Success Story
QuickBooks Online Helps Web Designer Try Her Hand at Screenwriting
Stacy Porter was doing what most people only dream about: working on films in Los Angeles. But the high cost of living in LA forced her to put in long hours as a costume designer and prop master, plus run her Web hosting service on the side. Meanwhile, she wasn't getting anywhere with her real passion: screenwriting.
"I've always wanted to be a screenwriter. But the hours I was working were so long, there was no time left to write," she says. "So two years ago I left the film industry to come to Texas."
Now Stacy is running her Web design and hosting business from a suburb of Dallas, stretching her money further, and taking the time to write. She's already finished one screenplay, and has a treatment being considered for a TV series. She's glad she made the move-and QuickBooks Online was a big help in her transition.
"Moving my accounting was a matter of logging off in California and logging back on in Texas. There was no paper or discs to move, or worry about," she says. Since her Web server is collocated in another state, she didn't have to move it, and her Web customers scarcely noticed the transition.
Can't Imagine Working without It
In 1998, Stacy founded her Web site ThriftyPlanet.com as a working portfolio of her skills, and the portal for her Web hosting services. At first, she used Excel and paper files to store her financial records, but as her business grew, this became unwieldy. "It was frustrating storing and finding stuff on Excel," she says.
She'd been introduced to the desktop version of QuickBooks at another job. So when she needed to upgrade her accounting system in 2001, she checked out the QuickBooks Web site and spotted QuickBooks Online. It appealed to her, for several reasons. For one, Stacy liked how the software is automatically upgraded at no cost. "I added the cost of buying software and divided it by 12 months, and figured in that next year I would have to buy the upgrade so the online version made more sense to me cost-wise," she says.
She also liked how the system made it simple to email out her recurring invoices, even after her address changed. "I used to move every year in LA," she says, "so it made accounting easy, because all I had to do was change the address on the invoice. That's the best part about QuickBooks Online: It's just so clean. I can't imagine working without it."
No Need to Hire an Accountant
As a Web person, Stacy appreciates the anywhere, anytime access that QuickBooks Online gives her. "Because I'm a one-person company, I take working vacations," she says. "But I know that anywhere I go, from any browser, I can do my accounting and send out my invoices, so there's nothing to worry about."
Although she had no background in accounting, Stacy found the system easy to learn and use. "QuickBooks Online is so user-friendly," she says. And she uses it to do her taxes without an accountant. "That's another great thing about it. With all the reports you can create, it's just wonderful for taxes."
Stacy knows more about computers than most people, and she knows that any desktop PC can fail and corrupt files. She's relieved to have her financial information backed up at the QuickBooks data center, under the watchful eyes of trained technicians. "I have to back up my own customer Web sites, so I worry about that in my own business," she says. "QuickBooks has a wonderful reputation and has been around since the beginning of time when it comes to computers. I can sleep at night, knowing my data is safe."
A Human Voice on the Line
As a service provider herself, Stacy has some definite opinions on customer service. "Sometimes I get emails from people saying, 'You're too expensive, I can get hosting for cheaper.' And I say, 'Yeah, but they don't answer the phone when you call. That's what you're paying for.' That's how I feel about customer service: When I call, I expect to hear a human voice."
She applies the same standards to her own suppliers. Stacy has emailed in numerous questions to QuickBooks support, and asked for a call back. "If I say, 'Call me' I always get a call back within one hour. Or they call back the very next morning when they open. It's amazing," she says.
This is one more reason why she gives the software top marks, and recommends it to associates. "I always tell other small business owners how amazing QuickBooks Online is. My aunt started a company, and I mentioned it to her. She had a total of three people, two of them were in another state, and they were both able to access QuickBooks at the same time. That's why I recommend it."
