Billing Manager Blog

You’ve seen a number of posts and comments in this blog where we have encouraged upgrading from Internet Explorer 6 to a more up-to-date browser.  We told you that Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox are faster and more secure. We also hinted that some new features and improvements are coming, which make Billing Manager faster and easier to use, but are not compatible with IE6.

These posts were no accident.

We are currently working on some features that will makes Billing Manager  will not work with IE6.  Its time to upgrade to get the most out of the Billing Manager.  You will also benefit with other web sites you use, many are discontinuing IE6 support as well.

If it were me, I would first download Firefox and start using it.  You can install Firefox without changing your Internet Explorer version.   Then, when you are comfortable with Firefox, upgrade Internet Explorer. You will end up with 2 excellent browsers on your system. This is only a suggestion, its OK to just upgrade Internet Explorer.

If you are using a Macintosh, then you are already covered.  The new features work fine with Safari and Firefox.

Hey Billing Manager users, we have some fun webinars coming up.  These two are our favorites!

Online tools for strong offline relationships with John Jantsch
Wednesday, February 24 at 10:00am PST

Learn how to leverage social media and other Web tools to build stronger relationships with local customers, suppliers and prospects. John will cover how to create local communities with online groups, and how to access local bloggers and media to raise your brand awareness. He’ll also advise on how to use online communities to create offline events, mine social media platforms for local leads and how to enhance local search engine placement for your business.

Register here

Turn Clicks into Conversations and Relationships with Brent Leary
Wednesday, March 10 at 10:00am PST

Learn the tools and techniques needed to turn content into conversations, conversations into exchanges, and exchanges into long-lasting customer relationships. Brent will teach social listening, automating content creation and distribution, and steps for enhancing the customer experience with your company by facilitating opportunities for customers to connect with each other.

Register here

Find more free webinar events

If you go, share your thoughts or learnings with other Billing Manager  users. Leave them in the comments.

Rushing to finish 1099-MISCs and W-2s for contractors and employees?

Information you should know: The deadline to send independent contractors and employees their 1099-MISCs and W-2s is Feb 1st.

For you do-it-yourselfers, we know it can be a headache to gather all the payments, worker info, and do the calculations between year end and the deadline  (QuickBooks definitely helps with some of this remember). But, the 1099-MISC is especially troublesome if you’re filing manually because the IRS requires using a special paper form with red-boxes, which can only be ordered in packets of 25 or more – not very practical for those of you with just a few contractors!

We’re happy to share an easier way to finish these forms quickly and easily. A new service from our friends in TurboTax called Quick Employer Forms provides step-by-step guidance to prepare 1099-MISC, W-2 forms and e-file for only $2.95 each.

Bonus: If you finish your forms before 6:00AM PST on Jan 28, they will even mail them to your contractors and employees by the deadline. We hope you like it!

Check it out.

Thanks everyone for your patience. , During the recent downtime we successfully stepped up our game. We hope you enjoy the more tuned up Billing Manager!

The team is working hard and fast to make these maintenance updates successful. We’ll let you know when things have completed. But in the meantime…here are 10 things you can do while you wait!

1. Increase your reoccurring invoices and thus your profit. Learn how here.

2. Call a customer just to see how they are doing.  If you wait for customers to call you it’s like giving a 2 year old a can of red paint and putting them in a white room alone. When you check back later, you never know what surprise you are going to get!

3. Start using twitter and say hi to us. Your customers are on it, so should you be. Create an account and then update your status with 140 characters. Use @IntuitInvoice in your update to tell us hello! We’ll start following you back!

4. Relax. When your head is full with a to-do list your creativity decreases. (Proven fact! at least on the Billing Manager team). Take an hour and go for a walk, get inspired and energize

5. Check out the new Intuit App Center. This contains lots of business apps that help you run your business better. Most of them have free trials (and some are even completely free!!). Examples include web conferencing, email marketing, expense management.

6. Participate in the Love a Local Business campaign. This monthly contest awards local business big money just having loyal customers. Submit a story about your favorite local business (or get your customers to submit on behalf of you!).

7. Spend money. Yes, it may sound counter-intuitive but keep listening. If a new customer brings you $100 of new revenue…then you should totally fine paying up to $99 to get them in the door. (Now hopefully you pay a lot less than $99, but as a business just starting out, getting customers is the first task you have in front of you!)

8. Be inspired. Watch David Weekly (founder of PBwiki) talk about how to give your ideas ex-lax. It’s a funny and motivating talk!

9. Zen your desk. With a clean and pristine environment you can be more effective and organized. Take 20 minutes…dust it out.

10. Comment on this blog. What other things did you do today?