Summary: How to start making money with bookkeeping and maybe even work from home “I'm trying to re-learn bookkeeping with the idea of working from home. My health now requires me to look for a way to earn a living where I can have a more flexible work schedule” -WPL The work from home dream Ahhh bookkeeping and the dream of working from home. Picture with me for a second, late 90s clipart with a happy person on a lonely tropical beach watching their four inch laptop screen, blocked only by a delightful pineapple cocktail sporting an umbrella only slightly smaller than the umbrella that is providing shade from that darn tropical sun – enough shade so that the mysterious (coincidently young and beautiful) person can just barely see the money rolling into what is also presumed to be tax free offshore accounts. Yes this is the fantasy life of remote accounting, which I think (myself included) to aspire to. Just say NO to cubes <a href="http://accountingplay.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/IMG_3435.jpg"></a> Remote accounting and my reality After two years of working 60 hour weeks (when counting BS and networking time) I finally felt comfortable to work remote for three weeks in Panama. I picked Panama for two primary reason, one that personifies the accounting stereotype “it was cheap” and one a little more interesting “surf on two coasts!” Conveniently I was also able to get my USA iPhone to work down there sufficiently for about fifty bucks, not bad. Let me contrast the clipart scene with reality. Imagine a younger male dude, face white from extra dosses of sunscreen sitting in the restaurant bar as close to wifi as possible, headphones in to block distractions, hoping the electricity does not go out, and answering email. I mean, hey, it kinda worked! Bookkeeping as a profession is rapidly evolving Back in my day I had to walk to my first job at Snyder Accountancy uphill, both ways, in the snow, which is quite rare for the California coastline. I was hired because I took one semester at junior college which consisted of USA taxes 101, accounting, and accounting with software. On the first day my wonderful manager Dacia Mendoza sat me in front of some archaic PC based software and I started entering transactions from cancelled bank checks. This was a Carmel Valley taqueria I was salivating as I entered in the food and beverage costs… tortillas, cervezas, salsa… After entering in the transactions and coding them to appropriate accounts, I then performed a bank rec. Day 1 I was learning the ropes and useful to the firm. But now the same task that took me two hours can take twenty-four minutes. <a href="http://accountingplay.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/IMG_3313.jpg"></a> Getting hired in the new era requires experience and education – It is very difficult to show up to an accounting firm and be valuable without some formal training “these days.” The issue at hand is that the training headache does not create any benefit for the firm. Unfortunately CPAs and firms often adopt, “It is just easier for me to do it” mentality. The answer to this is to get the education that gives you the most value for the money. The reciprocal result is that the more valuable your educational choices are the more valuable you will be to the firm. Here are some thoughts: Junior college is your best friend Take low cost junior college courses: Accounting basics / bookkeeping, Excel for accounting, Excel in general, Beginning tax preparation classes Study to learn Beware of certificate courses – you are much better served going to junior college, owning your classes, and getting any kind of experience possible Some Junior Colleges offer even intermediate accounting, may have more engaged instructors with smaller classroom sizes, hopefully connected to the community, and often have online options One semester of junior college (JC) courses: Excel, Accounting 101, Computer Software and Accounting,
