Bootstrap: Bookkeeping for the Self-Employed
July 12th, 2008 (8:00am) Mike Gunderloy 7 Comments
Bootstrap wants to be your online bookkeeping service – at least, if your requirements are simple enough for their streamlined interface to handle. Their sweet spot is the self-employed worker who needs to track income and expenses in a format that’s easy to transfer to the IRS Schedule C at the end of the year. As you enter money in and money out, Bootstrap keeps track of your profits and losses, and makes some simple estimates of your tax liability (though they caution that these will not be as accurate as using the IRS forms).
What’s missing? Asset and depreciation accounting, customizable expense categories, accounts payable and receivable, for starters. But, at least in the beta period, Bootstrap is free. If you’re currently just tracking money and and money out on a spreadsheet, Bootstrap is worth a look; if your needs are more sophisticated, you’ll want to go with some other alternative.
7 Comments Post your own comment
Kevin says: July 12th, 2008 8:36pm
Hey Mike, thanks much for profiling our new service. We’ve definitely kept it as simple as possible for all those Schedule C filers out there. We will be adding support for “receivables” and “payables”, though we’ll never use those terms:-) The rest will be driven by customer feedback and suggestions. Would love to hear what Web Worker Daily readers want us to add next.
Thanks,
Kevin Reeth, CEO & Co-Founder
GoBootstrap.com
johnengler says: July 12th, 2008 10:00pm
I’ll have to check this out. If it’s tailored to Schedule C filers, and stays that way, then I won’t be able to use it, as we just formed an S-Corp. But if they expand to also include very small bootstrapped companies that want more protection from liabilities than true self-employed person, I’m all game for having something simple to use while we’re just getting started.
Jay says: July 13th, 2008 6:21am
I could see it being useful, though the immediate impact this had on me last night was to remind me to update the spreadsheet I hadn’t touched since, to even my surprise, February. Good thing I’ve had a pathetic year.
David Boyer says: July 13th, 2008 7:36am
Currently I use the online version of Quickbooks and for what do as a freelancer it is overkill. Further, I hate the UI of Quickbooks and the cost. Bootstrap looks like a possible alternative for my uses. It would be especially useful if it could be integrated with an invoicing service like Freshbooks.
Jake says: July 14th, 2008 9:38am
That sounds like it would be perfect for me. I’m a contractor for a software company, so that will be perfect for me. I wish I would have had this back in January when I started. I think it will help me from getting drilled with a huge tax bill in May!
Thanks again for the link and info!
Jake
NoteScribe: Premier Note Software
Kevin says: July 14th, 2008 3:33pm
Just a quick note, especially for David. Integration with online invoicing apps is at the top of the list, including FreshBooks. Stay tuned:-)
- Kevin
jason says: July 14th, 2008 9:35pm
The thing that most stands out about this is no integration to banking or any kind of import. I don’t exactly feel like typing everything back in again.