Become a Bookkeeper Revamp Miniseries Part 5: the Why, the What, and the How!

The “Why” Behind The Revamp

The Become a Bookkeeper revamp is something a project that I've been considering doing for probably more than a year now.

It all started because I went back to listen to Become a Bookkeeper a while ago. I think I was curious how I explained a concept inside the program; it’s been some time, but I think it happened because somebody asked a question, and I wanted to see how I explained it previously.

So while on a road trip, I was listening to the audio for Become a Bookkeeper, which I don’t do too often.

Once you complete a project of that scope, it's easy to pack it up and not want to go back into listening to yourself talk about bookkeeping again; still, every once in a while I'll go in and see if I still agree with how I did things or if I think that there's a way that I can do it better.

Whenever I listen to Become a Bookkeeper again, my first takeaway is usually that I did a really good job. I pour so much into my programs and have a high bar for my evergreen content, so I usually find I’m really pleased with it still.

This time, though, I thought to myself, “I remember when I used to explain this topic that way, but I wouldn’t explain it that way now.”

That means something changed with me—either in my idea of what a best practice was, or because I saw things applied and thought of a new way to explain the concept more simply.

As I was listening to the Learn section of Become a Bookkeeper in particular, I knew I would want to redo that piece, but here’s the thing: when you're dealing with something this big, changing even one thing can become kind of a big undertaking. When just one piece actually can affect several other pieces of the program, it’s not like you can just go in and swap out things without double-checking everything else.

With that said, I went through the whole program and took note of ALL the things I wanted to tweak as long as I was getting my hands dirty. Some of those things include…

Things We’re Enhancing

Outdated References

There are a few small pieces of Become a Bookkeeper I would like to get rid of or redo because they feel a little dated.

Become a Bookkeeper was born all the way back in 2020, after all—that was four years ago. So if I'm making references in Become a Bookkeeper to things that say 2020, I want to wipe them clean, because I am conscious of the fact that I want Become a Bookkeeper to be something that people can come into in 2024 and beyond without feeling like they're getting something dated.

Xero Interface

The interface of Xero has also changed over the last few years—not dramatically, so people can still go through and figure it out, but some things are different. And as there is such a strong shadow element of the program, and I have my answer key after the practicum, you may be seeing me click in one spot but not be able to find it in the current version of Xero.

The same function likely still exists, but the way that it looks could be slightly different, or there could be a different click to get there, and that can just be confusing.

Xero Partner Program

Another thing that has changed over the years since Become a Bookkeeper first began is the Xero Partner Program.

In the beginning, you could only be a Xero partner by having a paid client connected in Xero. That was a tough limitation for us because accountant profiles have different features, features I think you need to test—for example, cash coding and posting journal entries.

We had workarounds for that in the beginning, but now that you can become a Xero partner without that stipulation, we want to make sure that there are no lingering pieces of that old process.

Beyond that, I want to make sure you get your Xero partnership set up from the get-go. You don’t even have to be a Become a Bookkeeper student to get that—in fact, if you want to go ahead and do that now, you can go to katieferro.com/xero and get that set up right away.

That allows you to be able to really test what it's like to be an accountant inside of the Xero program.

Explanation of Manual Notes

I also want to explain the concept of manual journal entries in Xero and where and why you, as a bookkeeper, would have to use them. So we're going to be adding that into Become a Bookkeeper.

Section Outlines

A student also suggested adding a more in-depth outline of where the course will take them in the next large section. Sometimes they felt nervous or unsure if they were going to be learning certain things later in the course, or if they needed to try to learn those things on their own.

I’m currently working with DreamPro, an incredible team of course designers, to assist in this revamp, so this is one of the things I asked for help with. It’s a great point, but I didn’t know how to address it myself, so they’re going to be putting that together.

Time Stamps

Students also asked for time stamps on the videos, which I requested DreamPro assist with, as well. I'm not sure if that's going to be possible yet, but we will be trying to incorporate some time stamps.

We're also chunking some of the videos down so that it's easier to go back and review, and I plan to be doing something to make it more searchable.

What We’re Not Changing

The Workbook

There was some feedback asking me to include the workbook in the cost of the course. And while I understand the frustration, here’s why I don’t do that:

As it is right now, you pay for the course; then, if you want the printed workbook, you can buy it off of my Etsy store for about thirty dollars.

So while I understand people wanting to have the workbook included in the cost, I purposely don't do this because costs can change. I could buy the workbook today, and then it might go up to fifty dollars next week instead of thirty, which would then require me to raise the price of the course.

I don’t want to be constantly upping the price on you for the sake of covering material costs, especially when not everyone even wants the physical workbook; some people are fine with just the virtual version!

Not only that, but imagine the administrative burden if we had to mail out the workbook for every single person who joined, whether they wanted it or not. With the added labor and packaging costs, not to mention shipping, we would have to increase the cost of the program by a lot more so that we could compensate for that.

All that to say, I was very thoughtful in my decision to keep this separate. This is less about profit for me and more about how to keep the cost low for you, which is why we’re keeping the workbook process the same.

The Walkthroughs

Students have commented that they enjoy all the walkthroughs and how I connect the way these principles apply in reality, and I like them as well, so I don’t plan to change those.

I don’t want to make things more difficult. With the walkthroughs, I wanted to reinforce the key points that I thought you should walk away with to help you memorize the key pieces.

CSV File

One thing people requested was a change to the portion of the practicum where I give a CSV file to import.

The suggestion here is to make the data on the credit card CSV file negative. That way, when it imports, it goes to money spent instead of money received.

Now, I did consider this, but I said I would only do it if the data actually exported that way, and it doesn’t. It comes out as positive. Therefore, I’m leaving it as it is, though I may include notes on how to do this in the practicum intro to reduce frustration.

The thing is, you have to be looking at that. You have to experience it going in backwards, because it’s going to depend on the credit card company and how you export the data. If that's going to come in positive or negative, you need to think through what is positive or what is negative. You need to know how to flip the signs, and you need to import it.

And, if you do import it wrong (as you will in the real world), you need to know how to take it out and re-import it correctly.

These mistakes are what's going to train you to pay attention to detail, because even though that flip would be easier, it’s not how it actually works. So if I flipped it for you, you wouldn’t flip it yourself when you got your first credit card, and it would end up backwards.

Get in Now!

This isn’t an exhaustive list, but these are some of the main things we’re enhancing or leaving alone in Become a Bookkeeper. You’ll also be getting a new and improved client example, a new and improved practicum, and freshly recorded walkthroughs by me!

(For the full behind-the-scenes tour, listen to Episode 170 of Profits + Prosecco!)

If you’re thinking this means you should wait to join Become a Bookkeeper…think again. This is actually the best time to join, and here’s why:

The price right now is the price right now…and it may not be the price for much longer. With all the things we’re updating and adding to the program, the value is increasing exponentially, and the price likely will too.

If you purchase today, you not only lock in today’s price…you ensure that you’ll receive both the current version of Become a Bookkeeper, which is amazing on its own, and all the features included in the revamp.

This means you’ll get access to two client examples and two different practicums—twice the real-world examples, and twice the assurance that your skills are up to the task of taking on clients of your own!

So don’t miss out—join Become a Bookkeeper today!

EPISODE RESOURCES:

Don’t wait—join BABs now to lock in the best price: https://www.katieferro.com/become 

Want a peek behind the curtain into what it really takes to have a simple and scalable (and successful) bookkeeping business? Get access to my free, on-demand four-part series, 6 Secrets to a Simple, Scalable Bookkeeping Business: www.katieferro.com/6-secrets

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