Bookkeeping Journey with Jill Shalett
“Surround yourself with people who are going to lift you higher.”
– Oprah Winfrey
Since I began my bookkeeping journey, I have learned more from the people I’ve surrounded myself with than any other resource. Without working with my wonderful mentor, Christine Galli, I could not have taken the steps to really discover who I am, find my own path, and share my story. As I mentioned in my previous blog post , with my background in community services, I have spent most of my career focusing on others. So it’s difficult for me to put myself out there (writing this blog alone is terrifying!).
I have spent a lot of time contemplating how I want to run my practice through reading stories and articles shared from others in the community: attending Woodard Group meetings, Intuit roadshows, and learning from small business accounting experts like Seth David. This past fall I traveled to San Jose for the QuickBooks Connect conference – and I can’t wait to go back this year. The support network that I’ve found here in D.C., as well as all over the U.S., has been instrumental to building my practice.
In the early stages of realizing that I wanted to be a bookkeeper, reading others’ stories and collecting resources, I found Stacy Kildal. Stacy runs her own cloud bookkeeping practice, is a trainer who knows her stuff, and is extremely generous to this community with the knowledge she shares. Oh – and Stacy also lives in Michigan, where I’m originally from (another geographic benefit for me).
At the time that I found Stacy, she happened to be launching StacyK Academy– a program focused on how to build an awesome bookkeeping practice. Stacy has been doing this for a long time, and (from Stacy’s words) “struck gold” in her practice and wanted to share her process.
StacyK Academy was exactly what I needed at the right time, so I immediately signed up. Not only was this a game-changing experience for me in setting up my own practice, I also met an amazing network of peers through the program. It has propelled me further towards possibilities that I hadn’t considered. I now have a step-by-step process when taking on new clients, pricing outline, checklists for reviewing software and for reviewing my clients – watching out for scope creep and firing those clients that aren’t a good fit. The tools I gained were immediately applicable to the clients I already had. Now I’m well prepared for the next clients.
This program, combined with my growing network of peers and leaders, has been a perfect complement to my education in bookkeeping skills. I knew going into StacyK Academy that I had more to learn about bookkeeping. Shortly after Stacy’s course, I joined the ICBUSA to reach my goals of becoming an expert bookkeeper. I now have the structure, tools, resources, and support group to guide me through growing my business.
Surrounding myself with others who are successful and smart has been a key element in moving forward. For the first time in my career, I feel like I’ve found where I belong.
