Computer Business Program

[CLRtoQuilt]

Morning Everyone,

All of you that do the LA business,

Do you use a computer program for your business and which one?

I just been doing some research and found the Eureka documentation program and was also wondering if anyone has this program and what you think of it. If you have the Quilters Busness Manager do you also have and use the Organized Quilter to go with it?

Thanks a bunch

Char

[diane Bevans]

I use simple Excel spreadsheets for my cashflow, check register, customer quilt information and customer contact information. I have formuals built into the cashflow, and use this for my tax information for my tax man. Unless you are doing payroll and AR and AP with an inventory, I think keeping it simple is the best way. Most of the computers you buy now adays have excell, and if not the same thing can built on the green ledger books with how many columns you need and done by hand. I think you need to determine what information you need and want and how much time you are willing devote to the program, because with anything there is a learning curve. Where is your business going? is another question you might want to ask yourself at the beginning. Do you have a business plan? Because writing one will force you to concentrate on what is important right now, and then revise once a year. Just my thoughts.

[housenextdoor]

I have the Organized quilter program and love it. I keep my inventory for my LARGE stash of fabric and thread, batting etc. ( but I am an organizer freak!!! I need to know what I have and where I bought it plus cost if need to use it for a customer--besides that I like computers too):

Access linked to Excel to keep track of my books / Customers it takes care of everything when combined.

Access makes it easy to sort or search, helps me keep track of what projects I have done for each client along with their likes and dislikes as well as favorite threads etc.

Keep it as simple as possible quickbooks is way off / quicken is ok but all you really need is a spread sheet other wise the learning curve and your time are spent doing nothing but books

[Mo]

My husband and I both have businesses. We both use Quick Books Pro and it is a very easy for our accountant to get year end info from this program. It is easy to set up, gives great reports. I have all my prices set up by panto, batting prices, thread, you get the idea. I looked into the quilting business software, but it didn't offer everything I was looking for. My 2 cents worth.

[Guest Linda S]

I have the Quilters Business Manager software. It is fabulous. It is geared directly towards our business. You can enter your price for different types of quilting (large meander, medium meander, free hand with a border, custom, etc) and it will calculate the cost of quilting by the inch, foot, etc. You can also put in your batting and thread charges, binding, etc. It keeps your customers in a database and you can use that to mail flyers, discount cards, or holiday greetings. You can store a picture of each quilt, so if Jane tells you that she wants you to quilt her top just like you did Mary's last year, you can find it and know what she's talking about. You can see the screen shots at www.eurekadocumentation.com. I cannot imagine anything you would need for your business that is not available in this software. I also recently got the Organized Quilter software to help me organize my studio. It is really cool.

Linda

[CLRtoQuilt]

Thank you all for your input, I will have to do more thinking on whats going to be best for me. I am writing the business plan so hopefully that will also help me to decide.

Char