanta has been called a loner and a rebel, but in truth very little is known except that he has dedicated his (or her) life to facilitating anonymous gift giving around this time of year.
Taking part is easy. Sign up here by December 3rd to send something fun (worth around $20) to someone else in the FreshBooks network and before you know it there will be something equally as cool sent back.
Once your cool thing arrives you can post some pictures so everyone can join in the fun!
Thanks to everyone who participated! The Secret Shmanta submissions are now closed. We hope you enjoy your gifts 
Feedback on your idea has been nothing but positive and you’re feeling ready to set sail into entrepreneurship. But wait, now it’s time for the business plan. Where do you start? Your goal is to develop the brilliant ideas haphazardly scribbled in your mental notebook into an eloquent and concise document that leaves your client hungry for more and ready to sign. First, take a breath and then mull over these ideas for assembling a bulletproof biz blueprint:
Do your research
Before you begin the process of convincing your audience that your business is the latest thing – make sure it is. Inc Magazine recommends writing a detailed outline that more or less summarizes the “story” of your business. Find out who your competition is and identify their strengths and weaknesses. By comparing your ideas to those already in motion, you can quickly assess where your own plan excels and falls short. This way, you can improve your business before it even begins and once it hits the market, you’ll be ahead of the game!
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helps invoice enough money to buy a 
