How To Start A Bookkeeping Business

As your skills improve, you’ll find that other people will ask you to do their bookwork

Many contract bookkeepers start out bookkeeping to help their husbands and boyfriends. Whilst the man of the house [moh] goes out to work, they leave a mess of paperwork, just like they leave piles of dirty clothes on the floor waiting to be washed.

For stay at home moms, it can be difficult to find time, after tidying up after the children and the hubby, to then focus on the bookwork.

We like the “moh” to feel he’s in charge of the finances, but who is it that really has to budget for the groceries, the children’s clothes, birthday presents, medicines, school trips and the like? It’s the hard working moms.

And when the kids grow up and start being more independent, why not use your skills in balancing the books to start bookkeeping for your friends or family members?

These days we’ve all got computers, and there’s plenty of options for accounting software packages. If you don’t know how to use any of them, go along to the local further education college, and sign up for a basic bookkeeping course that will teach you how to use accounting software.

You might not even charge your family to do their books, whilst you are gaining more experience. Of course, if they offer to pay, then don’t decline. It’s their way of saying “thank you” and of showing their appreciation. It’s also good for your confidence, to realise that people will actually pay you for doing some work that you enjoy.

You’ll find it hard to put a true value on the work you’re doing for your clients

As your skills improve, you’ll find that other people will ask you to do their bookwork, and before you know it, you’ve turned a task you enjoy into a little business. One of the hardest things is putting the true value of the work you are doing for other people, and many bookkeepers start out by underselling themselves.

Strange as it may seem, you do no one any favors by undercharging. At the beginning you may think you are helping out your new clients. But as the work starts to pile up, you begrudgingly feel obliged to do the work, because you are really not being adequately rewarded. So why not charge a sensible fee, and give your clients the best service that you can. They’ll be happy, and you’ll be happy.

It’s important to remember, that once your new clients start giving you their paperwork each week or month, they do expect you to complete the work. So make a time in your calendar and stick to it each week as being the time that you do bookkeeping work. After a while, you’ll get into the habit, and your business will start to grow and blossom.