Maybe you don't want to buy Microsoft Office?

How about editing a document with group of people at the same time?

Google are everywhere and Google Docs at www.google.com/docs is another example of great free tools. The suite of tools includes document editor, spreadsheet program and even presentation software. Apart from begin online, the really interesting part is that you can share the edit of any of your documents with other people but you can both edit and view a live version of the document at the same time. Particularly good if you are talking on the telephone discussing and developing a document or slideshow.

Google Docs is well worth a look and easy to use.

Once you have completed a document you can print from the software and export into the "real" office software.

I use sage accounts for my main books which goes a long way to managing the books but it isn't very modern and not very manageable.

One of the fastest growing accounting software products, FRESHBOOKS, came to my rescue.

Freshbooks is an online invoicing, time tracking and support ticket system. I use it along side sage but why have two systems.

My first interest in this arrangement is getting paid. Freshbooks allows me to invoice quickly and easily. It issues an electronic invoice which is emailed or at a click of a button posted to your client all online with no franking, stamp licking or envelope stuffing.

The invoice created can be linked to a payment system such as paypal so your client can click a link and pay online.

If by any chance your client does not pay bills straight away, then the system will start to send out automatic reminders from you. You decide the timings and the text that is sent. My emails are not the standard ones I have injected some of my own personality into them and they do feel like I sent them personality. It appear I am on top of my accounts – if only people knew.

One great feature is you can see if a client has viewed the online invoice – so there is no excuse of I haven't seen it. During my two years of using the system I have unfortunately had two companies go into administration. One thing I noticed is that three months before it happened both companies stopped looking at the electronic invoices. Now I am ready for any next time it happens to chase harder and to stop working on their projects earlier.

If you offer a service or product on a re-occurring billing basis then Freshbooks steps in to help again. You set up a repeating invoice that automatically invoices the clients each period.

Your clients also get access to an online statement without having to wait for you to send one. This can be branded with your company's colours and even completely hide the freshbooks web address.

At the end of each quarter freshbooks gives you a quarterly scorecard comparing your accounts to similar business type so you can see how you are doing. Are your customers paying quicker or slow? Is your order size bigger or smaller than average.

I haven't covered the online estimate and approval system, the time tracking for projects linked to billing or the support ticket and file sharing tools. Apart from the online estimate I have not got a use for those parts of the system.

The only downside I can find is that you have to keep reasonable up to date with entering payments coming in. Otherwise your clients get emails saying they haven't paid when they have! Not good.

The little effort needed is well rewarded by a dashboard should invoicing totals over the current quarter, amounts unpaid and paid. Even better is the increase in payment time you can get from properly running this system.

All in all a highly recommended service that is worth trying out.

Resources:

Freshbooks website

Can't live with them …  can't live without them.

The more you use the Internet the more passwords you gain. Often different website require different passwords – some with numbers, capitals or special characters.

It becomes harder and harder to remember them all or you start using the same password all the time. Just imagine what happens if one of those websites you sign up to captures your password and starts using it all around the Internet.

My solution to this issue is ROBOFORM … see http://www.roboform.com/ – which is a password manager which remembers all your passwords for you. You simple have to remember one master password.

Better still Roboform works from inside your Internet Explorer or Firefox Browser to give you a list of website you may wish to login to. You select a website, it takes you there, logins you in and off you go. All in just one click.

Better still it can make up passwords for you. They are nice and complex as well as unique to every website you register on. Better still as it remembers them for you it doesn't matter how complex they are.

Using lots of different computers including public Internet cafe computers – try Roboform portable version. This is installed on a memory stick which you plug into any computer and it links in with the browser on that computer automatically. When you are done remove the memory stick … it cleans up after itself so no-one can login after you have gone.

At $29.99 it is an essential productivity and security tool at an affordable price.

What does it look like?

Roboform adds itself to you Internet Explorer or Firefox menu as a toolbar. You can then see a list of the most recent website I have logged in to (A), so I can quickly go back to them. On the right you can also see the organised list of websites I have stored away.

Need a new password – use the generate option to create and store a nice complicated, unguessable password.

As a bonus, Roboform also includes an automatic form filler to make it easy to register on all the sites you need to. Even makes buying things online easier by completing your credit card details if you wish.

All in all – highly recommended and good value.

Small Biz Podcast is a living business story each week – a mini audio business magazine. Bizpod is top of my list of podcasts on my iphone.

The podcast run by Alex Bellinger, covers subjects for small and medium size businesses as well as solopreneurs.

Each week's podcast features interviews from around the business world and has included both big names and small like Rachel Elnaugh and Michael Gerber of e-Myth fame.

The difference

One of the main differences with other podcasts is that Alex interviews rather than just offering his opinion in a empty room.

Alex has a light hearted approach to interviewing which gets the best from interviewees and create meaty but very interesting content.

Past subjects have included social entrepreneurship, management buyouts and going solo – freelancing.

The podcasts normally end with a piece of electronica, a chance to hear something different to enlarge your musical tastes. Nice to take a break from the learning that pours out of my iPod normally.

The Michael Gerber interview was real food for the soul. His philosophy of life was well worth hearing and helped me clarify a few meaning of life issues as well as reminding me of the excellent e-myth teachings. Worth listening to even if you don't regularly listen to podcasts.

Each 30-45 minute podcast is packed full of goodness and business thinking. My exercise routine is much enhanced by my weekly download of small biz pod.

Find It

You can find Small Biz Pod at www.SmallBizPod.co.uk where you can also find his blog.

Did you know you can see up to 100 in one go?

This can be very frustrating especially if you are search for your websites at position 91 in the list.

The secret is a link next to the search box on Google called Preferences.

Click on it and you have a range of options. Look for the number of results section.

Change the setting to 20,30,50 or 100 to see more. While you are there have a look at some of the other options available like safesearch and maybe searching for english only pages.

Enjoy….