How To Start A Bookkeeping Business

You’ve made the decision to start your own bookkeeping business, and the realise that you needs some clients, so what’s the first thing most bookkeepers do?

“Can I do your books for you?”

Most bookkeepers try to start their own bookkeeping business by running around telling everyone they know that :”I’m starting my own bookkeeping business, can I do your books for you?”

Then they come to us and say they can’t understand why they can’t find any bookkeeping clients, after exhausting all their possible bookkeeping leads.

So what are most bookkeepers doing wrong?
Well, in some respects they are doing nothing wrong – at the same time they are doing nothing RIGHT – otherwise they’d be building up their bookkeeping client base.

If bookkeepers came to us at the outset and asked us to help them find bookkeeping clients, then we’d help them work through their list of leads, and be confident that they would have a far better result than if they rush out and do it on their own.

So what do we do differentlly?
We’ve been helping bookkeepers find clients and get their business started for a number of years – we’ve heard all the objections from friends, relatives, associates.

As a starting point we recommend that you read our electronic format How to Find Bookkeeping Clients” Ebook.

We’ve had many bookkeepers come through our bookkeepers marketing program and start seeing results within the first week!

Hi,
I’ve done a basic bookkeeping course and for the past 6 months I’ve been trying to get into an entry level bookkeeper job but unable to get one. I’m open to volunteering – Can you please guide me how to go about gaining some experience in this field?

This is a challenge for many bookkeepers starting out – Even if you’ve been working as a bookkeeper for a company, going into the world of freelance bookkeeping can be a major step.

One option is to contact local accounting firms see if they are looking for any bookkeeping help. The smaller firms are the ones that usually provide bookkeeping services so I would start with those.

They may hire you part time and work your way into a full time position once you have proven yourself capable of the job.

If you are literally just starting out as a bookkeeper with absolutely NO experience, then getting a job as a receptionist is another great way to get into bookkeeping.

You may have to do a whole range of administration jobs before you are givien much responsibility in the accounting area of the bsuiness. You can also try searching for clerical positions like accounting clerk.

If you don’t want to start your bookkeeping business at home, does it mean that you need to hire office space?

Take maximum advantage of your rented office space – see our
Bookkeepers Marketing program

For most bookkeepers starting out on their own, hiring offices is an unnecssary expense – particularly if you don’t even have clients.

The beauty about a bookkeeping business is that in some respects it’s much like a plumbing business or an electricians business – most of your work can be performed at your client’s premises.

A bookkeeper recently asked us if most bookkeepers start out by working from home. Yes, most set up a spare room or their garage as an office space reducing the start-up costs of their bookkeeping business.

Also most bookkeepers start their bookkeeping business “moonlighting” i.e working evenings / weekends on clients that they pick up before leaving fulltime employment, so they at least have some cash coming in before taking the plunge.

If you are brave enough to take the plunge and start your bookkeeping business by hiring office space then you should take maximum advantage of your position.

You may find some “proactive” business owners who may do some cross promotions with you.

Remember – word of mouth is the best advertising, so if you can make yourself known as a “go-getter” type person, other businesses will refer you to their clients

In our Bookkeepers Marketing program we discuss other strategies to take advantage of your shop front or town centre office location

When you start your bookkeeping business you want to know what hourly rate you should charge

You’ll learn inexpensive marketing techniques with a higher ROI than traditional [expensive] marketing techniques

What surprises us is that bookkeepers ask us “what’s the going hourly rate?”. Well, hello !! Do you want to just randomly pluck a figure out of the sky, or are you running a business?

Hang about, aren’t you a bookkeeper? Shouldn’t you consider putting together a cashflow forecast and a budget for your own bookkeeping business, or is that just something you do for your clients and doesn’t really apply to you?

“I’ve already got a computer and my office is set up, so I suppose my only outgoings are marketing”, one bookkeeper told us.

Really? Is that the best you can come up with? No telephone, no software, no stationary, motor vehicle, or other expenses?

So what you are saying is that it doesn’t matter how much you charge out your services?

“I think I’d like $30 per hour!” another bookkeeper told us.

Bookkeepers Marketing Program

Bookkeepers who are serious about moving their business forward have joined our coaching / mentoring program. Here they learn more than just randomly picking their hourly rate, or how to find bookkeeping clients.

You’ll learn low cost marketing techniques with a higher return on investment [ROI] compared to traditional marketing techniques.

Maria Writes: I purchased a similar book from another online organisation a while ago before I discovered you. Therefore I would like to bypass having to buy another book and work with your organisation on the mentoring program. Is this ok?

Are you suggesting that the “similar” book didn’t actually help you in finding any clients? So in what way was it “Similar”?

If you haven’t read our book, then you can’t assume that you already know what’s in it – And as a bookkeeper you wouldn’t be assuming anything, right?

For everyone to be successful in our mentoring program they should definitely
read the book – otherwise we find ourselves repeating information unnecessarily

Our mentoring program builds off the foundations laid down in the book “How To Find Bookkeeping Clients“. There’s no pressure to buy the book, it’s just the first stage of the mentoring program

We’ve helped bookkeepers start from virtually nothing to turning over +$60,000pa in less than nine months for a very insignificant investment of around 3.5 %

The great thing is that how you decide to move forward with your business is your choice

Jenny Newgate
BookkeepingTeam Pty Ltd

When is the best time to start a bookkeeping business?

Today’s a great day to start your bookkeeping business!!

If you start thinking too hard about all the obstacles that may be in your way, then you could say there’s never a good time to start!

If you are wanting to wait until all the ducks are lined up in a row, it ain’t never gunna happen.

Since you’ve got this far, you are well on your way to get things happening. You are really not in business until you’ve got a bookkeeping client. For many bookkeepers that have been thinking about it, what stimulates their decision maybe factors that are beyond their control.

“I have been a bookkeeper for many years. After lots of procrastination I decided to start my own business, ” said Kylie, before she joined our program

Perhaps the company that you’ve been working for has a change in business direction and decides that they no longer need your services. Or maybe you’ve had a change in your household financial situation and suddenly you need to look at other sources of income.

In Australia, possibly the worst time to chase new clients is just before the Christmas holiday season. Business owners are focused on finishing projects before Christmas, or have fully committed their resources, or are focused on a well deserved break. So thinking about a bookkeeper or chasing a bookkeeping service is the last thought in their minds around Christmas.

The end of the financial year prompts many self-employed people and business owners to consider reviewing their bookkeeping situation. If you think that’s a good time to start a bookkeeping business, then you may be in for a surprise. That’s like waiting until Christmas eve to start selling Christmas decorations!

Today is a good day to start your bookkeeping business – and the next step to take is getting hold of a copy of our Ebook
How To Find Bookkeeping Clients/. This EBook will SAVE you money, help you Increase Your Income, and make you more money.

How To Find Bookkeeping Clients/ is not just a book about finding more clients, it’s a book about setting up your bookkeeping business from the start, and is crammed full of iinformation to kick start your bookkeeping business.

When starting a bookkeeping business that biggest challenge for many wanna-be freelance bookkeepers is where to gain bookkeeping experience.

Many freelance bookkeepers are sole traders, and have neither the time or the inclination to supervise a junior bookkeeper. Besides that, why should they?

Say we decided to train you up as a bookkeeper, and send you out to work with our clients.

Before long you’ll realise that you don’t need us anymore, so you go out and do the work for yourself. You’ve gained our experience and we’ve gained nothing. Hardly a win-win.

That’s why bookkeepers will more likely sub-contract their clients to other experienced bookkeepers.

Accounting firms have higher fees than bookkeepers, and therefore they have a greater margin to “carry the load” of inexperienced bookkeepers that they may be paying at say $20/hr.

If the accountant charges $150/hr and the bookkeeper takes three or four hours to do the simple job, the accounting firm are still ahead.

If we took on that same inexperienced bookkeeper, it would end up costing us money to train them. And how many bookkeepers are prepared to pay to be trained?

We’ve had four bookkeepers do work for us, and each of these four didn’t do the work correctly – these were so-called experienced bookkeepers – so it ended up costing us money. What we realise is that we have to train every bookkeeper who does work for us. But why should we?

Where To Gain Bookkeeping Experience
Another idea regarding bookkeeping work – charities and community clubs are always looking for volunteers

You could contact them and ask if you can work along-side their bookkeeper to help out with data entry etc – often those bookkeepers are helping out in their spare time and would welcome someone to take the pressure off them

Until you have more experience you probably shouldn’t be doing any of the work on your own – you really need supervision, or at least someone who knows what they are doing and can oversee your work as a bookkeeper.

That’s why there’s no simple solution of where to gain [freelance] bookkeeping experience

As with any business venture, it’s so important to do some research before you start a bookkeeping business

Bookkeeping clients outsource bookkeepers because they want a problem solved

We were recently approached by a Brazilian gentleman who’s been in Australia for around eight years. He came here with virtually no comprehension of the English language.

He purchased a takeaway store that he ran successfully for a number of years which he has now sold. During that time he did his own bookwork, utilising his financial skills and knowledge that he learned in Brazil

Then he decided that he’d become a professional bookkeeper. So he’s done TAFE courses in MYOB and Quickbooks, and even taken the time and investment to obtain a Cert IV in bookkeeping.

That’s all very well, but his English leaves much to be desired. Having the right pieces of paper doesn’t make you ready to start your own bookkeeping business.

He’s struggling to find any clients or any work -simply because his level of English is such that no one can be quite sure that he can understand simple instructions or take direction.

We’ve said many times on this website – clients outsource bookkeepers because they want a problem solved.

Bookkeeping clients do not want to engage a freelance bookkeeper to give themselves more problems. This is nothing to do with discrimination. It’s a simple fact, that for the time being at least, Australia is primarily an ENGLISH speaking nation.

If you can’t speak English fluently, then you will not be as much of an asset as a freelance bookkeper who can speak English.

When asked why he hasn’t bothered improving his level of English, his answer was that most times bookkeepers just sit in a corner “head down – bum up” and don’t need to talk to people.

Yes, he’s right. However, when busy small business owners want to have a quick chat with their bookkeeper, they do not want to be bothered wasting time on someone who can’t speak the language, thus creating a further problem for the bookkeeping client, not SOLVING a problem for that client.

This wanna-be bookkeeper realised the importance of a Cert IV, but hadn’t realised that it is really not much use if his English is substandard.

Also he didn’t consider his age – who’s going to employ a “junior bookkeeper” who’s just starting out a new career in their mid-fifties? It’s not like he’s been bookkeeping for twenty years and just decided to go freelance.

Because he didn’t do the necessary research, he’s gone to a great deal of trouble to lead down a path that’s taking him to a dead-end.

It’s great to start your bookkeeping business – but then comes the question of how much to charge.

Only you know how much you are worth, or do you? Many bookkeepers have no idea of the value of their services.

Notice there’s a difference between price and value.

The first question most bookkeeping clients also ask is “What are yor rates?” or “How much do you charge?”

Like that’s really going to tell them anything.

When we started our bookkeeping business, we had no idea how much to charge. We were just excited that someone wanted to use our bookkeeping service. Indeed, we would take on anybody and everybody as clients.

Big mistake.

We talk more about that in our Ebook How to find bookkeeping clients

There’s no one answer to how much you should charge for your services. Some bookkeepers specify an hourly rate for some services and another rate for other services. Other bookkeepers offer a fixed price per month or quarter.

Each system has its own merits.

We charge the same rate regardless of the work that we do. If the client wants us to do filing at our bookkeeping rate, then more fool them. Why should we drop our rate to do work that an admin junior can do – after all, it’s still our time – and we could be doing someone else’s books at that higher rate.

Soon the client realises that we are not the office junior, we are skilled professionals – so that they then treat us accordingly.

Helen contacted us, saying:“I am looking to gain experience, ie working with an experienced bookkeeper. I’m not having much luck!”

Do you need experience in bookkeeping?

Is it possible to start your own bookkeeping business with no experience? Short answer is “YES” – the long answer is “NO”

Uummm .. that doesn’t make sense, does it? It makes little sense to start a bookkeeping business, or any business for that matter, if you have little or no experience in the field that you are embarking on.

That doesn’t mean that you need experience in business to get started. What it does mean is that you need experience in bookkeeping.

Think about this:
You decide to freelance your bookkeeping services to an unsuspectng business owner. You are on your own. The business owner in most cases does not know how to do the bookwork, so they can’t help you.

You’ve been hired because you’re a “Professional”. So who do you turn to if you get stuck? There’s nobody. It’s all you.

Having a driving licence doesn’t make you ready to enter the grand prix. And nor does having a bookkeeping certificate make you ready to be a freelance bookkeeper.

Where does Helen get her bookkeeping experience?

The obvious place would be to contact local bookkeepers.

It can be difficult finding a bookkeeper who’s willing to take you “under their wings”

Most bookkeepers are sole traders, and do not have time / inclination to train new bookkeepers such as yourself. After all, what benefit is it to them? They train you, and then you go out and compete against them!!

We would suggest that you contact local accounting firms that may be more set up to employ junior bookkeepers

The other option is to apply to larger companies that are employing junior bookkeepers.

Over the years we have received so many emails and phone calls from bookkeepers asking us about the steps to start their own bookkeeping business, working from home and seeking help to find bookkeeping clients.

Many bookeepers experience similar challenges in getting started

After helping so many bookkeepers “kick start” their bookkeeping business, we compiled our Ebook “How To Find Bookkeeping Clients” that answers many of the questions you have about getting started, finding clients etc.

There’s also answers to questions that you haven’t even thought of yet

By reading the book you’ll learn about getting your business started, as well as some innovative strategies to help your business move forward, and gain an understanding of what’s involved.

Jenny Newgate
BookkeepingTeam Pty Ltd