As I mentioned in a previous post, I am trying to find ways to stay in my home office as much as possible. Not only does this save money and increase productivity, I just happen to love being here.

Far and away the most useful tool that I’ve come across to facilitate this transition is a service called Dropbox. I mentioned it in a tip a while back about my love for Dropbox, but I wanted to restate why this has been so invaluable for my home business.

Dropbox is a service that allows you to sync your files to the cloud. To start, you can get a free account that lets you sync up to 2GB of files. You can upload files to the site, or install an app locally. When installed, it creates a My Dropbox folder, usually in your Documents folder. Anything you put in that folder (providing you don’t go over your 2GB limit), gets synced automatically to the cloud. Now, whenever you access your account online or from another computer with the app installed, those same files are synced up. There is a good mobile version of the website, and there’s even an iPhone app, which I use all the time. If you need more space, they also offer 50GB for $10/month (this is the one I use) or 100GB for $20/month.

There are so many ways to use this service. When I worked in an office, I used to sync one of my iTunes libraries, so I’d have my favourite music wherever I went. Lifehacker has quite a few good articles on creative ways to use Dropbox.

• Sync your Pidgin profile
• Dropbox portable syncs files to your thumb drive
• Synchronize web passwords with Dropbox and Roboform

The limits really do come down to the limits of your imagination. Anything you`d like to have synced up across multiple computers, Dropbox is probably the app to do it.

How Has It Helped Me The Most?

The biggest use I have for it now is with clients. Dropbox makes it very easy to share folders. The first thing I do when I get a new client, or start a new project, is create a folder in My Dropbox. From there, I can share that folder with anyone else working on the project. Anyone who has access to the folder can add, edit, and move files as needed. So, a client can copy new invoices into the folder. Each day, I look for new files, and enter the information into QuickBooks.

As soon as I buy my NeatDesk, I will be able to scan all the invoices, bills, etc. into that folder so that the client can have an instant digital copy of all of their records. That service alone would be something I could charge extra for.

With that, I’ve eliminated 1 more car trip. Tada!

What About You?

Do any of you use Dropbox? If so, how has it helped you out? If you haven’t, and you ‘d like to try it out, follow the link to sign up today. If you sign up with the link I’ve provided, you’ll get an additional 250MB free.

Dropbox

I’ve been running my own bookkeeping business for a long time. Until recently, however, it’s always been in conjunction with another job that took me out of the house. Or, like last year, I worked as a subcontracted vendor, but worked in the client’s business. Either way, being home on a weekday wasn’t usually a good sign. At the end of last year, that business shut down. This meant that, for the first time in a long time, I didn’t have to leave the house to get to work.

The past few months have been challenging. I was used to a very specific schedule, and the sudden string of changes really threw me off. It always felt like I should be somewhere else. I would be in the middle of a big pile of paperwork, but still feel lazy, as though working from home was some type of copout.

I’m now 4 months into this new schedule, and I absolutely love it. It takes a lot of discipline to pull it off, and I still struggle with it daily, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

My Plan

My plan is to eliminate as many reasons for leaving the house as possible. This, obviously, doesn’t include fun things I like to do with the family, or buying groceries. Working in an office outside the home created so many errands and expenses, and I really want to find a way to eliminate as many of them as I can.

Why?

There are a few reasons.

1. It costs a lot less money to stay at home.
2. It costs a lot less time.
3. It’s better for my health and the environment.

Examples

1. I fill up our vehicle once every 4-6 weeks, instead of every week.
2. I used to spend 1-2 hours every day, just driving, running errands, and picking up lunch.
3. The extra money and time reduces a lot of stress, I eat out once a week (or less) instead of daily, and the reduction of fuel and takeout takes a big chunk out of my impact on the environment.

Exceptions

My plan is not to try to be a shut-in, and ignore my clients. There will be times where it will make more sense to go out for a meeting, to pick up paperwork, or to simply network. I just happen to have the kind of job (bookkeeping) that doesn’t require a lot of face time. Let’s face it, how many times have you thought to yourself;

I really wish I could see my bookkeeper more often. I mean, I just love seeing the expression on his face when he talks about profit margins.

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

I’m currently working on a list of tips and tricks I’ve figured out, in case any of you are interested in a similar pursuit. I’ll post 1 or 2 every week until I run out or you get sick of reading about them.

Do you work from home? Do you have a great tip to cut down on the time you spend outside of the home? Please put them in the comments, I’d love to hear about them.

3GEZPZATAADP

The Canadian dollar has done some crazy things in my day. I did a search on the Bank of Canada website, to see the highs and lows against the US dollar over the course of my life. I found out something very interesting.

If you take a look at this, the high and low points of our dollar over the past 30+ years were both in this decade.

For some reason, as a bookkeeper, I’ve never worked for a client who exported product into the US. Most of them have had US vendors, so a strong Canadian dollar has always meant 1 of 2 things.

1. Buy more product from the US vendors before they change their prices
2. Pay off your $US accounts

I know from experience, when the dollar is fluctuating, it can make a huge impact in a very short period of time. Quite a few of the clients I’ve worked with bought their primary product through a US company. Let’s say they’re given Net 90 repayment terms with their vendor (not as common, but it happens on some big purchases). It’s happened that between the time they ordered the product, and when it came time to pay, the Canadian dollar made a 15% shift against the US dollar. Depending on the way it shifted, that company just paid 15% more or less for their main product. And, as anyone who’s worked in retail knows, it’s very difficult to pass that loss onto the customer by increasing your prices.

What about all of you?

I’d love to hear some of your experiences with the shifting dollar, especially if you do a lot of exporting to the US. I would love to find out how you dealt with the changes between 2002 and 2007. How did you handle it? Did the business survive? Let me know if the comments.