How To Start A Bookkeeping Business

“I’ve just started my bookkeeping business, and I need some clients – can you please help me?”

Yes, yes, yes!

That’s what we do – we’ve helped bookkeepers all around Australia find clients, organise appointments, and set the fee structure – all the bookkeeper has to do is show up to the appointment ON TIME and then its “head down, bum up”

We’ve helped bookkeepers all around the world find bookkeeping clients – that’s why we wrote the Ebook “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients” – in that book we reveal some very valuable tips to securing your bookkeeping clients.

Notice the difference between finding and securing bookkeeping clients? Finding clients is just the first part of the process – especially when there seems to be a bookkeeper everywhere you look, and clients “shopping around” for the “right” bookkeeper in their locality.

“One appointment with a new bookkkeeping client earned in excess of $200,000″

Ever had that dreaded question asked :”How much do you charge for your bookeeping?” Straight away you know that they’re shopping around for bookkkeeping rates. Many times we get those calls, and it’s from local bookkeepers wanting to know “the going rate”.

So if you’re reading this because you’ve just started book- keeping and you need clients, and you are wanting our help, then do yourself a favour – take advantage of our help. You’ll find everything you need and more to find some more bookeeping clients in our Ebook “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients”

Yes, we know, you’re thinking “They just want to make money out of me by selling a book!” . What if, just by some fluke of chance, you picked up a tiny piece of information in that book that led you to finding a new client? What if that client started out being only a couple of hours a week?

What if that client was expanding their organisation, and ten years later you were stilll working with that client you’d earned in excess of $200,000 from that one initial appointment?

Nahhhh ! Never happens!! Well it has happened, we still have that client (amongst many others).

So if you’re reading this because you need help finding book – keeping clients, then order your copy our Ebook “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients”

If finding bookkeeping clients is so simple, why do so many bookkeepers struggle to get their own bookkeeping business started?

We receive emails from accountants and bookkeepers that have been working in the industry for years, and then become frozen like rabbits in the car headlights at night. They become mesmerized by the prospect of having to find bookkeeping clients.

You may be a very good bookkeeper, but how do you tell that to a business owner who has had a few bad experiences with previous bookkeepers?

After you’ve spent money putting an advert in the local newspaper, or yellow pages, you sit back and wait for the phone to ring – right? Well, good luck with that. Consider this: the advertising industry tends to make the money on the sale of their product, not on the sale of your product / service.

The success of your advertisement is of no importance to your local newspaper or printed business directory. So now bookkeepers are turning to PPC (pay per click) campaigns on the internet.

That sort of strategy can be succesful, depending on a few factors such as bidding for the correct keyword, having the correct landing page, and then being able to convert your lead.

We receive daily enquiries from small business owners seeking a reliable bookkeeper. It’s not exactly rocket science, which is why bookkeepers have been asking us how to find clients themselves.

To make life simpler for everybody, we compiled a book, aptly named “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients” which will answer many of the questions you already have, and also some that you haven’t even thought of yet.

If you are struggling to find book keeping clients, then do yourself a favour and get yourself a copy of “Secrets To Finding Bookkeeping Clients and discover for yourself why finding book-keeping clients is so simple.

Julie emailed us asking advice about what business name she should use for her new bookkeeping business.

My business name is currently JXX Bookkeeping – family initials – so means something to me, but somewhat forgettable to anyone else.

Something professional of course is what is needed, and also easy to remember – but…… any ideas?

Your initials or family name may seem an obvious choice for a business name.

After all, what’s the big deal?

Remember the old days when you’d see “John Doe and Sons” whether it was a family butchers, green grocers, or the like. In small country towns where generations of famlies had grown up together and family dynasties build up a reputation?

Nowadays there’s multinational companies that only employ faceless people with first names and no family, based at post office boxes, with freecall numbers. The company executives hide away in ivory towers demanding obscene saleries sending those companies broke knowing that regardless of the result they’ll get their $20million golden handshake.

Whereas small business owners are more interested in the quality of the individual bookkeeper than some fancy name or whether they are a member of any association or franchise.

So how does this help you in your decision of what business name to choose when starting your bookkeeping business?

It doesn’t really help!

Since it’s you that’s starting your bookkeeping business, only you can determine what you plan to do with it. Begin with the end in mind.

There’s other factors that many bookkeepers do not even begin to consider when selecting a business name for their book-keeping business.

When bookkeepers get on board our Bookkeepers Marketing program, this is just one aspect that we cover in helping them move forward.

Your business name may seem a simple decision. Just remember, there’s many factors to consider when deciding what business name to nominate for your bookkeeping business

Are you a bookkeeper and not a BAS Agent?

From 1 March 2010 (in Australia) new legislation affecting all bookkeepers commences, tightening up the somewhat grey area regarding the preparation and lodgement of Business Activity Statements.

[Disclaimer: We are not lawyers or Tax Agents - any information given here is indicative only.You should do your own research how the legislation affects you before acting on any points outlined here - see www.tpb.gov.au for the full details]

There’s been many bookkkeepers starting out in their own bookkeeping business blissfully unaware that they were breaking the law by completing BAS forms for their clients.

With the new legislation, a BAS Agent can now legally give advice to a client, and represent that client to the tax office in relation to:

• All GST matters
• All Wine Tax, Fuel Tax, Luxury Car Tax matters
• Payment of FBT
• All aspects of Payroll that relate to the withholding of tax amounts and the reporting of that amount to the employee and the Tax office
• All aspects of other PAYG Withholding amounts: ie no ABN, Interest & Dividend
• All aspects of the payment of income tax via PAYG Installments

If you are not a registered BAS agent then you cannot legally:

• install and set up accounting software packages
• Advise clients about how the above areas of law effect them
• Lodge BAS forms

If you are a bookkeeper who is not a BAS Agent, you can still run a [limited service] bookkeeping business:

• You can undertake data entry on an established accounting software package
• You can prepare all the necessary reports, do bank reconcilliations etc and do all the preparation to lodge BAS forms as long as someone else will be overseeing the work and the client isn’t relying solely on your work
• You can raise questions regarding GST and Payroll obligations etc, but not answer them

As we’ve already stated above you should do your own research and check out how the legislation affects you – see www.tpb.gov.au for the full details]

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!

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.