ivantohelpyou

Here are my latest dispatches for SmallBizResource:

• A blog post about online backup using Amazon S3 and Jungle Disk.
• My review of QuickBooks Online Edition.

Plus, check out the new section in New York Times about, you guessed it, small business! This has apparently become a lucrative little niche in the publishing world.

Labels: accounting, Amazon, small biz

I'm putting the finishing touches on an article for SmallBizResource about QuickBooks Online Edition, and Scooter says to me, "Wasn't last week Accounting Week?"

"Actually, QuickBooks Online Edition brings the community aspects, the rich-media interface and mashup capabilities characteristic of Web 2.0 to the world of accounting software," I replied. "And so it's entirely appropriate for me to close out Web 2.0 Expo Week by writing this article."

"You're an idiot."

That's how we communicate. True story.

Labels: accounting, small biz, Web 2.0

After filing my taxes online, I noticed a link to the TurboTax "Tax Rap" contest website.

Intuit has a $25,000 contest inviting users to perform YouTube rap songs about TurboTax software. The host of the contest is Vanilla Ice, who set a definite example for many of the contest participants.

Although I sampled many of the latest entries, I was incapable of watching any of them to completion. Here are some of the images I'm trying to forget:

• Formerfatboy: "I make 30 grand a year, so much for my degree / and I write about games so I can write 'em off, sweet!"
• Gmiller10304: SNL "Chronic of Narnia" redux.
• Rhettandlinl: Geeky duo in early Will Smith style. The non-rapping, singing climax was painful.
• Goremy: All about the Uncle Sam costume.
• Lucidsurreal: Animated entry, with the best sound editing, overdubs and syncopated rhymes.
• Djfwally: More Zappa than Rappa.
• Evcakes: Guys wearing suits riding tricycles boasting about their financial planning skills. "You'll be workin' in the factory while I'll be sippin daquiries/Playin' shuffleboard with senior ladies comin' after me."
• Funkyfreshco: Guy wearing an oversized dog mask going old school. Plus a guy with a robot mask does the robot.

My vote goes to Evcakes. They were the ones who went farthest beyond "it's funny to rap about taxes" to perform "a funny rap about taxes."

Labels: accounting, music, tax

As part of getting things done, I have recently started to "theme" my weekly activities, so that I know exactly what I should be doing when I wake up in the morning (well, it's always morning somewhere).

This week is Accounting Week.

Apropos of the upcoming April 15th festivities (celebrated this year on the following Monday, April 16th), I will be doing the following accounting-related activities:

• For SmallBizResource, testing QuickBooks Online in comparison to the offline versions of the software as a followup to past QuickBooks-related coverage (reviews of the Pro/Premier and Simple Start versions compared to their MS counterparts).
  
• Using Intuit software to pay my taxes for the first time as a small-business owner.
• Beta-testing online accounting software from Less Accounting.
  
• Blogging about all of the above.
  
• Paying bills.
• Figuring out how to increase revenues throughout the rest of 2007.

But first, did you hear about the constipated accountant?

He worked it out with a pencil.

Labels: accounting, small biz