I’ll be the first to admit it—I love the fall. From pumpkin spice everything to cozy sweaters, there’s nothing better than autumn’s chilly arrival. As you know, the change in seasons also means a change in what’s trending for apparel. These days, promotional apparel trends tend to fall closely behind runway trends, and I wanted…
Read More
Question: Is there one screen in QuickBooks Premier where I can look at my open sales orders and invoices? Answer: Yes, QuickBooks has a feature called “Income Tracker” that does just that. Go to “Customers,” then “Income Tracker.” The dashboard shows a current accounting of various income segments. At the top, you will see totals…
Read More
Learn to ask the right questions to the right people at the right time. One of the worst things we can do is to ask ourselves the wrong questions. Instead of asking yourself, “Why can’t I lose weight?” Ask yourself, “What can I do today to live a more healthy life?” Instead of asking yourself, “Why…
Read More
Video is more than an opportunity to go viral. In fact, video is almost always better used to support existing efforts, as going viral is akin to winning the lottery. One of my favorite industry “fun” videos remains the Gap Stick video created by the very talented Jeff Anderton, who is now with SnugZ USA. Jeff…
Read More
When we first started franchising Proforma in the late 1980s, most people in our industry scoffed at our business model. So, we reached out to people outside our industry to start building our franchise concept. In the late 1980s, there was no internet! So we relied on advertising in business publications and attending “own your…
Read More
Question: Are there any reports in QuickBooks that are designed specifically for the ad specialty industry? Answer: Unfortunately, there are no ad-specialty-specific reports, but all of the reports on QuickBooks can be customized. And some have been put to good use by distributors. If you have loaded QuickBooks Premier specifying the Manufacturing and Wholesale Edition,…
Read More
Stand out, be different, be fearless, innovate! The four things above are just one of my 10 secrets of successful people. That’s right. They stand out because they are not afraid to be different and are willing to innovate. Particularly in a business where we sell the same stuff from the same suppliers to the…
Read More
This weekend, I was going outdoors, and knew it was going to be hot. I decided to take a large amount of water with me, so I went into my cabinet to grab the biggest drink container I could find. What I found impressed me. I found my 32 oz. sports bottle from Doylestown Rock…
Read More
I started Proforma in 1978, just one year after graduating from college, in my Cleveland apartment with a $200 investment in a phone answering machine, stationery and a used file cabinet. We grew nicely in those early years. By 1984, we had grown to about $4 million in the Cleveland area. I decided it was…
Read More
Question: We have some recurring errors in our QuickBooks. No one will take ownership of the errors, but I need to find out who made them. Is there a way to do that? Answer: QuickBooks Premier and Enterprise have a report that should give you that information. It’s called an “Audit Trail.” This will list…
Read More