a community of practitioners

Administrative and Financial Tools - What Do You Use?

what tools do you use to keep track of appointments, payments, client info, etc. (basically all accounting and administrative stuff). i seriously need to get organized. I have Microsoft Office, so i can create spreadsheets and things like that. but i would have to develop/design them. i was wondering if there was anything out there specifically suited for our type of work, either online or software, where templates are already done and we just tweak it to our particular needs.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rachel Sheard, LMT, NCTMB, CIPI on October 14, 2009 at 2:45pm

Haha... I'm trying to move myself out of the stone age I guess. I'm working on moving out of a paper-only way of functioning. I had been just tracking all that stuff in a spiral notebook, until a week or two ago when I got my husband to help me with it. He's really good with numbers. He used whatever it is we have on our computer to make a spreadsheet. At first, with some of the changes he was making with my books, I didn't like it or didn't understand what he was doing, but it is really SOO much easier to manage now. I like having him involved, so I haven't admitted to him yet that now that he has it set up that way, that I could probably do it all myself now heehee.

Permalink Reply by Jacqueline M Curan on October 15, 2009 at 10:10am

Lisa I use a program by Land Software. It is called Customer Pro File. It is created for massage therapists and cost about $50. You can look it up on line at www.landsoftware.com.

Permalink Reply by Lisa on October 15, 2009 at 11:05am

OMG Jacqueline...that is EXACTLY what i was looking for. thank you thank you thank you!!!

i'm assuming (based on how it looks) that it's fairly easy to manuever around and all the templates are already set up like that?

it really is perfect. and not too expensive. YAY :)

Permalink Reply by Michael Wolfes, CLMT, CRP on October 15, 2009 at 11:40am

If you are a sole proprietor as I am with NO employees/staff, you might consider using QuckBooks by Intuit to manage your accounting from your desktop. I have been using it for the past 5+ yrs and rarely have a problem with anything. In fact my accountant from years ago recommended it. It's designed for both the sole proprietor and small businesses.

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Olsen on October 21, 2009 at 5:51pm

I've cobbled together spreadsheets, but I'm hoping to consolidate a lot of that on quickbooks. I also use the open office software for my client database and filemate 1500 for my insurance billing forms.

What sort of things are you wanting to track?

Permalink Reply by LeahF on November 29, 2009 at 5:41pm

Jacqueline and Lisa,

I looked into the land software program. I visited the website and am surprised by the poor quality of the website itself. What do you like about the software? I definitely want to learn more instead of turning away because of the websites quality. I am a massage therapist that rents a room in a share space and am looking to track my clients information.

thank you!!!

Leah

Permalink Reply by Lisa on November 30, 2009 at 12:09am

Hey Leah...i haven't actually used it yet. but if you click on the screengrab menu and take a look at the various screens, it looks really easy to use and choc full of all the useful info we need to keep track of.