Episode #19 - Royalwise’s Alicia Pollock

About our Guest

From the age of 13, Alicia found a passion for computers. She actually entered the accounting industry from the back-end, starting as a 7th grade English teacher. The training space was where she found the mutual connection. Alicia’s combined love of helping others and her skill of explaining things well, lead her to become a computer tech trainer. 

She spent 35 years with Microsoft Office and some time as an Apple specialist. Our girl did some consulting work too! It wasn’t very long into consulting before she received questions about QuickBooks, and earned some credibility on her skill set. 

Shortly after, she decided focusing on QuickBooks full time was worth her while. 

Alicia developed training programs and with the help of YouTube and social media, recordings of her class made it easier to get her specific help out into the world. She started by focusing on helping small business owners, yet as the demand increased, Alicia realized bookkeeping, accounting and training was her niche. 

Thus, RoyalWise.com was born. 

(H) Appy Hour

No typo (h)ere. Appy Hour, as Alicia describes it, is an opportunity for people in the QuickBooks and Intuit training space to compare what they’ve learned while supplementing each other. This is also a great way to create strategic partnerships. 

Early on in her YouTube days, Alicia comments that it seemed like there was no space for what she was doing. Every search in her niche seemed to produce a Hector Garcia video. She tells us that Hector told her directly, there actually is room for everyone. 

This is something she carries into her firm today. Alicia shares that her firm likes to say, “It’s not about fighting over slices of the pie. Let’s just bake a bigger pie.” 

Ah ha! Perhaps there is room for everyone in the non-zero-sum game we play in the finance and accounting world.

Taking this ideology, Alicia dedicated her time at the Appy Hour Camp to develop strategic partnerships with other firm owners and trainers. Her logic is actually quite simple - if we’re all going to face the same problem, why not cooperate on the solution? 

One would find many vendors and large organizations involved at the Appy Hour Camp. Jackie tells us she enjoyed the vendor relationships as she names a few: 

• ADP 
• Intuit
• Practice Ignition 

Jackie shares that this was the first year they offered to cover costs for the camp through sponsorship opportunities. If you’re interested in applying, be sure to check out Appy Hour Camp. 

The Great Resignation 

Increased retirements. Decreased replacements. 

Jackie asks Alicia how we solve the current issue of people leaving the accounting industry without the supply to backfill the positions. 

According to Alicia, there are two elements to this issue: 

1. Culture shock 
2. Interest in the industry 

The culture shock creates a complete shift in the accounting culture and the field itself. Years ago, professionals would come out of accounting programs, still not completely prepared for what the industry had to offer. When we consider the technological advancements that have been made, learning debits and credits on paper is nothing compared to a QuickBooks how-to user guide. 

The second element is the variable of less individuals seeking to enter the industry. Embracing the development of virtual training is extremely valuable as Alicia tells us. 

While training years ago, she considered what it would look like to make training available anytime, anywhere. Due to the pandemic and applications like Zoom and YouTube, we’re beginning to see this as the new reality. 

Training is such a key part of the entire problem. Since less individuals are interested in accounting, new professionals need to be reached in order to fill the gaps created by the retirees. Alicia shares that by sharing training and continuously improving them, firms can avoid re-creating the wheel. 

Traits for Thriving 

Jackie asks Alicia, where she sees businesses thriving and the answer Alicia gives is both powerful and interesting. 

Alicia responds with the idea that business owners during COVID woke and realized that maybe they weren’t living out their passions. Possibly asking questions like: 

• What are they passionate about?
• What are they good at?

Professionals and business owners/operators may have also taken this awaking-like time to price themselves for what they really think they are worth. 

So what does this all mean? 

Well, when workers are leaving the industry without the confidence of backlogging positions and prices are increasing, we begin to see a gap created where microbusinesses can’t afford the necessary services to run their business. 

Alas, this is a great opportunity for those entering the industry to find success. 

Outside of the business world, Alicia shares some personal tips for thriving as well. When asked about a book that everyone should read, Alicia claims The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, is the framework that has allowed for her and her husband to become successful business and lifelong partners. 

A quick treat, the Four Agreements are: 

• Be impeccable with your word 
• Don’t make assumptions
• Don’t take things personally
• Always do your best

More on Alicia and Jackie

Alicia is most active on her Facebook and YouTube. Of course, check out her website RoyalWise here.

RoyalWise provides trainings for: 

• Quickbooks
• Apple
• Microsoft Office 
• Dropbox
• Google Sheets & more

You can also check out her husband’s podcast, jMac Fixes Everything! 

As always, ConciergeCPA is hosted by TaxPlanIQ. To learn more about Jackie and how she helps others, visit jackiemeyercpa.com or join her Facebook group - Accounting Firm Influencers. 

You can also find Jackie on most socials under, Jackie Meyer, CPA. Bye for now!