Key Steps to Set Yourself Up In A Professional Cloud Bookkeeping Career
I recently had a quicky Zoom with a lovely woman from my FaceBook Group, The Workflow Wateringhole. She wanted to know the best steps to take to become a professional cloud based bookkeeper. We chatted, I gave her some advice which she said was great and she was going to follow up on it.
I decided to take that conversation from 1:1 and make it 1:many through this post.
Here are the steps I recommended to Sara:
Get educated
Here in Canada, we have a great course
It is led by a group of women who developed the certification program for CPB Canada, called Trifold, and it’s awesome
In the US, you could start with The Accounting Coach
I took that course, we didn’t have Trifold when I started, and it set me on a good path
Get certified
QBO, Xero, Freshbooks - pick one (just start with one so you don’t overwhelm yourself) and get certified
Check out standard apps like Dext, Hubdoc, Plooto, Melio and get certified or partnered in them
Set your finances up in the accounting platform you certify in
If you already have a business, set that up, but if you don’t use your personal finances to get used to the program
Join communities
Social media, curated groups and events (live & virtual)
There are so many reasons to get on social and network in person - even if you are just “creeping” at first - I can’t possibly list them all
But here are three
You will discover like-minded folks to gain and share knowledge with
You will get your name out there for recognition
Get experience
This is the hard part, of course, but working with bookkeeping and accounting firms will be the best way to gain experience with oversight
Soooo… how do you get experience without any… experience? How do you get people to give you a shot?
If you want to work in a tech enabled world, then you need to put forward a tech enabled attitude! Don’t send off a Word Doc, with a cover letter telling people you are organized.
Gah! Just… don’t…
Set yourself up for success with consistent branding and social media engagement
Here’s a quick post all about that very topic
Set up a mini website
Carrd for example, is free and easy
Show off your new-age attitude and rad web skills
Craft a slide deck (with animations and cool images)
Many firms use slide decks for all kinds of internal and external facing communications, so display your acumen outside of accounting skills
Create a you-video (Loom or Zoom will work well)
Add it to your deck and your mini website
This is not only a skill firms desire in an asynchronous world, but they get a bigger, better idea of who you are!
Check out the relevant job boards like The Cloud Accounting Jobs
I have said it a gazillion times - I love being a cloud bookkeeper. If this is a path you want to go down, I am excited for you!
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- Dext and Financial Cents Webbie - How to Automate Client Data Collection
Wednesday November 16th
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I am pleased to be co-hosting a session with Dext and Financial Cents on automating your client data collection! Learn how Dext and Financial Cents can streamline this process for you.
Collecting information from clients can be messy. Everyone has their own process. But how do you ensure the process works for you and your business? We will discuss how solutions like Dext and Financial Cents can work together to automate and streamline this process. Whether it's collecting bank statements and source documents with Dext, or managing and tracking lengthy projects or one-off requests with Financial Cents. Let technology do the heavy lifting so you can spend more time adding value to your clients.
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