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| INNOVATE! Technology, Tools, Tips & Techniques | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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March 2010
Dear Client,
Welcome to INNOVATE!, an administrative resource for small business owners. INNOVATE! is a product of Cybertary, a professional Virtual Assisting company. In these monthly emails we will be giving you numerous resources and tips you can use in your business, your home, your office and your life.
As the world becomes more and more virtual, there are many more opportunities to be kind to the environment and work more effectively and efficiently at the same time.
In the spirit of Saint Patty's Day, Cybertary has collected a few ideas that will help green your business and save you money by utilizing the Internet. These cloud-based services are typically differentiated by three core characteristics: they are sold on demand, you can utilize as much or as little of the service as you need, and the service is managed by the service provider, so you need only your computer and access to the Internet in order to use it.
Enjoy!
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Create a Professional Image from Home
 Today’s world is an amazing place. We can buy groceries without ever leaving the house, pay bills without writing a check, and even earn a living from the comfort of our own homes. Neighbors everywhere are asking themselves, “What does that guy next door do for a living? He never seems to leave the house!”With more and more individuals and companies conscious of the environment and our carbon footprint, many are choosing virtual options for their workforce. In addition, as the cost of maintaining brick-and-mortar offices continues to rise, entire companies are moving into the virtual world. Whether you are working from home for your employer, running a home-based business, or working as a freelancer, the key to success is creating an efficient virtual office. |
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| Bookkeeping in the Cloud | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Virtual Solutions for Real Accounting
 The notion of having your head in the clouds has historically been associated with being a dreamer. However, today the term “in the cloud” refers to software that doesn’t reside on your computer, thus providing the advantage of being accessible via the Internet from any computer, anywhere, anytime. In the accounting world there are several cloud-based options from which to choose. This month, we’ll give you a brief overview of some common alternatives.Outright Outright offers free online bookkeeping software most suitable for US-based sole proprietors and single-member LLCs who file a Schedule C tax form. This fairly new player has an easy-to-use interface that is perfect for novices. The program provides a secure, versatile accounting solution for businesses that don’t have the funds or expertise to invest in a more costly full-featured program like QuickBooks. Outright gives you the capability to track income and expenses, pay estimated taxes, add custom categories, and file 1099s for contractors. And when you’re ready to move into a more robust accounting software package, you can export your data in a comma-separated format that is easily read by any spreadsheet or text editing program. |
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Business Productivity in the Cloud
 Do you dream of being able to work from a beach in Tahiti or a cozy condo in the Swiss Alps? While it might be hard to sneak away from your persistent assistant or your overbearing boss, utilizing web-based office applications, such as Google Apps and Zoho, can get you away from your desk while also providing a bit of environmental relief by eliminating the need for packaging, cardboard, shrink wrap, and disks.
 Zoho is a suite of online applications and services that are free for personal use. They offer office applications, including a word processor, spreadsheets, presentation tool, note taker, and even a document management system. They also offer communication applications such as a web-based email server, chat, collaboration, and project management features.Zoho strives to provide their customers with the most comprehensive, feature-rich set of applications available anywhere. So, in addition to the applications that appeal to individuals, they also offer Z Business, which aggregates a collection of Zoho applications into a single dashboard. The dashboard allows business customers to replace Zoho with their own company logo for customized branding, and offers integration with a host of third-party services. Their customer relationship management (CRM) applications integrate sales, marketing, customer support and service and inventory control so that a company’s inventory is organized into a single business system. They also offer services specific for intranet, web-conferencing, database creation, invoicing, project management, recruiting, and report creation. |
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 Where Receipts GoReceipts, receipts, receipts! For accountants they provide vital information for client tax returns; for retailers, they represent valuable cash flow, and anyone who has been through an audit knows their value in proving expenses. Despite their importance, many business owners and executives “organize” their receipts in an overflowing accordion file or desk drawer. We all realize that we need to keep our receipts organized in order to complete accurate tax returns, yet few of us find the time to get them documented and organized into clearly defined categories that would make our lives much easier at tax time.
The good news is, now there’s Shoeboxed – an effortless solution to getting your receipts and business cards out of the shoebox and into an electronic, organized, searchable, virtual filing system. Here’s how it works: Mail your receipts to Shoeboxed in their prepaid envelopes, and they scan and categorize them so you can keep track of them. Once your receipts are scanned and entered by Shoeboxed, you can sort them by store name, date, and total, download them to a variety of spreadsheet and accounting programs like QuickBooks, Outlook, and Excel, and generate statistics about your spending. In addition to keeping track of receipts and invoices, Shoeboxed will also scan your business cards into your account for an easy way to manage your contacts. Once scanned, they can be exported to your email, Salesforce, or LinkedIn accounts. There is also a free Shoeboxed iPhone app that allows you to take photos of receipts when you’re on the go, then submit them to your account on the spot, or later online. Even without an iPhone, you can snap photos with any email-enabled mobile device, send them to your unique Shoeboxed mobile email address, and Shoeboxed will automatically enter the data and load it into your secure account. Shoeboxed.com is more than just a virtual shoe box to keep a digital copy of your receipts, it is a sorting, tracking and graphing tool that can help your business get a handle on spending; an invaluable tool in today’s economy. Pricing plans range from $9.95 for 50 items per month to $49.95 for 500 per month. Sign up for a limited, 1-month free trial today! |
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THEME - Don't Be A Fool
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