Becoming A Trainer - Advice Needed

Caspar

Hello

I am a Member in Practice, and have recently been approached by a couple of people, to enquire if I provide training.

I have Consultancy on my license for computerised software, and have in the past, when on site at a clients, trained up a member of staff to use book keeping software and spreadsheets etc, to make my job easier, when I go to complete the accounts.

However, this time, I am being asked if I could train a member of staff to do book keeping or if I could train a member of staff to use Sage L50, in a formal way. IE, I am not providing any other services within the company, other than training.

I wondered if any members out there who provide training services, could put me on the right track of where to start. I would need some form of manual to follow that I assume I would have to write - or could purchase from somewhere, for the member of staff to follow. And where I am not just teaching book keeping, but am teaching Sage L50, do I have to get Sage approval first? I have used Sage L50 since 2004, and am proficient at it, but I have no qualifications with Sage personally.

The problems the enquirers are facing, is that they can only find a training company that will come out for big bucks for a minimum of 8 to 10 people. They want someone who costs less, who can provide this service on a one to one only.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and hopefully someone out there can offer some guidance.

Regards
Caspar

Monsoon

I've done this on an ad-hoc basis only when I was a bookkeeper. The mistake I made was charging the same rate as I did for bookkeeping. Charge more - it's one thing to be able to do a technical skill, it's yet another to try and explain it to someone else! I can do it but it does my head in!

Being good at something doesn't mean you are good at teaching it. It's a mistake a lot of people make (in all sorts of areas. I can play guitar. I can't teach it. I tried! I know another person who is an incredible dancer but she can't teach it). You've effectively got to explain something you understand in a way that they will understand, and you need to work out what that way is.

That said, I don't see why you shouldn't accept the gig if you want to do it.

I have no idea if Sage requires approval, but I shouldn't see why they would (apart from the fact that some might say they are money-grabbing so and so's!). If you produce your own training 'manual' and materials yourself, I don't see the problem.

ademoore

What do you have to lose...?

I would say, if you think you can make a go of it, then you have nothing to lose - you may even find yourself wanting to do more on the teaching front for accounting!

I also teach accounting, but for CIMA students, and jointly run an online tutoring business. It was a major side step, but I find the satisfaction from seeing our students pass TOPCIMA is tremendously rewarding!

You could always trial it for a while, covering the more basic aspects, and build it up. I have found MS Publisher is great for creating really nice professional looking documents, and we use MS Live Meeting for a virtual classroom - which for you could also work, since you can share viewing of your own desktop, therefore training without the need to leave your own office! A forum could also work, where clients can see others questions, raise their own, get documents or "hints & tips" that you write, perhaps periodic newsletters about accounting products coming on the market - you could go to town with it!!!

Good luck with it!

Caspar

Sage Trainer

Thanks monsoon and Ademoore for your advice.
I will just need to find a way of creating a training manual that works.
Caspar

Sari Sari

Possible Answer

Hi,

I recently attended a three day course at an accountancy firm in London.
We paid about £380 each, 10 people in total.

The course was put together as a company case scinerio, where we were given dummy invoices to post, bills to post, and invoices to issue. we would then go on to process the info as though we worked for the business for real.

We then did some very basic year end journal adjustments, a bank rec, and that was it.

It was a very useful course for introducing basics, but now that I am using sage for the first time, and at my year end with loads of questions which need answering, there is loads which was not covered, such as opening balances, vat, correction of errors of all types, as well as journal entries for non monitory transactions.

If you can put together a dummy company with all the peperwork, and are prepared to be able to fix all the mistakes students can make, then maybe you can do it.

I was issued a certificate in compitence in sage, so i guess she is a qualified trainer with them.

Hope this helps

Sean

Caspar

Trainer

Thanks for the insight Sean.

I think as someone on our side, who has to input this information for real, with many different industry types, I feel that I would have a lot to give when training others.

I appreciate your comments.
Regards
Caspar