There are lots of courses to get you started in your bookkeeping businesses. Which bookkeeping course should you take?
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And the first question that new Bookkeeping Side Hustlers should ask themselves before buying a course is “Have I read Kate’s eBook, The Bookkeeping Side Hustle Guidebook: Actionable Steps To Become A Virtual Bookkeeper Without The Overwhelm, so that I get the full story of what all is involved with starting this career/business? You’ll save yourself a lot of time and possibly a lot of wasted money if you take an hour to read this thorough guidebook.
But now we can move on to my theory on how you should make your investment choice…
You can listen to me read this article here in this YouTube Video. Be sure to subscribe to the channel!
This article is meant for the people who are sold on starting a bookkeeping business. Not for those who know they want to be a bookkeeper on a staff somewhere.
You feel a STRONG pull toward getting your bookkeeping business going.
You are ready to make sure you know accounting and that you are an expert in bookkeeping software. You are ready to wake up early in the morning. You are ready to stay up late at night. You are ready to HUSTLE so that you can achieve your goals (professional and personal).
But you find yourself stuck. You are moving like molasses. You are distracted by all the balls that you are trying to juggle. You know that a course would be the best way to really make fast progress. But how do you decide which course/mentor to invest in?
Have you been considering one of these courses?
- Bookkeeper Launch (formerly Bookkeeper Business Launch)
- Bullet Proof Bookkeeping In QBO
- Tax $avvy Bookkeeper
- Bookkeep Anywhere
- Booming Bookkeeping Business
Keep reading and get my advice on how you should decide which path to take. And to learn about what I was like as a 17 year old.
If you’ve been around this Bookkeeping Side Hustle community very long, you know that I have some big thoughts about this. I’ve got big thoughts about everything.
But I have to start by telling a story. A story about a stubborn, smart, busy 17-year-old redhead in deep south Texas.
Like most seniors in high school, I needed to make the choice about what I was going to do for college. I was too busy to apply to many schools. I also didn’t have my eyes looking too far from home. Not a lot of people moved away for college from my tiny town. So me moving away about 4 hours was all that was really on my radar. That was “big” for me.
So, I applied to TWO schools – Baylor University and Texas A&M. I got accepted to both schools. My acceptance letters both included their top standard scholarship packages.
Do you want to know how I decided between two very good options?
Well, after a few weeks of sitting on the decision, I received another letter from Baylor. In the letter was a nice bumper sticker. I remember distinctly that no one else in my family was home when I opened that letter. But after a few minutes of thinking about it, I walked right out to my hail-damaged, windows-didn’t-roll-down-but-I-loved-that-I-had-a-car Ford Explorer and put the bumper sticker on the back window and, BOOM, I had made my decision. Just like that. Because of a bumper sticker.
Now don’t get me wrong. I LOOOOOOVE Baylor University. Crazy love it. Drove-all-night-to-watch-us-win-our-first-national-title-in-school-history kind of love. My infant son went as a Baylor Football player his first Halloween. I love that school.
But now that I’m far removed from those college days, I’m willing to admit that either Baylor or TAMU would have been equally fine choices for me. My professional outcomes would have been the same. Because those outcomes weren’t going to largely depend on the school. The outcomes were going to depend on me. Me. The person that looked me in the mirror each morning.
So why am I telling you all of this?
Because you just need to decide on a course. Assuming you know you need a course. Just decide. Yes they cost money. But if you do all that the course tells you to do, that investment will be a drop in the bucket in no time.
I’ll let you in on a secret. All bookkeeping courses are going to teach the same stuff.
- You have to know accounting. Like really know accounting. A course is going to teach you accounting. And it isn’t going to teach you all the accounting you need to know. No course will. You’ll have to be a life long student of accounting. Accounting is not easy. It is not quantum physics, but your brain capacity probably needs to be above average. You need to be able to sit in a chair and solve problems (math problems, conceptual “flow” type problems).
- You need to know a bookkeeping software. All the course options are going to walk you though what you need to do to learn a bookkeeping software.
- You need to set up your business. This part is not fun. It is tedious. But the course will tell you the things you need to do. But only you will be able to actually do those lame-o, un-fun things. So, you have to be willing to do them.
- YOU HAVE TO LEARN TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR. This is the hardest part. It is awkward. It is scary. You are going to do things that you’ll probably look back on and be embarrased by. It is also the hardest part because there are approximately 2,581.4 things you have to do. Or have to figure out how to hire someone else to do them. You are ALL THE THINGS in your business. Web designer. Logo maker. Marketer. Task manager. Meeting attender. You are the sales department. You have to pay your own taxes. You have to write your own contracts. You have to fire your bad clients. You have to make all the decisions. There is a reason why MOST PEOPLE ARE NOT ENTREPRENEURS! Look around at your circles. Don’t most people go to work for someone else? So, yeah, it is hard work to work for yourself.
I took the course called Bookkeeper Launch (formerly Bookkeeper Business Launch) and I sing its praises to the skies. It was a SUPREMELY great investment for me. I have a whole review of it that you can read. I think you will be extremely impressed with the course if you purchase it.
But at the Bookkeeping Side Hustle Group, we’ve interviewed other course creators. Their courses will also go through the steps you need to take to build a bookkeeping business.
I’ve got an interview about BulletProof Bookkeeping In QBO, too.
Booming Bookkeeping From Bill Von Fumetti.
60-Day Bookkeeper by Jenny (aka Robin) Buckallew
Bookkeeper Business Accelerator by Serena Shoup.
And even if this article is not updated, come to the Bookkeeping Side Hustle Group and ask about the course you are considering.
But look, you just need to go back and read those 4 bullets above. That is all you need to do. But there are a TON of parts under each of those bullets. So if you don’t want to stumble around trying to figure all of that out, then just pick a course and commit to early mornings and late nights for many, many months.
Just put that metaphorical bumper sticker on your high school car. Ultimately, your success is all going to be about you. It is going to be about how hard you are willing to work and how you are going to overcome the challenges that you are going to face (you will face them). If you are not willing to STUDY hard and not willing do the work and not willing to do things way outside of your comfort zone, it is not going to matter which course you think is the “best”. You will fail. Because this is hard.
Maybe you need to decide based on price. Maybe you decide based on whether the instructor is a man or a woman. Maybe you decide because of a YouTube video you watched at 2am when you couldn’t sleep because you couldn’t stop thinking about moving forward toward your life dreams. Maybe your best friend is in one of the courses. Maybe your favorite color is the color of the course’s marketing material. WHATEVER IT IS, JUST PUT YOUR BUMPER STICKER ON YOUR CAR.