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If you keep products in stock, you’ll need to know how many you have. How can you keep track of this? The first thought that comes to mind often involves pencil and paper or Microsoft Excel. However, if you invest a little more time into setting up an inventory software system, your business can continually benefit from the following 4 things:

1. Automatically update inventory as you buy and sell - There’s no need to make an invoice and then come back and update your inventory later on; do both in one step.

2. Use history to find errors - Do you have less in stock than you expected? Get a detailed history of inventory movements to help find out if it was an honest mistake or if something was lost or stolen.

3. Automatically re-order - When you run low in stock, get suggestions on what to re-order, and automatically make purchase orders for your vendors.

4. Share with others more easily - Do you work with other people who also need to check and update inventory? Set up two or more computers and let everyone always have up-to-date information.

We designed inFlow Inventory to give you these four benefits, and much more. You can download the Free Edition and start entering your inventory or import it from Excel right now.

Do you know someone in a small business that might want to improve their inventory handling?

If you sell products, you may want to take advantage of their barcodes to let you take orders and receive goods faster and more accurately. If you’re selling a product, just scan what you’re selling, then print out an invoice and have your inventory automatically adjusted.

It’s much easier and cheaper to get this going than most people think. All you need besides your computer is a barcode scanner and some compatible software.

A basic barcode scanner typically sells for about $150. Don’t be overwhelmed by all the choices out there; a basic USB barcode scanner will work with just about any computer and will suit the needs of most small businesses. Your biggest decision will be whether or not you want to pay more for a wireless scanner.

Your local computer stores may also carry barcode scanners, or here’s a few possible places you can buy them online:

· Barcode Superstore

· Barcode Discount

You also have various options for the software. If you run a retail store, a point of sale (POS) system may suit your needs. You can also buy add-ons that add barcode capability to Quickbooks. Or inFlow Inventory is a complete small business system that lets you manage inventory and take orders using barcodes. It even has a Free Edition you can download and use with no time limits.

Do you know someone who might want to start using barcodes in their business?

Next time you need to invoice a customer, the quickest thing to do might be to open up Microsoft Word, find an invoice template, and fill it out. But by investing a bit more time into setting up some business software for invoicing once, you get the following 5 benefits as free side effects forever:

1. Save copies automatically - Instead of printing and filing extra copies of your invoices every time, have them automatically saved for you.

2. Quickly search old invoices - Is a customer calling and asking about an invoice? Instead of fumbling through papers to find it - search electronically by customer, date, or invoice number and find it right away.

3. Track payments - Track payment status right with the invoice instead of keeping separate books.

4. Get reports on sales history - How much money did you make last month? How did your sales in April compare to March? Get these answers right away, without tedious calculations.

5. Automatically track inventory - If you sell products, why enter your invoices in Word and then update your inventory somewhere else? Have it all done for you in one package.

What can you use to get all these benefits? Two common choices are the Quickbooks Accounting Software and Microsoft Office Accounting. Or we designed inFlow Inventory to be a better choice for both non-accountants and people who stock and sell products. You can download the Free Edition right now, which allows you to send out unlimited invoices for free!

Do you know an entrepreneur who might want to improve their invoicing habits?