16 year old Kendra Hawkins became a Xero Advisor. Listen to her inspiring story.
The illustrious Kendra Hawkins is not wasting her Covid-19 quarantine. She just earned her certification as a Xero Advisor. In this interview we talked about her experience earning the certification and what she hopes to do with that certification.
Her mom/boss Katherine Hawkins joined the conversation, too. Katherine has over 25 years experience in this field, has her own successful firm, and is a Partner Consultant for Xero in Canada.
Here is a list of the questions I sent Kendra and Katherine before the interview. We loosely followed this format.
- Biographical info — Name, age, favorite hobby, favorite book? Favorite item you own?
- Give us the background story as to why you obtained your Xero certification. What made you get certified at young age ? Why did you choose to be a bookkeeper?
- Why’d you choose Xero over QBO?
- Do you have a mentor/someone to ask questions of? Are you currently working for anyone?
- What do you do with the money you make?
- Do people question your ability because of your age?
- What advice would you give an 16-year-old who’s thinking of starting to do bookkeeping?
- What’s she planning to do next? Where do you see yourself in five years?
I also had a couple of questions for Katherine (though Kendra was the star of the show).
- What is your favorite part about Kendra working in your business?
- Can you describe the technical details of how your business is structured and how you manage your payroll?
Kendra is an aspiring and well rounded young lady. I was thinking about the things I was doing when I was 16. I think it involved a lot of episodes of “ER” and “Dawson’s Creek” (remember those!?!?) and driving up and down the main street in my tiny home town.
It is interesting to note that she isn’t doing this because she necessarily wants to have an accounting career forever. Even if she only does this for a few years for her mother, she is learning SO MUCH about business by serving small business clients. And she is learning about how software and apps can bring enormous value to companies. That will serve her well no matter what she is doing in 10 or 20 years.
Since she has such a strong desire to be an athlete, I was thinking that she could niche down in professional athletes as her clients and help them not squander all their money that they don’t know how to handle! But the possibilities really are endless.
I’m excited to stay in touch with her and see what she does with these new skills she is learning.