The Intuit Community Blog

Introducing Small Business United!!

Hot off the presses. A video about an exciting new campaign called Small Business United

Here's the press release:

Intuit Unveils Small Business Stimulus Program

 

Helps Small Businesses Save Money, Get Customers and Save Time Through Free Software, Grants and Educational Resources

 

 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Jan. 27, 2009 – America’s entrepreneurs are getting a much-needed boost to start and grow their businesses with a new initiative from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), maker of the best-selling QuickBooks^® financial software. The company’s “Small Business United” campaign features a stimulus package aimed at helping America’s 27 million small businesses save money, get more customers and save time.

The stimulus package includes:

·        Free software and services from Intuit valued at nearly $1,000 per small business to help them succeed. Four out of five Intuit customers agree that using QuickBooks helps their business succeed.

·        $315,000 in small business grants to give entrepreneurs the extra boost needed during a tough economic climate.

·        $50,000 in donations to organizations that help budding entrepreneurs get started and advise existing businesses looking to grow.

Small businesses have long been the foundation of the U.S. economy. In the past 30 years, more than 90 percent of new jobs created in the country have come from small businesses, according to the National Small Business Association.

“Intuit is in a unique position to support small businesses by offering America’s best-selling software solutions for free,” said Brad Smith, Intuit president and chief executive officer. “In addition, the monetary grants will help ensure small businesses can be as successful as possible, continuing to grow, create new jobs and innovate.”

Free Small Business Software and Services

            As part of its stimulus package, Intuit will give away both totally free and special offers of its best-selling solutions that help small businesses address their most critical problems: better managing their finances, getting more customers, paying their employees accurately and on time, and more:

The offerings, available at www.smallbusinessunited.com, include:

·        Totally Free Software: Save money with accounting software: Based on customer surveys, 70 percent of QuickBooks users say that using QuickBooks helps them be more profitable, and agree that it helps them get paid faster. QuickBooks Simple Start Free Edition lets users easily trackmoney coming in and money going out. The downloadable software is easy to set up and use, and also helps businesses get ready for tax time.

·        Free Year: Get more customers with free Web sites: Intuit research shows that while less than half of small businesses have a Web site, more than 95 percent want one. The Intuit Website service lets businesses quickly set up professional-looking websites to attract more customers. The package, free for the first year, includes award-winning Web site-building software with easy point and click features and design templates, Web hosting, and toll-free phone support seven days a week. Charges after the first year start at only $4.99 per month.

·        Free Six Months: Save time with free payroll service: To help small businesses accurately run payroll – and avoid costly mistakes and penalties – the Intuit Online Payroll service is available for free for six months and only $9.95 per month after that for new users, a savings of more than $300 per year. Simply enter employees’ hours and run payroll with just a few clicks.

·        Free Service: Get incorporated with free incorporation services: With more entrepreneurs entering the market from other jobs that are no longer available, Intuit is offering free incorporation and LLC formation services from MyCorporation, an Intuit company, until July 31, 2009.

·        Free Six Months: Get paid faster with free credit card processing: Finding more ways to help small businesses get paid and maintain cash flow, Intuit is offering credit card processing services free for six months through Intuit QuickBooks Online Terminal. Transaction fees still apply.

·        Free Download: Manage cash flow with free retail management software: To maximize profits by tracking sales and customers, Intuit is offering its recently announced retail software, QuickBooks Cash Register Plus, as a free download, a $300 value.

            For tax and accounting professionals, Intuit is offering a host of discounts on products that help them and clients operate at peak levels of efficiency and get more done in less time, as time is money. More information is available at http://accountant.intuit.com/getmoredone.

Intuit Encouraging Small Businesses to Help Each Other

America’s entrepreneurial spirit is stronger – and more united – than ever, according to Intuit’s recent study. Nine out of 10 small business owners surveyed said they rely on peers for support and advice. Fifty-one percent of small business owners said they feel a special bond or connection with other small business owners, while 53 percent believe they can learn from their peers’ mistakes and successes.

Tapping into this sense of community, Intuit is providing a way for small businesses to win up to $25,000 by sharing their success stories and advice.

Entrants simply go to www.smallbusinessunited.com to share their experiences and survival tips. Judges will select 50 finalists to receive $5,000 and a Pure Digital Flip Video™ camcorder. These finalists are eligible to supplement their story with a video that will be posted on the site for public viewing and voting. This group will be narrowed down to four first prize winners, who will each receive $10,000 plus $2,500 worth of Intuit products. The grand prize winner will receive $25,000 and $2,500 worth of Intuit products and services. Entries are due by March 23 and finalists will be selected by April 1. Winners will be announced in May.

Helping Organizations Helping Small Business

            Intuit is also contributing $50,000 in grants to several organizations that support and develop small businesses and entrepreneurs. These organizations, including The Latino Coalition, National Black Chamber of Commerce, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, and Women Impacting Public Policy, represent some of the faces of individuals starting new businesses today, according to the Intuit Future of Small Business Report.

            Intuit’s Small Business United initiative is just one example of Intuit’s renewed company-wide focus on helping consumers and small businesses save and make money. While this benefit is particularly relevant in today’s environment, it has and always will be Intuit’s hallmark as it continues to deliver innovative products and services for its customers.

How much did you eat today?

Snacking throughout the day can turn into overeating pretty easily. It can be hard to watch what you eat when you’ve got your head in your business or are just plain focused on something else. Finding time to exercise can be stressful if you have a full schedule at work. Obesity in the workplace, and out of the workplace, is unfortunately becoming a popular trend in the United States.

Along with millions of others, I am also one of the people currently searching for the best way to lose weight for me. I think by now, we all know that one weight loss program isn’t going to work for everyone. If that were true, there wouldn’t be such an obesity problem in the country. The tried and true “Diet & Exercise” route, if properly followed, has had the biggest success rate with the majority of people. However, it’s hard to stay on track. There are also some who cannot exercise due to medical reasons.

So, what do those who are left do for weight loss? The popular Fen/Phen cocktail has long been outlawed. The new miracle for severely overweight individuals seems to be weight loss surgery. Don’t take weight loss surgery lightly though, as it is definitely not for everyone. I would suggest that anyone thinking about surgery as an option should thoroughly do their research and meet with their doctor to find out as much information as they can. I can say that I have met with a surgeon and discussed my options. There are currently three main weight loss surgeries out there as options for severely obese people:

Gastric Bypass surgery is the first option. This is where your stomache is essentially “bypassed” and your food goes directly to your colon. I was told this surgery is really for people who need to lose weight immediately because they might suffer complications from their size that could lead to death. I was not in that category so I quickly ruled out this surgery. I was also told that in the event you need to reverse the surgery, the mortality rate was very high on reversals and was not recommended.

Gastric Sleeve surgery is the second option. Similar to the Gastric Bypass, except instead of “bypassing” your entire stomach, the surgeon staples off a small sleeve for the food to be able to digest a bit before hitting the colon. Again, this surgery was meant as a life-saving method and less for weight loss. So, again, I did not fall into this category.

Lap-Band surgery was the last option I was told about. To me, this actually seems like a pretty good choice. A band is placed around the top of your stomach which creates a smaller stomach bubble that the food you eat gets trapped in and slowly filters down into the rest of your stomach to digest. The band gets filled with water when you want to tighten it, and the water can be removed if you want to losen it. This is also a reversible procedure, which intrigued me.

Keep in mind that these surgeries are very expense. I was quoted between $15,000 and $20,000 at the surgeon’s offices I visited. Not all insurance companies cover these surgeries because some insurance companies still see these as elective surgeries. If this is something you might be interested in, there is an Obesity Help Forum where you can chat with others who have gone through the process.

Another wonderful site I’ve found is The Daily Plate. You can enter everything you eat as you eat it on this site and it calculates the calories you are consuming and how many calories you should be consuming - for you. This is a great individualized way to help you stay on track, and stay honest – as you can be the only one who can see your profile. If your doctor has asked you to keep a food diary, this is an exceptionally great way to do that too.

I’m off to eat sensibly, good luck with your nutritional battle, at work and at home!

This Wednesday -- Webinar on QuickBooks 2009

This Wednesday - Webinar at 1 pm PDT and 4 pm EST.. "Learning about QuickBooks 2009"

 

The Frugal Entrepreneur

While fear over crashing markets continues to spread across the globe, many of us are scrambling to find creative ways of cutting costs in our business and home while trying to maintain balance in our life. No doubt this is a difficult time for many and though some of us may not be directly affected, we all feel the crunch. We’ve seen businesses of all ventures shutter and a record number of homes foreclosed. Community services and schools are losing funding and experts tell us the worst is still to come.

I really don’t want to know what the worst will be like. I want to know how to make money and not have to think about the first decade of the millennium being a cycle of greed and betrayal by overzealous corporate goons. Making money in a down economy is a reality not a dream. The difference is that we have become accustomed to doing business one way for so long that we cannot see the forest through the trees. Yes, it’s stressful, but so is being your own boss- this isn’t new. Being self employed means you have to move faster than your competitors. Being innovative is not always as instinctual as we wish so here are a few ideas.

§         Evaluate your needs – this is hard for me because I think I ‘need’ to buy coffee everyday when I can brew it at home for free. This saves me $3 in the first hour and half of my day. Where can you cut costs?

§         Move back home – many small businesses start at home, when the going gets tough, move back home to save a bundle of cash.

§         Cut Utilities – turn off the lights, this is simple and can save a lot in the long term. You can also replace your ordinary light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs. Close heat and air vents in areas not used by you and employees.

§         Do it yourself – sometimes we hand off tasks such as cleaning the office and less desired work to someone else, doing these yourself can save some moola.

§         Take it online – taking your business online can save you thousands. No paying rent for bricks and mortar, utilities or driving to work. Costs are still associated with this option but you’ll save tons of money.

§         Use your email – email advertising has become much more popular this past year and is very cost effective. Sites such as listrak.com, verticalresponse.com and streamsend.com offer affordable and impressive marketing.

§         Social Networks – we all love to talk about ourselves and our business so why not let Facebook and Myspace help you spread the word with the click of a mouse. Although some sites charge for this service, you are in control of how much is spent and some services are free. Here is a link with a list of social networks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

Despite ups and downs, we can still thrive in a slow economy. All we need is determination, fresh ideas, a will that says we can and bailout money – (kidding about the bailout.)

 

Clickable resources to help you through your 2008 payroll forms

Just the task of getting your 940, 941, 1099s and W-2s processed can be daunting. Nothing is worse than starting that process, only to realize that at sometime during the year something went wrong. Knowing where to turn for help can be the biggest challenge. Did you know that every payroll form you need to process has a clickable version at our support site? You can click on any section where you see a discrepancy and find reports to help get to the bottom of the issue.

Box 3 of the 941

For example, if you are looking at box 3 of your 941 and the number doesn't match up the way you expected, just click on that box in the clickable form. Here is the report they suggest you create to find a discrepancy there:

Run a Payroll Summary for the quarter the 941 is reporting. To see just the totals for all employees, change the columns from Employee to Total Only. However, you will need to switch back to Employee if you need to look at a specific employee. The total of the Federal Withholding will be box 3.

If an employee's federal withholding is incorrect, a liability adjustment for that employee will need to be entered. The amount of the adjustment may then need to be collected from or refunded to the employee.

To prevent this from occurring in the future:

1. Go to the Employee Center and click the Employees Tab
2. Double click on the employee's name.
3. Pull the drop down arrow next to Change Tabs to switch from Personal Info to Payroll and Compensation Info.
4. Click the Taxes button.
5. Check to make sure you have the correct filing status and all of the allowances requested.

Find additional reports

Every payroll report has a clickable form. To find other reports, click on Payroll reports.