Self Employment:
A New Career In Four Short Weeks

As seen in The Salt Lake Tribune

Most students who attend the unique training courses offered by Universal Accounting Center are looking for a change. Perhaps they want to move u in their current job and take on new responsibilities. Possibly they are unemployed and want to enter a new career, or find better employment with a higher earning potential.

Or, perhaps they’ve decided the time has come to start their own business at home - and they need training and encouragement to take that first step toward greater independence and security. If you fall into one of these categories, in less than a month you’ll find the accounting and bookkeeping training and confidence you need at Universal.

For nearly 20 years, graduates of Universal have been thrilled as their income improved and their career opportunities increased. In fact, Universal’s exclusive courses have developed a nationwide reputation for providing an effective, fast-track education in accounting and bookkeeping.

What does it take to be a good bookkeeper? According to Allen Bostrom, CPA and president of Universal, it takes someone who likes to work with numbers, and who has a good mind for details. Bookkeepers and accountants should be people with high ethics - they’re the people who record and handle the finances for businesses.

Good bookkeepers always look for ways to help their companies improve financially, and are a great asset. Bookkeepers should like to help people, because they are the ones upon which everyone else in the company depends.

“Accounts payable, accounts receivable and payroll are the areas that seem to be in particularly high demand in the Salt Lake area. We receive lots of calls and requests for employees with these skills,” says Bostrom. “All a person needs to do is look under the accounting and bookkeeping sections of the classified ads to see the multitude of jobs from which to choose.”

How much may one expect to earn? Accounts receivable and accounts payable clerks’ salaries will generally range between $16,500 to $26,000 per year. Payroll clerks will range between $20,000 to $26,000 per year, according to the Robert Half 1998 Salary Guide.

There’s a great need for “full-charge” bookkeepers as well - those who can manage the entire bookkeeping process, including preparation of financial statements at month’s end. These highly skilled employees can make between $26,000 and $40,000 per year, depending on background, training and experience. No college degree is generally required for these great positions.

People who have decided it’s time to open their own bookkeeping and accounting business can make between $20 and $50 per hour, when doing the work on a contract (self-employed) basis. Since they usually work out of their own home, the start-up costs are low - often not much more than the price of acquiring a business license, calculator, business cards, stationary and sometimes a computer - although a computer isn’t mandatory. Bookkeeping can be done quite well by hand.

They can start their business while still employed at their “day job”, and do the bookkeeping on their time off, or they can jump into their new business full time and build it as quickly as they choose.

One of Universal’s students who opened her office at home had all the clients she and her husband could handle working full-time, within two months. In fact, many students have their first clients before even finishing the four-week class. This often happens when the students are excited about their new direction. Students who choose to start their own accounting and bookkeeping business are thrilled with the independence, freedom and income that working at home provides.

Universal has new classes starting soon that can prepare you to take charge of your life and find a new, rewarding career. You’ll find the classes are small and offer a lot of personal attention. Also, they consist of a variety of people: those with non experience: those with years of on-the-job experience: and those with various degrees of professional designations. Even CPA’s are enrolled in the classes almost every time they are offered.

No matter what your experience level, you’ll gain much from the classes. The information would take you years to acquire on your own. From debits and credits, to dealer financing, to construction, manufacturing and retail operations - you’ll gain hands-on, practical experience that you won’t find anywhere else.

Students’ satisfaction is guaranteed, or their tuition refunded in its entirety.

Get Started!

March Your Career Forward This Month

Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises. - Demosthenes

Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death. - James F. Bymes

Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. - Thomas Alva Edison

I refuse to make New Year resolutions until all the hype has died down. Something about the New Year frenzy makes me uncomfortable about setting goals simply because everyone else is. I like the time to really assess my life before determining where I would like to steer it. And now is about the time I do that.

If you’re anything like me you used to dream about all you could do with your life. The road ahead seems long and endless when you’re twenty-years young. It only takes a few years before you realize just how quickly time flies, and how quickly you can get stuck in a career your don’t like, moving further and further from those dreams. The more complacent you become in your current position, the more impossible those dreams appear. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

There’s no time like the present to start your own accounting practice. Perhaps you have fantasized about being your own boss, working as little or as much as you’d like, calling the shots, and catapulting you and your family into a new and improved lifestyle. And luckily, you’re pining over a very profitable business opportunity. Of all the home business options, a Bookkeeping and Accounting practice is considered by some to be one of the best. In fact, Paul and Sarah Edwards, authors of The Best Home Businesses for the 21st Century, rate a bookkeeping service as the “Best of the Best” home-based businesses.

The Benefits of Having Your Own Accounting and Bookkeeping Practice

There are many reasons why an accounting practice makes so much sense. Here’s a list of some of those reasons:

• Every business is required by law to keep books
• You can earn a good living (the average client will bring in about $300 per month)
• It’s an inexpensive business to start (you probably have most of what is required right now)
• No expensive equipment is required
• You can work anytime, any place
• Rented office space is not required
• Inventory is not required
• You can make money doing what you enjoy

But where do you start?

Since Alf Bostrom founded Universal Accounting Center in 1979, UAC has trained countless financial professionals in the practical application of small business accounting. The field is wide with opportunity. Consider all the local small businesses in your area. They need a competent professional, a Profit Expert, to help guide their businesses to success. And with over 50% of small businesses failing within the first five years, it doesn’t take much to convince these business owners that your services more than pay for themselves.

We Help You Develop the Skills

The Professional Bookkeeper Program is designed specifically to address the needs of small businesses, and Universal Accounting Center’s small business accounting course is the most complete of anything else offered today. And depending on your schedule and situation, it will only take you 60 hours to complete. Imagine earning professional certification in less than one month!

We Help You Secure the Clients

One of the greatest challenges for many small business owners comes in the marketing. You may love working with numbers but groan at the thought of promoting your services and expertise. Universal Accounting Center understands this struggle and can help you eliminate it with the Universal Practice Builder Program.

UAC has developed a turn-key marketing solution which will enable you to grow your business with our proven system. You could work for years on a marketing plan, hitting and missing, only to find your business growing at a snail’s pace. Imagine learning which marketing strategies work in less than 60 hours. Top your Professional Bookkeeper Designation off with this program where you’ll walk away with over 12 marketing strategies that you can implement immediately. Not only that but we guarantee you will earn more than $30,000 in increased annualized billings in just 12 months!

How Bright Is Your Future?

The older we get the more dreams tend to fade. Fortunately we can find hope in something as simple as two Universal courses. The price of these courses is a small investment in a future that will more than pay for itself within the first year. Don’t hesitate to make your dreams happen. Imagine yourself earning the income you deserve from the comfort of your own home. Now make it happen! Order today.

We have been in the Accounting and Bookkeeping business since 1979 and have seen, and been a part of many successful businesses that provide write-up and daily bookkeeping services for small businesses. We have seen and put into practice the highly effective strategies, tactics and methods of Accounting and business and experienced many times over the exhilaration of dreams realized and company goals met by following what is taught in our courses.

One constant that has run over the course of the last 25+ years in the role of the accounting employee, and the inability to be paid equal to who they work for. The constraints that naturally come with such a position do not allow, in our day and age of business, to remain an accounting underling, and pay for the best in life.

Perhaps you’ve experienced these limitations yourself. The following are just some of the things we have observed about that type of a position.

• Strapped down by what someone else thinks you need to be paid – Entry level pay aside, for those who have been conducting accounting duties for years have found that their pay is determined by what someone else (usually their boss) thinks they need to be paid. Sometimes the driving factor is what the company can afford, regardless of that someone else is making the decision what your time is worth.
• Kept to the 3% cost-of-living pay increase – Pay increases are limited to usually the 3% cost-of living increase that companies dole out each year. This is designed only to keep the employee on pace with inflation. Not a way to increase their bottom line and take home pay. It’s been said that when you’re just treading water you’re only one arm stroke from drowning.
• Control of your position out of your hands – How much you are paid is completely dependant on the fancy, whim or circumstance of the:
  • Economy – Businesses are smart to expand and shrink as the market demands, but most times this tactic leaves their employees high and dry. Accounting and Bookkeeping services are as recession-proof as you can get.
  • Bosses – We’ve all experienced that type of boss that doesn’t have our best interest in mind. Whether conflicts of personality, or purpose or even professional knowledge come into play, who usually wins… The boss.
  • Corporate Culture – Corporate culture with some companies can be cutthroat and demeaning. Even if it makes no difference either way it isn’t set up with your welfare in mind, but the welfare of the company. Many employees can get lost in the welfare of the Corporation.
• No matter how well you do, usually pay remains the same until your yearly review – All of us like to be rewarded in a position in what we do and when we do exceptionally well we would like that reflected in our take home pay. Most of the time this is not possible to do until HR schedules out your yearly reviews. By the time that can roll around, the momentum of that wonderful result would have lost its luster and the realized impact on the company would have waned.

So How Can All This Benefit Me?

You may be thinking, “I’m looking for work, not to go out on my own, why am I still reading this?” Frankly, for some people to be their own bosses is not in their make-up. It’s just not something that they do not have the discipline to do. However for those types of people like you and me, it’s time to consider and weigh the immediate pain and work for the overall results and rewards. First let me ask you this question, can you afford NOT to go out on your own with the help of the Professional Bookkeeping Course? Let’s run some numbers.

Let’s take the entry level pay for an average accountant and boost it a bit. Let’s say you are making around $20 an hour currently and you are a healthy 30-35 year old person working the normal 40 hours a week, 50 weeks out of the year. (2 weeks off for vacation of course, don’t want to work you into the ground do we?) Before taxes that’s $3200 a month or $38,400 a year, not too shabby. Not taking into consideration the taxes, health benefits and 401K situations most companies have, over the course of the next fifteen years ( and taking into the equation of the 3% yearly living expense increase each year) your earning potential only reaches $59,826 a year for a 15-year gross total of $774,025.

You’re probably thinking, “Ok, what’s wrong with making $59K by the time I’m 45 years old, three-fourth of a million dollars is a lot of money”… Yeah, look where you can be if instead of $20 an hour you were making $45 an hour on your own (taking the same formula above).

• Your starting gross yearly pay would be $86,400 (a $48,000 difference to START).
• Adjusting the 3% increase of living each year by the end of that 15 years your yearly gross income would come to a mere $134,608.
• A whopping difference of $74,782 a year between the two!
• Over the course of those 15 years you loose out on potential earning of nearly $970,000 dollars.

And this is not considering if you grow your Accounting practice to require employees and dozens of clients. This is only taking into account what you can do! So I ask again, can you afford NOT to get this program?

Nut and Bolts of the Universal Offer

All that aside and based on the program’s merits this is the best decision, and the easiest decision you can make. While developing the most comprehensive training course found in the market - chock full of 25-years worth of experience and up-to-date proven strategies, methodologies, and tactics. Crafted to the student, and taught in such a way to have everything for the beginners to the most advanced in the profession - we have given to those who have come before you this Iron-Clad Guarantee.

That is, once you have completed the course, and found that it did not help you, we guarantee a full refund of the cost of the Professional Bookkeeper’s Training Course. Just send us all the materials back, and we’ll get your money back to you, it’s that simple. Getting the program is as Risk-Free and “Benefit-Full” as we could make it. A better offer is hard to find.

And we extend this Universal Iron-Clad Guarantee to you! Purchase your copy of the course today and you will have not only the Knowledge-packed course, the Iron-Clad Money-Back Guarantee but we’ll give you an additional two practice sets ($198 value). Business types that you can practice doing books on, so you can completely familiar with all the methods of the accounting process.

Practice Makes Perfect.

The three modules already contain practice sets for nine different types of businesses. Purchase the Professional Bookkeeper today and you’ll receive two more practice sets, giving you eleven in all. This will give you even more confidence and experience in various industries and the opportunity to work with additional types of clients.

In addition to the practice sets we recognize that you will need the support from Universal to help you through your coursework and answer questions that arise from all that is involved in the program. We won’t just leave you high and dry! We’ll add into this offer 6 months of Universal Coaching Support, a $585 value for FREE. You’ll have access to our Academic Coaches to be able to get your questions about the course work, but you’ll also have 6 months access to our CPA Coach to be able to answer the questions that arise when you are applying what you learn to your position. By phone or email both of these coaches are here to answer what questions may come along. This also includes the cost of $485 for the final exam for the Professional Bookkeeper’s designation. Certification to your employers that you have gone through the best possible training and have mastered everything there is to know in the program.

The Universal List of what you’ll get in the Professional Bookkeeper’s Program:

Universal Accounting Center’s Ironclad Guarantee
Oh, and one more thing a university wouldn’t offer: an ironclad money-back guarantee.

There you have it. If in the end you feel this course wasn’t worth its cost, you can get your money back! Very few opportunities like this come with a risk-free guarantee.

For just hundreds off the retail price, you can enroll in the Professional Bookkeeper Program right now pay in full and be on the path to guaranteed success. If you order now you can get 2 free gifts worth nearly $2000! Visit Universal Accounting Center today and discover what’s included in this amazing program. Don’t wait to get that edge on success. Order the Professional Bookkeeper Program today! It’s a “no-brainer.”

The Accounting Profession: Guaranteed Success

My kids have one of those miniature basketball hopes we keep in the house. They don’t like to play with me because making baskets is a “no brainer” when you tower above the hoop. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a “no brainer” career, where you tower over success?

Every business, whether it be an auto shop, a high-level marketing firm, or an art gallery, must perform accounting functions. Not only is it required by law, but good accounting helps a business assess its progress and take steps to become even more profitable. Because of this, good accountants are a priceless commodity, and when they do their job well they become invaluable to the company they work for. The accounting profession can be your “no brainer” career, with guaranteed success just as close as a miniature basketball hoop.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2008 accounting jobs will increase by 20%! That’s just two years from now. “In addition to openings resulting from growth, the need to replace accountants and auditors who retire, or transfer to other occupations, will produce numerous openings in this large occupation,” the bureau said in a recent report. Imagine how many jobs that represents. And imagine how many of them you could choose from.

Catapult Yourself to a Lucrative Career
The amazing thing is that you could learn accounting by the end of the year; your New Year’s resolution could be to get one of those prime accounting jobs. Finally, a resolution you could fulfill by the end of January! But how? It takes four years to get an accounting degree at a standard university. And they only train you in corporate accounting, which represents 2% of accounting opportunities out there. What makes up the 98%? Small business, and Universal Accounting Center knows small business accounting!

The Professional Bookkeeper Program
The Universal Accounting Professional Bookkeeper course was originally created by Alf Bostrom when he became frustrated that no course existed to teach a hands-on process of small business accounting.

The course has evolved over the last 25 years into a comprehensive program in the day-to-day bookkeeping of a small business. And our graduates have found that the principles also apply exceptionally well to larger companies. You not only get the theory taught in college, but you are taught by practical examples of real-world companies. From a bakery to a car lot, you will do books for 9 businesses and see how they are similar and how they differ.

And the best part, you can complete the course in 60 hours; if you start today you could finish the program by the holidays and relax for a month before starting on that New Years resolution! Or take your time and work slowly through the holidays. The nice thing about this program is that you can study on your own time and at your own pace.

Universal Accounting Center’s Ironclad Guarantee
Oh, and one more thing a university wouldn’t offer: an ironclad money-back guarantee.

There you have it. If in the end you feel this course wasn’t worth its cost, you can get your money back! Very few opportunities like this come with a risk-free guarantee.

For just $1485, $510 off the retail price, you can enroll in the Professional Bookkeeper Program right now pay in full and be on the path to guaranteed success. If you order now you can get 2 free gifts worth nearly $2000! Visit Universal Accounting Center today and discover what’s included in this amazing program. Don’t wait to get that edge on success. Order the Professional Bookkeeper Program today! It’s a “no-brainer.”

Do You Enjoy What You Do?

For way too many of us, the answer is no. Work can be hectic and stressful. Often, our careers just are not going anywhere. We need something to get them going again. The Professional Bookkeeper program gives you hands-on training in the full range of Accounting and Bookkeeping skills needed to succeed.

Learn How the Professional Bookkeeper Program Can Get Your Career Back On Track

Achieving That Graceful Exit

It’s time. It’s been time for a long time now and you are finally ready to make the move. What am I talking about? Moving on to your next position from your old one! Perhaps you’ve been unhappy in your job for years and are finally ready to make some changes. Or maybe you love your job but want more opportunities to advance and grow. Or it may even be possible you’re anticipating layoffs and want to quit while the quittin’s good.

Regardless of your reasons for leaving, it’s important that you stage a graceful exit. You’ve heard what they say about burning bridges, you never know that one supervisor or team lead from a prior workplace will be at the next company you want to work for. It is always good policy to get a warm reference than a stone-cold denial. Regardless of the direction you expect your career to take, you don’t want to leave any smoldering rubble behind you. Here are 5 tips that will help you walk out that door with poise.

1. Time your resignation well.
When deciding when to resign, you have to pick a good time for yourself, but you also have to consider whether or not you’ve picked a good time for your current employer. Unless it can’t be helped, leaving at the busiest time of year would be in bad taste. Your resignation should not be used as an attempt to get revenge. And be sure to give sufficient notice.

2. Submit a thoughtful resignation.
This is not the time to tell your boss what you really think of him/her (unless, of course, it’s positive and upbeat). It’s also not the time to catalogue all the injustices you’ve experienced. If you can, note things you’ve learned and ways your employment has been beneficial. Clarify how much longer you’ll be working there and the projects you plan to complete and those you expect to pass on to someone else.

3. Offer your help.
Now that your boss will be looking to replace you, offer to help with the hiring process. And while two-weeks’ notice is standard, it’s helpful to give a full-month so you can train a replacement if possible. Also consider leaving notes of instruction the replacement might find useful once they begin working on your projects. And leave your contact information so that your current employer could contact you later if necessary.

4. Work until the end.
Sometimes it can be tempting to take it easy the last few days, weeks, months of your job. But you’ll leave a lasting impression if you work until the end, exerting your best effort and getting as much done as possible. Don’t spend your final work days playing games on the internet or making long, personal phone calls. And don’t get offended when new projects aren’t extended and you don’t get invited to crucial meetings. That’s the nature of a job transition; you’re looking to the future as is your soon-to-be former employer.

5. Say goodbye.
My best friend in high school quit her job at a fast food restaurant by simply placing her old uniform on the counter in the women’s bathroom. She was too afraid to tell her boss she was quitting, so she abandoned her job like the scene of a hit-and-run. As long as you’ve done the four things above, there’s no shame in leaving with your head held high. And you don’t want to sour a good thing by skipping the last day of work or turning down your colleagues’ attempts to send you off with a company lunch or a piece of cake. Say goodbye and leave in good spirits. Leave your contact information and take the time, after you’ve left, to drop a note and say “hello.”

Moving on to your next position can be a difficult thing not only for you but for the friendships and working relationships you have established in your old job, but as long as you’ve made an effort to leave gracefully, you’ll have no regrets. And while you think you may never want to cross that bridge again, you never know; it would good to not only leave the bridge intact, but to have the genuine statement, “You’re welcome back anytime,” echo if you ever cross that threshold again.

UAC Can Help Find Something More Suitable

If you’ve been avoiding the opportunity to expand your horizons, here’s one simple thing you can do to stop sabotaging your career success and move forward in your resolve to fulfill your dreams. Learn more about earning additional income as a tax preparer, adding Professional Bookkeeper certification to your resume, starting your own accounting practice, and marketing your services by ordering our special 4-DVD. It includes the following:

Introduction to the Professional Bookkeeper Program. Learn how becoming a Professional Bookkeeper will improve your accounting skills and help you in your accounting career.

Yes Sample Marketing CD. Learn how to introduce your services to a potential client. Use this either for role playing, watching it while meeting with your client or passing them out.

Start Today and Have Your Own Bookkeeping Service. Learn how to make over $80,000 per year working from home while getting more clients than you can handle.

The Art and Science of Getting Clients. Learn how to get more clients by using our proven methods.

You can learn more about the countless opportunities that await you as a financial professional. Don’t delay your grand future. Order now!

Employees Can Expect Higher Raises, Says CareerJournal.com

PRINCETON, N.J — Workers in the U.S. can expect a 3.7 percent pay raise in 2005 — the second straight year of increased raises for employees after a three-year decline — according to a report on CareerJournal.com, The Wall Street Journal’s executive career site.

The 2005 expected increase is slightly higher than the 3.6 percent average raise in 2004, according to data compiled by Salary.com. Average salary increases bottomed out at a five-year low of 3.4 percent in 2003, after hitting a five-year high of 4.4 percent in 2001. A 3.7 percent pay raise would mean that an average worker earning $34,000 a year can expect to see an additional $24.19 per week. Those with a salary of $100,000 can expect an increase of $71.15 per week.

“We are in the early stages of an upswing,” says Tony Lee, publisher, CareerJournal.com. “The projected salary increases for this year are a ray of sunshine following several years of salary freezes and layoffs.”

CareerJournal.com offers these tips on how you can earn more as the job market improves:

• Keep track of your successes to present to your boss.
• Document your fair-market value by researching free salary data on sites such as CareerJournal.com.
• Learn the art of salary negotiation-the better you are at negotiating, the better your chances of being successful.
• Ask what needs to happen for you to earn a raise in the future, and try to get a commitment in writing.
• “Having another job offer also is a great tool in negotiating a raise with your current employer, but be prepared to leave if your employer doesn’t meet your terms,” Mr. Lee adds.

Focused Education Is Key to Getting the Best Raises

In the accounting and bookkeeping fields, you need a way to stand out from the crowd to move up to a better job. The training that is taught in the Professional Bookkeeper (PB) program gives you that edge over other applicants. The PB designation proves to employers that you have the real-world skills needed to get right to work with minimal training.

Learn More About the Professional Bookkeeper (PB) Program

Fewer Seniors Leaving Job Force for Good

By Bo Emerson

ATLANTA — Thad Quarles likes retiring so much he’s done it three times.

He first retired after 20 years of service in the Marine Corps, then from Delta, where he was a pilot for 28 years, then from a family pharmacy in rural Tennessee, where he filled prescriptions and made ice cream sodas.

Today he’s on career No. 4, as executive director of the United Way in five counties of east Mississippi and west Alabama.

“It’s a departure,” admitted Quarles, 58, who travels with his wife, Cleta, from their Duluth, Ga. home to an apartment in Meridian, Miss., every Monday, returning on Fridays. The pay is less than half his Delta salary, but the job gives him a chance to exercise his instinct for servant leadership.

“People have always told me if you’re a pilot, you can’t do anything else,” he said. “This is a challenge to myself to say there is something else you can do in your life that would be meaningful and fulfilling.”

Older Americans, like Quarles, are retiring differently than they did a generation ago. Seniors once accepted a gold watch and moved quietly to the rocking chair. Today they use retirement to switch gears, perhaps move into consulting, work part time for the corporation they leave, start their own business, enter a new career or become a full-time volunteer. Fewer and fewer Americans call it quits after retirement age.

Before Medicare and Social Security, older Americans remained in the work force in much greater numbers; almost half of all men 65 and older were working in 1950, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But by 1985, that number dropped to 15 percent.

Today, that figure is steadily creeping back up, said Sara Rix of AARP, as more and more older Americans stay in the work force. Last year, 19 percent of men 65 and older were in the work force.

Merrill Lynch in early 2004 asked 2,348 baby boomers (the population bulge born between 1946 and 1964) about their attitudes toward retirement. Of those surveyed, 76 percent said they intend to keep working and earning in retirement.

Many will turn to new careers, said Mary Ellen Garrett, first vice president with Merrill Lynch Atlanta Buckhead.

“I see the traditional pattern — retire at 65 and sit home or play golf every day — is just not the way it is anymore,” Garrett said. “I see more people leaving companies early — before 65 — and starting brand-new careers.”

That describes the employment arc of Jocelyn Bivins-Ford. She left BellSouth after 37 years and began working in administration for Atlanta City Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd. She also leads a Girl Scout troop and serves in the drama ministry at her church.

Friends keep asking the 55-year-old, “If you’re retired, why aren’t you in the house?” Bivins-Ford’s answer: “I retired from BellSouth, not from life.”

Also, despite income from her BellSouth pension, she needed the money. “I did the math.”

While contemporary workers tend to jump from company to company, retirees often follow the same pattern, retiring from a variety of careers.

Quarles is the very model of the modern “serial retiree.” Of his 20 years as a Marine Corps pilot, 13 were in the Reserves. During his time in the Reserves, he also flew for Delta, retiring from Delta in 2003 after 28 years of service.

Said Quarles, “After I retired from Delta, I stayed in the fetal position for a week or two, until my wife said, “All right, that’s it, out of the bed, you’ve got to do something.’ ” That’s when he began working for the family pharmacy. He soon retired from that, too, and took the United Way job.

Sherman Francisco, 70, is another serial retiree who considers work a crucial diversion from the empty calendar.

In 1987, he retired from IBM after 30 years of service, first as a salesman, then in the company’s real estate division. An injury led to his early retirement, but after a few years away from work, he was itching to get back into action.

First Francisco launched a custom furniture business, and was soon shipping bureaus and cabinetry all over the world. Then, last year, he joined the Home Depot, where he puts in 40 hours a week in the millwork department .

Rising medical costs are part of the reason for remaining in the work force. “Things have changed too much now. Everything is going up,” he said.

But Francisco also appreciates the opportunity to stay active. “It keeps me out of trouble,” he said. “My wife told me I’d be dead if I didn’t work here.”

Cheryll Schramm is, if anything, even more driven in retirement than she was working full time. Formerly chief of the Aging Services Division at the Atlanta Regional Commission, she now works part time on special projects for the organization, while juggling a dozen other interests. Those include travel, baby-sitting grandchildren, attending elder hostels, archaeological digs, teaching special education students and volunteering with a Clayton County resource center for grandparents raising grandchildren.

“Some people say work is just critical,” said Schramm, 60. “I like a combination. I like working part time, and I like volunteering.”

The debate over privatizing parts of Social Security may have little impact on the retirement decisions of the current crop of seniors, said Garrett of Merrill Lynch, adding that many older Americans have other sources of income.

But it may take a lot of income to keep baby boomers happy. Rix of AARP said boomers are accustomed to greater wealth than their parents’ generation, and won’t settle for modest retirements.

They are going to be better off than their parents in retirement, but they want to maintain their standard of living from pre-retirement days, she said.

This could keep many boomers working well into the golden years, because Social Security won’t pay for that mountain retreat or beach house.

The new retirees expect to pay for these things out of their own pockets, said Garrett, which is why more and more of them will keep working — even in second or third careers.

“Boomers are betting on themselves,” she said. “And why not? They were taught to bet on themselves.”

Semi-Retire in 10 Months . . . At Any Age

As mentioned above, most of today’s workforce plan to work at least part time in their retirement years. Because of the tremendous income potential of taking a few bookkeeping clients, we will show you how your retirement age can be one year from now, regardless of how young you are. It’s achievable, profitable, and easy. You owe it to yourself to at least check it out. It could very well change your life as it has for so many others.

Learn How to Make $30 to $60 Per Hour and Semi-Retire 10 Months from Now

You Bet!

Victoria Richardson started her business in January of 2004, and has seen incredibly rapid growth and profit ever since. She only spent the first 6 weeks marketing. Since then, she has had all the clients she can handle. In fact, she tells us that she has had to cut down to “only” 18 clients so that she has the quality time that she wants to spend with her children. Victoria is a stay-at-home mom and Professional Bookkeeper.

USA Today notes that while there are no statistics on the number of work-at-home moms (WAHM), the National Association of Women Business Owners reports that there are more than 10 million female-owned businesses in the USA. Many of those are run by stay-at-home moms who manage their businesses and take care of their children from the comfort of their own homes.

Perhaps you’ve wanted to return home to raise your kids but have worried about losing that stable income. But there’s no need to worry. Accounting is a lucrative profession that can easily be done while taking care of your family. Just ask Victoria.

Victoria Richardson, AAHM (Accounting-at-Home Mom)

At the time Victoria started her own accounting business she had two young children: ages one and two months. She was having ethical conflicts with her employer and had reached a point where she wanted something different.

As she considered her options Victoria said:

. . . my list of wants and needs included: complete flexibility to be able to be with my children when they needed me, if they were sick, or something had come up where they needed to spend time with me. I needed to be making at least $60,000 a year. I needed to be able to have a lot of flexibility, and wanted to work an abbreviated work week. And what I found was that … there was nothing out there that was willing to give me that package. . . . I discovered that the only option that was available for me was to be able to start my own business.

The Professional Bookkeeper Program

But Victoria knew she needed more practical education. She had a bachelor’s degree in business, but didn’t feel she had the confidence to manage the accounts of multiple clients without hands-on training. So she decided to enroll in Universal Accounting Center’s Professional Bookkeeper (PB) Program; it would give her the flexibility she needed to finish the course quickly and at her own pace.

When she was close to completing the course, she decided to quit her full-time job and become an independent contractor. Her ex-employer became her first client, and within 6 weeks she had enough clients that she could stop marketing.

Victoria feels like she has the edge and doesn’t worry about competition.

I know what they want to hear. I know what’s going to make them feel comfortable, and I know what their concerns are. And the Universal Accounting Courses taught . . . a lot of it has to do with . . . it’s semantics . . . it’s the language that you present it in. When I talk to them about increasing their profitability, they listen. It makes sense to them. I can feel confident in helping them discover what problem areas they have, and what ways they can work through that, so it’s not a situation where I feel like, you know, anybody else is coming in and giving them that because, unfortunately, that’s what they’re looking for and they’re not finding it anywhere. I can come in and do it, and I can do it and save them money.

The PB Program not only teaches you practical, day-to-day accounting for the small business, but it also trains you on marketing your unique skill-set. It gives you the edge over the competition so that you can feel confident in your ability to provide a better service for your clients.

More information on the Professional Bookkeeper Program

References

“Job Opening? Work-at-Home Moms Fill the Bill” by Stephanie Armour, USA Today

The Second Half of Our Self-Employability Quiz

If you’ve ever considered becoming a freelance accountant you need to ask yourself some serious questions before taking the plunge. There are a lot of variables to consider when becoming self-employed, and very few of them have to do with your accounting skills. Last week we posed the following five questions:

1. Are you self-motivated?
2. Are you a go-getter?
3. Are you organized?
4. Are you flexible?
5. Can you manage uncertainty?

This week we’ll talk about the final five questions of our self-employability quiz:

6. Are you patient?
Most likely you won’t have a flood of clients come through your door as soon as you hang your shingle. Building a solid client base will take time, and you will need to exercise patience throughout the entire process. There are other things that may require your patience as well: going full-time with your business, having enough money to hire staff employees, and collecting payment from some of your clients.

7. Can you promote yourself?
When it comes to contract work you must be able to promote yourself. Clients won’t come and find you; you must find them first and then illustrate why your services are better than any others being offered. Not only must you be able to promote yourself, but you must also believe in what you’re promoting: YOU!

8. Do you appreciate your business value?
When you recognize your business value, a lot of things will happen. One, you’ll emanate a confidence that will put clients and potential clients at ease. Two, you’ll be able to charge what you’re worth. And three, you’ll keep plugging away even when things get difficult.

9. Can you set clear boundaries?
With a traditional full-time job you work from 9 to 5 and then go home where you’re generally not expected to continue working. The difference with contract work is that your schedule can be more fluid, enabling you to work whatever hours you choose. This will require a bit more flexibility as you respond to client emergencies, etc. However, you will have to set some boundaries to avoid being taken advantage of. And once you set boundaries, be sure to abide by them.

10. Do you have enough knowledge and skills?
There’s no higher authority you can consult if you run into a complicated or difficult issue. As a freelance accountant you’re the higher authority. If you don’t have the knowledge or skill to run your own accounting practice, that’s your first order of business. Look for quality training programs that will help you gain the expertise you need.

Universal Accounting Center Offers Quality Training Programs

Last week when we introduced the first five questions of our self-employability quiz, we also shared our special professional package, designed to help people like you open a successful accounting practice.

The Professional Bookkeeper (PB) Program
Regardless of your expertise, whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or expert accountant, the Professional Bookkeeper (PB) Program will teach you small business accounting, enabling you to promote your service to a large niche market. You’ll learn everything you need to know to help your clients’ businesses become more profitable. Imagine gaining the reputation as a Profit Expert, granting the Midas touch to every business with which you work. The PB Program will give you the skills to analyze a company’s finances and determine how they can best increase their revenue and become more profitable. Once the word gets out you’ll have more work than you can handle.

The Universal Practice Builder (UPB) Program
But getting the word out is sometimes problematic. While accountants may be comfortable crunching numbers, they generally are not comfortable marketing their services. Wouldn’t it be nice to learn a proven system for marketing your newfound small business accounting skills? Universal knows how to do that, and we want to teach you! For years we’ve been offering the Universal Practice Builder Workshop, designed to train you how to market your practice in order to experience significant growth and profitability. You had to attend this two-day workshop in order to glean all the amazing information offered. Now, to accommodate students and make this information more convenient we have turned this workshop into a DVD program. Imagine all that you could learn from our experience training thousands of individuals like you!

Receive a Free Gift
But wait, there’s more! We want you to take advantage of this offer so you can realize your potential. And what better way to help you accomplish that than by combining these two powerful programs with another profit-building program, QuickBooks Made Profitable, for FREE!

UAC has created this amazing program to teach you how to use QuickBooks to generate more clients. You’ll be trained in a proven system of how you can use QuickBooks to attract larger numbers of potential clients offering expert QuickBooks services. Learn how to leverage your time, meet potential clients and offer them services that will help them reduce taxes, increase profits and put money in the bank. With this added service you’ll become even more valuable to all those clients, securing their loyalty and the longevity of your business.

There is a certain amount of risk involved in starting your own business. But when you’ve proven your skills by earning a professional designation your chances for success rise significantly. Do all that you can to prepare for your success. Purchase this professional package today!

Where the “Opportunity Things” Are

Gain Control of Your Career

I was recently reading “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak to my kids for a bedtime story. I was stricken with how similar this well-known story line reflects what we all go through when pursuing our professional goals.

In the story Max is sent to his room, feeling constrained by those who are in authority over him. He imagines for himself a world where he has the control of what happens. How often have we, sitting in our little cubicles, had those same imaginings about our careers? How many of us have imagined what it would be like to gain the control necessary to steer our careers in the direction of success and happiness? How many of us have imagined that happy, yet seemingly unattainable position of empowerment, where we are in charge of our professional futures?

Most of us can imagine being able to dictate what we do, how we do it and for how much we will do it for. We imagine a place of business where we are not only invaluable to the company we work with, but an indispensable part of that company’s success. Or perhaps we imagine working for ourselves, determining our own schedules as we grow an accounting practice that we manage.

Unlike Max who, after creating his ideal world, went back to the reality of his own room, will we settle for this dissatisfying stage of our careers? Or will turn our dreams into reality?

The corporate world can really be a jungle, and for those in our field we need to be gaining the right tools that will help us clear a path to the places we would like to be in five, ten, or fifteen years from now. Where are your “Opportunity Things”? What tools can you use to take advantage of that next promotion, pay increase or business opportunity?

Universal Accounting Has the Answers

The Professional Bookkeeping (PB) Program is designed specifically for those in your situation, those who need the experience and training necessary to move forward in their chosen career paths. The PB coursework will supply you with the materials, training, and support that will enable you to become a certified Professional Bookkeeper. The PB Certification will get you the experience and knowledge that has been used by more than 30,000 others, just like you, to make their professional dreams a reality. This comprehensive program can be completed in as little as 60 hours, allowing you to learn at your own speed while acquiring the tools necessary to catapult you to the professional future you’ve been imagining.

Building your own accounting practice will require exceptional marketing skills. And when you couple the PB Program with the Universal Practice Builder (UPB) Program you practically have a ready-made business at your finger-tips. The UPB Program will train you in more than 12 proven marketing strategies, teach you how to get 15 to 25 qualified leads per month, help you create a customized marketing plan, and enable you to earn $30,000 more in annualized billings in just 12 months.

Isn’t it time to make a move on your career? What’s holding you back from turning your dreams into reality? What is separating you from those who have gotten where you want to be? Stop allowing others tell you how much you can make, what responsibilities you are qualified for and how far up the corporate ladder you can go. With Universal’s training and practical, hands-on experience, the steering wheel is in your hands, and you can decide where to take your career. Enroll now!