Do you have a passion about a particular product or service? Is it hard to keep it to yourself in public? Have you at least once embarrassed your teenager in public by striking up a conversation with a complete stranger to share your love of that product or service?
Having just attended the Ohio Society of CPAs Cleveland Accounting Show last week, I love to meet and mingle with fellow CPAs. Knowing that a good number of them work with QuickBooks, I always ask if they are familiar with the ProAdvisor program. How is it that with so many of their clients using QuickBooks, so few CPAs are aware of the benefits of the program? When I list the many benefits it is not unusual to be met with a favorable response if not a request for more information. Joe Woodard presented the session 'QuickBooks at Tax Time' and many attendees had no idea of the time saving features built right in the product. But how would they know? (Publisher's note - IA is hosting a web seminar on QuickBooks at Tax Time next week - register here).
Keeping on top of the Intuit family of software requires time and money and there is no greater ROI of these resources than becoming a ProAdvisor AND getting certified. Beyond the ProAdvisor membership the next best investment would be the National Advisor Network membership and attending the premier annual Scaling New Heights conference. I have met fellow ProAdvisors, Intuit staff and vendors from all across the country that have had a positive impact on both my business and more importantly my clients.
Does this sound like a commercial from an Intuit-blue kool-aid sipping, rose colored glass wearing Advanced Certified ProAdvisor? You bet, and I am proud of it! I am so excited about the new technologies that changes faster than I can keep up with...on my own. Bring on the cloud, bring on the apps - I've got awesome resources to help me sort it all out.