FREE Online Courses plus FREE CPE

There are a lot of great courses available online (http://accountant.intuit.com/training covering a variety of topics:

• What's New for QuickBooks 2009
• QuickBooks Premier Accountant Edition 2009
• Lacerte Tax Update
• Payroll for Today's Accountant (by me)
• Preparing for QuickBooks Certification (by me)
• and more

Plus, coming in the next week or so:

• Common QuickBooks Mistakes and How to Fix Them (by me)
• Effective Marketing for Accounting Professionals (by me)

These online courses are free and inlcude CPE credits if you need it! Check them out!

Using Jing Videos for Training or Answering Questions

Often it is easier to show someone how to do something rather than to write about it or try to explain it. That is why I just LOVE creating quick videos with Jing (http://www.jing.com ). It is very easy to learn how to use and you can be creating videos in no time!


I've been using the Free version which limits you to 5 minute videos. They will host the videos or you can save them and post them to your own website, YouTube or email them to clients or others. Once you've created your video, make sure to name it so you can re-use it again later.


There is a Pro version of Jing for about $15 per year. You can also do a screen shot instead of a video. Here is a sample of a Jing video I created about 2 sided items in QuickBooks: http://screencast.com/t/zvU0HzyhvSf

This can be an effective marketing method to demonstrate your skills, knowledge and training abilities. You may get clients from people who watch your videos. So, get started with Jing and you'll see that 'a picture is worth a thousand words' and your clients and others will love it!

Intuit Academy Virtual Conference

Intuit Academy has its first Virtual Conference on Wed and Thursday (1/21 and 1/22/09). I logged in for a few minutes a couple of times on Wednesday. It was really cool! It is just like a real conference with an exhibit hall and conference hall (for live webinars and online courses available for CPE credit!).

In the Exhibit Hall, there are booths where you can talk to Intuit Employees and/or other ProAdvisors or peers and The Sleeter Group has a booth too with Doug & Sherrill Sleeter along with other Sleeter employees. It is great to be able to ask questions and talk to people in the booths. You can also pick up documents and save them into your briefcase to download later!'

You talk via chat and messaging. You can join in the booth chat for everyone or have private chats with people. You can also go into the Networking Lounge for Schedule Chats on various topics. I'm moderating a scheduled chat on Marketing ideas for Accounting Professionals today. I'm really looking forward to it and spending more time at the Virtual Conference today!

It seems similar to Second Life and I think it is a great way to utilize technology! Especially when the economy is bad, you can attend a conference without the travel expenses. Plus, my feet won't hurt at the end of the day!!!