I’m frequently approached by bookkeepers asking me where they should start learning Xero.
My suggestion is to block out a short amount of time, every day in your calendar and work your way through the variety of Xero training opportunities available. When I started out I blocked out 15 minutes every day. Who doesn’t have 15 minutes to spare? Grab a cup of tea, a bickie and invest in yourself!
Of course I think it’s a great idea to buy the book I wrote Xero for Dummies. As it is quite sectionalised you can dive in and out of it, and you can grab a copy here: https://heathersmithsmallbusiness.com/books/ or order it at your local book shop.
Free Xero Training
There are lots of Free Xero training videos you can watch and learn from:
Xero produced videos: https://www.xero.com/au/tv/
Here is also a link to the videos I’ve created: https://www.youtube.com/ANISEConsulting please subscribe to my video channel if you like them!
My next suggestion would be either, take your own business, and convert it in to Xero and run it parallel to your exiting business accounting solution, so you have the opportunity to observe how Xero deals with your own business.
Set up a very simple, low transaction services business client. The first client I set up on Xero was a friend of a friend. She wanted to be set up on Xero. I wanted to learn Xero. I offered to set her up and provide all support and training for free, if she would give me the opportunity to set up her Xero file. It worked out really well. I knew bookkeeping, I knew accounting, but I did not know Xero. She knew I did not know Xero so in front of her I was never making a fool of myself, I would just say I’ll go away and figure it out, or I would drill through the solution and intuitively work it out.
I’m a huge advocate of hands on training – and real clients ask these left of centre questions you’d never even think of. It was a great opportunity for me. I recall my first session with her probably ran for 2 hours, and now with a brazalian hours experience under my belt, I can set someone up in quarter of the time.
Reach out to friends and family who are probably always asking you for free stuff – and see if you can turn it into a self-directed learning opportunity for yourself.
Delving a bit deeper
If you have a few more questions on Xero, you can also look here;
Xero Business Community : https://community.xero.com/business/
On LinkedIn follow this group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1415817
For a bit of friendly updates Like Xero on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/Xero.Accounting while you are there also maybe Like my page on FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/HeatherSmithAU
I suggest you sign up to my newsletter to keep you updated – look up on the bottom right side. For beginners join this group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/163241040883447/ And when you are looking to take your Xero journey to the next step, ask to join my Xero MasterMind group https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind/ (this is for advanced users only!!)
After looking at all of those different areas you should have a good solid understanding of Xero!