go human

and starting using the savings from identifying all or some of your "unnecessary" spending to instead pay off your mortgage or save for a down payment, put into your home (improvement), a new business, retirement, education, or college savings account, treat yourself to something nice like a cruise or an Hawaiian vacation, or donate to your favorite charity.

As someone who uses a current version of Quicken for Home and Business (click on the link to get it for up to 20% off) to keep track of my own spending and a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor by Intuit, the manufacturer of QuickBooks and who also makes Quicken which is a scaled down version of QuickBooks, I can help you get control of your financial life.

Several of my business clients asked me to set them up with Quicken for Mac, Quicken Deluxe , Quicken Premier, and Quicken for Home and Business so they could use online banking (you are responsible for confirming with your financial institution that you can do this), better track their small business and personal income, expenses, and investments including their home's value and loan payoff, and in some cases, their rental properties and other investments.

I can also help you do the same for your personal spending.

I offer a personalized, in person, one-on-one training or tutoring in the Quicken program. Let me come to your house (I am also pet friendly), have you come to my place, or meet you halfway at the library or coffee/tea shop and show you how to set up your financial accounts, track cash transactions (one of the big money holes), enable your accounts for online access so you can really know how much you are spending each month, how much you are worth and what you have to do to achieve your goals, plan a budget, download transactions and allocate them into their proper expenses categories so you know how much and what you really are spending.

You hired an attorney to write your will, an accountant to do your taxes, an insurance broker to get the best insurance for your home or apartment or car, a financial planner, a real estate agent to buy or sell your homes, a mortgage broker to get you the best deal, and other professional consultants like a career coach to help you manage or run your life. Shouldn’t you hire someone to teach you how to effectively use the software programs that are out there that can tell you how well you are (or aren't) doing financially?

Or you can sit in the dark while your neighbors plan for their retirement and know to the penny how much they can spend each month and count dollars instead of sheep.

Or you can hire me.

I am a Better Business Bureau Accredited Business, nominated for a City of Seattle Mayor's Small Business Award in 2009, a member of the QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program, the Intuit (the folks who make TurboTax, Quicken, and QuickBooks to name a few products) Accountant's, Quicken, and TurboTax Inner Circle which advises the company on ways to improve their products and make them more consumer friendly (gasp!), and Biznik - the 11,300 member local social business networking group.

I have taught "Ten Things You Need to Do to Set Up Your Start Up's Books Correctly" at the quarterly Renton Almost Free Biz School and accounting and bookkeeping fundamentals at the Six Hour Start Up Conference. I also was the subject of an article Spotlight on a QuickBooks Instructor: Teaching Small Businesses to Fish on the TeachStreet Blog. TeachStreet is a web site that brings together local teachers and inquiring students.

I am available evenings and weekends if you work during the day and I am willing to travel throughout Western Washington State to bring my classroom to you because that is what customer service is all about.

I have a Bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa, completed two years of law school, was the former operations and office manager with a "cents" of humor for a non smoking professional services (architectural) firm that did around 2 million a year in business, had 15-18 employees, and a 22-30% profit margin. During my two and half years with the professional services firm, I was invited to speak about my experiences with QuickBooks and office management issues at my professional association's national convention.

Previously, I was a career temporary (administrative assistant) for seven years, securities arbitrator, real estate agent, VISTA volunteer for Solid Ground (formerly Fremont Public Association), and patient financial and collections representative for the UW Medical Center.

All you have to gain is your self-confidence and self-respect by learning how to make your financial management software program work for you, instead of the other way around. My goal is to teach you how to make your own financial bread for yourself.

Because I come to you, I offer three tiers of prices.

If you want to hire me on an hourly basis, I charge $120 an hour with a one hour minimum.

If you want to save, you can agree to a three consecutive hours for $295, a savings of $65 off my hourly rates and and $90 an hour thereafter on the same day (I find that most people need that amount of time to begin to basically learn the program or have their company file set up or checked) so you can count dollars instead of sheep and learn how to fish (or make Tofu if you are a vegan) for yourself.

Or you can pay $1,195 plus mileage when applicable for unlimited set up, review, and training and in person, e-mail, or telephone support in a year (that's less than $100 a month) for up to two adults using Quicken and possibly QuickBooks if you are using it to keep track of your small business's finances and have already set it up correctly.

Payment is expected by check, cash, Revolution Money Exchange (Steve Chase of AOL's latest venture: it's free to send and receive money), Google Checkout, PayPal, MasterCard , Visa, or your first born (just kidding) at the time of service. I am willing to come to you in the Greater Seattle area and North King and South Snohomish Counties, and the rest of Western Washington on a case by case basis. I am available evenings and weekends if you work during the day.

QuickBooks (not Quick Books), Quicken (not Quiken, Kwiken, or Quickin) and QuickBooks ProAdvisor are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit, Inc. Used with permission.