Finding inspiration

I am new to QuickBooks and would like some advice on the following:-I am a sheep farmer here in the UK and when I sell sheep through the livestock market I receive payment for my sheep with all deductions (levy,commissions and services) already deducted.  All services have VAT and the sheep do not.  How do I go about entering this on QuickBooks?  Thank you.

It's National Memo Day! A new week is ahead and It's time to get organised and on top of your to-do's.   Memo, short for a memorandum, is a document and form of communication, intended to inform a group of people about a particular topic. Memos are used for many different purposes, most often in the workplace.    Do you still use memos/post-it notes for reminders, to-do’s or for messages to your co-workers? Or have you gone digital? How do you use this fun communication tool? Comment below!

    When you’re thinking about taking the leap and working for yourself, a lot of things can hold you back. After all, it’s hard to turn your back on a consistent paycheque when the alternative is uncertain. So, we asked the QuickBooks Community to think back on their experiences and share what milestones made them reset a traditional career path to strike it out alone.    Fed up with the corporate world Lee Weinstein, who is now head of his own firm, Weinstein PR, changed his career path thanks to a passionate conviction he needed to do something different with his life. “I’d been at Nike 15 years. I loved working there. I was literally shaving one morning, and I asked the guy in the mirror, do you want to be there 20 years? He said, ‘Hell, no!’ I was surprised I felt that strongly. I didn’t know what I wanted to do if I left Nike, and that led me to a whole process of figuring it out”.   Change of location, change of career Travis Troyer worked in accounting

Name: Gopi Shah Business: Gopi Shah Ceramics Founded: September 2014   When Gopi Shah relocated for her partner’s new job, she found herself unemployed, with no network for continuing her career. Instead of panicking, Gopi decided to nurture her life-long passion for working with clay. She reached out to the local ceramics community and quickly found a mentor who knew all about running a successful art business. Gopi was nervous. But deep down, she knew she was ready for the challenge.    Why did you find a mentor? I’d worked with clay in an academic setting, taking classes at school and university. I knew that experience was very different to running a ceramics business. I figured being an apprentice was a low-risk way for me to see if I enjoyed the work and decide if it was feasible to build my own brand.    What did you learn from working with a mentor? My mentor, along with her husband, was super supportive and taught me so much about becoming a professiona

Name: Sarah Lin  Business: EllieFunDay Founded: 2013   Sarah Lin was a designer, marketer and creative director in the corporate world for more than a decade before stepping out on her own. She’d long wanted to start a socially-conscious enterprise but never imagined finding inspiration for a business from her beloved baby blanket. In 2013, Sarah founded an organic baby blanket and accessories company that provides a fair-wage and dignified employment to marginalised women around the globe.     What’s the story behind your business?  I'd always dreamed of creating a product that married my love for good design with my desire to support a social need. I knew I had to come up with a product I dearly loved—I couldn’t quit my full-time job for something random.   I kept coming back to my own baby blanket. Whenever my mother washed it and hung it out to dry, I would stand outside by the clothesline holding a corner of my blanket, waiting to reclaim it.  

   Was there life before smartphones? Mine certainly wasn’t as flexible. Smartphones have brought many of us the freedom we wanted to be able to attend to life and our business -- whenever and wherever.   In fact, the entire way we do business has changed so much in the last decade. And it’s only speeding up. Car phones, faxing, phone book ads and catalogue shopping have all been left in innovation’s dust, while entire industries such as hospitality, retail, entertainment and publishing have been disrupted by better, faster and stronger technologies. What did I do before Instacart?   This May, in QB Community, we’ll be exploring these “Business Shifts” and what they mean for you, the small business owner. Expect great discussions on shifting from analogue to digital, paper to cloud, brick-and-mortar to e-commerce, cash to smart pay, “real’ people to bots, even dining out to delivery.   Here are three big changes that can impact you as the future of commerce co

Name: Faye Macis Business: Little Happy Candles Location: London Launched: 2016   Faye Macis was studying for her master’s degree in mental health where she came up with the idea for Happy Little Candles. In the middle of a lecture, it struck her that even the smallest act of self-care can have a big effect on a person’s mental well-being. She knew she’d found her calling: helping to promote the little things in life—like pleasurable scents - that can positively impact people’s lives.    How did you create a business around “making people happy”? In the past, I’d made what I called “happy boxes” as gifts for friends and family. Under the business name “Little Happy Goodies”, I made a product called “The Little Happy Hamper”. It was a small box filled with items such as soaps, lip balms, inspirational quote postcards, nail files—anything I thought would encourage a person to take time out and look after themselves, even if it was just for 30 seconds to moisturise their

  Self-employment can be challenging and it can feel like everything is on your shoulders. You are your own boss, you are your own motivator and you are your own advisor. However, self-employment is also flexible, empowering and creative!   What made you become self-employed? Did you want a career change? Or did a milestone in your life encourage you to make the transition?    Comment and share your experiences in the comments below!  

Name: Michael Gratz Business: Prairie Fire BBQ    Location: London, UK Launched: 2013     Originally from Kansas City, USA, Michael Gratz found himself disenfranchised with his job as a banker. When his wife accepted a job in London in 2012, he happily used the relocation as an opportunity to shift his career in a more passionate direction. Michael loved cooking, and he found American BBQ options in London limited—so a delicious idea was born.   What made you go from banking to BBQ? I have always had an interest in food, to the extent that I attended culinary school years ago to improve my cooking at home. When we arrived in London, I was amazed by the diversity of the cuisines. However, there was one cuisine that wasn't represented—Kansas City-style BBQ. As a native of the Midwest USA, having great barbecue is a weekly ritual, similar to the Sunday roast. I’d always daydreamed of owning a food business, so it made sense for me to fill the BBQ void in London.

  Maggi Simpkins grew up making jewellery as a hobby, but she never imagined doing it to earn a living. A decade ago, however, while Maggi was doing quality control for an online boutique, she vented her creative frustrations by one day whipping up a collection of feather earrings. Her boss loved them. Within a week, Maggi was designing full-time for the private label. Over the next few years, other jewellery-related jobs followed. Maggi was determined to learn everything she could about merchandising, designing, production, materials, diamonds and more.   Eventually, she decided to venture out on her own. During her first year of “figuring it out,” Maggi created an engagement ring for a friend. The process was “beautiful and really powerful” -- and the friend was moved to tears. That’s when it clicked: Maggi Simpkins Fine Jewelry would help people tell their love story with decadent, intricate, custom-designed engagement rings.   Maggi, what inspired you to take the pl

  Spring is traditionally a time of renewal and reinvention. What's your one-word theme for driving your business this month?

    Name: Jimmy Gallagher Business: ASAP Construction Founded: 1969   Jimmy Gallagher was just a kid growing up in New York when his dad handed him a spade and said, “Dig.” Dig he did, helping to create a water main as part of a project for his dad’s ASAP Construction company. Digging turned into driving lorries, operating heavy equipment and, eventually, learning every aspect of running a successful business. Except for a six-year stint as a military engineer, working for and then running a building company is the only job Jimmy’s ever known.   Today, nearly forty years after buying the business from his dad, Jimmy is still immensely proud of his long-standing family business, his countless building projects and his ongoing commitment to his small business community.   Jimmy, you’ve worked and lived in the same community for decades. What’s that like?   In the military, I was an engineer on Poseidon submarines. I could have gone anywhere after that, but

Names: Lucy Watts & Nadia Matthews Business: Luna Stationery Launched: 2015   Lucy and Nadia, long-time friends and colleagues, combined their love for design and stationery to create Luna Stationery in London. These advertising producers still have their full-time jobs, so they work double-duty to get their brand of highly curated stationery out into the world. The dream is to one day open a brick-and-mortar shop.   How did you get started? We really wanted to source items that you don't often see in other stationery shops. We did a lot of research online via ohsobeautifulpaper.com, a design blog, and on Etsy. We also went to trade and craft shows. Much of our inspiration came from items that we already owned, so we got in touch with the designers or suppliers directly and started ordering. Being creative people, we had a lot of fun designing our logo and creating the brand. After we were up and running online, we began taking our products to markets around London to rai

Name: Anna Grint Business: Albetta Location: Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK Founded: 2013   After ten years in advertising and marketing in London, Anna changed her career course when she had children and began working for a friend. That friend started an ethically-accredited clothing and accessories business in Vietnam which became Albetta. Anna brought Albetta over to the UK, where their line of children’s clothing, toys and accessories are sold online and in shops throughout the UK.     We caught up with Anna ahead of QB Connect London, where she is a featured vendor, to discuss the ups and downs of working for herself and what she is looking forward to at QB Connect London February 27-28.   How did you get involved in Albetta? After working with Annabel Landra, the founder of Albetta, for several years on the wholesale side, I knew I wanted to be involved in taking her gorgeous collections direct to the buying public. We went into partnership on a UK retai