Just a quick note to let you know that Quickbooks is NOT CURRENTLY SUPPORTING its product on Windows 10. This means that if you upgrade your operating system and your Quickbooks stops working, you are going to be out of luck until Intuit finishes their testing and irons out the glitches. I am speaking from experience, as I have spent numerous hours on tech support today with no resolution in sight.
I strongly encourage you to WAIT. Don’t upgrade until Quickbooks adds Windows 10 to it’s list of supported operating systems. When this happens, it should be listed on the Quickbooks Support page.
My Outlook 365 has been acting up, refusing to start up without a reboot. Some internet research lead me to the solution: My outlook.pst file was corrupted and needed to be repaired.
If you have this problem, I’ll let you know what fixed it for me:
Go to the “Program files” folder on your computer and search for “scanpst.exe”
Open scanpst.exe it and locate your outlook folder. It is probably hidden, so you will need to “Show hidden files and folders.”
Run the scan on your Outlook data (pst) file and repair any errors.
Question: When trying to update Quickbooks, I get an error message that says Error 15271 – a file cannot be validated. This is an error that has plagued many of my clients. The answer on the Quickbooks site is to reset the updates and, failing that, to reinstall the program. This takes a lot of time, and I have found a simpler solution for this and other QuickBooks update issues.
Follow these steps to resolve most Quickbooks update issues:
a) Close QuickBooks
b) Right Click on the Quickbooks desktop icon and choose Run as Administrator
Quickbooks should inform you that there is an update waiting for you to install.
Working with small businesses, the one refrain I hear over and over from my clients is “How do I stay organized? I have paperwork everywhere!”
This is a challenge for all of us. As your business grows, there are more demands placed on your time, and without a solid system for staying
Avalanche of Paperwork
organized it’s easy to let the receipts, invoices and statements pile up.
These are some suggestions I have for keeping your bookkeeping paperwork in order:
Go to your local office supply store (or the dollar store can be an excellent place to get storage solutions) and pick up some nice decorative boxes or folders that you will use just for your business paperwork. These folders should be placed strategically in the places where your paperwork tends to get deposited.
If you drive for your business, even if it’s just around the city, you may find that your car becomes your office, lunch room and filing cabinet. Put one of the folders you purchased in your car, maybe between your front seat and your console, or under the passenger seat, or in the glove compartment or the compartment on your door. Every time you get into the car, put your receipts into the folder. This is great if you have just filled up with gas, or gone on a business lunch. Once a month you will clear out this folder. Don’t worry about sorting out the business and personal expenses – there will be time for that later. It is better to save a receipt you don’t need than to accidentally throw out something you may need later.
For many of us, the front door of our house is another place we accumulate paperwork. For others, it may be our study, or perhaps the kitchen counter. Wherever you see receipts starting to accumulate, this is where you need another folder. When you get home at the end of the day, empty your pockets, wallet and purse/briefcase into the folder. This applies to the mail also – when you get your bank statements put them in the folder. When you get bills, pay them (always a good idea!) and then put them into the folder.
Once a week (or once a month if that’s better for your schedule) take the folders into the office and empty them onto your desk. Sort through them and remove the personal expense, but be careful. Some items on your personal receipts may still be business write-offs. For example, if your office is in your home you may be able to write off a percentage of your cleaning supplies, so keep those receipts and circle the business portion. Put all the business papers into the master office folder.
The main folder is what you are going to give your bookkeeper every month, so you may want to get an accordion folder with alphabetical slots so you can give it to him/her organized. Some bookkeepers are fine with one folder with everything mixed up. Personally, I do not ask my clients to organize the paperwork, as I know that I will be going through every piece of paper myself and consider organizing and filing the papers after to be part of the service I provide.
Following these steps should help you to stay clear of the paperwork avalanche that can trap small business owners so you are free to work on your business.
This change is going to have an impact on both Ontario businesses and wage earners. If you are a small business owner make sure you have all the facts ahead of time.
DEFINITIONS
General Minimum Wage – this rate applies to most employees
Student Wage – This rate applies to students under the age of 18 who work 28 hours a week or less when school is in session, or work during a school break or summer holidays
Liquor Servers Wage – This hourly rate applies to employees who serve liquor directly to customers or guests in licensed premises as a regular part of their work. “Licensed premises” are businesses for which a license or permit has been issued under the Liquor License Act
Hunting and Fishing Guides Wages – The minimum wage for hunting and fishing guides is based on blocks of time instead of by the hour. They get a minimum amount for working less than five (5) consecutive hours in a day, and a different amount for working five hours or more in a day – whether or not the hours are consecutive
Homeworkers Wage – Homeworkers are employees who do paid work in their own homes. For example, they may sew clothes for a clothing manufacturer, answer telephone calls for a call centre, or write software for a high tech company. Note that students of any age (including students under the age of 18 years) who are employed as homeworkers must be paid the homeworker’s minimum wage.
OTHER IMPORTANT FACTS
Commission Employees: If you have employees who are being paid wholly or in part by commission, their bay must amount to at least the minimum wage for each hour the employee has worked. If said employee is working overtime, the calculation becomes more complicated. There are some industry-specific rules and exemptions regarding commission sales people – follow this link to the Ministry of Labour website for more specific details.
The Three Hour Rule: When an employee who regularly works more than three hours a day is required to report to work but works less than three hours, he or she must be paid for at least three hours at the minimum wage or the employee’s regular wage for the time worked. This rule does not apply to students, employees whose regular shifts are three hours or less, or where the cause of the employee not being able to work at least three hours was beyond the employer’s control.
One thing I love the most about the New Year is that it’s a chance to start over and get things right this time.
This is how you should look at your small business bookkeeping. Who cares if last year you got so your have a chance to do things differently.
Here are some hints and tips to start the New Year off right:
Create a good filing system. Take the time to file away the old and make way for the new, and organize your filing in a way that is easy to do and easy to understand.
Dedicate a space for your paperwork. The dollar store is an excellent resource for buying folders, basket, decorative boxes and other wonderful paper holders. Every day, empty your pockets, purses, wallets and briefcases of all their receipts and store them in one location.
Stop shuffling paperwork. Handle each piece of paper once, if possible, and twice if necessary. Pick up the receipt, post it in your bookkeeping software, and file it away. I don’t have statistics on how much time is wasted sorting through piles of paperwork and “organizing” it without actually accomplishing anything, but I can imagine it’s massive.
Do you often take employees, clients or business associates for lunches or dinners? Make sure to note on the back of the receipts who attended the meal and what business was discussed. This will make your life easier in the case of a visit from the CRA.
Enjoy your bookkeeping time. Turn on some internet radio, or get the iTunes going.
Make a to-do list of your bookkeeping tasks, and cross things off the list when you finish them. It’s easy to forget that Record of Employment, or that WSIB return that’s due, but if you write it down when you think of it, you will have a reminder. Plus, it’s satisfying to cross things off when they’re completed.
Don’t get behind. Bookkeeping might not be everyone’s favorite task, but it is a lot less daunting to do it one month at a time than to tackle a whole year.
If it’s taking too much time and detracting from your other business obligations, consider hiring an outside bookkeeper. A good bookkeeper will take all this trouble off your hands and help you use the financial data she compiles to help you manage your business.
Do you want improved focus and concentration? Do you want to avoid burnout? Do you want to get the most out of every waking moment of your day?
The answer is simple: Maintain a healthy lifestyle. Don’t skip meals because you are too busy. Get moving, walk the dog, go to the gym, play a sport, meet a friend for a coffee. Maintain your physical and emotional health as well as the health of your business.
You can’t consistently stay up half the night working and then spend the next day feeling like an extra in a zombie movie. “So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health.” A.J. Reb Materi. Don’t fall into this trap. Stay healthy.
Staying healthy means mentally and emotionally as well as physically. Reward yourself for a job well done. A dinner out, a vacation day, a pair of new shoes, all these things will help to rejuvenate your spirit. Definitely leave time for fun. We all know the end result of “all work and no play.”
At all costs, avoid Burnout. Burnout can be a physical or mental problem, but it is caused by overwork or stress. Your body and mind simply can keep up with what you’re demanding. “I won’t burnout – I’m invincible,” said every workaholic the moment before they burned out. Your body will tell you when it has had enough. When you’re falling asleep at your desk, do you think your boss more likely to think “wow, you’re working long hours” or “wow, you must have partied last night.” When you make a typo in an important presentation, is anyone really going to consider the fact that you stayed up until 4:00 am to complete it?
Finally, I would like to suggest that we all avoid the martyr complex. You can be a good spouse, a good worker, a good parent without always putting yourself last. Consider your choices and treat yourself better. Fast food vs. A home cooked meal, Driving to the store vs. Walking with the dog, Working late vs. An hour at the gym. The easier or faster option is rarely the best choice. It’s faster to drive through the burger joint than start the oven. It’s easier to speed around in your car than it is to stop and smell the flowers. It seems to be more productive to focus on work than to focus on well-being. But consider your choices. As the saying goes, nobody ever goes to their deathbed saying, “I wish I had spent more time at the office.”
We need to be kind to ourselves. In the end, what would all this be without you around?
How many times have you sat in your office, scanning a news website or (gasp) checking your Facebook because you have a meeting in 15 minutes and there is no point in starting something new? A big part of time management is learning to organize your time more effectively.
One helpful tip is to schedule your meetings for first thing in the morning, or for directly after lunch, so that you don’t have gaps in your schedule. If you start work at 8:30 but have a meeting scheduled for 9:00, you may find that first half hour of the day is less productive than you would like. Another tip is to schedule your meetings back-to-back if possible. You will find extra blocks of time throughout your day by following this simple rule. If you do find yourself with pockets of “dead time” throughout the day, learn to use them to your advantage. You’re walking the dog, but also working through the speech you have to give tomorrow morning. You’re stuck in traffic so you’re planning your goals for the day. You’re waiting for a meeting that is starting late, but making notes in your “To Do List.” Using these moments to regain focus means more “me” time later on.
Scheduling for success also means you must set deadlines for everything. Think back to the “ABC” method outlined in my blog: “Time Management: To Do Lists.”Deadlines are easy for “A” and “B” tasks. These tasks are urgent or important, you know you need to get them done, and it’s usually easy to assign a deadline. What about those annoying, never ending “C” tasks? Neither urgent nor important, they can go on forever and become a thorn in your side. What happens when one day you suffer a moment of temporary insanity and volunteer to reorganize the file room? For the next few weeks you walk into the file room, look at the boxes, plan, draw diagrams, theorize, sigh heavily and go back to your office. You just don’t know where to start. You can’t find the motivation. There’s no urgency, there’s no deadline.
Inertia is NOT our friend. You can’t get anything done if you don’t Get Started. Tackle tasks by chipping away methodically. Determine you’re going to spend 15 minutes per day on this task until it’s done. Don’t be so overwhelmed by the volume of tasks that you do nothing at all.
You need to start the ball rolling and keep it rolling by managing distractions. Close the door. Turn off the ringer. Hang the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door. Tell everyone that you are unavailable until a certain time. I know people like to say their “door is always open,” but sometimes you really need to slam that sucker shut and get to work.
We’ve all been asked this job interview question: “What’s more important,
Quality or Quantity?
quality or quantity?” It seems like a no brainer, quality is definitely more important, right?
In reality, doing everything perfectly while taking twice as long as everyone else is a guaranteed, one-way ticket to unemployment. Quality is number one, but efficiency is also very important. The key is to increase your efficiency while maintaining that high standard of quality in everything you do.
The time of day can definitely affect the quality of our work. Some of us are “Morning People” while others are “Night Owls.” Determine your optimum time of dayand tackle the hardest tasks when you’re at your prime. If you function best between 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm, then that’s when you should be working on the most challenging items on your To Do List. Don’t waste your prime time hours on menial tasks – work while you’re “in the zone” and listen to your body’s natural rhythms.
Beware of Multitasking. It is deceptive! Many people (especially us females) pride themselves in their ability to multi-task. We think that by combining your conference call with cleaning out your desk drawer and filing last week’s payroll you are actually getting ahead. In reality, multitasking can pull your focus away from what is important. Tasks bleed into one another and quality suffers when you are trying to do three things at once. .Picture yourself working on a Sudoko puzzle while chatting with your mom on the phone. “What’s for dinner tonight?” your mom asks. “Four…” you respond absently. Now mom is angry, your family is hungry, and you’ve written “Tacos” in the box where the four was supposed to go.
Another way to increase the quality and quantity of your work is to Take a Break. There is a reason we take breaks, and it’s not just to chat with your co-worker or flirt with the UPS guy. Ideally you should be taking a 3-5 minute break every 45 minutes. Remember, a break doesn’t mean staying at your desk surfing the internet. It means getting up and moving around. Walk to the coffee room. Go outside and get some fresh air. Stretch your muscles. Have a snack. Rest your eyes (no, that doesn’t mean a nap in the back of the warehouse!) You will return to work energized and able to produce higher quality output.
Finally, take the time you need to do a quality job. To borrow from that infamous tortoise: “Slow and steady wins the race.” No one can argue that it takes longer to fix a mistake than it does to do the job right the first time. Rushing through a job is a recipe for disaster and can eat up valuable chunks of your time.
Taking on too much is the downfall of highly motivated people. The voice in our
Learn to say NO
heads just won’t shut up: “No one can do it as well as you can.”
It’s the battle of the clichés: Round One: “If you want something done right, do it yourself” VS. “You can’t do it all.”
While it is tempting to try to do everything yourself, eventually you will find that you are getting much less done than you intended. The problem is simple: your efforts and concentration are being spread too thin. Ambition and motivation are important, and it’s definitely true that you need to work hard to get ahead, but when your inner voice protests that you simply “can’t do everything” you need to listen to it. Consider your goals and your schedule before agreeing to take on extra work. Ask yourself: “Is this something that I really need to be taking on?” Don’t rush around in a tornado of activity accomplishing nothing important. There is no value in simply “being busy.”
Our personal lives are as important as our careers, and to be successful in both, we need to find the balance between being a perfectionist and working yourself to the point of burnout.
Here is a simple rule of thumb: If you know that someone else can do the task almost as well as you can do it, delegate. If you can do it 100% and someone else can do it 85%, delegate. Their 85% at a semi-important task, coupled with your 100% as a very important task makes 185% of progress, right? Can’t argue with math.
Take a look at that To-Do List you just made, and re-assess it as a “Get it Done” list instead. Just because it’s on your list doesn’t mean you have to do every little bit of it yourself. What can you cross off the list and give someone else to do? What is the best use of your time? You can spend an hour trying fix the stapler, or you can send someone to buy a new stapler. You can try to do your own bookkeeping to save some money, or you can spend the afternoon working on generating sales worth ten times what you would spend on a bookkeeper to do it for you. What is your time worth?
Scan your “To Do List” for items that really don’t need to get done. Also look for items that could be done effectively by someone other than you. Be kind to yourself. You’ve already got enough on your plate. When your boss asks you if you have time to take on an article for the monthly newsletter, say no. When an old school friend asks you to walk her dog for a month because she is going on a backpacking trip across Europe, say no. When your client wants you to take on more work but can’t afford to pay you more, say no. If the task isn’t going to advance you toward your goal, whatever that may be, you need to say no. Saying “No” is better than saying “Yes” and then not following through.
Just a quick note to let you know that Quickbooks is NOT CURRENTLY SUPPORTING its product on Windows 10. This means that if you upgrade your operating system and your Quickbooks stops working, you are going to be out of luck until Intuit finishes their testing and irons out the glitches. I am speaking from experience, as I have spent numerous hours on tech support today with no resolution in sight.
