Thousands of small home businesses are started up each year – it’s the perfect way to make your own career. It’s a cliché, but it’s pretty great to be your own boss.
There’s also little more rewarding than gaining experience in running a business that belongs to you rather than just working for somebody else’s. But if you don’t use your computer to the best of its ability to help make your business an effective weapon in the marketplace, you’ll be dead in the water.
Getting off the ground
The first thing you should do before you start buying fancy pencil-sharpeners and multi-coloured sticky notes (as much fun as that is) is to get your company computer connected to the internet. Once that’s done, you’ll want to set up your own business network so that other workers’ computers can communicate with it.
This should be wireless, in case you want to work around your home from a laptop, and if you’ve got other people working with you, you’ll want them to be able to connect to it to without miles of cable trailing around your home and tripping up your family.
But you won’t want anyone else to be able to use your wireless network, not just because it’s technically stealing, but because it would put your confidential business information at risk.
Once your network is set up, Windows Vista will automatically turn it into a private network. This is good for confidentiality, but it doesn’t allow other computers accessing your network to take a look at your files or to print using your printer.
Type Network and Sharing Center into the Start search and look under the Sharing and Discovery list to turn on File sharing and Printer sharing. This will then enable co-workers to access files and printers, and turns your small group of computers into a sharing network.
Under lock and key
If you’ve got either Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate editions, you can take advantage of one of their key security features – the built-in Encrypting File System, which will make sure your confidential company files are kept safe and secure, away from prying eyes.
Go to the Start menu, select Computer, and go to the file or folder that you want to encrypt. Then right-click it, select Properties from the drop-down menu and click on Advanced in the General tab. Then check the Encrypt contents to secure data tick box to start the encryption procedure.
If your business starts to really pick up and you need more than this, you’ll need to pay £34.00 to download the unlimited version. Getting started with QuickBooks is as easy as the name suggests. Simply enter the name of your company, select how your customers pay you, and whether you need to pay VAT.
Easy money
Once you’ve done all this, you’ll be taken to the main QuickBooks interface, and from here you can manage all the different financial aspects of your business.
It’s split into three areas to show you what money is going in from your customers or suppliers, which account it’s going into, and what money is coming out of your bank to pay for overheads such as your electricity bill.
Read below to see how to use the basics in QuickBooks to get your business all set up and ready to go.
Making the most from your business
Set up a bank account. To get the wheels on your QuickBooks business turning, you need to create a new account. You can do this by using the CTRL + A shortcut to open the Chart of Accounts, right-clicking on any account already listed, and clicking on New in the drop-down menu. In the box that comes up, click on Bank as the account type, press Continue, and type an Account Name, optionally adding an account number and opening balance if you want to.
Add new customers. From the QuickBooks interface, put the mouse pointer over the Customers icon and from the drop-down menu, select Add a new customer. Add their delivery and contact information, and how they’re paying you, then click OK.
Pay overheads. To write a cheque to pay for any outgoing expenses, such as the electricity bill, put the mouse pointer over the Write cheques icon, click on New, and enter the payee’s details on the cheque. In the Expense Category menu, select what you’re paying for and a cost amount, then Save and Close.
Create a receipt. Place the mouse pointer on the Sales Receipts icon and select New. In the Customer dropdown menu, select the customer to issue the receipt to. Then in the Item dropdown menu, select the type of item you’ve sold, enter a description and a price, then Save and Close it.
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