By: Petes-QuickTips At The Job Report
It may just surprise you, but careers are boundless, as long as you put your mind to them. Even if you happen to be one of the people searching for a job right now, just read this short idea and hopefully it will open your eyes to what is really available to you.
What are you good at? Think about something you’d really enjoy doing. My daughter Cassie is terrific with numbers. She, unlike me, loves to work with numbers. Currently, she’s working for a hospital part time to give her some spending money until she completes her LPN bridge program.
There are 4 months out of every year that Cassie, using her skills and love for numbers, takes advantage of. Tax time.
A couple of years ago, while she was going to the community college, I suggested that Cassie look into online tax preparation courses. This would be a way for her to not only earn extra money but to throw herself into something she really enjoyed doing – working with numbers.
While she was busy searching for income tax courses, I was silently breathing a sigh of relief… college kids are expensive!
I can’t quite remember which of the online tax preparation courses she decided on but I do know the cost was relatively low… under $200. I was a little surprised that tax preparation training was so inexpensive. And, of course, I had to pay for it. Unfortunately the tax preparer software was an additional cost, but it was worth it. More on that later.
My daughter is pretty innovative. She knew, once she became certified for income tax preperation that there would be a lot of competition. With H&R block on practically every corner at tax time, she was up against a biggie. Instead of focusing on getting the world to purchase her services, Cassie focused on the college kids she went to school with. She posted ads on the college boards and that was about the only advertising she needed. Cassie had more than enough work just through friends who had friends. And she loved it.
Throughout the next year, I’d tell people at work how much Cassie had saved me on my taxes and that year, last year, her client base doubled. It was really amazing to see my daughter taking on all this business. Of course, her prices were low. She saved people a lot of money on their tax preparation cost. I believe H&R Block’s base price was about $100 and Cassie only charged $45.
This year, one of Cassie’s best friends, tired of being on the sidelines, asked Cassie for a little income tax advice and while in the conversation expressed an interest in doing income tax preperation as well. Cassie has so many clients this time of year, she even offered to give her friend some work to get her started once she’d completed the tax preparation training.
Like I said, I’m not sure which of the income tax courses Cassie took but I do know that the professional income tax software was an additional cost.
When Cassie and her friend went on the web to search for online tax preparation courses and the best tax preparation software for her friend, she found that Intuit not only offers income tax courses for free when the certification course is purchased (Around $200) but the professional income tax software from Intuit can be purchased from the same place. Being certified really gives a person the cutting edge when marketing yourself. The Intuit tax software is probably the best tax preparation software on the market from what we’ve researched. They both decided the Pro Series tax software was the best for her friend. The Pro Series Basic program was the actual name.
Another nice thing I can see from the income tax courses that Intuit offers is that a person can take the course at his or her own pace. This makes it really helpful for people who work full time or, like in Cassie’s friends case, a student.
This year Cassie has raised her prices to $70, still well below the H&R Block price (from what I’ve seen) and now she and her friend have a little business going. Sure, most of her work is just four months out of the year but she still gives free income tax advice whenever she is asked. This insures her that next year she’ll have even more customers.
So, the moral of this story is, think of something you really love to do and think of ways to turn that skill or gift into a career, temporary or permanent. It can be built up to be recurrent temporary money that you can count on.
