By doing so, you’ll start to get known in those social media circles and you’ll start to get people connecting with you. The next day, hop on to LinkedIn, sort through them, and connect with all business owners you met and send a personalized message. A clear CTA on your homepage is just one tactic to help turn your website into a tool that converts visitors into potential clients. Whether you create your website yourself or hire a web developer, you’ll likely need to determine what you want on your website and factor that into your startup costs.
- Starting your own bookkeeping business is an opportunity to turn your knack for numbers into a rewarding career.
- So, the first step in your journey is all about researching, figuring out if there’s enough customer base for your bookkeeping business.
- You can also look into specific accounting practice management software, some of which integrate directly into software such as QuickBooks Online.
- Gain 1-3 years of on-the-job work experience, earn a couple of certifications, and then venture out to start your own business.
- Many of the operations are automated in the software, making it easy to get accurate debits and credits entered.
If you are targeting restaurant owners as bookkeeping clients, perhaps they’re on Instagram instead. Always consider where your target market hangs out before engaging in any social media marketing activities. This will ensure that you only admit the right small clients into your accounting firm. When starting an accounting firm, if you’re not crystal clear on what you are working towards down the road, prioritizing decisions, projects and initiatives becomes impossible. Once you start getting your first clients, it’s important to focus on customer satisfaction.
How a Bookkeeper Is Different Than an Accountant
Before you start to get clients, it’s a good idea to have a professional and slick website, plus a branded email address. If you’re just starting out and limited on funds, you might consider a sole proprietorship. However, PROCEED WITH CAUTION and consult with an attorney before you begin your business. Preparing a business plan is essential for everyone should do before they start a business.
QuickBooks Live bookkeepers work between 20 to 40 hours per week. The role can function as a part-time job to supplement other income, or you can be a full-time bookkeeper. If you become a QuickBooks Live bookkeeper, you can work from home based upon an agreed schedule at a set hourly rate based on your location, interview, and experience level. Your Intuit Certified Bookkeeping Professional badge can be used to show any employer or client that you have an understanding of bookkeeping and accounting. It also opens up the possibility of becoming a remote QuickBooks Live bookkeeper with Intuit.
Use accounting software if:
If you’re specifically interested in working as a bookkeeper remotely, establishing a website and social media profiles may be a starting point for your marketing plan. Both can make it easier for potential clients to find you in online searches. You can also leverage social media to build your brand and increase your visibility. Just as it is never too early to open a separate business bank account, it is also never too early to officially register and “formalize” your bookkeeping business. In many cases, brand new bookkeeping businesses will begin as a limited liability company (LLC).
Thanks to the internet, some businesses even operate entirely remotely, never meeting with clients in person. In these instances, the bookkeepers on staff can also be located remotely. Operating as a virtual bookkeeping business increases a business’ access to potential clients, making for a larger client base. Even if your aspiring bookkeeping business currently has no assets and no employees, it will still be a good idea to create a separate business bank account. Taking the time to separate your personal and business expenses will help give you an additional layer of financial protection and also make it much easier to organize.
For small businesses
Staying on top of your bookkeeping is important so that you don’t have unexpected realizations about account balances and expenses. We’ve put together this guide to help you understand the basics of small business bookkeeping. Whether you balance your books using accounting software, bookkeeping services, or a combination of both, understanding how the process works is a critical skill.
Starting a bookkeeping business can be comparatively low cost, especially if you plan to operate from home or virtually, which eliminates the need for a physical office space. However, even with low startup costs, you can’t go in without a financial game plan. Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, help business owners determine how their business is progressing over time. After all, in order to make any worthwhile changes to your how to build a bookkeeping business business, you will need to have at least some sort of objective measure that shows how, exactly, you are doing. Among the most useful KPIs for bookkeeping businesses, you’ll find average revenue per client, cost of acquisition, churn rate, lifetime value, and customer value. Making small adjustments that can help improve any of these KPIs will likely mean your bookkeeping business, as a whole, is moving in the right direction.
