Cloud Stories | Cloud Accounting | Business Tools | Xero, Qbo, Myob | Ecosystem | Apps

Ep.43 Danetha Doe - Financial Freedom is a journey of self-love Today on episode 43 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Danetha Doe. She is a celebrity financial strategist and sought after speaker on the “Future of Accounting”. She was selected to be a millennial brand ambassador for Xero in 2014 and named one of the Top 40 under 40 accounting professionals by CPA Practice Advisor in 2015. She is the creator of Financial Foundations, a 6-week bookkeeping training program for small business owners. Danetha Doe Consulting, LLC is a financial education company. They provide training programs for small business. And work with large FinTech companies to engage millennial and women entrepreneurs. Subscribe to Episode 42 of Cloud Stories on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/cloud-stories-heather-smith/id908333807 In the intro I mention the Timely 30 Day #SelfCare challenge. You can find out more about it here: - http://www.gettimely.com/self-care-challenge/signup/ Today’s episode is sponsored b

Today on episode 42 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Greg Tuckwell who’s been the Director of Poole Group since 1993 and CEO of Zerobooks since 2013. Greg joined Poole Group after 6 years with C&L (PWC) doing insolvency and came to Poole Group to set up a Business management division. Three years as an engineering draftsman before that. Greg had never done tax and always focussed on systems, processes, feedback/reporting and business improvement. His passion is to challenge and improve how a business operates and he has done a number of successful business turnarounds. That passion/focus has now moved to cloud based systems Poole Group is an accounting practice with around 60 staff across a range of specialised fields from standard compliance to SMSF and have our own AFSL licence to offer wealth planning and insurances without being tied to one brand. Poole Group also have two coders on staff to automate as many processes as possible. ZeroBooks is an offshoot of Poole Group and is designed t

Today on episode 41 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Jessica Ellerm who is the Partner Development Manager for Tyro, Australia’s nextgen bank. She is responsible for the rollout of Tyro’s deposit account with Xero and Tyro’s first growth funding solution, launching mid-year. Jessica is also an active commentator in the Fintech space, writing regularly for her own blog jessicaellerm.com and international blog Daily Fintech. She also guest reports for global Fintech podcast Breaking Banks and is an online broadcast journalist for the Finance News Network, where she presents the Monday and Friday Market Outlook. Tyro Payments, Australia’s first independent EFTPOS provider, has been granted a general banking authority by the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority that allows the company to take money on deposit and to advance money to Australian businesses. This is the first time a challenger has been authorised to compete head-on with the banking establishment. Today Tyro has close to 16,000 EFT

Today on episode 40 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Matt Wilkinson who is the founder and CEO of Bizink. Bizink helps accountants and bookkeepers grow their practices through their websites and online marketing. Matt has worked with accountants since 2010. He has over 15 years’ experience of digital marketing for his own businesses and other companies as a consultant. Bizink’s mission is to make accountants incredible online. With our websites, content and online marketing, we help accounting firms across the globe win more business, engage their clients and save time. Subscribe to Episode 40 of Cloud Stories on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/cloud-stories-heather-smith/id908333807 Today’s episode is kindly sponsored by Spotlight Reporting. Visit CloudStories.com to download your free white paper The Perfect Advisory Relationship. In this episode I talk to Matt about: How exchange rate affects cloud based businesses selling globally [pricing and costing]. Developing ideas for prod

Today on episode 39 of the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with the Richard Francis who’s the founder of Spotlight Reporting. His company have recently released a whitepaper called The Perfect Advisory Relationship. In today’s show I talk with him about this paper and how advisors and business owners can benefit from monthly advisory meetings. Spotlight Reporting provides award-winning reporting, forecasting, consolidation and dashboard reporting tools to progressive accountants, franchises, NFP's and business owners. Our cloud tools allow for integrated data-sets (Xero, QBO, Vend, Google Analytics etc) and exceptional, customisable reports for better decision-making and governance. For people listening overseas they have offices in the UK, US, New Zealand and Australia. So you should definitely be able to find someone to help on board you with this solution. In this episode I talk to Richard about: What Spotlight Reporting does for advisors and business owners Delivering services and attitudes to help tra

Today on the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with the Lisa Martin owner and manager at GoFi8ure. The business offers one-on-one or one-to-many training at your doorstep or in-house. The tagline is ‘get training and become a Xero Hero’. You'll recall I interviewed Lisa in episode 20 of Cloud Stories. In that episode we explored her Xero journey. I asked her to come back on the show - so we could discuss how a business could offer Xero training. Lisa and I both have a gazillion years of Xero training experience between us. We are passionate about delivering high quality training and helping people who want to DIY Bookkeeping. We have a candid discussion about all aspects of offering Xero training. You'll hear about what works and what doesn't work for us, and how we can bring real world experience into Xero training. I personally think what’s great about the interview – is we do things differently – so you get to hear different options – and perhaps decide what’s best for you in your business. If you've ever

Today on the Cloud Stories podcast I’m talking with Bernadette Schwerdt. Bernadette is the author of Secrets of Online Entrepreneurs: How Australia's Online Mavericks, Innovators and Disruptors Built Their Businesses ... And How You Can Too. Bernadette and I are both authors with Wiley Publishing. We publish books with real pages! Every month Wiley sends authors a newsletter about what other authors are doing and I when I read Bernadette had written a book on the topic of successful entrepreneurs – I thought it would be of interest to listeners of this podcast. So I approached her and she kindly agreed. We then played calendar games for a few months and finally I’m excited to share with you that she’s on the show! What I learnt from my conversation with Bernadette is that you don’t need a team of expert in what your business does e.g. if you sell wine you don’t need a sommelier, what you need is a hacker and a hustler.  I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot. In episode 11 of Cloud Stories I spoke with Te

Geni divides her time between working as a winery consultant at Brotemarkle, Davis & Co in the Napa Valley and writing, speaking, and tweeting about what some might consider nerdy subjects. As a former partner in a CPA firm, two-time software company executive, and recent CMO of a tech startup, she has a passion for applying technology to solving business problems. She has been named a Top 100 Influencer by Accounting Today, one of 25 Thought Leaders in Accounting, and one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor. She is a member of the TEDxNapaValley organizing committee and was the first speaker at their first TEDx event in 2011. In this episode Geni Whitehouse and I discuss: *The importance of communicating in straightforward language that small business people understand *How bookkeepers and accountants can improve their communications skills and in turn increase their bottom line *The accounting and bookkeeping complexities found in the wine industry *Using LinkedIn as a pl

In this episode Blake Oliver and I discuss his recommended apps for accountants and bookkeepers. I loved this episode!  Connect with @BlakeTOliver & @HeatherSmithAU on twitter and let us know if you agree. Or visit http://www.blakeoliver.com/ and http://cloud-stories.com/ sign up to our newsletters. This episode was kindly sponsored by Spotlight Reporting.  Spotlight Reporting has a suite of four solutions: Spotlight Reporting creates useful, attractive performance reports quickly and efficiently. Ideal for organisations that need deeper insight and analysis Spotlight Dashboard is the one page reporting dashboard that focuses on what really matters. With drag-and-drop functionality, Dashboard is super-fast and easy to use. Spotlight Forecasting is an 'all-in-one' forecasting tool which brings together budget creation, full 3-way forecasting and scenario building capability. Forecast the future with confidence. Spotlight Multi is an online tool designed specifically for multi-entity organisations. Better,

Dan is a CPA with a passion for helping entrepreneurs succeed by understanding the meaning behind the numbers in their business. With more than 12 years in public accounting and consulting, Dan specializes in creating cloud-based systems that make businesses more efficient – helping accounting, inventory and other systems seamlessly work together. About EBCFO You are busy running your business, but what you really want to do is create and grow, not focus on the day-to-day operational grind. That’s where we come in. EBCFO is a virtual CFO firm that helps start-ups, non-profit organizations and e-commerce companies at all stages by offering bookkeeping, accounting, cash flow management, payroll services and CFO services. We help business owners like you move beyond putting numbers in buckets. We are not just another accounting, consulting or advisory firm - we make sense of those numbers so you can make smarter business decisions. Focus on what you love with EBCFO. Contact Details Website www.ebcfo.com Social

Focused, driven, committed and energetic. Jamie has a whole host of traits that have led him to where is he now; director of Perth’s multi-award-winning Carbon Business Group. Coming from property investment and accounting background, Jamie formed Carbon with a vision to provide businesses with a one-stop-shop for their core solutions- accounting, bookkeeping, business systems, insurance and finance. As an innovative thinker, Jamie continues to adopt the latest technologies in an effort to maintain Carbon’s position as industry leaders. Jamie’s dedication to all divisions of the business will ensure its continued growth, with future plans to spread the magic of Carbon Australia wide. Carbon Business Group is effectively a one-stop destination offering core business solutions tailored to each individual business. Our suite of services is comprised of Accounting, Bookkeeping, IT, Insurance and Finance. Each department is powered by highly qualified professionals who are specialists in their fields. We only empl

Mick Devine is the CEO and co-founder of Calxa, producers of the leading budgeting, reporting and cashflow forecasting software in Australia and New Zealand. He’s an accidental accountant with a strong desire to solve problems.  One of his goals at Calxa has been to deliver software that makes life easier for customers, maximising the time they can save. Another, bigger one, has been to make the world a better place and Calxa’s donation program for grassroots Not-for-Profits is one of the key vehicles for delivering on this. Calxa helps accountants, businesses and not-for-profits by delivering better management reports in less time, without the need for complex spreadsheets. Linking to common accounting systems eliminates duplicate data entry and provides the basis for accurate reports. Calxa’s software makes reliable cashflow forecasts available to non-accountants so they can take charge of their businesses. Accountants love Calxa because it gives them the tools they need to provide a true advisory service –

Peter Vessenes has served as a high-level corporate advisor since 1983. Projects that began with assisting presidents of Fortune 100 companies broadened to include mid-sized corporations, closely-held companies, start-ups and capital formation. Peter is a popular platform speaker and a co-author of two books. Now he actually said he authored these books he wasn't a co-author so maybe that's a typo there. Building Your Multi-Million-Dollar Practice and The Golden Rules of Economics: The Real Way Out Of America’s Financial Crisis. So Peter goes on to talk further about the points that he raises in Building Your Multi-Million Dollar Practice and if you think you can get your hot hands on a copy of the book I'd actually highly recommend you do as it sounds like there's lots of useful information in it. Peter's works have been published in Investment News, Wall Street On-Line, The Journal of Financial Planning, Producers Web, Horsesmouth, The Register, Financial Planning Magazine, Adviser Max, American Management

Paul Meissner is the next generation of Accountant. His firm, 5ways Group, operate 100% in the cloud. Paul has a passion for the small-medium business market and using technology to streamline how businesses operate. He and his firm are active on social media, networking and sharing ideas with Accountants around the world. Paul and 5ways do know technology and Xero. They were 2014 Xero Award winners ("100% Cloud), are a Xero XPAC member and were one of the first Accountants to embrace Xero here in Australia. " 5ways Group are a creative cloud accounting agency based in Melbourne. 5ways is the way accounting should be. We are all about the success of our clients through our club type culture that embodies ‘the modern accounting practice’. Our firm is at the forefront of technology and we strive to be a part of our client’s success and have a hell of a lot of fun doing it.

I had a cushy corporate job as a Project Manager at Cap Gemini. The people were great, the role was enjoyable & I had a secure career. As is the nature of the corporate structure (and my impatience), my career progression was not at the pace I wanted. This frustration led to a conversation with an old friend over a BBQ and a beer, which resulted in us both quitting our jobs and starting a company. The next day was quite the hangover… We purchased BlueHub a Software Development and Integrations company. Up to this last year, our focus was on bespoke development until we made the move to Xero. BlueHub focused on software development for over ten years. The cost of bespoke priced us out of smaller businesses. We began using “off the shelf” cloud products to manage BlueHub. We started using Xero and WorkflowMax. Once we saw how good these cloud-based systems were, we asked ourselves; “Why are we reinventing the wheel?” We started testing a range of Xero Add-ons & cloud systems, re-marketing to lost client

Highlights of my conversation with Guy Pearson ·    Taking a holiday break gave him the perspective to launch his own accounting practice ·         Niching to both differentiate and understand your clients' businesses ·         Changing from compliance-focused to looking forward ·         Accountants adverse to change will end up with a fire sale of their firm ·         Practice Ignition – on-boarding and management solution for accounting practices ·         Navigating relationships with other software solutions Questions ·         Who would you like to have coffee with and why? ·         What inspired you in September 2009 to founded Interactive Accounting? ·         Why do you think it’s important to differentiate your accounting practice by focusing on a niche? ·         Within your own firm you were focused on systemising your firm to achieve a greater ROI. How did you go about doing that? What platform did you do it on? Is this where you recognised the need for Practice Ignition? ·      

Highlights of our conversation: •Partnering with an IT specialist who understands the cloud and gets Xero •The Windows 10 update •How to unlock revenue by better utilising already available technologies •Google Apps and  Office 365 •Secrets to massively speed up your computer's performance   www.ctaspley.com.au    

Highlights of my conversation with Marcus Wilson http://surgicalpartners.com.au/ ·         From experiencing a real life problem, a solution is developed, which evolved into the product that Surgical Partners now sells and implements. ·         Thinking outside the box: rather than create a cloud practice management system, Surgical Partners have created a conduit between Xero and numerous practice management systems enabling data to flow to a cloud business platform ·         Enabling doctors to see a timely view of their revenue split on their mobile phone ·         Receiving receivables in health care is not a problem, matching them is!   ·         Dealing with the soft limits of Xero.  Join the FaceBook Mastermind group https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind        

David New bio: A 20+ year (young) ‘veteran’ of the financial software industry. After enjoying a long and successful 16 years with leading mid-range accounting software vendor Attaché Software, has held Senior Executive positions with both Xero and Receipt Bank. With both organisations was responsible for building local AU / ANZ teams on the ground-based in Sydney effectively from scratch… and in super fast time! Passionate about cloud technology and helping businesses solve real everyday problems, to allow them to be more efficient and productive. Questions I asked David New: What historical figure would you like to have coffee with and why? David, you’ve spent twenty years in the financial software industry, first hand witnessing the shift from DOS to Windows, and more recently from Desktop to Cloud. What concerns do you hear from people worried about moving to the cloud?   You’ve worked in senior executive positions at Xero, and New Zealand based company and Receipt Bank a UK based company, what

     Sophie Hossack is the Australia Country Manager at Receipt Bank. Receipt Bank is the bookkeeping productivity tool used by 4,000+ accountants and bookkeepers around the world to increase their efficiency.