Feature Release: Custom Fields

Use Custom Fields in ROLL to Tailor ROLL to fit Your Business Like a Glove.

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Get your Ducks in a Row in January

Give yourself a shot at sticking to your New Year’s resolutions in 2021 by getting a head-start in January.

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4 Non-business things to do over the holidays to set your business up for success in 2021

Get a break from your business this holiday season while still getting a head start for 2021. Yes, it can be done.

Feature Releases

Working a bit more behind the scenes this month, we've launched 2 great new features for Xero users and those who need to customise tax rates for different services.

Thank you very much to our ROLL customers who participated in our recent feedback survey. We’re excited to share the findings here, which we will use to continue to improve ROLL so you can get on with achieving growth for your business.

Feature Releases

It's time again for another ROLL product update! Over the last 6 weeks or so we've released a lot more great features that you have all been asking for. See below for all the new stuff!

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Our top 5 tips to run a successful business

If you're looking to grow your business, here's some simple but worthwhile tips including strategic planning, decision making, efficient systems and great software.

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Our 9 tips for choosing the right cloud software for your business

Choosing the right software tools for your business can be hugely time consuming. Get it wrong and it can have serious consequences. Read our smart tips to significantly speed up the process and ensure you choose software that’s right for your business and teams.

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Will Covid-19 change the way we work from now on?

Having scrambled up the learning curve of how to run a business from remote locations, many of us have had a taste of the freedom and flexibility of working from home. As we prepare ourselves for the “new normal” that everyone is talking about, what can we learn from this experience to take us forward into new ways of working?

Feature Releases

Last month we mentioned a host of new features coming in ROLL that will help you all as we continue to work remotely. We are very happy to announce that these features are now available, along with some more great updates.

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Our 9 rules for successful Project Management

Do a Google search for "project management tips" and you get 1 billion results! So why did we feel the need to add yet another one? Well, because one of the reasons there is so much content on the topic is because it is so important...

a man who is about to push the enter button on a laptop is looking directly at you with an apprehensive look on his face

Moving from Business Management to Business Intelligence

The current state of fragmented and feature-bloated software struggles to really empower the businesses that use them. If you want to move forward from simply managing your business, to having real business intelligence, you must find and use data in ways that truly supercharge your efforts.

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The ROLL 10 Point End of Financial Year Business Checklist

The end of the financial year is a great time to sit back and take stock of the past year and plan for the next. Some of us have business advisors for this type of information. For those of us that don’t, this quick 10 point checklist will help you finish this financial year and supercharge the next!

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Making sure your business is set up for future growth

Growth is good, right? Every business wants to sell more, attract more clients, hire more people, and most importantly, start bringing in more cash. When your business starts to take off, it’s exhilarating – but it can also be scary if you’re not set up for it.

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7 tips to running a successful consultancy business

Running a successful consultancy business involves processing work efficiently and understanding exactly what’s happening in the business and why. Here we list 7 tips that will add value to any consultancy firm.

The easiest thing you can do to motivate your team

It’s no secret that motivated teams have a direct impact on how successful a business is. And sometimes the simplest things can make a huge difference to your team's motivation. Here’s one of the most important things you can do that many managers overlook.

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Don’t sweat the small stuff

As we get stuck into the new year, here is a quick reminder of the importance of not sweating the small stuff. Worrying about too much detail can really drag you and your business down, so here’s our take on just how much to deal with to keep working fast and efficiently.

Making your invoicing process pain-free and efficient (yes, it’s possible!)

Invoicing: the sending of an itemised bill to a customer to charge for your goods or services. Sounds simple, no? However, the reality of generating invoices on completion of work or at end of month is often very far from simple, with countless spreadsheets and small projects resulting in the loss of a few days of productivity and the cause of one too many headaches. Luckily, you don’t need to resign yourself to facing a losing battle when it comes time to invoice. There’s light at the end of the tunnel…

ROLL Mobile Now Available

Another big move today by ROLL sees us releasing our mobile apps for iPhone and Android phones. Access your ROLL account on the move now.

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How to build a business you can walk away from

So many people build businesses that will fall over if the business owner steps back. Here are 6 steps that you can do to ensure that your business can stand on its own two feet - regardless of you being around or not.

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7 simple steps you can do right now to become a better manager

If you want to run a better business, start with being a better manager. Here are 7 simple steps you can take right now that will help you create a loyal team, attract amazing clients, and grow your business.

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Feature release: Branding, UI update and re-ordering by date on Tasks

We've updated the ROLL brand as well as the ROLL User Interface to make it even easier to get to the areas you need to. Additionally, we've made an oft-asked for improvement to the Tasks area that enables you to list out your Tasks in date order rather than by project.

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Business Visibility and why looking at the numbers is so important.

If you don’t have a clear enough picture of how your business is your performing each month, you’re probably spending your resources in the wrong areas. Business visibility and forecasting is easier than you might think...

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If you’re using multiple software apps to run your services business, you’re doing it wrong!

Are you a victim of software overkill? Are you using four apps when one will do? Create efficiencies in your business- and a better bottom line- by eliminating some of the tools you’re using.

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5 practical tips to leverage the power of simplicity in your business

Many of the greatest business leaders of our time are big advocates of simplicity.

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Key metrics that will help you grow your business this year

As you set growth targets for the coming months, it’s the perfect time to look at some key metrics that we’ve seen successful, growing businesses use on a regular basis to keep them rolling forward.

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Look after yourself first and get your business fighting fit

One of the top reasons why businesses fail is burnout – stress, strain and overload not on the business, but on the owners themselves. If you struggled to get a break from your business over the Christmas holidays then something needs to change this year.

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It’s all about cash flow baby!

Keeping cashflow running is critical to a business. Read up on how to spot problems before they happen and ensure your business has healthy reserves.

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Common business mistakes - and how to avoid them

Some super quick business "life lessons" that we've learnt ourselves and from all the different businesses we work with on a daily basis. Some of these are common sense but they're ALL worth reading.

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Feature Release: Project profitability with staff cost rates

One of our biggest user requests since we began has now finally been released in Roll! With a simple click of a switch, now you can see a true understanding of project profitability, based on the actual cost rate of your staff, rather than their charge-out rate.

Bad clients will cost you money. What you should do about them.

Bad clients will cost you money and your best clients aren’t necessarily the most profitable clients. Find out how to recognise bad clients and what you can do about it.

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Feature Release: Advanced Filters on Projects, Quotes and Invoices

It may sound small but it's anything but. If you log into your Roll account, you now have the ability to use advanced filters to set up custom views of your data.

Feature Release: Send invoices to multiple contacts

Now, when sending quotes and invoices, you're able to add additional contacts from your company contacts list to the list of email recipients.

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Feature Release: Notifications

Our new notifications system will notify users immediately when they have been assigned to a task as well as notifying others attached to the task, when that task has been completed.

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Feature Release: File Uploads

Upload and associate documents and files with your Roll projects — help keep important files like project proposals, project briefs, contracts and design files, associated with your projects.

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Feature Release: Time Reports

We've just released a new Time Report in Roll that allows you to get even better visibility around the use of time in your business.

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Feature Release: Project Statuses

Set Custom Project Statuses in Roll, allowing you to replicate the flow of work in your business giving you even better visibility and management of your projects in each stage of your workflow.

Feature Release: Cost tracking, logging time on a task & more!

Time for another ‘new in Roll’ update, And it’s a big one! If software development was an olympic discipline, our team would definitely be a hot candidate for a medal - in both the speed and the quality categories.

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Top SEO Tips from Top Experts: Simple ways to improve your search rankings

We talked to five SEO experts to get their number one tip to improve search engine rankings for non-SEO experts. Check out what they told us.

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Top Social Media Marketing Tips from Seven Experts

We’ve asked seven social media marketing experts for their number one tip - the one thing they recommend you do, to get the most out of your social media activity.

Feature Release: Retainers & repeating tasks are now live

You can now set up retainers and repeating projects and tasks in Roll, making it even easier and faster to keep track of your projects and tasks.

Feature Release: Time Dashboard

Time is Money – That’s why Roll now gives you even more visibility into where your time is spent.

Feature Release: Our biggest UI update yet!

We’ve made a bunch of awesome improvements to our User Interface, so working with Roll is now even easier, faster and more fun.

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The Roll Team’s Top Events for Auckland’s Creatives & Doers 2016

Check out our top events, conferences and meetups for creative people in Auckland in 2016.

Feature Release: Built in start/stop timer

Roll now has a built in start/stop timer and improved search, filter and edit options in the time area of the project view. That’s time-tracking made simple.

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Do I really need 50 tools to be a successful freelancer?

Find out how many tools freelancers really need to manage their work and how to pick the right ones.

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Mapping your visitor journey

Getting visibility on your visitor journey can help you optimise your website for conversion. Here is a simple template that worked for us...

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Website Sprint

How we developed and (almost) launched our new website in just 2 days.

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Say hello to the new My Tasks area in Roll

There are no more excuses for forgetting about any of your tasks or missing due dates - thanks to the sleek new My Tasks area in Roll.

Words to the Wise – How to keep your customers

We all know how important happy customers are to business success. But, just keeping your customers happy might not be enough to keep (and grow) your business...

Task Management, usability improvements & bug fixes

It’s time to get rid of your paper lists, messy post-it note systems and clumsy to-do list apps – Roll now does task management. We’re super excited to release this critical functionality to all our users. Check out the overview of how it works...

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Lightning Lab week 5 update

This week has seen a big shift in focus, and it feels great to get things moving in the sales and traction arena. Our telemarketing approach has kicked off with a roar (17 trial sign ups in 2 days!), with an initial hit rate of 90% to trial signup. This is evidence that people are looking for a solution and we are getting some great customer engagement and feedback.

Screenshot of the roll software showing how the system can track your cash flow

Tracking your leads and cash flow

The two golden rules of running a successful small business is knowing where your leads are coming from and managing your cash flow. The Roll dashboard allows you to get these two pieces of crucial information in one place in an easily digestible format.

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Lightning Lab week 4 update

Easter and energy! The vision for our product is heightening, and we have had great support from mentors around us. Our current customer insights have been converted into an online survey which went out Thursday this week. We have also been making some small development changes following user feedback.

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Is the SaaS market really meeting the needs of small service based businesses?

In the last 10 years, there's been a massive shift away from desktop software towards SaaS applications delivered via the Cloud. Has this SaaS revolution really left small business better off or has the product missed the mark?

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Lightning Lab week 3 update

Week three has been all about customer interviews, we conducted 20 this week and from there have validated that our target market of creative agencies is right, and that the best fit is with those who have aspirations to grow. We also have more insight into the problem these businesses all face.

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Lightning Lab week 2 update

22 more mentor meetings and a St Paddy's day later. We have been doing research into the key pain points of small businesses, getting a better and bigger picture on the fuller process. Throwing assumptions out the door so we can really understand our customer. Good fun!

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Lightning Lab week 1 update

So week 1 #LLAKL is over and what a ride it’s been! Overall our team is buzzing and super excited about what this process is going to bring for us. We have met with 23 mentors this week, and have been encouraged greatly as well as had our ideas challenged — and that’s the best thing for growth and improvement.

The team at Roll are being presented with a cheque from Lightning Lab for being chosen as one of the 9 most promising tech startups in New Zealand

Roll is part of Lightning Lab!

We are thrilled to announce that Roll has been chosen as one of 9 most promising tech startups in New Zealand, to be part of Lightning Lab: New Zealand's Premier Digital Accelerator, backed by the ICEHOUSE. We are expecting an intense 3 months ahead. LightingLab will provide us with solid business mentoring and will challenge us in the right ways to make our product better and more valuable to our customers.

Latest roll out from our blog