Bookkeeping is a necessary evil for a small businesses. It’s got to be done but takes away from important face time with clients and prospects.

Wave Accounting is an online accounting tool for small business owners. Designed for non-accountants it’s easier than a spreadsheet and more powerful. You can work from anywhere; log on using any Internet connection. You can share and collaborate with your colleagues.

I’m using it and recommending it to my clients who have businesses to run and can’t waste time on bookkeeping. There’s a 30 day free trial and an account is reasonably priced and can be cancelled at anytime.

One of my clients no longer needs these domains and they are available for sale.
RedThreadRetreat.com | RedThreadRetreat.org | RedThreadRetreat.ca
If you are interested please contact me.

If you’re not on a network with a network administrator who backs up your data for you, and if you would find it very costly or inconvenient to lose the data on your computer such as your email archives, you should have a back procedure in place.

If you store all your files on your local ‘C’ drive and that drive is no longer accessible, it could be expensive or even impossible to retrieve that data. If you’re running a business, losing your data and email archives is like having a fire.

Here are two simple options to back up your data:
a. Purchase an external disk drive, available for less than $100 today, and use a software like Syncback, available as Freeware. Configure Syncback to automatically copy your important files to the external drive on a regular schedule.

b. Sign up with Carbonite, an online backup service that automatically backs up your files for US$50/year. If you use your computer to generate income, backing up your files is essential and this should be a deductible expense. I use Carbonite.

Backing up your Outlook email
If you use Outlook on a PC your email archive is ‘buried’ deep inside Windows in a PST file. The default location is: C:\Documents and Settings\User Profile\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook\Archive.pst. If you have trouble locating it you can use this technique to find your Outlook PST file. Regardless how you backup your data, make sure you backup your email archive. This is not necessary if you use a webmail service like Gmail.

1. Search Engine Optimization: Become an expert in your field, add lots of good content to your site, blog, Twitter, make speeches, write a book. Monitor your website traffic with Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools and tweak your site based on what you learn. Consider registering a domain name that has your keywords in it, if available.

2. Search Engine Optimization and Google Adwords: Do all of the above and then buy your keywords and phrases from Google Adwords. You can offer to pay x cents per click (ppc) for your search phrase, you may have to outbid other sellers to get your listing up higher on the search results list. You can cap your cost with your budget. This should be done after number 1 is completed.

Recently I received an email from a close friend saying he was in the UK, had lost his wallet, and the hotel wouldn’t return his passport until he paid his bill. Would I wire him $2,000? My first reaction was to try to help because the email appeared legit just like all the other emails I had received from him over the years. Fortunately I checked with his brother first and didn’t send the money. But others have been victim of this scam. See “E-mail fraudster targets Torontonians”.

Here is a security tip to help prevent this from happening to you. Change your email password, and indeed all of your passwords, every 2-3 months. Here is a password generator to create random passwords for you: http://www.makepass.com/.

It’s impossible to remember all of our passwords especially if they are all different and randomly generated, which they should be. Here’s a way to store your passwords securely, Password Safe: http://www.schneier.com/passsafe.html.

Both Makepass and Password Safe are open-source, free programs.

Here’s how to make your email address ‘clickable’ on a web page. Just add a ‘mailto:’ to the tag, like this:

(Note email address is made up, use your email address.)
————————
or to show your email address:

————————
or to include a subject for the subject line of the email:

Change the ‘hello’ to whatever subject line you wish.

In 1993 Adobe Systems introduced Adobe Acrobat. The software uses a Portable Document Format (PDF) which has become the standard for the any kind of transmission of large documents

Why edit a PDF?
Many of us have encountered situations where PDF files need to be edited. They may contain grammar and spelling mistakes? Whenever possible, make the changes in the original Word file, and recreate the PDF from it. If the Word file is no longer available, recreating the PDF is not an option. The only option is to change the PDF file if it is not locked by a password that you don’t have.

The difficulties of editing PDF files
A PDF file is a ‘What You See Is What You Get’ (WYSIWYG) format. It is just a snapshot or a graphic portrayal of text. This is important for a company that wants to send information like annual reports without having someone editing them. Editing a PDF file requires some knowledge and a premium software package.

Here are four options for editing a PDF file

1. If you have the original file from which the PDF was created. Make the changes directly in the original file, often a Word file, and recreate the PDF file using a free utility such as PrimoPDF.
2. If you own Adobe Acrobat (not the free Adobe Reader). Open the PDF in Acrobat and edit it. You will need the original authoring password if the PDF file is password protected. You will also need access to the fonts used in the file.
3. Use a less expensive editor like Foxit to make minor edits.
4. Convert the PDF to another format – The best format to work with is Microsoft Word, and its .DOC documents. In order to convert and edit PDF files, you will need a PDF to Word Converter program. There are dozens of PDF to Word converter programs. Some are free. If you have the budget, premium software will produce better results. Just search Google for PDF to Word converters.

Opening a csv file in Microsoft Excel can result in lost French accents. To conserve your French accents follow these steps.

With Excel 2007 open, create a new workbook (Ctrl+N or File –> New… –> Blank Workbook).
Click “Data –> Get External Data –> From Text…”.
In the “Select Data Source” window, find the desired CSV file, select it, and click “Import”.
In the “Text Import Wizard – Step 1 of 3″ window, choose UTF-8 as the file origin, select “Delimited” and click “Next”.
In the “Text Import Wizard – Step 2 of 3″ window, check the box next to “Comma” and click “Next”.
In the “Text Import Wizard – Step 3 of 3″ window, select Finish.

You can now manipulate the csv file as needed. The French accents should be conserved.

Have you ever accidentally clicked the Send button instead of Save Now, or clicked Send and realized you wish you hadn’t. Just enable the Undo feature in the Settings / Labs menu. When you clik Send you’ll have 5 seconds to reverse the process by clicking the Undo button highlighted in yellow.

Find out from Charles Hodgson’s Podictionary.