How Do You End Annoying Document Searches with GetMyInvoices?

Introduction

Nice to have you with us again for another episode of Digital 4 Productivity. In the last few episodes, we've focused a little more on AI tools and I think it's always important to take a step back and think again: Are there any smart IT tools that don't have much to do with AI but can make my life incredibly easier?

Because we always think AI, AI, AI, always this hype. No, it's not about AI, it's about automation. So today I would like to introduce you to a tool that I have been working with for years and with which I have reduced my bookkeeping from once a day, then to half a day, then to an hour. And for one thing, bookkeeping is always a pain in the neck for me. So all tax advisors will probably now be able to dock on and say: Yes, that's not the only client who says it's a pain in the neck. For us, it is of course a business issue. What is the idea for me when I always say, for me as an entrepreneur, when do I create value? I create value when I create content for my customers, for you, ideally also personally. I create value when I develop myself personally or I create value, which is what I do, by not watching TV for decades now, but being on YouTube in blogs, being on social media and always bringing the pearls together for you and tying them on a string, so that you don't have to rummage through the pearls and have to crack them open and find them, but you get the finished pearl necklace from me. I am the pearl diver for you.

Processing receipts is a real time waster

And to say, the idea is simple, then I create value and I create value when I work on the company, to say: How can I optimize my business model? How can I be sustainably successful so that I get the best possible return on my invested capital? Yes, and hopefully that's no different for you. And sorting receipts, passing a receipt somewhere from left to right, looking for open receipts there, finding them, is something I hate like the plague when I have to do it, because it's simply an activity where I say that if you do it properly the first time, then you don't have to work on the symptoms afterwards.

What often happens is that you realize, okay, that it's a bit like nasal spray instead of working on the issue of the cold in a sensible way. Yes, that is, I used to always have the situation where, for example, because I still have eight pages of MasterCard statements with a lot of small shit on them, like Amazon, like Lufthansa, like EasyJet, like Ryanair, like Telekom, like one and one IONOS, for example. So lots of things where you have to go to a page somewhere, where you have to download invoices, where you might get them by email or whatever.

GetMyInvoices

And the tool I've been using for years is called GetMyInvoices. And the idea is that you enter all your platforms into GetMyInvoices and then GetMyInvoices automatically pulls all these invoices into its own system and then, once you have configured it, sends them to your tax advisor via the DATEV Connect shift office. Now I can already hear the outcry, one or the other has just run into a tree while jogging, saying: "What? I have to give all my access data for all my portals to Get more invoices. Is that safe? First of all, I think it's a reputable provider that I have a good feeling about. And if you don't have it, there is also the option of forwarding the invoices automatically by e-mail. You then get your own e-mail address and everything that goes to this e-mail address is automatically assigned to it. You have a little less comfort there, especially the tax consultant, but if you say you don't trust them, then you can forward it. If you say you are setting up your portals, then you can always see each portal: What are all the invoices? What are the corresponding things where receipts may still be missing? And the intelligent thing is that the system at Amazon, for example, is so clever that if you order something there and there is no invoice yet, the system automatically sends e-mails until you receive an invoice.

So my list of open items, in the sense of postings where receipts are missing, has been reduced from one page per month to a maximum of one or two postings per month. And the whole thing is a significant game changer if you have a lot of small items.

If you only order something from Amazon once a year, then it's not worth setting it up. If, like me, you have 30-40 online portals where there was simply a lot of need for clarification in the past, then you can do it this way. And perhaps that's also for the tax advisors of yours who are here. I occasionally talk to one or two very innovative tax advisors, and for me this includes Cornelius, for example. And he told me a few years ago: Dear Thorsten Jekel, you can book today in the and tomorrow the AI. You no longer need a tax consultant for that.

Do you even need a tax consultant?

Why do you need a tax advisor? On the one hand, you really need it for tax advice on the basis of automated bookings. And in Austria, for example, many banks are already taking on the topic of accounting because they have all the transitions anyway. And they say: I have this topic in addition to tax advice and business advice. And I always find it shocking that iControl, for example, is a wonderful tool where tax advisors can go through the figures with their clients. And whenever I present the iPad in the DATEV seminar and ask who uses it here, hardly anyone comes forward. Unfortunately, there are still a lot of people who are more in the booking logic and say: AI is so bad. Where I say: AI is bad for those who don't change their role. So, if you, I'll go back a few decades, centuries. If you see yourself as someone who is a coachman and not someone who transports people from A to B, then it becomes more difficult for me when coaches are replaced by cars. And when carriages were replaced by cars, there were two people. One said, I'm a coachman and I'm not someone who gets on such a smelly vehicle. And the other said, how cool is that? I don't manage to sell just one tour a day now, but four or five tours a day. I might have to invest a bit more in this smelly thing at the beginning, but I can just park it in the corner and don't have to feed it every day when I don't need it. So every part has its pros and cons.

So of course there are still horses, but no longer in the utility sector. And it will also be the case that you will no longer have to book any commuting folders, but that tax advisors will become more of a sparring partner in tax, business management and I think increasingly also in the question of process consulting. One of my main selection criteria for tax consultants is now how they can help me with the electronic optimization of processes. This topic of GetMyInvoices is very popular. It's a typical example of killing two birds with one stone: the client has it easier and the tax consultant has it easier. It's a bit like even checking in with Lufthansa. It's something where Lufthansa saves a lot of ground staff and we also save a lot of time. So these are the best optimizations with the help of technology, when the process is simply made easier by pointless things.

Checking in for a flight, for example, is something I've never understood. I now do it using AI, so I say that if a flight is booked accordingly, I set it up when I book so that it automatically books me into my preferred seat. So it's always a way of thinking to say that technology makes sense if you can automate things. And GetMyInvoices, as I said, is a wonderful tool.

Special conditions for tax consultants

If you are a tax consultant, you can even get special conditions from GetMyInvoices, which you can then pass on to your clients. And I think you also have the opportunity to earn a little extra pocket money, which I think is perfectly legitimate if you generate clients there. As a client, I think it's a great topic. If you are not yet familiar with it as a tax consultant, it definitely makes sense for clients who work with a lot of receipts. And for those who say: I'm on the other side, talk to your tax advisor about it or take a look at GetMyInvoices.

Conclusion

For me, this is a really great tool for automation, because then technology makes sense.

Yours, Thorsten Jekel.