My Mom Said I Should Be a Teacher. I Didn’t Listen (Until Now).

 

Today is my mom’s birthday. She passed away in February 2019, and every year this day brings back one thing she used to tell me.

“Yvonne, you should be a teacher.”

She said it more than once. And every time, I did what daughters do best: I smiled, nodded, and did something else entirely. I went into accounting. I became a CFO. I built a business. Teaching was what other people did.

Here’s the funny part. Look at what I actually spend my days doing now.

• Writing these blogs, so a bookkeeper somewhere can understand AI agents without a computer science degree.
• Showing my team how to test an AI agent before they trust it.
• Answering a new bookkeeper on LinkedIn who asks, “How do I get my first client?”
• Running a community where people ask questions and help each other, for FREE.

That’s teaching. All of it. And it turns out it’s the part of my work I love most.

Mom was right. I just took the long way around to find out.

What I’ve learned about teaching (the long way)

Since I’m finally listening, here’s what years of explaining numbers to people have taught me about teaching anything, AI included.

1. Nobody learns from the expert who makes them feel small.

The best teachers make you feel like your question was a good one. I try to remember that every time someone asks me what an “agent” is. Every expert was a beginner once, usually not that long ago.

2. Plain words beat impressive ones.

If I can’t explain a reconciliation, or an AI agent, to someone in two sentences, I don’t understand it well enough yet. Jargon is usually a sign the teacher is nervous, not that the topic is hard.

3. People learn by doing, not by watching.

You can read about AI all day. The moment it clicks is when you try it on your own work. That’s why we give away a FREE agent: not as a sales trick, but because nobody learned to ride a bike from a brochure.

4. Let them make mistakes where it’s safe.

Practice on a made-up client before a real one. Test the tool on work you already finished. A good teacher builds a safe place to get it wrong, so getting it right later feels earned.

5. The best part is watching it land.

There’s a moment when someone says, “Oh, that’s all it is?” I live for that moment now. I think Mom knew I would. She just knew it long before I did.

For anyone who has a “Mom was right” of their own

Maybe someone told you that you should do something, and you brushed it off. Maybe it’s teaching. Maybe it’s advising clients instead of just doing their books. Maybe it’s finally trying the AI thing everyone keeps talking about.

It’s not too late to listen. I’m proof.

If you want to learn alongside us: our FREE community is full of people asking good questions and answering each other. No question is too basic. That’s the whole point.

• Want to try AI on your own work? Claim a FREE AI agent. It works with any LLM (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot).
• Have a question you’ve been afraid to ask? Grab 15 minutes with me. No pitch. I promise I’ll make it feel like a good question.

Happy birthday, Mom. You were right. I’m listening now.

I love you, Mom.

Yvonne