The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

what tasks or activities do you do again and again, day in and day out, that you wish you didn't have to manually fiddle with?"

Brrr

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
278%
Jul 28, 2019
95
264
I don't know if there is an easy way to do this and I just don't know it yet (feel free to enlighten me, people), but something that I need to do for my small biz that loads of other people also need to do is sort and organise invoices that I get from suppliers.

If there was an easy way to auto-download the attachments I get into my inbox from the suppliers and have them be sorted in folders categorised by supplier and date that would be fantastic.

Eg. My quarter runs from June-August, in this period I'll get about 100+ emails from around ~20 suppliers. I would like to have something that auto-creates a folder for this time period and then creates subfolders for each supplier. So we would have one folder, with ~20 folders inside.
Inside each folder, there would be the invoices that I received from each of the email addresses (eg. sales@company1.com), even more ideally renamed in a standardised format (eg. company1_invoice25_date16.08.19). Any issues, I can easily find what I am looking for.

This would save me (and other people) an enormous amount of time and energy. If you can find a way to auto-integrate it with some of the Accounting software out there (eg. Xero) then you would have something amazing for small biz and put plenty of beancounters out of business.

Hope this helps with some inspiration.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

LittleWolfie

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
56%
Jun 28, 2018
951
531
Holbeach Hurn
I don't know if there is an easy way to do this and I just don't know it yet (feel free to enlighten me, people), but something that I need to do for my small biz that loads of other people also need to do is sort and organise invoices that I get from suppliers.

If there was an easy way to auto-download the attachments I get into my inbox from the suppliers and have them be sorted in folders categorised by supplier and date that would be fantastic.

Eg. My quarter runs from June-August, in this period I'll get about 100+ emails from around ~20 suppliers. I would like to have something that auto-creates a folder for this time period and then creates subfolders for each supplier. So we would have one folder, with ~20 folders inside.
Inside each folder, there would be the invoices that I received from each of the email addresses (eg. sales@company1.com), even more ideally renamed in a standardised format (eg. company1_invoice25_date16.08.19). Any issues, I can easily find what I am looking for.

This would save me (and other people) an enormous amount of time and energy. If you can find a way to auto-integrate it with some of the Accounting software out there (eg. Xero) then you would have something amazing for small biz and put plenty of beancounters out of business.

Hope this helps with some inspiration.

Like this

27484
 

Brrr

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
278%
Jul 28, 2019
95
264
I mean, yeah, that's just organising folders, but that's essentially it. For the sake of detail, it would be better if the individual invoices had more info like the name of the company, as well as the date. Would make it easier to find in general.

The key thing would be the "auto-download" and "auto-sort" feature, that's the "having to do again and again and fiddle manually" part that I'm talking about.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Kevin88660

Platinum Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
118%
Feb 8, 2019
3,457
4,079
Singapore
Outsource sales prospecting so that I can focus on sales.

Now I am doing that. P
 

CaptainAmerica

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
244%
Dec 27, 2015
261
637
52
Phoenix OR
In light of the organization folders, it would be slick to have an off the shelf taxonomy that most service-based businesses could utilize.

I'm so tired of going into an office where "Debbie's Folder 2014" is still a thing. Debbie hasn't worked there in 4 years, but that's the folder with the biggest client invoices. SMH.
 

LittleWolfie

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
56%
Jun 28, 2018
951
531
Holbeach Hurn
I mean, yeah, that's just organising folders, but that's essentially it.

It is much eaiser for me to work backwards form the desired end-goal.

a table of contents
For the sake of detail, it would be better if the individual invoices had more info like the name of the company, as well as the date. Would make it easier to find in general.

I gave them date in YYMMDD as it made automatic sorting easier. I could add extra detail in.

The key thing would be the "auto-download" and "auto-sort" feature, that's the "having to do again and again and fiddle manually" part that I'm talking about.

Assume your running Gmail/word and windows here.

Auto download is pretty easy depending on your email client(or if your willing to simply auto forward them all and take everything back nicely organised)

"auto -sort" sounds like you just want a tabe of contents that lets you find the files in various ways.

2749627497

This sounds promising @Brrr

Do you have a rough idea of the amount spent or revnue lost due to paying acccountants/employees or haing to do it yourself? I also want to figure out the market size, so I can put the magnitued into the MJ's idea checker.

P.S> stil working on next pt of zaiper guide
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

LittleWolfie

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
56%
Jun 28, 2018
951
531
Holbeach Hurn
In light of the organization folders, it would be slick to have an off the shelf taxonomy that most service-based businesses could utilize.

I figured by date (in YYYYMMDD) sicne it is easy to organise (if you choose by name ion the top of the window, then it goes in date order) or by name. However if you want to look at both and cross refrence, then you need a better system.

A filename isn;t going to cut it. You could use multiple shortcuts, spreedsheet or database.

I'm so tired of going into an office where "Debbie's Folder 2014" is still a thing. Debbie hasn't worked there in 4 years, but that's the folder with the biggest client invoices. SMH.

This seems like a sysadmin issue, someone is failing to cleanse, organise, rename and backup items properly. I imagine no one is paying for NAS and sysadmin though.[/QUOTE]
 
Last edited:

Brrr

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
278%
Jul 28, 2019
95
264
Do you have a rough idea of the amount spent or revnue lost due to paying acccountants/employees or haing to do it yourself? I also want to figure out the market size, so I can put the magnitued into the MJ's idea checker.

Don't know about lost revenue, it's just a ballache that takes a few hours a month to do. So like £20 a month, but my business is small and I don't need to do much with the actual invoices for reasons that I won't bore you with. Other businesses that have a lot more of this stuff, or more suppliers and doing a lot more claiming back for VAT would obviously get more value out of something like this.

I wouldn't get too bogged down about the market size at this stage. I'm telling you it's a good idea.
 

LittleWolfie

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
56%
Jun 28, 2018
951
531
Holbeach Hurn
@ZCP

Sorry for the delay, had a lot of work lately

@ApparentHorizon thanks for the info re Hemingway app. Finally got to grips with it. Hoping for feedback before knocking the rest out.



Zaiper Guide Zero to Hero


What is it?


Zaiper is a website that saves you time (Up to 40 hrs a month for most people) by allowing you to teach your computer how to connect various “apps“E.g. Excel and Outlook or word and facebook lead ads.

27870

There is absolutely no need to know any programming languages. Nor rely on developers, as it a simple drag and drop interface (like MS Paint), if you can use an email autoresponder you have got this!



Glossary


Zap! Zap!

27872



Despite the sound this is not a ray gun. In fact a zap is simply the name for an action you have told zapper to make on your behalf. There are lots of different zaps you can create to make your life easier and look more productive to your boss/clients. You might use a Zap to save your customer support emails in to a spreadsheet.

Triggers!


Not a trigger to work a ray gun, but just like the gun trigger this is what causes the zap to fire. Zaiper will notice the incoming emails and the zap trigger will begin. These triggers can be quite specific, only emails form a certain person containing an attachment or be generic (any email)

Action, Stations!


An action is the event the Zap actually does, for example inputting the email into the spreadsheet.

Create a Zaiper account

27871

Don’t worry. No overdraft fees and the basic accounts are as free as air. Here you sign up with your work email or use google/facebook to sign in.



Getting a-round-round


Here are the integrations page which is Zaiper default view, until you have specified what and where you want to create a zap.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

LittleWolfie

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
56%
Jun 28, 2018
951
531
Holbeach Hurn
So the Zaiper guide is proving much more challenging than I had anticipated. Writing simply and engaging interest is a real challenge for me. Hemmingway editor is a great help. Still once I have learnt this. It will be useful across the board.

So like £20 a month, but



£20 a month is right in the sweet spot for a SaaS for SMBs.
 

Low Chi

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
147%
Oct 22, 2019
34
50
I would be interested in a service like a webinar-recorder which includes the option to give the platform the login-data and exact sub-URLs so I wouldn't have to attend live. Many are not in my timezone, but are secured with own technology of the supplier or e.g. Vimeo settings. I think it could be done easy with a screenrecorder which also records the sound, but I don't know how. Think this could be a great service and charged as recording / per video or recording / per hour charge. Supplier could save the customer's recording temporarily e.g. for a week. optional: If you would add a transcribing tool, so that the content is full text searchable with timestamp, you can charge additional fees. (If anyone knows if such a service is already there, please tell me the website.)
 

Dianne Cohen

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
86%
Sep 7, 2018
77
66
I constantly hire Virtual Assistants to help with various things which sorta sounds like what you are offering.

My question: How are you better than VAs than I can get from the Philippines for $2.50/hr?

What sets you apart?
Why should I hire you instead of them?

Wow! $ 2.50/hour. That is amazing!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

LittleWolfie

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
56%
Jun 28, 2018
951
531
Holbeach Hurn
I don't know if there is an easy way to do this and I just don't know it yet (feel free to enlighten me, people), but something that I need to do for my small biz that loads of other people also need to do is sort and organise invoices that I get from suppliers.

If there was an easy way to auto-download the attachments I get into my inbox from the suppliers and have them be sorted in folders categorised by supplier and date that would be fantastic.

Eg. My quarter runs from June-August, in this period I'll get about 100+ emails from around ~20 suppliers. I would like to have something that auto-creates a folder for this time period and then creates subfolders for each supplier. So we would have one folder, with ~20 folders inside.
Inside each folder, there would be the invoices that I received from each of the email addresses (eg. sales@company1.com), even more ideally renamed in a standardised format (eg. company1_invoice25_date16.08.19). Any issues, I can easily find what I am looking for.

This would save me (and other people) an enormous amount of time and energy. If you can find a way to auto-integrate it with some of the Accounting software out there (eg. Xero) then you would have something amazing for small biz and put plenty of beancounters out of business.

Hope this helps with some inspiration.

I have built this now. No sales interest yet. All emails with an invoice attachment are automatically downloaded into a Google drive. Then logged onto a spreadsheet for ease of access. Renaming would be a future or premium version.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top