After Alicia Katz Pollock received her first Apple computer, she did what any 13 year old would do—she designed a database for her father’s dental practice. The program automatically sent appointment reminders to his patients.
And thus a career dedicated to every facet of perfection and efficiency was born. What drives her? What doesn't? With an advanced teaching degree, a love for communications, a slew of certifications and business consulting experience, Alicia, MAT, ACN, MOUS, is a highly-qualified, passionate and patient trainer, and President and CEO of RoyalWise Solutions Inc.
Founded by Alicia and her husband, Jamie Pollock, RoyalWise is a Certified QuickBooks® ProAdvisor, Apple and Microsoft computer training and support company. With more than 30 years of experience in the industry, the duo continues to implement creative solutions to everyday problems, and find new and practical ways to wield technology.
We sat down with Alicia to get her thoughts on her ProAdvisor honor and what the road ahead looks like.
Give us a snapshot of your business.
Royalwise.com is a wife-and-husband team specializing in computer training and support. For the past 11 years, we’ve worked with business owners and home users to end their struggles with technology.
I focus on QuickBooks, but I am also Apple and Microsoft Office Certified. Jamie focuses on helping seniors impress their grandkids with their Mac and iPhone prowess.
In addition to one-on-one customized support, we also run the Royalwise OWLS (On-demand Web-based Learning Solutions), a vast computer training platform with a video library, live classes and discussion forums.
My favorite part is my coaching membership program—I am a “help desk” for bookkeepers and business owners to ask how to do things in QBO.
In addition, I am the author of the QuickBooks 2020, 2021 and Online college textbooks for Questiva Consultants, as well as my own books on Amazon.com.
(L-R) The Royalwise OWLS team: Audrey Isbell, Swiss Army Knife; Alicia Katz Pollock, QBO Rock Star; Jamie Pollock, Apple Guru; Payden Miller, Marketing Specialist; Jef Black, Operations Manager.
How does your award fit into your firm's overall mission statement?
Between helping bookkeepers and clients, recording content and writing the books, I work 14-hour days and most weekends. Receiving this award means a lot because it is really affirming that my hard work and dedication to helping people is making a bona fide difference in the industry.
How have you been leveraging it to promote your firm's success?
Now that I have to update my PowerPoint slides and content to take the extra 0 off “Top 100” to make it “Top 10,” it is an opportunity to freshen my content and reach out to the community. It really has helped with my credibility.
A few short years ago I sat in the audience watching the trainers at QBC thinking to myself, “I can do that.” Now it is a vote of confidence when I talk to potential clients to let them know that I really do know my stuff.
What are some of your strategies/initiatives for 2022? Business? Personal?
For the last year, I have been working with Questiva Consultants to convert Doug Sleeter’s seminal QuickBooks Desktop college textbook to QBO. His book has trained thousands of bookkeepers for over a decade. I am hoping that by transforming it from a classroom-setting-only book to a self-guided training manual available on amazon, I can have the same impact on the industry as it moves into the modern age.
My goal for 2022 is to not just publish the book, but to pair it with a course on my website where learners can watch walkthrough videos, take quizzes and get help from me as their instructor.
To keep myself jazzed during the 700 hours of writing, I had a lot of fun naming the customers, vendors, and employees after my colleagues. There are at least 30 Easter eggs in the book for careful readers.
What are your expectations for 2022?
The world is taking COVID as a wakeup call that life is too short to do a job that does not inspire you. People are done working below living wage, tired of being consumers who give their money to billionaires who then shoot it into space. I think we are going to see a lot more people follow their bliss and start businesses that express their passion. When you love what you do and can earn a living doing it, everyone wins.
What's the best piece of advice you can offer your clients for 2022?
Because of this cultural shift, the industry needs a lot of new bookkeepers. Every business needs a bookkeeper. Between so many accountants retiring and so many new businesses starting, it is a high-growth profession.
But honestly, I find myself spending a lot of time cleaning up after bookkeepers who are learning on the job. When you are just starting out, it is one thing to categorize transactions correctly and know how the software works, but it is something else entirely to learn what to do in unusual situations. Have someone check your work. Find a mentor or trainer to work with. It is not fair to business owners who pay the wrong taxes or can’t get good business intelligence from unintentional mistakes. Know that you don’t know what you don’t know.
Is there an anecdote you can share that really sums up the work you do for your clients?
One of my favorite clients I'm working with right now is new to QuickBooks Online. She started as a home organizer, but decided she liked organizing people’s finances instead and started working for an accounting firm as an outsourced bookkeeper.
She joined my QBO coaching membership, has watched most of the 70-plus hours of videos in my library, and we work together on-call throughout the week. She uses my OWLS forum to ask questions, and I record all our Zoom sessions. Our meetings and Q&A forum have turned into her own custom course. This comprehensive approach has reduced her learning curve, increased her accuracy, sped up her production, and eliminated her frustration.
We both have a lot of fun, and find it really satisfying to button up customer files together.
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