Congratulations to Our 7th Fully Certified Bookseller!
The Professional Booksellers School is delighted to celebrate our 7th Fully Certified Bookseller - Nichole Bryant, owner of Bryant Books and Music in Hastings, Nebraska (a MIBA store). As the store was opening in 2023, Nichole was registering for our Event Management Course, as she knew events were vital to her business plan.
She certified as an Event Manager in 2024, took Bookstore Finances as soon as Event Management ended, then certified in Inventory Management and Store & Operations Management in 2025. Finally, this spring, she followed up with Basic Bookselling, gaining approaches for training new staff members.
Our upper-level courses are demanding, as our Instructors have distilled their years of experience into focused learning and homework that helps booksellers build knowledge and resources, such a creating a store's publicity kit, operations handbook, buying schedule, financial dashboard, and emergency plan. To become a Fully Certified Bookseller is to have put in hours of work, and to have fully invested in yourself and your store.
Nichole says: "The Professional Booksellers School has given me amazing tools to use as a bookseller, owner, manager, and all the other hats that I wear! I made so many connections with other professionals and developed a great network of advisors I can reach out to. We are in our third year and it has been very challenging. But after completing the Bookstore Finances, Store and Operations Management, and Inventory Management courses I understand how all of the pieces work together and I've been able to make adjustments and keep us heading the right direction. I reference my classwork and materials frequently! I highly recommend making the investment in certification. Also the classes are fun!"