A Tried and True (Bookkeeping Software) Example of a Converging Solution

People sometimes ask me what our Converging Solutions Model is all about. I'll often use a food example to illustrate the Converging Solution such as a:

1. #Reese's Peanut Butter Cup,
2. Colliding with a #DQ Blizzard, and
3. Being sold as a fundraiser for a non-profit organization.

This analogy works for most people! It illustrates three great things coming together for a greater good... But anytime someone asks me about what time-keeping, invoicing-submitting, contractor-tracking, integration-friendly #bookkeeping software I use, I tell them about my #ConvergingSolutions experience with #Freshbooks! And while within this article I will provide you a link to take you directly to their FreshBooks Pricing Page that may result in me getting a free month of access or enough cold, hard (ice-cream) cash to buy my own #Blizzard with Reese's topping (there it is, fully-disclosed in front of God and everybody), my affiliate partnership with them only developed after I had faithfully used their service for over five years and have proven their product and been repeatedly impressed by their customer support! But I'm getting ahead of myself!

Why talk about #Freshbooks in this post? Three main reasons:

1. Because this month FreshBooks started a unique promotion for small businesses that reduces their already super-reasonable subscription by 60% for the first 6-months if you skip their 30-day free trial. (This is great because the best way to get acclimated to their project is to dive in, and if I do enough to answer your main questions here I'll minimize the risk for you, so it's a no-brainer.) Besides, who wants to try a new comprehensive software solution that's solving 3-4 different problems for just 30 days? It's a ROYAL pain to invest the time and energy to get set up in a new system only to change directions after 30 days... Do your research first and then save yourself several hours of implementation time and money!
2. Because I have a bit more band-width to support friends and colleagues asking about Freshbooks this month and next in the middle of this Coronavirus meltdown (and several people are simultaneously working to get a side-gig propped up quickly and efficiently in the middle of a #layoff). This tool will be super-helpful as you try to focus more on the work you LIKE to do "IN the business," and less on "working ON the business," while still getting paid quickly and efficiently so you can continue to grow!
3. It's starting to get warmer and within a month I want to AT LEAST go through a drive-thru and get myself a Blizzard (and if I help two people, then I might even take my wife and call it at date)!

*NOTE: The above is another example of a Converging Solution: YOU WIN (60% discount), FRESHBOOKS WINS (acquiring new clients, and I WIN (Developing a trusted-advisor relationship within my network by recommending a great product... and I even score a dessert)!

MY TOP THREE LIST

You can learn more about how ridiculously easy it is to use FreshBooks by navigating their site, but here are the TOP 3 things I've personally found most helpful to our business as we've grown significantly over the past five years:

• Reason #3 - Create and send professionally-templated invoices in seconds. I used to DREAD end of the month because it took me so long to track and pull project hours and create client #invoices. With Freshbooks it takes less than a minute per client! Easy-breezy!
• Reason #2 - Set up projects that will track my time, contractors time, and give clients visibility to hours burned in a fully integrated system (this is the #ConvergingSolutions 3 or 4 tools in one that Freshbooks does so well for small-business owners that made their solution a no-brainer for us)!
• Reason #1 - Their customer support team is simply INCREDIBLE! To be transparent, I hate #accounting! And in the 30-50 times I've called FreshBooks for support over the years, I've consistently been answered by a LIVE PERSON that SPEAKS MY LANGUAGE! (And by that I don't just mean English, but even more importantly, they understand that I'm not an accounting geek and I don't know how to talk finance!) Their team is incredibly patient as they've helped me get set up to serve my clients, or provide my contractors free access to Freshbooks, or as they listen to my out-of-the box scenario that no one has ever asked them before... and then they solve it! In this world of call-times and quotas, I'm so grateful for their live-human-being, amazingly great customer support team (HUGE VALUE-ADD)!

There you have it! My top three reasons for my open, unapologetic endorsement of FreshBooks! It's the convergence of their award-winning product features, the value of their service and their amazing support team that has made such a difference for our business! And thanks for using my affiliate FreshBooks link when you are ready to decrease your #small #business accounting pain and try them out for yourself!

A FINAL NOTE:

Feel free to make comments below if you too are a Freshbooks enthusiast! However, because I don't live on #LinkedIn, and I like to streamline collegial support offered, if you have specific questions, please send me a note at [email protected] and request the date of my next lunch-n-learn sessions (which I typically offer monthly) to share my TOP 5 recommendations for getting started in Freshbooks. (Please include any specific questions you have within your email!) If you are seriously interested in jumping into Freshbooks, this 30-minute lunch-n-learn session is sure to help you feel more confident about getting started quickly and easily! (Note: Freshbooks subscription is NOT required to join us for this session, and while I'm happy to help you get acclimated to a product I believe in during this webinar, I do limit my free advice on getting started to this 30-minute session. Remember, I don't like accounting... :-)

Respectfully,

Robb Bingham | Learning Strategist & CEO