Blog QTi

We at QuickTrainer use a tool that’s called Time Tracking. It’s an Intuit (QuickBooks) product. It allows our employees to track their time by customer. We set it up so it instantly sends employees an email reminder to enter their time. Then we easily download it into our QuickBooks file for easy invoicing, payroll processing and reporting. Makes bookkeeping easier. We love it and so do our employees. Check it out!

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/add-ons/time-tracking-software.jsp

after a labor intensive day this past sunday, denise and i took our girls for some fun time. we setout down college road heading for the trolly stop. what use to be a simple, good ole fashion hotdog joint, has evolved into something a little more complex, in that they now sell, in addition to hotdogs, hamburgers, nachos, french fries, grilled cheese, etc, etc. when it comes to the hotdogs alone, you now have to select from beef dogs, fat-free dogs, chicken dogs, turkey dogs, smoked sausage dogs, beef & pork dogs… it’s confusing. ok, not really… i just wanted a good ole fashion hotdog from the days when i didn’t really know what i was eating. and, i got it.

much more important to the food i consumed, was the time we were sharing with our kids. denise and i have both been so consumed by the time we spend at our business, that we have to be extremely careful not to get so caught up in the business we miss our kids growing up. for the most part, i believe we have managed this well. however, it’s simply been on my mind a lot lately to make even more time for them. it’s hard enough already realizing that our first born, makayla, has recently turned 13, entering the 8th grade this coming school year. jackie, our 2nd born, is 9, soon to be 10 in october. yet, it feels just like yesterday each of them was coming home from the hospital as infants. but i digress.

at the trolly stop, we chose a comfortable spot on the patio to eat. just the four of us, a family, sitting and listening to each other. i elected to mostly listen, something i am working on doing more… listening. makayla has the gift of making people laugh. she is bright, energetic and has a great sense of humor. jackie has the gift of observance (common sense). she say’s things frequently that make me think to myself, “that is so logical; 9 years old don’t think like that”. denise, my beautiful bride of almost 22 years, is rock steady; consistent always in her demeanor.

as i observe all of the above, i think to myself, “what a lucky and blessed person i truly am, to have all of this”. i am determined to make the absolute most out of all that god has blessed and gifted me with.

as we depart the trolly stop, we head for the river; the cape fear river, for a casual stroll down market street, along the river on water street and eventually, back up market street where we will stop along the way for a scoop (or two) of ice cream in a freshly made waffle cone.

again, while the ice cream was very good and everything i don’t need, i was there to observe my family. to watch, listen and learn. it was all good. i confess, towards the end of our time, i got mad at something i now was really silly, a miscommunication between denise and i. even when i found myself angry and upset, i kept thinking to myself, “jim, this is stupid; don’t ruin this time together”. i didn’t. i apologized for my stupidity as we drove home. afterwards, we all continued to laugh and say silly things.

i am committed to more of these times. times where we do nothing more than spend time together. it doesn’t need to cost a cent. our girls are still content to go to the park; to walk, to play and just have fun. i am learning to grab my camera and go and simply take it all in and enjoy each and every precious second.

i’m working on several areas of my life to become the man God intended me to be. one area of focus, as of late, has been to become a better son to my mother. i’m not a bad son (anymore), but the quicktrainer business has consumed me over the past year and a half.

the good news is, i have been working hard not to work nearly as much on the weekends. this has freed up time to get some things done for my mother, while still leaving ample time to spend with denise, makayla and jackie.

for instance, this past weekend, i managed to cut the grass for my mother. in the past, mom has always seemingly enjoyed cutting her lawn. but at 68 years young, and then add the heat and humidity, i would rather my mother have someone do this for her. a lot of times, makayla, our 13 year old daughter takes care of this for her grandmother. this past weekend, our girls were spending the night with good friends. therefore, it was an honor to do this for her.

feeling motiviated after saturday’s lawn cutting, i decided to carry on in this direction on sunday. denise and i decided to lay a perimeter of wire in order to get the dog fence working again. maggie, long ago discovering there is no “hot” perimeter any longer, has begun making a daily visit across the street. not a huge deal, since she has tags and i’ve watched her cross the street (she looks both ways, really). but one of our bitter and nosey neighbors will make it a “big deal” in a heartbeat.

sunday was hot (as robin williams would say, “damn hot”). but with the encouragement of my beautiful wife, we persevered and finished the task. it even works again.

i don’t know if maggie will appreciate the work we did nearly as much as my mother. everytime we put “the collar” on maggie, she has this look of concern. while chilling out, watching us work yesterday, she had a look of disgust on her face, as if she knows what’s coming. i try to explain to her, as best i can, we’re doing this for her own good and one day she will thank me for doing this.

with this project complete, i’m already looking at my next two projects. one is to fix a small leak around the well pump used to water my mother’s lawn. this project should take me all of a 1/2 hour. but then again, those simple projects don’t always go as planned, do they?

my second, and a little more involved project… replacing the pictured sliding glass doors with french doors. the sliding glass door is simply wore out and a regular door will serve better for the heavy traffic this door gets.

Last month, our family spent time with some special friends—the Millen’s and the Shropshire’s. Brian grilled some hot dogs, hamburgers and some pork chops. After lunch we headed down to the pool and had a swim. When Reggie came out with his swim trunks on, I looked at Jim and told him that Reggie better pull his trunks down to his waist or our oldest daughter, Makayla, would soon be making fun of him.  We both started laughing and soon everyone was in on the laugh. Brian walked over to Reggie and pulled his trunks up too. They both posed and I took the picture.

if you are a wilmingtonian, you have likely tried, or at least heard of flaming amy’s burrito barn (fabb). when our family and i relocated back to wilmington, flaming amy’s was my favorite casual restaurant. as an aside, my late father, after selling the white front breakfast house, managed a bonanza steak house. where was that steak house located? it was the first restaurant to occupy the building where fabb now resides. but i digress.

flaming amy (amy muxworthy) has now used her name to create another winner restaurant; flaming amy’s bowl. located at 4418 shipyard blvd, behind firestone tire at longleaf mall (why they call this a mall, i don’t know), you’ll find her latest creation.

ok, so here’s the deal… each visitor receives a bowl from their server, and then fills it with a variety of vegetables and some starches, and then meat. next, you handover your bowl to one of three cooks. he or she cooks your meat and other ingredients and you then inform them about your choice of rice or noodles. then, you select a sauce. it’s the sauce which makes your dish come to life (imntbho).

there are 10 sauces to select from (thai peanut, red curry, teriyaki, and lemon basil, just to name a few).  i counted 30+ vegetables along with numerous proteins (chicken, tilapia, pork, beef, bacon and tofu.

While there is a menu, in which the sauce gives the dish its flavor as well as the ‘ideal” ingredients, my approach thus far has simply been to put whatever appeals to me in the bowl and then have them “cook it up”.

if you haven’t guessed yet, i am a huge fan of flaming amy’s bowl. after three visits, i am hooked. my only critique is i wish the sauces i like best (i.e., thai and red curry) were not so spicy hot. however, the restaurant has only been open for less than a month now and i suspect they are still tweaking the model. so who knows, perhaps they will offer a mild, medium and how variety sometime in the not so distant future. now, if they only had banana pudding.

today, denise and I are meeting with a wonderful client of ours, joe and pat pane from medical insurance assistance (mia). what’s different about today is denise and i will be the client instead of joe and pat. that’s great, as we love doing business with clients when the fit is right.

i will confess i am somewhat skeptical. not of mia’s services, but in holding out any hope that anyone in this world can actually help us with our healthcare dilemma. you see, i am diabetic (need i say more?), and while denise and our two girls are healthy and insurable, i am not insurable because of diabetes.

when we started this business, denise worked for bank of america. the health benefits were excellent. but after many months, we decided denise’s skills would be better utilized (much better) working in the business (as well as on the business). therefore, we opted for her cobra. this cobra thing essentially says, we are guaranteed insurance for 18 months as long as we pay the full cost +1%. no problem; expensive (~$1,100 /mo), but doable.

in preparation for our insurance expiring (our 18 months is up in july), we have met with several insurance agents and the message is always the same. insurance for denise and the girls; no problem. jim, you’re on your own. i suppose i’ll be getting a 2nd job at starbucks. not sure when i will work there, since i already work 12-16 hours a day, including most weekend as of late. however, i do love starbucks coffee and they do offer part-time employees health benefits.

btw: i’m not complaining about the long hours i work. i really do love being a business owner and i love the services we provide. it’s actually very fun!

what can we do about the cost of healthcare? i am not one for the government resolving this issue. the thought makes me want to gag. but something has to be done. any thoughts are welcome.

welcome to “Blog QTi”, the official blog site for QuickTrainer, Inc. what or who is a QuickTrainer? it has nothing to do with physical fitness, but everything to do with QuickBooks and accounting.

now wait, before you start yawning or clicking on to another site or page, i realize QuickBooks and accounting are not the most exciting topics in the world. however, if you are a small business owner, or anyone who uses, or wants to use QuickBooks and use it well, then we hope you will see this is an interesting blog site.

furthermore, at QuickTrainer, we absolutely, positively LOVE what we do. and, QuickTrainer is comprised of fun people. we do our best to make learning QuickBooks fun and enjoyable. In the end, you will be able to celebrate your accomplishments with QuickBooks and accounting.

so join in and tell us what you are thinking. tell us about your QuickBooks experience. tell us what you think of our website, blog site, or my twitter spot. but be polite and play above the line.