Being a creative person like myself; administration, I have to admit, isn’t really one of my key strengths. When I am talking about admin I am really on about accounting. All these balancing books, keeping on top of tax issues, mileage, expenses etc is really quite alien to me. Would much rather concentrate on the best part of the business which is the part I love and that is design and creativity.
I realise that the accounts part is as important a business function as the actual creating great design work for my valued clients. So instead of interviewing accountants and getting even more confused, I thought I would have a look online for an accounts solution that wouldn’t be too complex, accessible and above all easy for me to keep on top of. There were a few accounts solutions that were promising candidates such as Freshbooks, QuickBooks Online, Xero and the business favourite Sage. All of which seemed very good but not my cup-of-tea, I was after a solution that was more tailored to freelancers and the like.
Speaking to one of my old colleagues that I used to work within the West Midlands they mentioned an online accounts solution called FreeAgent. FreeAgent is an online solution that is aimed at the likes of me, creative freelancers and small business owners. They give you a month’s free trial to have a poke about and see how it can work for your business. You can create and send out invoices via email and send reminders of when they are overdue. Mileage expenses are also a doddle to capture on this system – even if you use a bicycle for business use. You can also set up a bank feed to your FreeAgent account, which was a simple task to do, letting you see what is in the business at any given time. There is a lot more you can do besides what I have mentioned here.
What I love about this system is the ease of use. There are a lot of help guides available and they have a fantastic support team who are ready to help with whatever query you may have. I have accessed
FreeAgent on my smartphone, iPad and laptop giving me an up-to-date view of how my business is doing.
Since using this system I have learnt quite a lot about business accounting and I very much enjoy keeping an eye on how my business financials are doing day in day out. Got to say it’s a joy to use and I would suggest it to anyone who is like me and not very good with admin. Visit their site by clicking on this link… www.freeagent.co.uk
Happy Accounting!!