Does anyone used a program to keep track of their photography business ex. photo paper, equipment, earnings from a shoot, etc. I'd like to keep track and am not sure what program to get.
Thank you very much for your time and help
Le'lani
I ran my own Graphic Design & Illustration business for 10 years, and I used Quicken. It allows you to generate custom categories (most useful for expenses) which you can define as coarsly or as broadly as you have the patience for. If you make the categories too fine (for example "paper clips" vs. "office supplies" you will spend a lot of time on the accounting.
Also, there are two general motivations for keeping this type of records: tax compliance vs. optomizing business efficiency. Quicken's business templates will lead you directly to tax compliance, whereas, using the program to record, examine and identify areas of your business that need improvement require lots more data points, and a TON more commitment to both entering and analyzing the data.
Ane last thing: don't underestimate the human trait of avoiding things that aren't pleasurable. I was always having to force myself to keep records, to do accounting stuff. As an artist, it isn't my strength, and it showed. I finally gave up and hired people to do it for me, and it was always done, never mind done right and done on-time. If you're going to set Quicken up and do your own accounting, don't be shy about hiring an accountant to help you.
I've used Quicken for around 6 years now - swear by it. Once set up, and provided, as Alan says, you're good at making yourself do the chores, it's a breeze. I just make sure I enter all payments receipts etc. when I get, before checking e-mail - becomes part of the routine after a while.
The reporting in it isn't anything super-flash, I don't think, but it certainly has the flexibility for me to keep track of my main business, and the photography, and whatever else I need to keep track of.
I once tracked how much I spent on beer for a month. Now that was really frightening.
Keep in mind that there is also a QuickBooks product, which is geared more for the small business owner than for the home user. I've used both and would recommend QuickBooks for all but the most elementary businesses.
You can probably get by with the most expensive version of Quicken, it is designed to support the running of a very small business, like a sole proprietorship and small partnerships. It can even handle payroll for a few employees.
However, if you really want a good support for a small business, I would look at Quickbooks or Quickbooks Pro. Quickbooks is designed to handle small to medium sized businesses.
I created my own MS Access database to keep track of everything. It allows me to create my own reports that I can send to my accountant at the end of the year. I didn't feel like buying another piece of software that didn't do exactly what I wanted it to do.
I think there is a sample you can download from Microsoft Templates that is similar to mine.
