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EQUINET – Making Business Easier for Farriers

Mustad Farrier App Blog -(Dan O’Dwyer, May 2021)

Learn about the farrier apps available in the market. Read here

As a Farrier, have you ever had the following thoughts about your business administration requirements?

  • Did I invoice that horse I shod last Wednesday morning?
  • Have I been paid for the invoice I wrote out last Wednesday morning?
  • What shoes and nails did I use on the horse I saw on Monday?
  • Have I reminded all my customers about their appointments this week?
  • Did I order that pair of Heart Bar size 6 shoes for the therapeutic job next week?
  • Do I have enough stock in the van for all my jobs this week?
  • When am I going to find time to lodge my March Quarter Business Activity Statement (BAS) due on the 28th April? Plus I need time to collate all my invoices and expenses for my Book-keeper / Accountant.
  • I need to provide Financial Statements (Profit & Loss) to my bank so I can apply for a home loan, how am I going to collate all this information quickly for my Accountant to help me provide this information?

If you answer yes to any or all of these questions, have you considered using EQUINET?

It is a solution all farriers who use a smartphone should seriously consider for your business as it allows you to connect all your business tasks in one place.

EQUINET is available for free through the App stores. To download click here.

Why did Mustad develop EQUINET?

Our mission is simple – it is to Make Life Easier for Farriers! We live, work and believe in this mission.

With this in mind, we saw a need for a Farrier App that has been built for Farriers, in consultation with Farriers. EQUINET has come a long way since its very first version and it will continue to evolve as more Farriers use EQUINET and give us feedback on how we can improve it. 

EQUINET is another tool to complete your Hoofcare job, just like you use a knife, nipper, rasp, hammer, shoe or nail. EQUINET is also a collaboration tool you reach for to record notes, products used and photos of your job, which you can then share in the form of a report with Owners, Trainers, Vets, and other Farriers.

You can now also connect EQUINET with Xero and Quickbooks to invoice your clients for the jobs you have performed. 

EQUINET Key Features

EQUINET is feature packed, however, do not think for one second it is too complicated for you. EQUINET allows each user to log as much or as little detail as you like.  To be clear - You do not have to use all features of the EQUINET or fill in all fields. 

Did you Know…..

  1. EQUINET is Free to use - Use all features for free, without any hidden costs (excludes any third party software charges used for Accounting/Invoicing - like Xero or Quickbooks)
  2. EQUINET works online and off-line - You can use EQUINET in remote locations, without depending on internet connectivity.
  3. It helps you keep track of your work, with photos, notes and product used - Share it with colleagues, vets or clients via SMS, WhatsApp or e-mail.
  4. It allows you to stay on schedule – sync your smartphone calendar, get a full overview of your schedule, send invites and reminders to clients.
  5. It automates your inventory – you can be as detailed as you like. For example
    • if you want to keep track of your stock levels, EQUINET allows you to keep track of the products you have used, enabling you to decide what products you need to order.
    • How often have you forgotten to order a product you need from your Dealer? It’s very frustrating and time consuming if you have to travel back to your Dealer or wait for products to arrive by Post/courier.  Using the Shopping List feature to build your order over days or weeks to then send digitally to your Dealer, will minimise the risk of you forgetting to order specific products you need.  You can also simply duplicate a previous shopping list and then edit it to change quantities or add/delete products you don’t need.  Once you use it a few times it is easy to use.
    • EQUINET is not limited to using only Mustad Group products, all Hoofcare products that we can think of from all Suppliers in your regional market are listed. If we have missed any products you use regularly you can let us know and we will add it to the list, or you can add your own custom product that you can continue to reorder with your Dealer.
  6. Data saved securely - All app data is stored on secure servers so that it is safe and will not be lost. Your data is protected by the very strict GDPR European Union privacy laws.  EQUINET will not be sharing or selling your data. We will use the data in similar ways that other companies do, we will use the data to improve our products and services within the Hoofcare industry.
  7. You can now Invoice your customers and connect with Xero Accounting and Quickbooks Accounting (currently in Beta testing stage). Please note – Xero and Quickbooks will charge you a monthly fee to use their Accounting Software. EQUINET does not receive any payment from these Accounting Software providers. Farriers need to deal directly with Xero or Quickbooks.

 

For more information on all the features, including demo videos, check out the www.equinetapp.com website. Click here for more details.


Tips On Setting Up Invoicing in EQUINET

EQUINET is a Farrier app focused on what farriers need to make their lives easier.  EQUINET is not an App that is an Accounting solution for your business.  With EQUINET’s focus being the Farrier, we decided the Accounting solution should be with companies that do just that, so we setup some connectors with globally used Accounting Software providers who focus on doing that well.   After analysing a few Accounting Software programs and setting up connectors with them, here is our arms length recommendation based on what we have learnt about each Accounting Software.  EQUINET does not receive any remuneration or benefits for our recommendations below – these are our observations:

  1. There are 3 options right now to setup EQUINET for invoicing.
  • Xero Accounting (recommended) – this is the most stable Accounting Software that EQUINET connects to. It is cloud based and has a robust design and the connector (API) for Xero has been designed to seamlessly work with Third Party Apps like EQUINET. If you are choosing an Accounting Software for your Farrier business, this is the one we highly recommend – xero.com.  Xero allows you to attach EQUINET Horse Log reports with Invoices when you digitally share with your clients.  Xero can also be setup in EQUINET as being Inclusive or Exclusive of Goods and Services Tax when you are assigning service charges to your ‘Procedures’ like ‘Shoeing – Full Set’, ‘Trim’, etc
  • Quickbooks Accounting – at the time of writing this blog (May 2021), the EQUINET connector with Quickbooks is in Beta/Testing. What we have learnt with Quickbooks, is that the software is more difficult to connect to than Xero. It is a good program, however, the connector (API) with third party Apps like EQUINET is clunky. Quickbooks does not allow the EQUINET Horse Log report to be digitally shared with invoices (Xero does allow this).  We only recommend Quickbooks to be connected to EQUINET if you are an existing user of Quickbooks.  Quickbooks can only be setup with EQUINET Exclusive of Goods and Services Tax (GST is calculated in Quickbooks when Invoiced) when you are assigning service charges to your ‘Procedures’ like ‘Shoeing – Full Set’, ‘Trim’, etc
  • CSV File export – if you are using a third party Accounting software that supports the import of CSV Files, you can export your invoices from EQUINET into a csv file. This option is more time consuming and would require you to do regular exports from EQUINET (we would recommend a daily export/import at the end of your working day). 

        Click here to follow the processes of how to set up EQUINET to your chosen third party Accounting Software.

  1. If you are planning to use Invoicing connected to EQUINET you will need to set your prices in EQUINET under ‘Procedures’, which can be found when you click on ‘New Entry’.

        We have already set some standard procedures for you to choose from – ‘Shoe front, TP Shoes, Shoe hind, Shoe Set’ etc. 

        When you press the ‘Edit Procedure’ button in the top right corner, you can then assign a value to the service that you     
        wish to charge your Client. 

 Please note that if you are using Xero you can decide if you will set the prices including or excluding Goods and Services     Tax, however if you are using Quickbooks, you can only setup prices Excluding GST.

  Click here to view a video on how to add set up your procedures and prices.

  1. Depending on your business set up, you can send invoices at the time of the service or you can create invoices and then keep them in draft until you are ready to send them on a set day each month. Click here to see the step-by-step process.
  2. You can also either send one invoice for each service or you can send multiple services in one invoice – again it comes down to what you do for your business. Click here to find out more.
  3. Practically, we have found that Farriers do not always record individual horse services, when invoicing clients. For example, I am a farrier who is working for Widgets Stud Farm and they have asked me to perform 15 Stud Trims on weanlings.  

Widgets Stud Farm may not want an invoice listing all 15 horses and the service performed (or they may require that – EQUINET does give you that flexibility), they may want an invoice that is summarized.  In this case, EQUINET allows you to setup what we call a generic horse (which accounts for the 15 horses) as follows:

When recording procedures against the ‘generic horse’ you simply hold your finger on the Procedure button you have chosen (in this case ‘Stud Trim’) and you will be able to assign a multiple procedure for each ‘horse’.

If your ‘Stud Trim’ for example is setup at $50- Ex GST, EQUINET will calculate 15x50, which will then be synced with your Accounting Software.

Click here to see how to set up this process.

EQUINET Top Tips

Here are some tips for you to consider while using EQUINET:

  1. EQUINET has been developed with two main areas you need to complete once you have setup your account:
    • EQUINET requires a horse to be allocated to each service you perform. At a minimum you need to give that horse a name and you need to assign that horse to a contact.
    • EQUINET requires you to enter contact details in the app (which can be imported from your smartphone). At a minimum you need to enter the contacts name, mobile number (if you wish to sms reports/invoices) and email address (if you wish to email reports/invoices).  You then need to ensure that horse is assigned to a contact. 
  2. When emailing invoices/reports, we advise you to get your contact to make sure the email is not sent to their junk/spam file. They need to mark it as ‘not spam / not junk’. A way around this is to sms the reports and invoices.
  3. Any other information you wish to complete within EQUINET is at your discretion, you can be as detailed as you like with all the other information you chose to record, or not. The above two area’s are the minimum details you need for you to effectively use EQUINET. You can then log reports, take photos and record the products you have used for each service.

EQUINET – Saves You Time

You choose how much detail you put into EQUINET.  As a guide, and once you have setup your customer details, below is a summary of how much time you should allow to record your service and invoice your customer along with the detail you provide (if EQUINET is taking longer than this, it maybe because it is incorrectly setup, in which case we are here to help you with one-on-one support from our EQUINET team):

  • Simple Invoice, with no Horse Log, photos or notes for the owner = 1 MINUTE
  • Invoice detailing 4 services on 4 different horses without reports, allow 30 seconds after each service to build your invoice. Then allow 1 minute to Invoice all 4 services on 4 horses = THREE MINUTES in total
  • Horse Log Entry, detailing Horse details, before and after photos, Notes for customer and Private notes for yourself (Farrier), Detailed description of products used in service, plus Invoice. = 5 MINUTES (per horse).
    Please note, only Xero Accounting supports sharing the Horse Log with the Invoice in one email/sms. If you are using Quickbooks, you will need to email the customer the horse log report separately.

Check out the step-by-step guide and videos on how to create and send invoices on the equinetapp.com website. Click here.

EQUINET supports the Farrier to record their work and share and collaborate with all stakeholders in order to service the welfare of the horse.  You as the Farrier choose how much detail you include or exclude in the App.    EQUINET is a tool for Farriers designed with Farriers.  Why not download the App today?

To learn more, there are step-by-step guides to set up the App, as well as instructional videos, please visit www.equinetapp.com to learn more. 

If you are interested in a one on one call or need support on how to use EQUINET, then please email australia.equinetsupport@mustad.com, call Mustad Australia on +61(0)3-5734-3536 (AEST 9am-5pm, Mon-Fri ) or through the InApp Feedback form.