We held our second session of our last 4 week Small Business Owner Accounting School of 2018 last evening.

Students completed hands-on training exercises to teach students QuickBooks menus, and how to setup vendors, enter bills and write checks in QuickBooks.

Next week in our third session students will learn how to setup customers, enter invoices, sales receipts, payments and deposits in QuickBooks.  Students will also have hands-on training exercises in reconciling bank and credit card accounts.

The Intuit Education Program is dedicated to empowering educators and students to advance their skills and expertise in accounting, tax, and entrepreneurship.

Empowerment Works was recently named as an Intuit Education Institution.  Empowerment Works teaches a Small Business Owner Accounting School multiple times over the course of a year.  Qualifying as an Intuit Education Institution means that course students can register for a free five month license of QuickBooks Desktop or a free one year license of QuickBooks Online because they are program students.

Empowerment Works also qualifies for free QuickBooks Desktop software to be used in their training lab.

Program students can register for their free software here.

Empowerment Works is volunteer run 501(c)(3) not for profit charitable organization formed in 2012 whose mission is to empower the lives of residents of the Fort Myers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Corridor through economic change. We believe economic empowerment is best achieved through the creation of careers. We believe that those in need can be most effectively helped by assisting them to become self sufficient. Achieving a career is an individual’s best path toward self sufficiency.

We held our first session of our last 4 week Small Business Owner Accounting School of 2018.  We actually oversold our class by one seat and had to scramble to get another workstation available for the class.

Students learned some accounting basics and spent time going over the QuickBooks Desktop user interface with some introductory exercises.  We will pick up next week with the second session, which will have hands on exercises to teach students vendors, bills and check writing in QuickBooks.

Empowerment Works Announces John Reed, CPA Has Received Intuit QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor Designation

John Reed, CPA has been certified by Intuit Software as a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor for desktop software.   Certified ProAdvisors must pass a comprehensive certification examination.

Reed teaches Empowerment Work’s Small Business Owner Accounting School which is a hands on beginner’s training class for entrepreneurs at the Southwest Florida Enterprise Center.   Students learn how to use QuickBooks accounting software to keep track of finances for their small business. There has been 54 program graduates to date.

Final Small Business Owner Accounting School Session of 2018

Hurry, only one seat remains!

Empowerment Works is offering a 4 week session beginning November 27 that will be the last session offered in 2018.  Join us at the Southwest Florida Enterprise Center in Fort Myers on the 4 Monday evenings beginning on November 26th and ending on December 17th from 5:45 PM to 7:45 PM. Class size is very small. As of today there are only 5 more openings in the current session.  This is a beginner only class not suitable for those already experienced in QuickBooks.

Participants learn how to keep track of their small business’ accounting through hands on training using QuickBooks software. The class fee is $50.

Due to limited seating, payment is required to register. Payments can be made at the SWFL Enterprise Center, 3903 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Blvd., Fort Myers, 33916 (cash or check) or City Hall, 2200 Second Street (cash, check, or credit card). If you would like to mail a check please call 239-321-7085 to check availability.

Final Small Business Owner Accounting School Session of 2018

Empowerment Works is offering a 4 week session beginning November 27 that will be the last session offered in 2018.  Join us at the Southwest Florida Enterprise Center in Fort Myers on the 4 Monday evenings beginning on November 26th and ending on December 17th from 5:45 PM to 7:45 PM. Class size is very small. As of today there are only 5 more openings in the current session.  This is a beginner only class not suitable for those already experienced in QuickBooks.

Participants learn how to keep track of their small business’ accounting through hands on training using QuickBooks software. The class fee is $50.

Due to limited seating, payment is required to register. Payments can be made at the SWFL Enterprise Center, 3903 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Blvd., Fort Myers, 33916 (cash or check) or City Hall, 2200 Second Street (cash, check, or credit card). If you would like to mail a check please call 239-321-7085 to check availability.

Last evening Empowerment Works held the fourth and final weekly class of the July-August 2018 Small Business Owner Accounting School Session graduating 4 individuals who attended all four sessions. Graduates were either entrepreneurs who were working in their own businesses or were planning to start one.  This brings the total of Small Business Owner Accounting School program graduates to 54.

Students learned last evening how to run financial reports, create custom transaction reports in QuickBooks, and how to efficiently create a new company in QuickBooks with beginning account balances.

The next session of the Small Business Owner Accounting School will be in late Fall.  Please call 239-321-7085 for more information on the next series of classes.

“Give someone a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach them to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.” – Maimonides

Empowerment Works’ mission is to empower the lives of residents of the Fort Myers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Corridor through economic change. We believe economic empowerment is best achieved through the creation of careers. We believe that those in need can be most effectively helped by assisting them to become self sufficient. Achieving a career is an individual’s best path toward self sufficiency.

In a 2014 Forbes article, Steve Denning writes about studies performed by the Kauffman Foundation and the Institute for Competitiveness & Prosperity that found that over a 25 year period, almost all of the private sector net new jobs were created by businesses that were less than five years old.  Companies that were more than five years old, large or small, generally destroyed more jobs than they created in all but 8 of the 25 years.

Since most net job growth is derived from new companies, Empowerment Works approach to job and career creation has evolved into a two prong approach; promoting, mentoring and teaching entrepreneurship to individuals who own or are considering their own businesses, and assisting individuals to gain new skills for new careers.

Help us to bring economic empowerment to the Fort Myers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Corridor.

Last evening Empowerment Works held the fourth and final weekly class of the June 2018 Small Business Owner Accounting School Session graduating 4 individuals who attended all four sessions.  This brings the total of Small Business Owner Accounting School graduates to 50.

Last evening students learned options for creating financial reports for their business in QuickBooks, and learned the most efficient way to start up a new company data file.

Our last two class sessions filled up quickly and in response we have added one more session of 4 weekly 2 hour classes which will begin on July 11th. This will be our final session until November.  There are only five openings left.  This is a beginner’s class and is not intended for those already experienced in QuickBooks.  Class sizes are very limited and we expect this session to also fill up quickly. The class fee is $50. Please call 239-321-7085 to check availability and to register.

The last two days have been incredible at Empowerment Works.  Tuesday we attended the Dunbar 21st Century Collaboration monthly meeting where we received a donation of two computers from 21st Century Collaboration member GHD Group (https://www.ghd.com). Thank you GHD for your contribution which we will use in our classes and in our apprenticeship program.  It is greatly appreciated!  Your company’s generosity and service to the community is an example of how to become the change we all want to see in the world.

We also heard Tuesday from a company that was referred by another another 21st Century Collaboration member who is an employee of Lee Health.  The company was about to sign up two of their employees for our final summer Small Business Owner Accounting School session that runs July 11 to August 1st.  That leaves only 4 openings in our final session before November.  If you are also interested in the class, call 239-321-7085 for details on how to register.

We had a productive afternoon Tuesday with our current accounting apprentice who spent the afternoon reconciling bank statements and working on client accounting.  She is working hard and learning a lot.  Very proud of her progress.

Wednesday evening we held our second of four weekly classes in our June session of our Small Business Owner Accounting School.  Students learned to write checks, enter and pay vendor bills in QuickBooks.  As of Wednesday evening, we have given 309 apprentice and student classroom QuickBooks training sessions.  46 students have graduated from our Small Business Owner Accounting School.

Empowerment Works mission is to empower individuals living in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr corridor economically through programs that foster employment and new careers.  There is an old saying credited to Maimonides that sums up our intention.   “Give someone a fish and you feed them for a day.  Teach them to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.”  Our goal is to economically empower individuals for a lifetime.  We will continue to help teach and mentor individuals to become empowered entrepreneurs.

Wednesday we had our first session of our June 2018 Small Business Owner Accounting School series.  This week’s class covered a number of accounting concepts, Quickbooks features, desktop vs (cloud) hosted program implementation choices, and provided hands on training on Quickbooks menus and program navigation. Looking forward to next week’s session two.

The May and June series of 4 class sessions were sold out almost immediately after each was announced.  We are offering our last 4 series of sessions before November that will run on the four Wednesdays from July 11 to August 1st. There are only 7 openings remaining for our final session. Call 239-321-7085 for information on how to register.

Last Wednesday evening eight students completed the last session in the May Small Business Owners Accounting School.  Our class size is limited to eight students so that each can receive the personal attention they need.  As of Wednesday, we have had 46 students complete the four week session.

This coming Wednesday we begin the June session of the Small Business Accounting School, which is completely full.  There are still openings in our four week class beginning July 11th.  Call 239-321-7085 to check availability and to register.

Final Small Business Owner Accounting School Session To Be Offered Before Fall

Because our May and June Small Business Owner Accounting School sessions filled up so quickly, Empowerment Works is offering an additional 4 week session beginning July 11 that will be the last session offered until November.  Join us at the Southwest Florida Enterprise Center in Fort Myers on the 4 Wednesday evenings beginning on July 11th and ending on August 1st from 5:45 PM to 7:45 PM.  Class size is very small.  As of today there are only 7 more openings in the current session.

Participants learn how to keep track of their small business’ accounting through hands on training using QuickBooks software.  The class fee is $50.

Due to limited seating, payment is required to register.  Payments can be made at the SWFL Enterprise Center, 3903 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Blvd., Fort Myers, 33916 (cash or check) or City Hall, 2200 Second Street (cash, check, or credit card). If you would like to mail a check please call 239-321-7085 to check availability.

Third of four sessions in current small business owner accounting school

Wednesday evening we held our third session of four in our Small Business Owner Accounting School.  Students learned to enter customer transactions and how to reconcile bank accounts.  Next week is our final session where we learn how to run month end and year end reports, and setup a new company from scratch in QuickBooks.

Our next 4 week session begins June 6th but is completely full. We are offering our last 4 session before November that will run on the four Wednesdays from July 11 to August 1st.  There are only 7 openings remaining for our final session.  Call 239-321-7085 for information on how to register.

In this evening’s class, students learned different ways to enter bills and pay vendors and expenses in QuickBooks.   Looking forward to next week where students will learn how to enter customer and sales transactions.

Our next 4 week session has only a few openings left and begins June 6th. Call 239-321-7085 for information on how to register.