Blake started out on the path to being a cellist in an orchestra. He was working in a music store and tutoring when the bookkeeper in the company left suddenly during the busy season.

He saw an opportunity for a regular role and despite his lack of experience with the software, he stepped up and took the position. He found the flexible hours and the work and went on to study bookkeeping at UCLA. It was while studying that he was approached by Xero and invited to a certification event.

Blake was looking for a better way of working. He wanted to get away from driving from client to client, writing cheques and all the manual data entry. He knew cloud was the answer, he did not realise he would be the second person in the US to gain the certification and he was soon contacted by various businesses in need of help.

In 2012 he started his own company. Very quickly his practice had a number of clients. He built a company with 12 remote employees and was focused on creating a smooth and transparent onboarding process.

He sold his business in 2015 and has since been working on his CPA and creating his weekly cloud newsletter. He has since been invited by Xero to join them as a Xero ambassador, assisting them in their education program, helping accountants understand the need to change their business model to maintain profitability.

When he started out, Blake said he was using a desktop program, keying in transaction for hours every night. That is all over.

In just five years he has seen the profession change significantly, leaving behind paper, ledgers and books, instead adopting technology to solve the time consuming tasks. His advice for practices is to employ a dedicated onboarder or team to oversee the consultation of technology.

http://www.blakeoliver.com/