Kevin Stafford 0:02
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the conversations with coaches podcast. We are we are coming in we are coming in hot in 2023. Lots of returning guests, lots of new guests. And I am very excited today to have another returning guest. Alicia Katz Pollack, we we spoke I forget when this was sometime in 2022, this this lump of 22 that is now the past, we had a great conversation, let me refresh your memory on who Alicia is, then we’re gonna jump right into what we were talking about right before I hit record very, very good, meaty stuff. Alicia is a top 10 QuickBooks Pro advisor, and member of the Intuit trainer writer network. She writes QuickBooks textbooks and runs a training and coaching program at Royal wise for business owners and bookkeepers who use QuickBooks Online. Alicia, first of all, thank you for coming back on the podcast, it’s good to see you. Back. I’m really happy to be here. And we were talking about something very interesting that I have not given very much thought about, for obvious reasons. It’s kind of maybe part of the problem. It’s not something you very often think about accounting, like good books tend to be something that when they’re working well, you don’t really think about all that much. However, there are some emerging trends and some shifts in the industry now that are presenting, I could say, well, I could say two ways. They’re presenting new challenges, and they’re getting new opportunities. So I’m curious where you’re at with that, and how you are how you’re filling the gaps?
Alicia Katz Pollock 1:17
Yeah, well, there’s a lot of change happening in my industry. So I’m in the bookkeeping and accounting realm. And so what I do is QuickBooks Online Training, so specific training on a piece of software to help bookkeepers or business owners. And what’s been happening in my industry over the last couple of years, is we are facing what they’re calling the great resignation. And you know, we all know that the workplace has been shifting as a result of COVID kind of like waking people up and realizing, hey, wait, I don’t need to do the grind. I want to do something fulfilling. And so what’s happening in the accounting industry is all of the accountants who have been in the industry for 2030 4050 years are now retiring. They’re like, I don’t want to learn this newfangled FinTech stuff, like what’s Venmo. And I don’t want to. And so they’re retiring, they’re selling the practices, or they’re just given up in, you know, traveling the world as they should be, and, you know, gleaning the benefits of all the hard work that they’ve been doing. But what’s been happening as a result is that we have this declining number of financial professionals actually advising all the small businesses and accounting programs are not seeing enrollment and graduation rates, accounting is not no longer a sexy field for millennials to go into. Consumers could completely care less. And so we’re not bringing in new bookkeepers and new CPAs. And like the educational process with the testing, and the hours required to become a CPA is so daunting that it doesn’t fit today’s lifestyle. And so we’re about to enter a timeframe when, you know, we’re opening up tons of small businesses, because people don’t want to work that nine to five, so they’re all inspired and they take what their passions are, and what their hobbies are, and their gigs are and they want to turn it into a business. But there are not enough bookkeepers and are not enough CPAs to support them, and advise them and give them the financial perspective that they need to succeed. And so what’s happening is that we’re all raising our rates, or they’re all raising their rates, and there’s fewer people available. And so it’s hard to actually find a financial coach.
Kevin Stafford 3:36
That’s such a huge issue. Like once again, something that it’s unfortunate because you don’t really think about how much you need it until you really need it. Like I think about like, obviously, like somebody who understands how to do it, how to do it well how to do it effectively, is one thing, but also that advisor role, I feel like it’s off, it’s so slept on, because it’s not only just about making sure you’re you know, your i’s are dotted and your T’s are crossed, and all your numbers are in the right place. It’s also about planning, it’s also about being able to judge presence, near term and long term future goals and figure out like how things are shaping up trends and etc. And then I feel like that advice is just as valuable and it’s even more slept on.
Alicia Katz Pollock 4:16
It really is. I mean, Intuit has done studies that business owners who work with a bookkeeper are 70% more likely to be in business after that magic five year mark, than and people think that bookkeeping is just categorizing the expenses into the right category for your taxes. And that’s like the surface level. It’s really about saying, Okay, well how much profit did I make? And why does that net profit not match my bank account? Because it never does they’re not the same thing. And how do you actually manage your finances where so that you can grow you know, where are you leaking money? Where are you not invest? thing, what’s a better place to put your resources? And that’s what bookkeepers and accountants bring to the table. It’s not just filing your taxes for an Uncle Sam, it’s being able to say, Okay, well, if my goal for 2023 is to bring in 20% more customers, how do you do it? Or if your plan is to, you know, drop a certain expense by 10%? Where do you go to do it and analyzing all of that, and that’s what helps business owners succeed. It’s, it’s financial coaching.
Kevin Stafford 5:32
It really is, it really, really ought to be viewed as the as that, I think, and it’s one of those things where I get the sense that more people are becoming aware of that need earlier in the process. In which, which is great, which is where obviously wears off something like royal wise would step right in so I’m, this is an obvious tip, but talk to me a little bit about, like how royal buys, is moving into this gap where there’s there’s fewer trained and skilled and experienced bookkeepers and CPAs. And how its royal wise in multiple ways and dynamic ways, kind of moving into that space to help people you know, get ahead of the game and stay ahead of the game.
Alicia Katz Pollock 6:08
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the very first step is that when you start up with QuickBooks, you can’t just open it and start plugging away, you have to actually set it up and gear it for your company and design, what you want your reports to look like, so that you can get the information that you need out of them. And then I teach the business owners how to use QuickBooks on a daily basis, so that the reports are right, because a lot of people accidentally wind up doubling their income because they don’t understand how to how to work their sales receipts. So like, they’ll make an invoice for a customer and then they’ll suck in the the deposit from the banking feed. And then they’ve got doubled revenue. And they think they’re doing amazing and in fact, they’re going under. So this is a time of year when I actually look at people’s in QuickBooks, and like you know, shuffle it all where it’s supposed to be and fix all the problems and then give them real numbers, not just so you can pay the right amount of taxes, but that’s really not what’s happening in your company. So that’s the like the the day to day of what’s happening for us. But even bigger than that, whether it’s the business owner who is great at what they bring to the table for their business that they want to put together, but they don’t have any financial experience. It’s teaching them to use QuickBooks, or going back to the great resignation. It’s filling the gaps for the bookkeepers that the since it’s no longer the path of you go to school for accounting, and then the you become a bookkeeper or a CPA, that that is kind of fallen by the wayside. Now the people who are going into being bookkeepers are stay at home moms and career changers, you know, people who have not been satisfied with their day to day or the job that they’ve had so far. And they want to, they want to do something that is fulfilling, that helps other people, or that fills that right side of that or that left side of their brain. Because categorizing things is kind of fun. It’s like putting a puzzle together. And so, because that’s the new realm of bookkeepers, those are the people who are now being attracted to the industry. They’re not going to school or college, they are watching YouTube. And then they’re just kind of like making it up as they go. And honestly, I spend a lot of time cleaning up QuickBooks files from people who know like the tip of the iceberg when they need the rest of it. Oh, instead of people paying me to fix it, I want to teach people to do it right from the get go. Yes. So royal wise, we have developed this vast platform of QuickBooks Online training. We also have Apple and Microsoft training as well, my husband’s our apple guy. But for QuickBooks, I have over 40 classes, I have about almost 100 hours worth of training materials that I constantly refresh that take you from the basics of QuickBooks all the way up through advanced bookkeeping. And then you can just like take the one class that you need, like this is 1099 season, right? So I’ve got one one hour class just on 1090 Nights, or I have a whole program that teaches you all of the software from making your first subscription all the way through closing out the year. And what’s important to me is the democratizing of education, that it’s not just you know, the a lot of the people who want this for themselves are not people who have a lot of resources. They don’t have a whole lot of money to put towards college and there’s no financial aid for for independent training platforms like mine. So I’m in that like, we’re constantly talking about pricing, for example. And we want people to be able to afford our classes we fit in that mold of, if the prices are lower, we can reach out to more people. And, you know, the coaching my industry gives me as Alicia, you’re amazing, you need to raise your prices, you’re not getting what you’re worth. And I’m sitting here saying, Yeah, but I would rather have 100 people at a low price than 50 people at a higher price. You know, if it’s all going to equal out, I want more people to be doing better in their lives and filling in this industry gap.
Kevin Stafford 10:37
And that’s admirable, quite frankly, because it’s a lot of people, it’s very tempting, very tempting to in your process of understanding your own value and your own worth trying to match your pricing accordingly. And that’s such a tricky thing for all business owners, and remembering to factor in that I’m in this business, because I want to help, I’m here to serve, not just self serve. And if balancing those I mean, I’d say balance, like they’re separate things, they really are all of all of a piece, but it’s important to kind of think about them separately, and to weigh the pros and the cons and make sure that you’re reaching the most people most effectively in a way that’s not hamstringing your own business because you want your business to be able to grow and thrive as well. Such a tricky path to navigate. And I very much appreciate clicking away, I love that you that you give so much attention to it and call it out here, I think it’s so important. And another thing that’s very often overlooked, or at least people get scared of and maybe put off or ignore.
Alicia Katz Pollock 11:32
Yeah, and at royalwise.com, what we did is we put together a learning platform that’s a lot more complex than like Kajabi, or think epic, where most people are, are trying to productize, their, their coaching and their training, which is great. But we wanted it to be more of a organized school kind of environment. And so we like I said, we have the individual classes, or we have the memberships that give you there’s a there’s a bronze, which is kind of a business owner membership that teaches you the basics of QBO, and how to use the banking feed and how to reconcile and how to run your report. So like that’s our bronze subscription, it’s a set of classes, nice. And then we have the silver level, which actually gives you the full access to the whole entire library and you can go to town and binge watch. I do try to make it a little entertaining, so that you’re not just like a little. And then at the Gold level, you also get a one on one appointment with me. So you actually get personal coaching so that you can you know, I have bookkeepers who will make a list of their client files. And we’ll actually like look at real businesses and I teach them how to look for errors in the data, and how to advise that client for growth. And so it’s really it really is bookkeeping coaching.
Kevin Stafford 12:49
It really is. And it really is the best of all possible worlds because you kind of have you have the DIY this sort of do it yourself version, where it’s like, Look, I know you don’t have a whole lot of time and you don’t want to get become an expert. But you do need to learn how to do this to a certain level, I got something for that. There’s the you know, actually, you do want to do this, not just for yourself, but maybe for a living and you really need to know all the ins and outs. And you’ve really got to have some subtlety to your education. You want to dedicate the time but you don’t have like, you know, go back to school get four year degree levels of time and money. But you do have levels of time and money that are perfect for silver. And then you have the gold where it’s just like Okay, now we’re gonna do it with because you want to you want to get the real mastery here, you’ve come to the right place. Let me let’s go through all these courses and do all this. And let’s talk some stuff through let’s run through some examples together. So you can really get some hands on experience before you’ve even gone out to get the experience. It’s such a great capture with those three levels. I love that.
Alicia Katz Pollock 13:41
And it’s also cool for the business owners. So those entrepreneurs who are starting out with those with their new businesses, like I even have them skip silver, they either do the bronze with the core classes, or I haven’t got a gold because the gold is where I meet with them once a month. Yeah, for some of them. I’m doing the reconciling and I’m doing their bookkeeping and that that gold membership is basically their bookkeeping fees. Or it’s going in and analyzing where they’re having a business issue and I get to you know, it’s it’s bookkeeping therapy really is what it is.
Kevin Stafford 14:11
Make that the title of the episode? Because it is, I love it. So I find I find that there is these there, there are these awkward growth phases. And I’m kind of using my like remembering my you know, that summer that I sprouted four inches kind of memory where I was just like, oh, everything kind of hurts and I keep falling down. Like I’m clumsy. And there are obviously it’s a it’s a messy analogy. But similar for businesses, there can be these awkward sizes where you’re like, I need like real professional help with X, Y and Z. And sometimes X, Y and Z are all accounting and bookkeeping, but definitely like it’s almost always one of those things where it’s like I need more than I’ve got or more than I can do myself and it’s hard to find Compatible Solutions. It’s hard to find someone or something that can help fill those gaps. And I feel like you’re the programs you got offering the way that you offer them, it’s very, very has a lot of optionality to it that really, lets lets you come in and bridge some gaps, to the point where it’s even like, if you’re like you’re about to, like consider hiring an accounting department, you get to that size. If you’re on the cusp of that big decisions, things have to be an order, all sorts of considerations. And you’re like you off, you’re there as well. I just, I’m in my head, I have you just kind of like jumping into the gaps and like saving the day like
Alicia Katz Pollock 15:32
and what’s actually been really cool for me in this last year, since we last talked is my courses are now CPE authorized, which is continuing professional education for for CPAs for accountants. And so if anybody needs CEU credits, continuing education credits, my live classes are all authorized. And we’re actually in review right now for the on demand classes. But everything has quizzes along the way. And so you just pass the quiz and you get continuing education certificates. And Natalie are really, really nice for the credibility because it’s not just me, like having some thoughts in my head that I want to share. Like, I’ve been now recognized by the industry as a valid trainer and thought leader.
Kevin Stafford 16:14
You’re Yeah, you’re no kidding. A lots happened since we last talked, you’re already on a rocket ship. Well shoot before before I close this down let you go. Obviously Royal wise.com. Right. It’s like it’s probably a good one stop shop. Do you have any other good locations for people to find out more? Learn more connect with you ask you questions get to know you like a preferred social media where you’re like, yes, either my DMs will let you know or do you have any like special offers or like any like free videos or whatever, we’re just like, hey, go to my YouTube channel and check us out you have anything other than we got
Alicia Katz Pollock 16:46
all those links. So the ROI wise.com is kind of like the billboard website, it’s not even the most of the best place to go. If you go to learn dot ROI wise.com It takes you straight into our training portal. We have a vast YouTube channel that has where I actually take snippets of my classes, like the first 10 minutes or 20 minutes or the highlights. And so you can actually watch my free videos and get a few of your questions answered. And then if you’re like, oh my god, that was great, then you click the link and you gotta take the full class. We also pull out some of the, what we call the hoot tip, since we have an owl as our as our logo. It there, the hot tips and the little cool features. And so we’ll slice out, make little reels, or tick tock things out of
Kevin Stafford 17:37
the real shorts, whatever they’re called on whatever platform they’re on.
Alicia Katz Pollock 17:41
The shorts, all of that. And so we’re in the process right now of going from these one to three hour classes, then we went down to the 20 Minute level and now we’re taking them down to the one minute little hot tip.
Kevin Stafford 17:54
You’re you’re you’re doing the right thing, you’re uh, you’re ahead of the game. That’s where everything’s moving is that short form video, give people give people a taste, give people a free taste. I always whenever I say that, I feel like I sound like a drug dealer. It’s like yeah, give them a free taste and get them hooked. But like, in a good way in the best possible way. It’s like this is what we have to offer. Here’s here’s what you can learn a bit more about it you want a little bit more watch our longer videos wanna learn a little bit more? Head on over to learn dot you want to know a little bit more, why don’t you just go ahead and click on this button right here and send me a message or whatever it happens to be. So that’s mean you are you’re right, you’re everywhere you need to be everywhere, everyone who might benefit from your services is going to go looking. So that’s awesome. I’ll make sure all these links are in the show notes. By the way to listeners out there, you’ll be able to just click and go.
Alicia Katz Pollock 18:34
Yeah, and for those of you who are Facebook users, I have a group called training for QuickBooks users, which is my forum where I post class announcements and also where people can go to ask questions if you’re not already a royalties apples member when I talked about the royalties, als ALS is the on demand web based learning solution which is what we
Kevin Stafford 18:54
call our Oh you made it an acronym. I love it.
Alicia Katz Pollock 18:57
And so that’s our Facebook group. And you know and then we’re also if you just look at Royal wise on all the socials we’ve got all the all the pages where you can go like us and subscribe and all of that, but the YouTube and the Facebook are our two big public channels.
Kevin Stafford 19:12
Nice to hear every everywhere. This is great. I wasn’t kidding. You are you are you’re kicking off 2023 Right. I know obviously there’s lots of work that goes into getting where you’re at right now but like that’s that’s really exciting. So I mean, we I really feel weirdly proud of you. It’s like you were doing great last time I talked to you but like you knew like leveled up since then. That’s amazing. So I guess congratulations and we’re back on again when you’ve like leveled up again in the summer.
Alicia Katz Pollock 19:35
Awesome. Thank you I really appreciate it all of that mean I kind of look at it like we’re in the if you build it they will come phase we’ve built it it’s time to come join the ELS
Kevin Stafford 19:46
it’s time to come on over join the hours I love that. Ah, but I think I’d like during the hours I like there’s a lot of stuff I still like bookkeeping therapy. I still like that. Like I still might make that the title.
Alicia Katz Pollock 19:57
It’s really what it is. I mean, what my goal is to bring People peace of mind, you know, if you’re looking at your business reports, and they’re not looking right, it’s confusing, and it’s frustrating and it’s scary. And so I really like making people happy making people smile, bringing relief, because there’s just certain things that as a business owner, you can’t do yourself that you shouldn’t do yourself. I mean, if you were good at bookkeeping, you wouldn’t become a bookkeeper.
Kevin Stafford 20:25
Well, Alicia, this has been, it’s been really great. Like I said, like I knew this time would fly. We’ve already been chatting for almost a half an hour, and then like almost over 20 minutes for the recording. So this has been great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, and congratulations, and thank you. You
Alicia Katz Pollock 20:39
are very, very welcome. Thanks again, this is a great way for me to kick off the new year.
Kevin Stafford 20:43
Awesome. And yet to the audience out there. You’ve heard the deal. You know where to go. links in the show notes, watch some videos, get a taste, get a free taste. Don’t worry. Come on in. The water’s fine. And we will talk to you again here very soon.
