Forward
by William Murphy
"What does it take to become a Top 100 ProAdvisor?" If you have been involved in the process over the last several years and never made it into the Top 100 you might be asking yourself that very question. But funny enough, we even have members of the Top 100 who ask that same question each year wondering what they did to make the ranks of the Top 100.
On February 4th at 1 PM Eastern, ADP will host a webinar in which a prestigious panel of three ProAdvisors will discuss exactly what it does take to become a Top 100 ProAdvisor. I am honored to moderate this great group of ProAdvisors.
The webinar titled, Secrets to Becoming a Top 100 ProAdvisor, will feature the perspective of Dawn Brolin, CPA, CFE, and CEO of Powerful Accounting, Dawn just happens to be Insightful Accountant's 2020 Top Niche Practice ProAdvisor for her specialization in Forensics.
The webinar will also feature Caleb L. Jenkins, EA, CQP, who is the Leader of Client Accounting Services at RLJ Financial Services. Caleb was Insightful Accountant's 2016 Top Up-N-Comer ProAdvisor.
The third panelist at the webinar is Matt Fulton, Co-Founder, and CTO of Parkway Business Solutions who joined the ranks of Insightful Accountant's Top 100 QuickBooks ProAdvisors for the first time in 2020. Speaking of Matt, I'm proud to say that he has written an outstanding treatise that makes up the foundation of this article, which I will get to in just a couple of more paragraphs.
In 1979, Tom Wolfe's novel, 'The Right Stuff'1 was first published telling the story of the early U.S. race to space including Project Mercury. But the Right Stuff did more than that, both the novel and the Ladd Company film (released in 1983)2 returned Americans to the days of those proud moments of accomplishments, that let us know that there were indeed truly individuals who could be special, who could be 'the best of the best', and that individuals could stand out for their accomplishments. The first seven of Project Mercury truly had the Right Stuff because they shared common traits, they set 'the standard' to which all the remaining members of the American astronaut core would find themselves being expected to adhere in the years to come all the way to the moon.
Whereas the underlying qualities of the Right Stuff were unspoken, Matt Fulton has narrated a collection of traits that reflect, in the same way, qualities everyone who aspires to the ranks of Top 100, should strive to attain. They are not only traits measurable in the Top 100 of past years, but will hopefully always remain true among the Top 100 in the years to come.
Traits of a Top 100 ProAdvisor
by Matt Fulton
A Strong Work Ethic:
“Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.” ― Ann Landers
A strong work ethic is often confused by a time-sheet or a pay-check, they are not the same. Work ethic is the commitment to quality of performance and accomplishing your goals. As a small business owner your journey will almost always begin with countless hours and small paychecks, it will be your work ethic that will drive you toward achieving your goals. A strong work ethic will help you build a ladder to climb over what might seem like a dead-end to others.
The Desire to Learn:
Acquire new knowledge whilst thinking over the old, and you may become a teacher of others. — Confucius
As a business owner, you will be required to wear many different hats all at the same time, regardless of any prior experience that you may or may not have. When faced with such a challenge, you have two choices, you either learn how to do it, or you hire someone who can do it for you.
One of the best parts about being a small business owner is the continuous learning curve. It is this thirst for knowledge that motivates a person to research new topics and learn new skills. This has been fundamental throughout my career especially in the accounting industry. When I began working as a bookkeeper, I discovered very quickly that I had A LOT to learn, fortunately I had YouTube. It was my love of learning that fueled my search for the perfect app stack (aka The Holy Grail) and fundamentally led to my specialty in workflow design.
Without an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, I do not believe that I would be where I am today.
A Willingness to Teach:
The mediocre teacher tells; the good teacher explains; the superior teacher demonstrates; the great teacher inspires. — William Arthur Ward
Sharing and discussing your knowledge with others provides you an opportunity to validate the timeliness and accuracy of your ideas. As a presenter and content creator, I appreciate having the opportunity to share my ideas with our community and recognize the trust offered by those who engage. Initially, such a responsibility scared me until I learned to say: “I don’t know but let me find out for you.” Teachers are not expected to have all the answers, but they should always clarify the difference between facts and opinion.
Sometimes the opportunity to share your knowledge with others becomes the catalyst for deeper knowledge. Ironically, it has usually been through speaking opportunities, that I truly grasp an understanding of the topic being discussed. As they often say, “those who teach learn the most,” and there is no better feeling than knowing the information you shared helped someone else.
Adaptable to Change:
“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” — Stephen Hawking
The only thing that is constant about life is that it is always changing. Often the most difficult part about accepting change is the ability to accept that your method may not help you accomplish your goal. Those who remain open to new ideas and test out new methods will find it much easier to adapt as their chosen profession evolves.
The accounting profession is a perfect example of an ever changing industry that requires its professionals to be able to consistently pivot. Over the past five years, desktop software has become cloud based subscriptions, software companies are becoming service providers, and a global pandemic has changed in person to virtual. Sometimes change can occur slowly, and sometimes it can change in an instant.
In a world of “fail quickly”, I believe that you never truly fail until you give up. Learn from each lesson and use that knowledge to adapt and evolve.
The Wisdom of Humility:
“Wisdom is equal parts experience and reflection." — Aristotle.
Not too long ago, business owners believed they had to hoard their knowledge to ensure a competitive advantage. Unfortunately, this mentality made it difficult for struggling business owners to ask for help from people who knew their industry. Thanks to social media, it has never been easier to connect with other like-minded people to look for guidance, unfortunately it requires us to determine what is fact or fiction.
As a mentor, people always hope you will share your secret sauce for success, but it is our responsibility to also share the challenges we experienced along our journey. It can be very difficult to admit the mistakes you made along the way, but it is through that humility true wisdom is gained. Remember, it is easy to forget what we had to learn.
Becoming a Top 100 ProAdvisor
The order of these traits may seem accidental, but they are not. Without a strong work ethic, a person is far less likely to have that desire to learn or to reach for more experience in life. Only through experience are we able to obtain personal knowledge.
Unfortunately, knowledge is tricky and can lead you down a blind path if you do not consistently test the validity of it. The best way to test knowledge is to discuss or share your experiences with others. In other words, we teach by sharing the knowledge gained through experience.
Before we can truly validate our experiences, we must be able to accept a change of opinion if the knowledge proves to be incomplete.
It is through humility that we adapt to these changes and transform the knowledge from our experiences into the wisdom shared with others.
Whether you have mastered all five traits or are still working on your “10,000 hours,” to become the next Top ProAdvisor, you cannot accomplish your goal without throwing your hat into the ring.
I want to encourage you to not only Nominate Yourself, or one of your fellow ProAdvisors, but to also attend the February 4th Webinar in which I will be joining Dawn, Caleb and Murph to discuss, Secrets to Becoming a Top 100 ProAdvisor.
Top 100 ProAdvisor Feb 4 Social Tile
The Top 100 ProAdvisor of the Year awards program recognizes the 'best of the best' QuickBooks ProAdvisors from all over the world. Applicants for this prestigious program are ranked based on their performance across a variety of categories, measuring everything from QuickBooks knowledge to utilizing the best tools & partner apps within the QuickBooks ecosystem that contribute to strong practice growth. During this 1-hour webinar, our panel of ProAdvisors will cover:
- Best practices and the steps to follow to become a Top 100 ProAdvisor
- How to build your tech stack with leading partner apps in the QuickBooks ecosystem
- Recommended software/app certification programs outside of the ProAdvisor certification
- Tips to building a niche focus in your practice
Webinar Details:
February 4, 2021 | 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time |1 CPE Credit
Field of Study: Business Management & Organization
Level: Basic
Pre-Requisites: None
NASBA Approved - Sponsor Number: 103021
Register for the Webinar
Footnotes:
1 - The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, 1979, Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
2 - The Right Stuff (film), 1983, Produced by The Ladd Company, Distributed by Warner Brothers.