There should be a very obvious initial reaction to this phrase, if you’re of a growth mindset.
That reaction should be something along the lines of, “Well, duh!”
If you stop learning, you stop growing.
We have the universe of knowledge literally at our fingertips in the 21st century, and that is a lot of power, ladies and gentlemen.
Our grandparents would have been wide-eyed with joy back in the day to have what we now take for granted.
Do you remember that computer that used to take up an entire room? I think they called that puppy Univac.
I do. But hey, my house had one of those indestructible plastic rotary phones, too.
With a curly pigtail cord.
I can remember my dad griping about the bill if it got over $10. That was rare, but we used to have to pay extra for toll calls and long-distance, too.
And you don’t think you’re lucky?
My dad and grandpa tried to push me into a course of studies in mathematics or the embryonic computer sciences when I was a lad.
Doing what my dad used to call smoking cigarettes and growing hair.
Yeah, I was good at both. As a teenager. Naughty boy, I know.
Furthermore, I was pretty sure I’d be a lot better, and have a lot more fun, as a practicing musician.
So, gee, no thanks grandpa, no college for me.
I think typical tuition back then was hovering around $2,000 a year. Oops.
My life story from high school to Owings LLC will be the subject of future post(s), but none of that now.
Let’s talk about continuing education.
Doctors, lawyers, and accountants have to do this with some kind of annual deadline for completion.
That’s where the idea for this semi-rambling thought process came from.
We all pluck our inspiration from somewhere, right?!?
Enrolled Agents, which are similar to CPAs in that we can both call the IRS, have these minimums, and I honestly don’t mind a bit.
I have all year to pick pretty much whatever subject matter I want, as long as it has something to do with income tax, income tax law, or ethics.
My education provider has an 8-hour self-study course usually called something like 20XX Federal Tax Updates, and I sat in my sunny chair this morning with my morning coffee and a red-hot iPad, reading.
It beats the newspaper. 20 times more useful, for me certainly, and it wouldn’t hurt others with enough motivation to know these things as well.
I think all bookkeepers should have a rudimentary understanding of what goes into a Schedule C Business Income form.
In my humble opinion.
I also believe that a little knowledge about taxes certainly wouldn’t hurt Mr. & Ms. American Entrepreneur, either.
It is one of your largest expenses, and it is (sadly) without doubt ordinary and necessary.
That eight-hour course I mentioned confirms the things that have not changed, and updates the things that have, most of which are what they call inflation-adjusted amounts.
The standard deduction is a prime example of that. Almost everyone knows that it increases slightly every year.
Has been for many years, notwithstanding the big jump in 2018 resulting from the elimination of the personal exemption (…and the crowd goes “booo…”)
Anyway, again, I don’t resent the necessity because, like a doctor or a lawyer, updated industry knowledge is something I consider to be an obligation and a necessity for my clients, past, present, and future.
I got to thinking. What do YOU do to update and expand your knowledge?
Do you scrape by with the bare minimum requirement?
Or, are you like a dusty dry sponge, thirsty for the trillions of bytes of data at your fingertips?
A work/life balance is critical.
Within the work part, I think a doing/learning balance is critical, too.
Thus thinking, I share my thoughts with you, gentle Sunday morning reader.
People I admire, in books and other sources, say that you can ask a premium price without apology if you always give more in value than you charge.
What better way than to be 100% on top of your proficiency game?
The key to that is continuing education, or whatever similar phrase you have for it in your field.
Take joy in what you do, and you never work a day in your life.
Somebody I admire said that, too. (Or a reasonable paraphrase of it).
Solving a problem for someone with something you’ve learned is satisfying, every single time.
Happy learning!