clouds, Sarasota, Florida Canon Digital Rebel
I have my first Quickbooks class tonight. After five years of running a company and having virtually no accounting system {I have been using word documents, a handwritten log, and a handheld calculator} I am taking the plunge and learning the program I have been dreading for so long.
It got me thinking that often, we as women are afraid to do left brained tasks like accounting and finance. Maybe we were brainwashed into thinking we aren’t good with numbers or maybe we think it’s easier to let our partner take care of things.
I was surprised when my friend Jason told me that he has always been inspired by my willingness to learn what I don’t know. Need a website? learn how to build one. Run a business? figure it out as you go. I find that I am most inspired to learn when there is a need. Unlike so many things we learned in school, there is nothing like learning a new language when you are actually traveling to a new country!
If any of you out there have been wanting to start a business but don’t know how, would like to learn more about your financial life or investing, and how the hell do you buy a house anyway? there are resources for you, for us.
And guess what? Many of them are free! or close to it.
In San Francisco there is a place called The Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center for Women. They have full programs in how to begin and run a small business and lots of smaller workshops in bookkeeping, Excel, marketing, etc.
The Small Business Administration also offers free classes in your city or online. I looked up the local San Francisco office and found a full calendar of enticing classes for very little money. And finally, the best resource I found when I started my business was the small business startup guide.
Knowledge is power baby!
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andrea,
great post. as i was reading i was laughing to myself. i am so opposite of this. the left brain side is what is comfortable to me. running a business and finance is actually what i do for a living. it’s that right brain stuff that scares me. i often find i am stopping myself before i actually out loud say i am not creative. i don’t feel as if i am. i go to these great blogs with amazing jewlery (i happen to be wearing today) or beautiful paintings, or poems that tug at your heart and i think okay, so how do i get myself there. how do i get myself to be creative or find what my creative calling really is??
jenn
ANDREA, YOU ARE WONDERFUL! There are so many things I want to learn that I feel at a loss in finding that information. Sometimes you just need someone to point you in right direction or encourage you. I have been thinking about starting my own business (the idea is still in its gestation) as well as getting my teaching certificate as well as writing a book…now we’re getting into my mondo beyondo list. But maybe these things aren’t so mondo beyondo after all. Thank you for your thoughts and your guidance!
Andrea – you read my mind…I’ve been ‘thinking’ about all this and not DOING anything…this might just be the kick in the butt I need.
thank you – as always for inspiring me.
xo
Can I add one of the best resources of them all? The public library.
I have several friends who have commented at various times “how amazing” it is that I know how to run a business, build websites, write, fix computers, do accounting, tile my floor, etc. etc.
BUT … I explain … these are all things that I have needed to know for one reason (or job) or another at one time or another. After studying every book in the library, taking a class here and there, and a lot of practice (and a LOT of mistakes) I eventually learned to be proficient.
My mum always said that “if you can read, you can cook” … I now apply that phrase widely … “if you can read, you can do almost anything.”
I wonder if you do not see the sky as much as you should when you are at home! Or maybe you are just interested in clouds lately.
thanks !!
i needed this push
i am at the phase in my
business where i need to “get legal”
so to speak and i had been dreading it
and felt lost . these links helped alot!!
any other jewelry biz tips 🙂
More power to you! You know, the funny thing about it is, when you actually make the leap things like Quickbooks arn’t half as hard as you think they are going to be. It’s mostly just internal resistance.
Funny thing- after years of being a artist I started a theatre company with two men. And I – the woman, and young woman at that – am the managing director. I do books and admin for us all. It’s strangely empowering, I have to say. Because once you know how to do that, you can pull the strings and help in the birth of even bigger projects. So really quickbooks is a midwifery skill 🙂
Much luck!
andrea ?
thanks for sharing these resources, but most of all, thanks for acknowledging/validating other people?s quest to actualize their creative endeavors. so often i meet entrepreneurs in the arts/crafts field who vehemently guard their business “secrets.” i think we can all be ignited by the small spark of information that a successful creative person can pass along. and to me, the world needs more creativity, so what’s not to encourage?!
thanks for the generosity. much continued success to you!
Thanks for sharing all that glorious information on starting or running a business. I haven’t really had a chance to flip through them all, but they look like they are a good helping hand to someone like myself and I’m sure others.
Though for some odd reason, I enjoy doing bills and the numbers/accounting part of my job as well.
That cloud photo is a-MAZE-ing! Good luck with QuickBooks– that’s what my husband uses and he thinks it works well.
I do QB consulting and use it for payroll and my own personal finances. Don’t be afraid! It’s a great program! I know what you mean, though. There are many things that I just choose not to learn because of having a capable husband. Meaning, I don’t really NEED to learn to fix certain things because he can. But I often think, God forbid something happened to him, I’d need a lot of help around the house! I’m envious of my friends who just get out and mow the lawn themselves, something I have no interest in doing. Oh well, maybe someday, after I’m done knitting.
i took a class a biz class at the ren center & it was one of the best things i’ve ever done! i also have vowed to do QB for myself since i learned it on a former job, but somehow i have such a block when it comes to my own finances. funny that. thanks for reminding me! btw, i would love to meet for tea or go walking sometime soon neighbor!
Have fun in class Andrea – that quest for knowledge when one is motivated is SUCH a powerful thing. Thanks for always sharing all your knowledge 🙂
I posted too quickly about the sky pictures–I think I sounded too negative. I am happy that you included three sky pictures! I like them a lot! Thanks for them (and all your pictures)
Great pictures; Hope the quickbook class went well
I, too, am intimidated by all this. I have attended a small business seminar but even so…..I’ve been trying to figure out a way to ask you where you got started in learning how to manage the details of your business. You answered before I even asked. Now *that’s* synchronicity. 🙂
Oh, and I love the clouds. (I take pictures of clouds, too.)
The person that said that the library was a good resource is absolutely correct!! I heard someone refer to it once as the poor man’s university. I think that the hardest part about anything is making the decision to learn how to do it. Sure, not all of us “get it” the first time or sometimes even the 10th time, but I don’t think you’re supposed to. You really do learn from your mistakes…
congrats on being part of issue one of jpg magazine!!!! 🙂 looking forward to seeing your photo in it.
I taught myself how to use Quickbooks and there are still a million things the program can do that I am not taking advantage of. But it beats a handwritten check book when you write over 100 checks a month. I wish I had taken a class before I got started.