UGH! So I have CakeBoss and was monkeying around with it and called my hubby over to see if he could help me with something. He said I should forget all these programs and just get a simple ledger book and write down expenses and income. He says I'm making all of this way too complicated. "You don't need reports and all that crap". Where do I keep all of my customer information and my schedule? Lord knows I don't need to keep track of 4 different sources of information! I don't need to be high tech, but I'm thinking a simple ledger book just isn't going to cut it.
You are the boss of your business. Unless your husband is going to keep the books for you in a way that you find useful and sufficient to conduct your business (as your employee, paid or unpaid) he should be respectful enough to allow you whatever tools you find helpful and appropriate to run your business.
Do you need fancy tips and reusable pastry bags to decorate cakes? Well heck, you don't really need that "crap" either, a piece of parchment paper might be simpler. A turntable, a leveler??... just just a soup can and an old knife would work too. (Yes, this is sarcasm.)
Use whatever works for you for your business. Learn and grow... but this is just my opinion.
Personally, I have a binder with different folders and a big calendar that I got at the office supply store. Label each folder with your ledger, contracts, cake pictures, sketches etc... That is just the easiest way I've found to stay organized.
I remember when Quicken came out. We (ex hubs, different story altogether) farmed about a thousand acres of cotton. Some corn and soybeans. Cows. He sent me to a conference to learn the program. No way it could be used for agriculture apps. The good Lord saved me from both him and his accounts. The moral of the story? You have paid for a really great piece of software. Just use the parts of The Boss that you need. The future may have big things in store for you and you can then "grow into" the rest of the program.
UGH! So I have and was monkeying around with it and called my hubby over to see if he could help me with something. He said I should forget all these programs and just get a simple ledger book and write down expenses and income. He says I'm making all of this way too complicated. "You don't need reports and all that crap". Where do I keep all of my customer information and my schedule? Lord knows I don't need to keep track of 4 different sources of information! I don't need to be high tech, but I'm thinking a simple ledger book just isn't going to cut it.
You already bought the software, so unless there is a refund, then you should keep using it.
I think that the number bullet on Cakeboss is worth the price. I have been curious on how much money I have been spending on my new hobby, only because my grocery bill has increased. So I took the price of everything I use and made a spread sheet to calculate cost. Having a program that saves time sounds like a good investment to me.
Heaven forbid you should ever be audited, I bet you won't regret getting all those reports and stuff then. Plus I would think that walking into an audit with something from Cakeboss instead of hand written ledgers means that it looks like there is less room for error.
I am a owner of a software development company with hubby. Before we even wrote our first line of code, we got an attorney, a S corporation, a business checking account, and an accountant. Overkill? It's too early to tell. But better safe than sorry when it comes to a possible audit ? Priceless.
DH works with the FDA all the time. I guess we have had too much experience working with this kind of thing to not take it to the overkill line.
Here's the thing...There are a million systems to keep organized, but not every one will work for every person. If you like the cake software then use it, but if you have trouble with it it might not be right for you. What's good for your husband might not be good for you, so unless he's doing the bookkeeping he doesn't get to choose the system!
I tried Quicken at one point, but I didn't like it. I personally am more of a paper and pencil type, so I have a ledger book that I enter everything into, but I also enter the identical information into an Excel spreadsheet so that I have an easy way to add everything up. For client contracts I use the old-fashioned paper file system and everyone has their own folder filed by date. I also have a book and a calendar that I write client information on by month so that I have a backup to triple-check payments and due dates.
Just do what's easy for you...I don't need that much information so I don't need a specific software program, but if it works for you then have at it!
I think everyone's brain is wired differently and you have to do what makes the most sense to you.
I tried Cake Boss and couldn't get into it. Ironically...I use a ledger. haha. For my expenses and profits. I use a list on my computer to list my cake orders, color coded per weekend. I'm not really good at saving names and numbers though.
Once you get a system down, its VERY hard to change it, no matter what it is.
I think the biggest problem for me is simply doing the bookkeeping. I DON'T LIKE IT, no matter what system it is and it makes me crazy to think about starting a new system. I don't like any method, to be honest!
Paperwork stinks! 
Yes, and I bet the second you try to tell hubby a better way to do his job he would be plenty annoyed 
You might want to point that out to him next time he tries to "help" 
Luckily, my husband keeps my books and we use Quickbooks for invoicing and bookkeeping. I also have Cakeboss but I've never actually gotten everything entered and keep it updated.
I use my iphone for everything else practically. It is my business phone and it's where I keep ALL of my appointments, from consultations to cake orders. I even use an app for my lists like to do lists, shopping lists, etc, and with the new version of the app, I can email to me - which I also get on my phone. So my business runs on Quickbooks and iphone.
I want to clarify that he's not being a jerk about it, he just thinks there's usually a better way to do something than the way I'm doing it.
Well of course he does because it's his way Do you tell him how to do his job?
Does hubby have any kind of accounting or bookkeeping background, other than keeping the family checkbook? If not, shoo him away like a fly.
My hubby, god luv him, thought he could keep my books. Since he had 25 years in banking, you'd think he'd be good at it. 
Oh.
My.
God.
Whatta.
F*cked Up.
Mess.
To condense a really irritating story, he didn't know enough "bookkeeping" to know when to ask "why" or "why not". We bought Quickbooks and he didn't know how to question what the program was doing. When *I* asked "what the hell is THAT?", his answer as "that's where the program put it!", to which I'd get really ticked and ask, "And you didn't even question WHY????"
For example, if he paid my $500 credit card bill.... instead of posting it under "Vehicle expense: $350; Insurance: $100; Supplies $50", he'd post it as "Credit Card Payment: $500" (big freakin' sigh!!!!!). How the hell am I going to write off my insurance expense if there is no entry under insurance!!!????
So after that, he got no input on my books. I hired an accounting firm.
WELL worth the money!
I use cake boss, and used it when it was still being "beta tested" and was free........was only selling about 1 cake a month (if lucky) back then and it seemed like overkill.
Now I have anywhere from 5-30 different cake orders per week and there is NO WAY I'd be able to keep it all straight on paper. I have an appt. book that I TRY to write everything down in as well but it always seems like there is something that I forget and low and behold there it is in my Cake boss!!
As soon as a customer asks for a quote on a cake, I enter their info into cake boss. Sometimes I don't even remember speaking to someone and then low and behold there is their name and number, email, address, etc. all in there.
It's also nice to be able to spend 20 seconds selecting dates and hitting print when tax season rolls around. No fumbling around with paperwork!
I use the program SO MUCH, couldn't operate without it. Even figuring out how much I should be tithing at church each work is simple now. Before I used to have to sit down with all my receipts for the week, then figure out what I charged for everything to determine how much money I made.
Now, I enter my receipts as I shop right into the expense section, Sunday morning I can simply sit down, select start and end dates for the week, and instantly I know how much I made! Makes my life SO MUCH simpler on so many levels with this business.
Not to mention keeping straight all the brides who book a year in advance, and then make oddball payments during that year!
As soon as I get a phone call from a customer or potential customer I sit down at my pc and pull up cake boss!
Worth EVERY penny IMO
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