Xero is relatively easy to use, and once you get the hang of it, you’ll probably be hooked on this specific accounting software. You’ll also marvel at how effective your bookkeeping is becoming.

There are, however, some misconceptions about Xero’s ease of use.

Some completely underestimate the software, while others avoid any form of accounting software (or using computers for their business, for that matter). Using Xero might be slightly intimidating if you like to go old-school with your bookkeeping.

The truth is that just like with any other tool, it’s easier to use when you’ve had some training that shows you the fundamental skills and functionalities.

How does Xero work? 

Xero, in a nutshell, offers cloud-based accounting software for small businesses.

What does this mean? 

Xero allows small-business owners to manage their finances from anywhere globally while integrating with hundreds of apps to assist each business’s specific needs better. One of their primary functions is to help your business perform bookkeeping functions like invoicing and payroll.

Their features, along with the many possible app integrations, can help any small business take better control of its finances.

We’re a Xero partner because we know theirs is one of the best accounting software products available for small businesses. Their pricing is reasonable, and they do not charge extra for additional users, making it an affordable option for growing companies.

What support does Xero offer its users?

As part of your subscription, you receive free and unlimited support. Their online support and helpline are available Xero 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The best place to start when trying to find support with any of Xero’s business or practice products is Xero Central. This platform contains online learning, online help, discussions, and more.

What support topics does their database cover?

Their support centre that may help answer all your business accounting related questions. They have helpful articles about all of the following topics:

• Reconciling transactions
• Bank accounts & feeds
• Payroll & employees
• Invoices & quotes
• Bills, purchase orders & expenses
• Reporting & tracking
• Project management
• Practice management
• Inventory
• Accounting tasks
• Contacts, clients & communication
• Giving people access to Xero
• Tax & filing
• Your Xero account
• Importing & exporting data
• Support, security & updates
• Connected apps & services
• Fixed assets
• Manage documents with Hubdoc
• Business continuity

As you can see, Xero Central will quickly help you find all the information you need if you get stuck.

App Integration 

As mentioned above, Xero has created and owns various add-ons and apps that seamlessly integrate into your existing subscription.

These are their most prominent apps that can help make your life easier:

Hubdoc

Hubdoc is Xero’s data capture tool. It can simplify your accounting drastically, and this tool can also assist you with unlocking practical insights about your company.

Stripe 

Stripe simplifies accepting payments from the following payment methods:

• Apple Pay
• Debit cards
• Credit cards
• Google Pay

This helps online invoices sent from Xero to get paid faster.

Xero Payroll 

This app assists you with managing your staff’s payroll and will help you stay on track with payments. The cloud platform allows you to organise all your business information in one handy place.

Xero Expenses 

This app can help you save time and admin costs by quickly capturing, tracking, and managing expense claims.

WorkflowMax 

This is agile software that allows you to stay on track with all your jobs and projects. WorkflowMax lets you maximise your business profitability, team productivity and implementation – all in one spot.

Xero Projects 

This is a job tracking tool. You can track your quotes and invoices and monitor how much money you’re making.

HubSpot CRM integration 

Xero collaborates with HubSpot, a CRM, online marketing, sales and customer service growth platform, to deliver the best customer journey possible.

Mailchimp 

Mailchimp is an email marketing automation service that helps you design email newsletters and share them on social networks. It also integrates with services you already use and tracks your results.

Microsoft Outlook 

Microsoft and Xero integrate to help you spend less time in your emails.

Google Contacts 

Google Contact and Xero integrate to help you get all aspects of your business aligned.

Planday 

Planday’s software allows you to build employee schedules faster and oversee wage costs, compliance, and vacation days. You can also sync your employee and payroll data using Payroll.

Practice Manager 

With Practice Manager, you can manage your jobs from start to finish in one system. Thousands of accountants worldwide trust them to run their practices efficiently.

Shopify integration

This integration connects your Shopify store to your account so that you can easier manage your eCommerce business’ finances.

Xero Workpapers

Workpapers is an online tool that makes processing compliance faster and more innovative.

How to integrate Xero with my business?

Nimacc Business Lounge can help you find the best solutions to seamlessly and effortlessly integrate your business’ finances with Xero. Our business is to help your business by enabling you to implement and integrate elegant software solutions for your company.

Cloud-based software provides different users real-time access to a mobile device or laptop applications, all running on shared computing resources via the internet. In short, it allows us to remotely run the software and/or store data on other computers globally hosted by remote data centres.

We live in a society where instant gratification has become part of our daily life and for business owners being able to access your real-time business data from anywhere not only speaks to this human requirement psychologically but also to the tremendous business benefits of now being able to make informed decisions on a real-time basis. This can dramatically improve business operations, client management and overall employee and client satisfaction.

1. Get Organized

A good way to do this is to create a to-do list for each day and allocate realistic time slots for the different tasks. As you complete each item, tick it off, ensuring that you’re not forgetting anything and meeting all the essential functions for a successful day and ultimately a successful business.

2. Stay on top of your finances

There are enough cloud-based, easy to use and real-time applications available (our favourite: Xero Accounting) to know where your business stands financially and what potential challenges you could be facing. This information is key when creating your business strategies and setting your goals.

3. Know Your Competition

Competition breeds the best results. To be successful, you can’t be afraid to study and learn from your competitors. After all, they may be doing something right that you aren’t. Keep learning and keep growing.

4. Understand the Risks and Rewards

The key to being successful is taking calculated risks to achieve your set goals and take your business to the next level. A good question to ask is, “What’s the downside?” If you can answer this question, then you know what the worst-case scenario is. This knowledge will allow you to take the kinds of calculated risks that can generate tremendous rewards. Be prepared to put yourself out there.

5. Be Creative

Always be looking for ways to improve your business and to make it stand out from your competition. Recognise that you don’t know everything and be open to new ideas and new approaches in the way you do business. We live in a constantly changing environment, and we need to be able to adapt and be open to change, even though we might “feel” like our method is working.

6. Stay Focused

As the old saying goes, “Rome was not built in a day,” applies here. Just because you open a business doesn’t mean you’re going to immediately start making money. It takes time to let people know who you are, so stay focused on achieving your short-term goals and keep your eyes on the prize.

7. Prepare to Make Sacrifices

The build-up to starting a business is hard work, but after you open your doors, your work has just begun. In most cases, you have to put in more time than you would if you were working for someone else and quite frankly more work than you ever imagined, which may mean spending less time with family and friends than what you would like to, however, if you have a good support network in place, this should be manageable.

8. Provide Great Service

There are many successful businesses that forget that providing great customer service is essential. When starting a business, or at most stages of scaling, it becomes challenging to keep up service delivery; however, do what you can to get it right – it is about building and maintaining these relationships through great service delivery.

9. Be Consistent

Consistency is a critical component of running any successful business. You have to consistently keep doing what is necessary to be successful day in and day out. This will create long-term positive habits that you will undoubtedly reap the benefits from in the long term.

What advice would you have for someone who is starting a business now? If you need experts and friends to help your business grow, join Nimacc Business Lounge today.

“From the outside looking in, the life of an entrepreneur looks amazing, sexy, appealing. But once they catch you, they realise: there is nothing sexy about whipping out a laptop at 4 am to meet a deadline for a client. Or missing date night because you are preparing for a pitch that may make or break you.”

And that’s just it. In reality, it’s not always all that hot and sexy. There are days when we take multitasking to the moon and back. Where we burn the midnight oil and are back at it when the sun rises (or not yet). There are days when we are last in line to get paid, despite it being our business. Days when you physically work your fingers to the bone. Days when, regardless of your effort and time, employees stab you in the back and chase their own agendas or they award the pitch to someone else.

Would we do anything else? Hell no. Don’t get me wrong; I love what I do. Beauty, entrepreneurship- all of it. We are passionate, driven, sometimes crazy individuals who all want to take over our little piece of the world. What I’m saying is SEE PAST THE GLITTER (Michelle’s famous words).

Out of personal experience, constantly challenging myself to bring my A-game (small side note, some ADHD in there as well), I am also well aware that it can often be overwhelming. There is so much to learn, absorb, and gain that we also repeatedly need to take a breath and realise that the equation is actually quite simple and that Micro Equals Macro. If you do what you can every day and constantly challenge yourself, the result is inevitable.

I recently met up with an old friend whom I hadn’t seen for a good solid catch up in almost a year. It was reviving to have seen that despite having had a completely different journey the past year with completely different circumstances, how we had both grown and how we could share stories, bounce ideas, and talk collaborations into odd hours of the morning. We had both invested in our personal growth. We had both been completely open to change and exploring different views on diverse topics. However, despite the stimulating conversation and the great food, there was one thing that hit me hard, “My friend, I am so completely proud of you.”

This immediately caused me to tear up (and to those who know me, will know how rare this is) – there I sat on the kitchen counter, utterly speechless and at that point, I took a breath. In this constant, incredible journey of striving towards personal growth, we forget that Micro Equals Macro, we forget that by following this basic equation, the result is inevitable. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves (or have a friend, in my case) that we are doing perfectly fine, and as long as we keep pushing, keep striving, keep challenging ourselves, we are, in fact doing it right.