Ask the Accountant… Question: I have been a distributor for over 25 years, and would like my daughter to take over my business in the next five years. She is concerned that being a distributor is not a long-term business. What do you think? Answer: Being an ad specialty distributor is definitely a long-term, lifetime…
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Fellow distributor owners and sales reps, have you ever stopped to think how unbelievably fortunate we are to be distributors? We don’t need to own any manufacturing equipment. We don’t need to own any manufacturing plants. We don’t need to hire manufacturing employees. We don’t need to invest in any inventory. All we need is…
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Question: My accountant says that I should switch to QuickBooks for my accounting system. She said that QuickBooks Pro should work just fine for my business. Is that what I should use? Answer: I agree with the “QuickBooks” half of her answer, but suggest “Premier” be the other half. Using QuickBooks, because it is the…
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Question: Should I put the real shipping or in-hands dates on the orders I send to suppliers? Answer: I always built in a cushion of a few days to prevent 11th hour heroics and to be prepared for client ignorance, like neglecting to tell me the event is at 8 a.m. or that they need…
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Question: I use QuickBooks Premier for my distributorship. I also run another small business. Can I use my QuickBooks program for that, too, or do I have to buy Premier again? Answer: You can set up another company or companies in QuickBooks Premier at no additional charge from QuickBooks. You do not have to purchase…
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I love music. From the days of 4-track and 8-track tapes, music has played a key role throughout my life. For those of you who wonder what those are, I have added Wikipedia reference links.
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I see the industry from many sides, both in my role as publisher of the PPAI-award winning FreePromoTips.com and as a distributor. My perspective is different from most, and that enables me to publish content that is of interest to our industry.
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There are five versions of QuickBooks, each designed for specific applications, and the ad specialty business was not one of their selected specifics.
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Our evolving industry business model continues to be a hot topic. Recently I started wondering how an online purchasing mentality, I’ll call the Amazon click-to-buy world, affects our industry. It begs the question, are we (aka distributors) really needed? It’s getting easier and easier for end-users to buy online or direct from suppliers.
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Recruiting people to work for you is similar to finding a significant other. The person has to be confident but not conceited, smart but not a smart-ass, into you but not completely obsessed with you to the point where you need to call security and… I’ll stop there.
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