QuickBooks Online Success Story
QuickBooks Online allows mom to put family first
Bookkeeper Dreams of Work-Life Balance
In 2000, Linda Hemmler faced a dilemma. Like many working moms, she wanted to spend more time raising her two young daughters, but also needed to provide an income to her family. After a stint in a strict corporate environment, where parental duties like picking up her girls from school or taking them to dentist was frowned upon, she began to plan an exit strategy. "I was neglecting them and feeling bad about the whole thing. With my husband in construction, he never has a set quitting time. It had to be me who was available for our girls," she recalls.
Banking on her background as an accountant and bookkeeper, Linda dreamed of working part-time from home while enjoying the freedom and flexibility to take care of her family. Fortunately for her, a friend was about to open a computer store, and he needed bookkeeping help. In a nice convergence of circumstances, the store was ready to open and Linda was ready to quit her job. So she did, and took on her first client on a part-time basis.
The store was located 40 miles from Linda's Moscow, Pennsylvania home. Linda used QuickBooks Pro and QuickBooks Standard Payroll to manage the finances. Once a week, Linda would travel to the store to take care of bookkeeping.
Linda had achieved her goal - she loved her one-day-a-week routine, and she was able to take care of her daughters with the freedom and flexibility she wanted. Things were pretty perfect.
How to Keep the Books for Multiple Stores without Driving a Mile
But the opening of a second store, this one about 70 miles from Linda's home, threatened to disrupt her lifestyle. Without a better system, she would be driving twice as much and constantly swapping files between the two stores and her home computer, practice that is inconvenient and can easily lead to mistakes.
Linda was determined to make it work for everyone, including the store's owner who was so encouraging. "I have complete loyalty to this man. He gave me a shot at staying at home and doing what I want to do. So I was going to bend over backwards to find a good solution."
Linda began researching options and found the QuickBooks Online website. She and her client agreed that QuickBooks Online would fit both their needs: he would have access to the books at either store, and Linda could use it at home. They made the transition to QuickBooks Online. Linda was back to the good life. But payroll was still a challenge.
Anytime, Anywhere Payroll Makes Life Even Easier
Lucky for Linda, Intuit released QuickBooks Online Payroll within a few months, and she was saved again. The transition to QuickBooks Online Payroll was much easier than she expected. "I was getting myself all geared up to make another switch. And really there was no hassle at all. It was really very simple. And I thought 'Whoa, this is nice!' "
Linda found that using QuickBooks Online Payroll to process a payroll cycle very easy. "It's just so quick and so simple. Everything is set up, there's never any hassle in going into the individual employees and making a change before you cut a check. The flexibility is everything you could ask for," she says.
It's also fast. With QuickBooks Online Payroll, it takes Linda just a few minutes to process all eight employee paychecks for both stores. She creates all the paychecks at the first store, then calls the second store to let them know the checks are ready. The manager of the second store prints and distributes the paychecks, saving Linda precious time and effort.
"I am flying through these paychecks!" says Linda. "The best part is that I can do it from home now. We live in Pennsylvania and we get snowed out sometimes. What a nice thing to know that I don't have to feel bad because paychecks are late. They never are."
Linda and her client have no security qualms about using an online payroll service. Because they are both familiar with Intuit's reputation, they say they are confident that their data is safe.
And what about the cost of QuickBooks Online Payroll? "You can't beat it!" says Linda.
A Solution that Fits for Everyone
Best of all, the combination of QuickBooks Online Plus Online Payroll has provided Linda with a solution that fits for everyone. Linda is able to work wherever and whenever her schedule allows, and her client is thrilled with the arrangement.
"I don't know how well I would have been able to stay with him on the second store had I not been able to use the online version of payroll. I saw how busy my own life continued to be - I don't have much extra time to give to work - so thank goodness I did not have to lose this client. He's really the only reason I was able to give this thing a whirl in the first place."
