While I was young, I never imagined these milestones in my life: earning an accounting degree, becoming a QuickBooks ProAdvisor® and author, being included in the Top 10 list of QuickBooks ProAdvisors and living in North Texas. I never even thought about the possibility that my husband, Victor, would also be a QuickBooks® Advanced Certified ProAdvisor, our oldest son, Mark, would work for QuickBooks integrated applications and our youngest son, Phillip, would work for Intuit® in support. Never in my wildest dreams did I dream this big!
How I became a ProAdvisor
In 1986, I started working for a friend in my church doing bookkeeping. One day, he brought in a boxed software named Quicken. I was smitten with learning software. Years later, I would buy my first computer, spending $3,000 for a floppy drive machine. It was the best financial investment I ever made. I was fascinated with how software worked and read everything I could find on the subject. When QuickBooks arrived, it was just natural for me to buy it and learn it. In fact, I have used each and every version of both QuickBooks and Quicken.
Representing the QuickBooks software has been profitable since the introduction of the QuickBooks ProAdvisor program and being recognized as certified in the software. I credit the ProAdvisor Program and Find-a-ProAdvisor with helping many business owners find me for help with their software, as we moved our family from Connecticut to South Florida, and now to North Texas.
How being a certified ProAdvisor has helped me build my practice
When QuickBooks Certification was introduced in 1999, I was the third ProAdvisor to call in with my completed requirements. It was just weeks later that I prepared a flyer and business card using the new logo, and headed out to the CPA Society convention at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center to find new clients. I pulled into the large covered parking garage and then had a bit of a panic attack. How could I do this? Walk up to complete strangers looking for more bookkeeping work? As I entered the trade show floor, whose booth do you think was placed at the entrance?
A sense of calm came over me, as I approached the small Intuit booth and exclaimed, “Thank you for giving us a logo and certification; it has totally improved my opportunities.”
Highlights of my career as a ProAdvisor
There have been so many wonderful opportunities and friends made as a result of becoming a ProAdvisor; some of the most memorable include:
- Chosen to be a member of the founding Customer Advisory Council.
- Attending the Intuit Investors Meeting, and having Scott Cook sit down next to me during that meeting.
- Accompanying the Intuit media group on the press tour in New York.
- Taking calls with the Tucson, Arizona, accountant support team.
- Attending the Intuit employee awards ceremony in Tucson.
- Being introduced as a ProAdvisor at the first Intuit Development Network conference.
- Writing for Intuit technical documentation on competing software solutions.
- Presenting the What’s New in QuickBooks fall tour for many years.
My advice: Dream big!
My life, as well as yours, has been an interesting turn of events for sure. You just never know what opportunities are out there when you are willing to learn something new and share it with others, and, most importantly, not be afraid to dream big.
