Employee education and training is an investment that every business owner should make. As a business owner, your company policies should include employee education and training requirements.
Whether you are a business owner or an employee, education and training is part of your daily life – like it or not. We need it in order to deal with new complexities that we face at work, for career advancement, and to obtain certification.
Being a business owner myself, I find myself learning new things on a daily basis in order to make my job easier and more efficient. For example, right now as I prepare this blog post, I’m working with a new piece of software called Dragon Naturally Speaking. Dragon allows me to dictate my blog post instead of physically having to type it. Needless to say, this is a learning experience. But once I master it, creating a blog post is going to be a much faster and more efficient process. I will also then be able to apply this knowledge to other tasks, such as writing or updating our software manuals.
My own background is bookkeeping. Over the years I’ve transitioned from being just a bookkeeper to becoming a software developer. I’ve learned a whole bunch in this job! Performing bookkeeping tasks or providing QuickBooks training to clients did not prepare me for becoming a software developer, writing manuals, creating and maintaining a website, or any of the thousands of other things that I do on a daily basis.
Let’s take support for an example. I find that there is a very, very fine line between how people view support and training. In general, support is defined as helping a user solve a specific problem with the product, perhaps resolving an error message. However, I find that most people define or expect that support includes (or is also) training – not only for our software but for QuickBooks, Microsoft Office, and basic computer tasks such as how to create a new folder or add an attachment to an email.
Whether you are a contractor, a bookkeeper working for contractor, or certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor you need to make a commitment to yourself, to your employees, to your business, and to your clients to obtain the training necessary to perform daily tasks quickly and efficiently and then take what you have learned an apply it. This requires a commitment of your time and sometimes money as well
Training can be obtained in multiple ways. The internet provides some great training opportunities, you can Google something specific and find an overwhelming amount of information for free. Many companies, our own included, provide great training videos for learning their software – free of charge. You can take a class on-line or go to your local community college.
The possibilities are endless for learning, if you just make the commitment.
I hope you found this article to be helpful, if so, please take a moment to leave a comment or share it on your favorite social media site.
Has the need for instant gratification made us forget our manners? More and more people seem to want everything their way and they want it now – no matter when NOW is. Instant everything. Instant messages, email, fax, internet. Instant food, the faster the better. Instant education, job, wealth. Instant medical service, diagnosis, and an instant cure. Instant family. Instant travel. Instant information. Instant banking. Instant support and training – even if it’s 10 p.m. at night. Right or wrong, good or bad, it seem that most people want it NOW! What happened to please and thank you?
I live in a very small, rural town – where people still wave at strangers, if you see someone broken down on the side of the road – you stop to help them out. Life flows along at a very relaxed pace in our little corner of the world.
Cell phones are nothing more than expensive paperweights up here – if you try to use them {IF you are lucky enough to get a signal} you get a Canadian operator who asks you for your credit card — in French! We are not connected 24/7 – nor do we want to be.
Wanting and demanding things NOW is a pretty uncommon occurrence – around here — until I walk across my yard and up the stairs to go to work and then it all changes.
Gone are the days when the phone would ring and we’d hear “Hi, this is so and so from company name – how are you today?” Instead we hear “I need help!” when we answer the phone and seldom is there a please or a thank you. Everyone is in a hurry, their poor planning induced emergency is supposed to become our one and only priority – I need it now is not for me!
Computers and all of these gadgets were supposed to make our lives easier – give us more time for friends, family and fun. As an outsider, for the most part I don’t see that’s happened. People can’t drive down the road without being on their cell phones {even though it’s illegal here in Vermont}, they can’t go to the grocery store and get their groceries without being on their cell phone {the grocery store 14 miles away is one of the few places that you can actually get cell phone service}, my grandchildren seldom go outside because they are glued to video games, and my oldest granddaughter {12} has had a cell phone for 2 years and my daughter complains because she’s always on it “texting” to her friends instead of doing her homework!
If I took “do unto others as they do unto you” to heart – I’d be disconnecting the phone and the internet and hanging a “closed” sign on our website.
Thank you for reading this. If it hits home, please take a moment to leave a comment or share this on your favorite social media site using the button below.
QuickBooks 2012 has both good and bad pop-up messages – just like any other version of QuickBooks, but there is nothing more annoying than having an ad pop-up when you are working in QuickBooks. Let’s be honest, getting rid of the message is another mouse click that you have to make and if messages and ads are popping up frequently we get into the habit of not reading what they have to say and miss something that could very well be important. This article discusses how you can turn off most of them in QuickBooks 2012.
Ok, I get it – Intuit is a business that makes it’s money selling software and services to it’s customers; but as a customer/business owner I have already purchased the software and probably have the services that I need already in place; so to be honest I get really annoyed with pop-up messages and ads. I bet you do also.
To be fair, there are actually some good pop-up messages in QuickBooks – for example:
- those that prompt or remind you to add a class to a transaction when you’ve forgotten and you’ve turned on the class tracking feature
- the one that warns you when you are posting a transaction directly to Retained Earnings – which is something that you really do NOT want to do
- the warnings that appear when you accidentally select a date that is 90 days in the past or 30 days in the future
- the warning that will appear if you enter duplicate bill numbers for the same vendor
- the warning that will appear if you enter a check number, invoice number, estimate number, etc. that has previously been used
For the most part messages & pop-ups can be controlled through settings in the Preferences section {Edit menu -> Preferences}; where you will find both personal and company preference settings. Only the QuickBooks Administrator can make changes to the settings in the Company Preferences tab when they are logged into QuickBooks in single-user mode; yes, another inconvenience but one that is well worth the effort. I highly recommend that the QuickBooks Administrator take the time to check out the Company Preference tab for each of the 22 different sections and choose which types of messages should and should not appear.
Individual users also have some control over what messages appear. For experienced users, I recommend that they to to the Edit menu -> choose Preferences and:
- select Desktop View -> My Preferences tab and uncheck the Show Getting Started Window
- select General -> My Preferences tab and uncheck the Bring back all one-time messages, Turn off pop-up messages for products and services, and Show ToolTips for clipped text
- select Sales & Customers -> My Preferences and uncheck the Show Payment toolbar on Receive Payments and Sales Receipts forms if your company does not wish to add Intuit credit card or eCheck processing
- select Service Connections -> My Preferences and uncheck Give me the option of saving a file whenever I download Web Connect data and If QuickBooks is run by my browser, don’t close it after Web Connect is done – if you do not use Online banking
Many pop-up windows and messages have a “Don’t show this again” checkbox option, checking this option instead of just clicking the OK button will rid you of the annoying box for good; so taking a minute or so each time a window pops up can help you to make informed decisions and rid you of wasted mouse clicks later. I know, sometimes it’s just “easier” at the moment to click the OK button just to get rid of the window – but that is a bad habit to get into.
Some advertising messages, you just can’t get rid of, for example the Do More with QuickBooks block on the Home page, but you can close it.
In QuickBooks 2012, Intuit has added a new “advertising” message to printed Employee Pay Stubs – you’ll now find a Powered by Intuit logo on each pay stub that you print for your employees. I found this to be quite annoying. Only the QuickBooks Administrator can remove this logo by going to the Edit menu -> Preferences -> Payroll & Employees -> Company Preferences -> Pay Stub & Voucher Printing -> and uncheck the Print Intuit logo option.
Are you annoyed with pop-up messages and ads? If so please take a moment to leave a comment or share this article with others on your favorite social networking site.
Best practices and tips for installing a QuickBooks 2012 upgrade on a computer that already has an existing version of QuickBooks in place.
Remember, QuickBooks MUST be installed using a Standard User Account when you are running Windows Vista or Windows 7 AND you use QuickBooks integrated 3rd party programs – see Windows, QuickBooks & 3rd Party Apps – The Struggle Within.
If you have Intuit do the upgrade, DO NOT let the Intuit rep install the new version from within your computer’s Administrator account and DO NOT let them choose the “upgrade” option when they do the installation. Also, make sure that your computer IT person is aware of the requirements and best practices – many do not.
Make sure that you watch and understand what is being done to your computer – don’t let others simply do “whatever”
Installing/upgrading QuickBooks is a fairly straightforward task, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some things that can trip you up along the way. Below are some “best practice tips”, based on technical support calls from our customers, that will help you to ensure a smooth installation/upgrade:
PLAN AHEAD and make sure that everything is in order – DO NOT install the new version of QuickBooks 2012 on the day that you need to run payroll, do billing, or perform any intensive task that requires access to your computer/company data file.
- Perform some basic file maintenance in your current QuickBooks version – backup your file, rebuild the data, check the current file size and number of database file fragments.
- If you use 3rd party integrated applications, make sure that you contact the software developer (if they haven’t already contacted you) about compatibility with and update procedures for working with QuickBooks 2012 – Gold and Silver Developers {those who have applications listed on the Intuit Marketplace} did not have access to a final release copy of QuickBooks 2012 until 9/12/2012; for other developers – well they might have access to the new version today.
- Start with the computer that houses your QuickBooks data file – paying close attention to the following screens.
- On the “Choose Installation Type” window select the “Custom and Network Option“
- On the “Custom and Network Options” window, select whatever the current settings are on your computer
- On the Upgrade or Change Installation Location window, choose the Change the install location option. This installs QuickBooks 2012 in a new folder and when the installation is complete you will have BOTH your current {old} QuickBooks version and the new QuickBooks 2012 version installed on the computer.
- When the installation is complete, you’ll be prompted to reboot your computer. After the reboot, start QuickBooks 2012 and open your company file.
- Rebuild your data file, check your file size and number of database file fragments.
- Install the new version of QuickBooks on each of your other computers; repeating Steps 4, 5, 6, and 7.
Once the new version of QuickBooks is installed and running properly on all of your computers, remove the old version by going to your Control Panel -> choosing Add/Remove Programs {Windows XP} OR Programs & Features {Windows Vista & 7}, find the old version in the list of programs and choose Uninstall or Remove.
We hope that you’ve found these best practices and tips for installing a QuickBooks upgrade to be helpful. If so please take a moment to leave a comment or share it on your favorite social network.
This week’s Freebie Friday – 100 Essential Tips for Microsoft Office 2010 comes from PC Magazine.
Most of us use Office, and most of us could make better use of it, too. Check out these tips, sorted by application to learn basic tricks and advanced tips for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access.
The editors have shaken down the programs and pinpointed 100 tips and tricks to help put you back in command. These tips cover not only the basics, like deleting that infuriating line that appears when you type one too many hyphens in Word (one that I find especially annoying), to more advanced tricks, such as connecting your email to social websites and services.
They’ve also included some tips about features that you might not know to search for at all but which offer a lot of value and are worth knowing. The tips are separated by program, and some are further parceled out into sections for beginners, intermediate-level users, and advanced users. Each tip is accompanied by a screenshot to further guide you, no matter your comfort level. All of the tips will work in Microsoft Office 2010, and many are also compatible with earlier editions of Office, too.
| 5 Essential Microsoft Office 2010 Tips for Everyone The five how-tos in this piece will show you some of the most fundamental things you’ll want to do in Microsoft Office, no matter which program you use most. |
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| 15 Essential Microsoft Word 2010 Tips for Beginners If you consider yourself a novice with Microsoft Word, start your Office education by picking up a few of these 15 tricks. You’ll soon find that they’ll become second-nature actions that you’ll be performing with a couple of clicks or keystrokes. |
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| 10 Essential Microsoft Excel 2010 Tips for Beginners Fumbling with spreadsheets can makeanyone feel like a complete dolt. These ten essential functions and tricks will make you feel much more adept at creating and managing charts, lists, and data. |
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| 14 Essential Microsoft Outlook 2010 Tips for Beginners Whether you’re brand-new on the job or a 20-year veteran, chances are your company uses Microsoft Outlook and you only know as much as you’ve ever needed to get by day-to-day. Pick up 14 new ideas, and learn how to implement them, from this list. |
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| 14 Essential Microsoft Excel 2010 Tips for Intermediate Users Comfortable with Microsoft Excel? Good! Let’s move up a half-step to the next level of difficulty. Click through the title to find 14 new things you can do with spreadsheets. |
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| 10 Essential Microsoft Word 2010 Tips for Advanced Users Let’s say you’ve mastered the basics of Microsoft Word. These nine tips will expand your horizons to do some advanced tricks with macros, use OpenType typography, export a Word document to your blog, and more. |
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| 5 Essential Microsoft Excel 2010 Tips for Advanced Users Fine tune your Excel skills with a few more masterful tricks. These five tips cover working with transposed tables, how to create Sparkline Microchartsin Excel, and more. |
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| 8 Essential Microsoft Outlook 2010 Tips for Intermediate & Advanced Users After you’ve gone through our basic Outlook tips, turn to this next batch to make your email life even smoother and more efficient. Outlook can perform a few amazing stunts—don’t miss out on any of them. |
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| 9 Essential Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 Tips The last time you saw someone give a dynamite presentation, filled with video clips and text that was actually large enough to read at a distance, you probably made a mental note to teach yourself some new PowerPoint skills. And, lo, that day is finally here. Learn how to check the accessibility of your presentations, integrate videos, use the animation painter, and more. |
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| 10 Essential Microsoft Access 2010 Tips for Beginners This ten-point primer for Microsoft Access users starts out with the basics and moves into slightly more difficult territory. Whether you’re totally new to Access or have been struggling for a while to learn it, these ten simple tips will help you on your journey to becoming more proficient with databases. |
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Have a great weekend everyone!
