OK, I am having way too much fun with this!

[jojo2324]

As some of you may know, I started my own house cleaning business this year. So far, so good. I have four weekly accounts, and I also now have a partner...DUM DA DUM DUM...My mother! When I got my first phone call, I was so clueless about what questions to ask, etc, so I asked for some help and a partnership was born! It works, because my mother is very good with people, really knows how to schmooze, and I have great contacts and can bring in the business.

Anyhoo, my mother is not so savvy with a computer, so I get to draw up the bills, and I gotta say, I am LOVING it. I haven't even gotten paid yet for any of the work I've been doing these past few weeks, but I LOVE making up the bills. :D It's not even the idea that creating these bills might actually supply me an income; it is simply making them! I have my Joanne's Clean Sweep folder on my desktop, and then each customer has his/her own folder (in the Clean Sweep folder), and each customer has a template bill that I can work from. Now, this may sound rudimentary to most of you, but for me...This is quite an accomplishment! I especially love to click and drag, and see things get morphed into something else.

I am such a dork. :7

[sweetbasil]

So glad your business is off to such a great start, Joanne...this must be a great season for your location, too! It sounds like you're all set to clean up around there (ha), and I hope things keep going well with your new partner :)

I've been meaning to ask, have you quit the crazy restaurant-all-weekend schedule then?

[MartiesMom2B]

Joanne:

Very cool. I'm very impressed by your entrepreneurial (had to look that up the spelling) spirit. You will make a clean sweep in the area. Hardy har har. I know that if you do well that word of mouth will spread and you'll be doing great.

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03
http://www.mcdyer.com/MartieSurasky.htm

[mama2be]

JOanne you are adorable I swear!!!! I am so proud of you...I know I say that all of the time but I am!!! Way to go mom for helping wihtt he housework!!!! that is a awesome...you watch this is going to grow quickly!!! :)...glad you have partner to help !!!

[celfsh]

Joanne,

Congrats! I'm so glad things are going well. I have to say I really admire you for starting your own biz! Sometimes I think I'd like to, but I'm too scared!

celeste
mom to olivia 9/25/02
http://homepage.mac.com/the_big_fish

[brubeck]

If making bills is what really turns you on, perhaps you could get a job as a billing assistant? :-)

[chrissyhowie]

Joanne,

You are so funny! If you are this excited about just designing the bills, you'll probably be doing dances of joy when the $MONEY$ that those lovely bills generate starts to roll in! I think we'd all be healthier people if we just embraced our inner dork...:+

[jojo2324]

Believe it or not, I am actually persuing that now. :o A friend of Shawn's has a huge pool cleaning service company, and can't keep up with both the billing and the service, so he has asked me to help him out. Of course, I took a whole QuickBooks course and couldn't really focus after the 50-year old male instructor started laughing like Elmo. I kid you not. ALL THE TIME. He thought he was really quite funny.

[mharling]

Joanne -
I totally understand how you feel. I started my own company last fall and I always loved the invoicing. I was elated when I learned that I could use some functionality within QuickBooks to automatically create and e-mail a .pdf (Adobe Acrobat) invoice to my client. The little things, huh???? :7

Mary
Mommy to Lane Michael 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b33928e40550

[JMarie]

Joanne, you just crack me up... Congrats on your booming business!

Jennifer
Mom to Aidan Christopher 01/28/03

[suzska]

LOL, Joanne!

I'm a dork right there along with you.

When DH and I lived in a townhouse development I actually did the collection of the assessment fees and paid the bills (landscaping, maintenance, etc.).

I used Quicken (not QuickBooks) and M.Y.O.B. But the graphic designer in me was never happy with the invoices you could create. And it was a pain to print them and mail them every month (49 units!). One year (or was it two?) I created payment booklets using "tickets" from PaperDirect (you'd have to see them to understand). In PageMaker, no less! I was a glutton for punishment and printed them all on my laserwriter, changing the info for each owner. Find/Replace was my friend. I probably spent way too much time designing those things....And I didn't get paid for any of it!

But, hey, I also got to design the newsletter....

[Annette_C]

Joanne,
How wonderful that your business is doing well! And you have a partner already!
I'm glad you're enjoying invoicing. I did too!! LOL:)
I think deep down inside us, we know that invoicing leads to cash!;)
Best wishes for continued success!
Annette
SAHM to Sabrina 6/24/02

[jojo2324]

Yeah, you're all right. Got my first check yesterday and it felt pretty goooooooooooood. :D