14 Dec2011
Written by Dustin Wheeler, CPA. Posted in Tech Tips
Out of curiosity, I occasionally enter my name in Google to see how I am doing in my goal to dominate the first page of Google search results. Today, I decided to take a different approach and see how Google autocompletes searches for my name. According to Google, its algorithm predicts queries based on other users’ search activities. These searches provide some insight into what phrases people have used to search for me and other lucky guys out there that share my name.
When I enter “Dustin Wheeler” in the search box, Google suggests the following:
The first one listed is Dustin Wheeler, CPA. Yes, that’s me! The next two are not me (though “Dustin Wheeler Chevrolet” has a nice ring to it – it’s a dealership in Hinton, Oklahoma).
Next, I went through the alphabet adding a letter after my name to see how Google autocompletes it. Here is the letter L:
Las Vegas is one of the few cities that comes up. People could have searched for me using the city where I live to narrow the search results.
Moving on to Q…
Yes, I am a member of the QuickBooks ProAdvisor program.
Another fun activity is entering a company or product followed by the word “is.” Searches for “Google is” and “Facebook is” produces some really funny autocomplete suggestions, though they are mostly negative in nature. Google’s algorithm has some kind words for FreshBooks, however.
Hopefully, Google’s autocomplete will say the same about me someday.
05 Dec2011
Written by Dustin Wheeler, CPA. Posted in Accounting Software
Like peanut butter and jelly, I’m adding Chrometa and FreshBooks to my list of things that go together. Both perform time and billing functions, but have unique strengths in each area:
- Chrometa, which I reviewed for the CPA Practice Advisor, runs in the background and automatically tracks the amount of time a computer user spends on active program windows.
- FreshBooks has an easy user interface for online invoicing and accounts receivable management (including tracking when customers have viewed and paid invoices).
Setting up the integration was very easy. It was so easy, in fact, I intuitively figured it out without having to search for help. In Chrometa, go to Account, then Integrations. Enter your FreshBooks URL in the input box as shown below.
Chrometa exports invoices to FreshBooks, but not time entries. A user integrating the two programs will have to use Chrometa for timekeeping and creating invoices. The user would then use FreshBooks for sending the invoices to customers.
In Chrometa, click on the Time button. Assign time to a project (in my example, the client is “Test Client” and the project is “Tax Return”).
Click on the Invoices button, then New Invoice. Select the client and project name. Enter the start and end dates for the time you want to invoice for. There is also a cool feature here to round time to the nearest minute, six minutes, fifteen minutes, or hour. In my example, 14 minutes and 42 seconds rounds up nicely to an even 15 minutes.
Then, click on the Get Time button. Click on Save to generate an invoice.
Click on the Invoices tab. Click on the drop-down arrow in the Action column and select Export To FreshBooks.
Now, log in to your FreshBooks account. Under “Recent Activity” on the home page, the newly imported invoice should be listed. Click on the link for the new invoice to view it.
With the invoice open in FreshBooks, I can edit it and choose among several options for sending:
- print it.
- convert it to a PDF document.
- e-mail it.
- snail mail it.
*Obviously, this invoice is completely fictional. I do not prepare tax returns for $100/hour, nor does it typically take 15 minutes. The name “Test Client” is completely made up, and any similarity to a real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.