Business Discussions

 It’s no surprise that in today’s day and age social media is a huge part of any business’s Marketing strategy.  It is, however, easy to get it wrong, which can affect your brand negatively. That’s why I want to touch on this topic a bit and provide you with 5 tips for building a successful social media presence. Let’s go through these together!      Choose the platforms that fit your audience Spend some time figuring out which platforms fit your business and audience the best. Each platform has a different personality so it’s important to not stretch yourself out too thin by being on all social channels. Think about what your business goals are, and who your audience is. For example, if you have an older demographic, then Facebook will have the best reach.   Interact Broadcast messages simply don’t work alone on social media. You must engage with your customers by asking questions, posting polls, opening discussions up to the community, and figuring out

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the QuickBooks Community! Quick questions, are you looking for sustainable packaging options for your small business? Well, our Blog shared eco-friendly packaging options for your business.     Before we dive in further, did you know that styrofoam takes 500 to one million years to decompose? That is mind-blowing to imagine! But we can see why it is essential to protect our planet!   Recycled cardboard and packing paperAlthough cardboard is the standard for packaging, it can still affect the environment if misused. A significant first step is to look for post-industrial recycled cardboard or materials labeled FSC since they are from sustainably managed forests.   Biodegradable packing peanuts.These peanuts are eco-friendly recycled, and non-toxic, and it is very safe to handle and quite affordable.   Biodegradable air pillowsThis is similar to packing peanuts, but they are made with biodegradable materials and use less energ

Good afternoon, Community! The most recent show I've been binge watching is "All American" on Netflix. If you didn't notice from the name, it's about a star high school football player. The players are constantly studying their playbooks and that gave me the thought that businesses need playbooks too! Here are a few things that it can consist of.   IntroductionTo start your business playbook, you'll want to include an intro. In the intro you may include a message from the company, the company vision and mission statements, values and goals.   Code of ConductA business playbook will typically be read by new hires. New members of the team will want to know what's expected of them in the workplace. A code of conduct will outline just that, like business hours and overtime, breaks, lunch periods, and sick days and vacation time. This conduct section can go even further to explain how employees should dress for work. This is also a good place to include human resources information

Hello everyone! It's Friday!  So what do you got planned for the weekend? But, before you clock out for the day, I want to share with you this article by Brafton that highlights the benefits of branding for small and big businesses.   When people associate branding, they often think it's simply the name, color, font, or logo, but there is more to it. Your brand must also incorporate values, motivations, purpose, etc. As the writer nicely puts it, "You want your customers to feel something when they think of your company."   The first benefit is brand awareness. Once there is trust in your company, customers will continue to purchase your product and service, especially when they know your logo and so forth.   The second benefit is that it drives new business. What is the best way to drive new business? This would probably be by word of mouth. According to researchers, 85% of small businesses gain prospects by word of mouth. Once customers know your brand a

Good afternoon everyone and thanks for visiting the Business Discussion space! As a business owner, there more than likely will be times when you have to have hard conversations with people. Whether it be employees, business partners, customers, you want to make sure you're prepared. Today I want to share a few tips on how to make these difficult conversations a bit easier.     Mental Self-CheckDifficult conversations can often go hand-in-hand with strong emotions. First thing to do is a mental evaluation of your own. Making sure you're in the right frame of mind certainly helps reduce the risk of saying anything you may regret later on. And if you don't have time to do a full prep, take a minute to pause and take a couple deep breaths before speaking.   Consider the Other Person's Point of ViewYou know what they say, there are two sides to every story. Before getting into a conversation with the other party, try to see their side of the argument. Viewing a situation fr

Hello everyone! I hope you guys are doing well!  With the recent 4th of July holiday, it got me thinking about how do you market during the holiday season. Luckily, our Resource Center shared some ways to market locally. Here are some key points they highlighted:   Customers have numerous options when shopping during holidays. However, most times, they opt for going with the online aspect. It is essential to ensure that the online service is as good and even better than the in-person shopping experience. Begin first with easy accessibility. Customers should find it easy to locate you online.   A business should establish a good rapport with its local community, encouraging brand awareness and building trust. Regarding building trust, there are specific tips you may utilize as a business, and these include but are not limited to creating blogs and participating in forums online.   Another would be to create a digital marketing strategy to advertise your bus

Hello again! And welcome back to the Business Discussion board. Today I want to share with you an article I read from uschamber.com. It covers different types of work days you or your employees may experience in the work place and what kind of effect each can have on your performance. Let's take a closer look.   First a foremost is the "Ideal Day."  High creativity, increased organizational support, challenging work, yet low in obstacles. Sounds pretty... ideal, right? "Employees reported higher creative performance on these “ideal days,” which account for about 30% of all workdays."   Toxic DaysMost likely Mondays. Kidding - kind of. "These are high in obstacles, like time pressures and office politics, but low in factors that stimulate creativity." The good news is toxic days only account for about 8% of all working days.   Disengaged DaysSimply being checked out, mostly neutral feeling, "off." Also, not a terrible amount measuring around 10% of work days. &n

Hello friends! Thanks for joining me in the QuickBooks Community today. Have you ever found yourself struggling to find the motivation to do your day-to-day work? If so, then you’re not alone. There are so many different factors that can impact your motivation, such as your feelings towards a specific project/task, as well as any environmental factors that may be standing in the way. Here are a few tips to help refill your motivation cup once again and get you moving in the right direction.Take a moment to resetFinding your motivation again isn’t as simple as forcing yourself to regain it. Your mind needs time to recenter itself so it’s important to find some time to step away from your desk or workplace and take some time to breathe in some fresh air and move your body. It can also be as simple as taking a few minutes to think about something completely different that isn’t the task at hand. Doing so will help reset your mind.Change your RoutineIt's normal to feel stuck or even draine

Hello Hello, everyone! Welcome to the Business Discussion Page. We are just one step closer to the weekend. I know I'm excited, are you? For today's post, we will look at the impact of culture and ethics in the workplace. Let's start by defining ethics.    According to Merriam Webster, this means "the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation." In essence, leaders need to exhibit these values through their actions ("walk the talk"). This is what team members need to see and hopefully follow your examples. If managers/leaders negatively affect values and morals, the organization's culture can be influenced because employees will mimic this. We have to keep ourselves accountable to uphold company ethics standards positively. It can sometimes be challenging, especially in a complicated situation, yet we must be ethical in business to move forward successfully. As Vinod Rai rightfully said, "Integrity, probity, ethics, and transparency are ne

Hello ladies and gents! I hope you all had a lovely (most likely longer than usual) weekend, but now it's time for action. Today I'm hopping on to share an article I read in the QuickBooks Resource Center that covers the importance of inventory reports and a few different types of these reports. Let's take a closer look.   "An inventory report offers a real-time summary of your existing stock. Further, it distills key details such as stock levels, the fastest selling products, category performance, and other important data like inventory status and performance."   Reports are a great way to stay organized and to show you how your business is growing. This is the same for the specifics of inventory reports, aka "your truth." "Good reporting habits lead to profitable business decisions and, ultimately, a high-performing and sustainable business."   There's a variety of inventory reports available. Here are a few to get started:   Inventory Detail reportMost

Hi friends! Thank you for joining me here in the Community on this lovely day. Do you ever find yourself struggling, and maybe even rambling, when you're trying to explain your business and what you do? Especially in a very niche industry and you seem to just keep digging and everyone becomes confused. Well you're in luck. Today I'm going to share an article from the QuickBooks Resource Center that talks about how you can avoid that.     I give you - the elevator pitch. "An elevator pitch is a brief introduction or summary of your professional experience that you share with others to highlight your accomplishments."   What's in a Pitch? Introduction: Your name is a good place to start, followed by what you do. This is about your business not about you, so resist any possible urges of deep diving into your life story. State the problem you solve and who you solve it for: Most people, mainly potential clients, are interested in how you can help them. This is o

Do you ever find yourself struggling to stay focused? What about during down-time; do you find a million thoughts speeding through your mind? If you answered yes to these questions, this may be just the post for you. I read an article shared on fastcompany.com that covers a productivity exercise that "turns disorganized thoughts into gold." Effective time management, finished tasks on your to-do list, increased productivity, ahh the gold you speak of! Yes, what every businessman and woman needs. The said exercise? A brain dump! "A brain dump is when you gather all your disorganized thoughts and, appropriately, dump them onto a blank canvas. This exercise allows you to clear your mind and pave the way for new, creative ideas. You let all your thoughts tumble onto paper, and see what you come up with after the process."Here are three reasons why brain dumping is so helpful: BRAIN DUMPS STOKE CREATIVITY: Disorganized thoughts add such a heavy weight to your mind, ther

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen! I hope you all are having a great day. While you're here visiting the Business Discussion Board, I wanted to share an article I read on the QuickBooks Blog. This post goes over alternative packaging options that are a little more friendly to the environment. Let's take a look.   Recycled cardboard and packing paperCardboard is pretty a pretty standard packaging material and one of the most recycled materials as well. However, "if sourced unsustainably, cardboard and packing paper can still harm the environment." Be on the lookout for post-consumer, post-industrial, FSC-certified cardboard.Biodegradable packing peanutsThink Styrofoam, but... not. Soft and protective but made from recycled materials that can be easily broken down. Everything Styrofoam has to offer ,except the bad stuff.Biodegradable air pillowsThese packing pillows are made with a biodegradable film. This may be the most favorable option because, "manufacturing air pillows

   Welcome to a special Ask Me Anything event with Micah Sampson. Micah is the Customer Experience Leader over our Money, QuickBooks Online & Self-Employed, and Payroll products.   Micah is here live to answer your questions and respond to your QuickBooks feedback and ideas. This is an excellent way to connect 1-on-1 with Intuit Leadership in a brand new way.    This thread will be open for responses from 11am - 1pm PT. Here's how to participate:     Press Join the Conversation to log in to the community. Once logged in, press Reply. Write your question, feedback, or idea as your reply to the post. Press Post to submit. Keep an eye on your notifications, or simply refresh the page periodically for a response from Micah.

Happy Happy Friday, and thanks for checking in with us here in the Business Discussion. Before you clock out today, I have one question for you. When hiring new employees, what personality test do you use to determine a competent candidate? For those businesses that do not use a personality test, it is a great tool to understand better how your potential employee character connects with your company culture. USchambers showed us eight personality tests, and each's advantages. Today, I would like to share my top four favorites from the list. So, let's get into it!   The Myers-Brigg Type IncidtorThis test is grouped into eight categories: extraversion vs. introversion, intuition vs. sensing, thinking vs. feeling, and judging vs. perceiving, to determine which inclinations they attach to. These tests are usually recommended for managers who want to analyze how newcomers would work in group settings. In recent times, working in teams has generated more development and productivity ide

Good afternoon ladies and gents, and welcome back to the Business Discussion board. We live in a time where we use technology in our daily lives to help get a lot of work done for us. There are a lot of repetitive tasks, for example: sending out invoices, tracking sales, and managing customer service requests, etc. If you aren't currently implementing these types of services, here are a few reasons why it's a good idea to automate your business. Reduces ErrorsTasks that are completed manually leave a wider margin for error. Setting up reoccurring tasks to be done automatically significantly reduces the possibility of mistakes to be made. Boosts ProductivityWith a majority of the more monotonous jobs being entered into a computer system to be finished at a certain date and time, you have the ability to actually get more work completed. One, because more tasks can be completed at once instead of one at a time, and two, because if the work is being done by a computer you and you

I'm looking for some QuickBooks Online Pro startup guidance from someone in my industry.

Is it time to open a physical location? A question many business owners often think especially if their online business is growing and exceeding expectations. Before you decide, our QuickBooks Blog shares three questions to ask yourself before diving in. Here is what they had to say:   What are the future plans for the business? Going into a physical place is something that should be considered where longevity is concerned. This will become a high expense, such as paying rent, purchasing a building, etc. You have to honestly look at the bigger picture and envision where your business should be in the next five years, ten or so, and will that involve extra space?   Does a physical space make financial sense? Now let's cut to the chase. This all boils down to if you can afford it and not only in the short run. It would help if you looked at renting or leasing costs, utilities, furnishing, supplies, amenities, insurance, commuting, staff, etc. It is advised to be more realistic

Life is busy, especially if you’re running your own business. You can feel like you are surviving and checking every box on your to-do list, and then you realize it’s been weeks since you’ve made time to hang out with your friends, or even picked up the phone to call to catch up. You’re not alone! When life is busy, one of the first things that get neglected is friendships. The feeling of, "oh, this month is busy but then things will slow done” lingers and soon an uncomfortable amount of time has passed. But great friendships are worth the work!    It’s the little things that countScrolling Instagram on the couch? If you see your friend’s awesome dinner she had with her husband at the new restaurant in town, here’s a great chance to remind them you love seeing little snippets of their life. Or ask when you can go back with them to grab a glass of wine!    Communicate your needsIf you are feeling like you haven’t seen a friend in a while, don’t leave it up to them to

Hello there, friends of the Community! I hope you're all doing well. While you're here, I'd like to share an article with you all that was shared on the QuickBooks Blog. This particular post covers the details of promotional pricing for small business. Let's take a look... First things first, our promo definition: "Promotional pricing is a sales strategy in which a business temporarily lowers a particular product or service’s price point to attract prospective customers. In many cases, this lower price orientation creates a sense of urgency that prompts people to purchase before the price goes back up."   Now that we know what it is, let's dive into the pros and cons of these types of mark-downs:   Pros- More customer traffic: The post mentions there are far more budget-conscious people than there are free-spenders. When prices are marked down you're guaranteed to see more people shopping with you.- Increased value perception: Marking sale items can impact your customers perc

Do you know that 43% of online attacks target small businesses? This was based on a Version 2021 Data Breach Investigation Report. So what does this information reveals? Well, it shows the importance of protecting your employees, business, and customer information against these threats and avoiding facing remediation costs. For our discussion today, Forbes shared 5 Cybersecurity Questions for small businesses. Without further ado, let's dive in:   What are the biggest cybersecurity threats for SMBs right now?They mentioned that ransomware is a hot cybersecurity threat right now, affecting major companies and small businesses. This is where these hackers would hold on to the data unless a certain amount of money is paid, but we know this can not be trusted. It is vital to have proactive maintenance to stop these hackers from accessing your network.   Do I have to have a designated information security expert on staff or a third-party trusted information security and risk advis

Hello QuickBooks Community! Today we’re going to tackle one of the most important questions you can ask the small business world: how do you achieve and define success? Simon Worsfold over in our QuickBooks Blog decided to find out the answer. Read below and see if you agree with other business owners in the U.S.!   COVID certainly affected small businesses negatively, but there’s also some good that came from this pandemic.  The data shows a huge spike in 2020 in interest surrounding small businesses.  Two-thirds of people polled (66%) say small businesses are the lifeblood of their community. More than three-in-five (64%) describe small business owners as “community heroes.” Seven out of ten (70%) want them to get more recognition.   The love and support of small businesses is alive and strong! Most people report having the best experience in Customer Support and they're more likely to get the help they need. There's also more personalization in small bu

  Join our QuickBooks Experts for an #AMA session all about QuickBooks Time. They'll be able to answer your questions on: ● Setting up and tracking time with QuickBooks Time for the first time.● Connecting QuickBooks Time with your QuickBooks account.● Resolving common issues and errors. ...and more! To Participate:   Press Join the Conversation to log in to the community. Once logged in, press Reply. Write your question as your reply to the post. Press Post to submit. Keep an eye on your notifications for a response from one of our QuickBooks experts.   QuickBooks Experts will be online from 8am - 10am PT to answer your questions live!

Hello, friends! Thanks for taking a few minutes to join us here on the Business Discussion board. It's always a good idea to be eco-conscious and maybe you've made some recent at changes at home, but today I want to share how you can “go green” with your business. Check out these points mentioned in an article shared in the QuickBooks Resource Center… Update lightingSwitching to LED bulbs may cost a little more upfront but will ultimately save you money in the long run. These bulbs last twice as long as regular fluorescents, nearly 25 times as long as incandescent, AND "don’t emit UV radiation or heat—keeping your storefront safe and cool." Protect your windowsWindow shopping can often lead to real shopping, however large picture windows can come with a price. The beaming sun can cause you're air conditioning unit to work overtime. The article mentions, "Invest in sun control window films or shades to block harmful UV rays, reduce sun glare, and maximize the natural light without the a

Hiring demand is at an all-time high, and many job seekers are now looking for more than salary, even as part-time employees. Following the Great Resignation, it is more important than ever to offer benefits and perks. The US Chamber of Commerce has a great article outlining six things applicants may be looking for as you hire for summer and beyond:   Flexible Schedules Work looks different than it used to.  Offering hybrid work when possible or offering the option to work remotely can offer the work/life balance that attracts the talent you are looking for. For many, remote work isn’t an option. But you can offer shorter workweeks or eliminate fixed schedules for your employees to assist them in working around their lives. Employees enjoy much more freedom in their schedules by focusing on productivity and results within the time worked rather than fixed hours.   Wellness Services Separate from traditional health insurance offerings, many companies are presenting additi