ProAdvisor Award Winners’ Roundtable

Insightful Accountant hosted a special roundtable at the December edition of QB Talks allowing several of the 2020 ProAdvisor Categorical Award winners to introduce themselves.

Our host William “Murph” Murphy, shined some light on the award process, followed by several questions for us each to describe our circumstances leading up to the award. Honestly, as someone who partook in the experience, it was both surprisingly emotional and enlightening. And here’s why.

Before each special guest spoke, Murph shared an overview of what each individual did to make themselves stand out. It was fascinating! Everyone who participates in these award can take away keys to what it takes to meet 'the standards' for each of these categorical awards just by viewing the recording of this webinar.

We have some accomplished, distinguished, dedicated members of our community, and to hear from a handful of them and what they are focusing their attention towards was profound. Six of this years Categorical Award recipients were able to attend. A surprising factor about each person is they have an area of expertise or a niche industry they serve. Of course, it is hard to capture everything these people do in an hour-long group presentation, but I'm going to attempt to spotlight here what was shared.

Mario Hernandez was the first award recipient to speak. Mario earned the 2020 Desktop Integrations Award. His Firm Miami Accountant, Inc. specializes and has become the expert in QuickBooks Enterprise, specifically manufacturing. He listed a few of his go-to apps used with his clients in his field. He has become an advocate authority of Fishbowl for inventory and QQube for aggregated, analytical reporting, another QuickBooks Point-of-sale for retail clients and Fishbowl for inventory-centric and manufacturing clients. He’s certified and highly experienced in these software packages and known for his ability to no only configure trouble-free set-ups, but quickly resolve client problems when they experience issues down the road.

Murph said, "just read Mario's sixty-one perfect 5-star ratings from clients and you will quickly come to understand why he reflects 'the standard' for one of Insightful Accountant’s Top QuickBooks Desktop Integrations ProAdvisors.

Tanya Hilts is the 2020 Canadian ProAdvisor Award recipient. She spoke about her firm, Cloud Business Services, a full-service firm focusing on bookkeeping and tax. Her firm has also received many other awards, including the winner of The Firm of the Future Award in 2018 and runner-up to that award in 2018. She is also recognized for her extensive attention to education of rising bookkeepers in Canada and the United States. She has designed several educational opportunities for industry training and shared templates to help fellow bookkeepers grow. 

Murph said, "when you look at the ever-increasing number of candidates participating in Insightful Accountant's Top 100 ProAdvisor Awards Program from countries outside the United States each year, you can see Tanya truly reflects an 'International standard' for these Awards."

Stephanie Mack is the 2020 Up-n-Comer ProAdvisor Award recipient. Her firm, Account Mobility focuses on small and mid-sized business accounting from start to finish. One detail that makes an up-n-comer stand out is how much they have accomplished in such a short amount of time. It was only 2015 when Stephanie decided to turn her hobby of helping small business owners get their books correct into a full-time endeavor. Since then, her business has rapidly grown to 4 employees whom she has taught to train her business owner clients in making certain their accounting data is correct all the way through their books from start to finish. She has now moved her cloud bookkeeping offshore to grow the accounting and consulting side of her business with analytics. She hosts a Woodard Group host in her state, and also records knowledge-based training for QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online on Knowledge Wave, a Microsoft online training platform.  Murph said, "just look at all she has accomplished in the 4 short years before she completed the application for the 2020 award and you can see why she is a prime example of 'the standard' for an Insightful Accountant Top Up-n-comer ProAdvisor."

Liz Scott (that’s me)... I was honored to be the recipient of the 2020 Educator/Trainer/Writer ProAdvisor Award. Currently, I own and co-own four businesses, three of which are accounting based. My primary focus, Accounting Lifeline, is working with eCommerce businesses using QuickBooks Online and various 3rd party apps in the QuickBooks ecosystem. That led to an extensive knowledge of the QuickBooks Online database and associated apps. This love of apps branched into a profoundly meaningful opportunity for me to grow another business, The ‘Appy Hour, which focuses on training the accounting community about 3rd party apps as they relate to clients and accountants. The third accounting business is the training and education work I do on behalf of Intuit, Insightful Accountant, and 3rd party apps looking to educate the accounting community. Recently, I finished providing content for both the ProAdvisor QuickBooks Online Payroll and the QuickBooks Online Core Certification training. 

Editor's commentary:

Liz is being very gracious about herself, so I will step in and share with you, our readership, what I told the QB Talks participants about why Liz 'earned' the award this year.

The reality was that when Liz submitted her application form, she meticulously documented every single course and webinar she taught, co-hosted, and developed for Intuit’s Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter tours, as well as Scaling New Heights and various other conferences during the year leading up to the 2020 award process. The number of verified hours she recorded far exceeded the next closest scoring applicant (in this category)... it just goes to show the importance of keeping accurate (verifiable) records and recording them properly on the application form.

But beyond that, I think everyone who has ever participated in one of Liz’s classes knows her to be a great instructor who cares about both what she is teaching and who she is teaching… because she wants her students to get as much out of what she is teaching as she is putting into it.  "And that’s why Liz Scott is a prime example of 'the standard' that is Insightful Accountant’s Top Trainer/Writer/Educator ProAdvisor." 

Murph

Vanessa Vasquez is the recipient of Insightful Accountant's 2020 QBO Integrations ProAdvisor Award. She shared how her firm, Vanessa Vasquez Consulting provides accounting, tax, business management and technology consulting services focused on helping the Hispanic community. She has grown into a distinguished leader by sharing her QuickBooks knowledge with both written courses and speaking at training events as an accounting and 3rd-party app expert. One of her championed causes is to serve the Hispanic community by presenting opportunities for accounting education for both Spanish and English-speaking audiences. She is a celebrated ProAdvisor helping both small businesses and the accounting industry.  Murph told Vanessa that, "her work in app implementation and education in both English and Spanish was a significant contributing factor in her 'earning' this year's award."

And then we come to Gale Kirsopp, Insightful Accountant's 2020 ProAdvisor of the Year! This year she best represented 'the standard' of what it means to be a ProAdvisor, or what Murph referred to as 'the Best of the Best.'

Gale is part of the 4700Group and focuses on serving law firms. She is an educator and taught at a University for years working with the business center providing outreach to the community. By niching in the legal community offering QuickBooks and 3rd party practice management integration and accounting services, she understands law firms' pain points. She can provide relief due to her extensive knowledge of the industry. Since her award announcement, she has received leads from the legal community who want to work with an award-winning champion.

My favorite Gale quote, “knowledge is by far the greatest advantage any of us have.” By being willing to learn new things presents both opportunities and growth.

Honestly, this celebration moment was remarkable. As someone who could not attend Scaling New Heights this year, where the awards are typically announced, this roundtable was a way to celebrate with my peers. And for those in the community seeking one of these spots, it was a golden opportunity to hear what it takes to not only have marked accomplishments but share them during the application process.

You can want watch the recording of this QB Talks Awards Roundtable at the Insightful Accountant Webinar Archives along with many other webinars in the QB Talks series and other Insightful Accountant hosted educational/informational events.