When we first met Heather Weiler, she had just decided to launch her own bookkeeping service. She had been working part-time for seven years as a bookkeeper for a graphic design firm and decided it was time to take charge of her career. She wanted to enjoy greater flexibility, spend more time with family and increase her income while working from her own home. But because her experience was in managing books for one industry, she decided more training was in order; she turned to Universal Accounting Center (UAC) for help.
Heather hand-picked the Professional Bookkeeper (PB) Program because it’s specifically designed to help students master small-business accounting, which is not taught in the majority of other training and degree-based programs. She also appreciated the self-study nature of the training which enabled her to complete the program at her own pace. She explained, “The video training with UAC was great as I could go over a segment a few times if I needed to, and having someone explain how things work seemed to sink in better than reading it in a textbook. Also, I didn’t have to leave my house two nights a week to go out and do a course—I could do the work when it suited me, which worked really well with my work schedule and my family.”
Not only did the PB Program help Heather master small-business accounting, but it also taught her how to effectively market her practice. But being a bit more reserved, she struggled in the implementation of the marketing strategies she had learned; as a result, she decided to purchase Master Coaching as well, a program that pairs students with coaches who help them design a step-by-step plan to meet personal goals, identify potential obstacles and hurdle them.
Heather’s coach was Rick Howard, and the two immediately began to talk strategy regarding the successful launch of her practice. She said, “Rick always called promptly, and it was always pleasant to speak with him. Our sessions felt more like a conversation with an old friend who really wanted to help my business succeed, rather than being run through a checklist of ‘to-do’s’ by some executive who clearly didn’t want to be stuck dealing with such small scale business.”
Every week, for 12 weeks, Rick helped Heather implement the startup strategies she had learned in the PB program. She raved about her experience: “The PB training and the coaching program have changed my life. All the people I have dealt with at UAC are fantastic. They are knowledgeable, kind and helpful. They truly want to help people succeed in their own bookkeeping/accounting business… It is a wonderful feeling to take what I know to help someone else and give them peace of mind about their business. I would recommend UAC to anyone who is thinking about starting their own bookkeeping business.”
Three years later and Heather exclaims, “Starting my own business is the best thing I have ever done. …I recently acquired a new account that has allowed me to reach my sales goal for this year. So far this year, I have almost doubled what I did in sales for the same time period in 2013.”
Heather has found great success is following UAC coach Scott McKinley’s guidelines for an effective elevator speech, and this once reserved professional is finding great success networking through a monthly businesswomen meeting. She explains, “At the ladies networking meeting I have been going to for about 18 months, two ladies got up and spoke about how grateful they are to be working with me, so that was great to hear.”
To achieve the professional success Heather enjoys by launching your own financial practice, call Universal now at 1-877-833-7908 to enroll in our powerful training and coaching programs!
