How to Start a Successful Bookkeeping Business: 15 Steps

Check out LLC vs Corporation and Why Turn a Sole Proprietorship into an LLC to learn more about choosing the best structure for your business. LLCs and corporations are not quite as simple and inexpensive as default structures. LLCs and corporations come with formal requirements like state reports. They also have more fees than default structures, such as formation and annual report fees.

Fees vary from a few dollars to a percentage of revenue, depending on your business location. You should consider the licensing fees when deciding where to locate your virtual bookkeeping business. Just make sure you have a plan to pay off the balance before the introductory offer ends and a variable APR sets in.

tips to achieve your business goals

Because of the nature of the business, consider insurance. Errors and omissions insurance is a common type of insurance held by bookkeepers but general liability is another option. E&O insurance is cheap; some policies are around $25 per month.

Also, you can send your brochures to local businesses, small businesses, and stores, that may need bookkeeping services. Like any other business, an attractive name for a bookkeeping business goes a long way to not only fetch new customers but also help to create a reputed brand in the long term. You can check our detailed guide on how to name a business to learn more.

If you have a good and workable business plan in place, you may not have to labor yourself before convincing your bank, investors and your friends to invest in your business. In the book keeping industry there might not be a need for intellectual property except in the area of trainings, company logos and brands. According to Entrepreneur, independent bookkeepers earn between $25 and $40 per hour depending on where they work and the nature of the job. As you become more established and gain more clients, you may consider bringing in a partner or small staff. If you’re a great bookkeeper and your clients recognize how integral you are, they likely will agree to the change and not leave you.

Choose your bookkeeping software

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If you’re entirely new to bookkeeping, there may be some further expenses involved. You might want to carry out training or take a certification to demonstrate your capabilities if you don’t have the experience to back them up. We put together the top solutions you need after working with thousands of bookkeeping firms. You’ve set up your business, and you will start taking on new clients, but before you do this you need to create a streamlined onboarding process. This is essential as the first impressions and this process will set the stage for your relationship with the client.

Without a website—and since you have no physical office—your business may appear to be fly-by-night. Many states require residents to have some level of health insurance coverage. Health insurance is a much sought-after benefit if you plan to hire employees. If your virtual bookkeeping firm has employees in several states, you may want to work with an insurance agent to find coverage that works for all your employees.

Office phone and internet service

If you don’t have experience, you can find many predesigned websites online or have one put together for less than $500. Look into our comprehensive guide to small-business marketing, which will cover how to reach people through SEO, search ads, social media and more. A major part of registering your business and opening up shop is choosing a business entity. This will govern how you pay taxes as a small-business owner, but also what kind of liability protection you have in case something goes wrong and how you’ll structure your business. We believe everyone should be able to make financial decisions with confidence.

• See why over 7,000 accountants and bookkeepers use Jetpack Workflow.
• Assuming you already have a good laptop, you won’t need to buy much – you can do the work straight from your computer.
• Eventually you’ll want to charge a fixed rate each month for your clients.

While that was the initial funding, we also considered how much less our household income would be without me working full-time at a traditional job. Luckily, we were able to provide a safety net for ourselves with a substantial emergency fund. It is without saying, bookkeeping software is the engine of a bookkeeping business. There is plenty of reputed accounting software that is available online. You need to select the one that fits your business best. If you are a beginner and not sure which one to buy, then go for Quickbooks Online accounting software.

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It doesn’t happen in one day; it can take a couple of meetings before you both trust each other enough to commit to building a relationship. Management of financial statements takes more than just calculating numbers, managing books, or keeping books. It requires core knowledge of finance, accounting, and taxation. The earning potential of bookkeepers and their businesses proves that it’s certainly a profitable area. At the end of the day, businesses will always need to record their profits, and doing this requires a bookkeeper.

They don’t teach you enough about modern bookkeeping software OR about how to be a small business owner. And unless you go all the way through you still don’t end up with the credentials that actually equip you to do your job. We will make no attempt to adjust the records to reflect generally accepted accounting principles . We will make no audit or other verification of the data you submit.

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It’s not compulsory, but you might want to look into insurance for your bookkeeping business. Common business insurance policies for bookkeepers include things such as professional liability and general liability. Many don’t have the time to keep up with the necessary data entry. They may also lack the needed training in QuickBooks or other accounting software to keep appropriate records. Small businesses everywhere need bookkeeping services to support the financial health of their business. After completing your business plan, you’ll have a good idea of what your estimated startup costs will be.

A present value formula is an instrumental part of any business operation. A company hires a bookkeeper to manage and organize its finances, including detailing and categorizing all transactions. They help small-business owners get a handle on their cash flow — one of the most important barometers for a healthy business.

I started my journey to this dream by drafting some 2 paged idea plan of bookkeeping business however my plan was sketchy and was missing alot. Your article has given me a big push to persue my dream. I want to be self employed in my proffession but one who fits in the 21st century technology. When you run a fully virtual bookkeeping business, honestly, there’s not much need for a phone.

Save https://1investing.in/ with tax planning, preparation, and compliance. Practical Law Fast track case onboarding and practice with confidence. Tap into a team of experts who create and maintain timely, reliable, and accurate resources so you can jumpstart your work. Whether you create your website yourself or hire a web developer, you’ll likely need to determine what you want on your website. Sometimes when you navigate to a website, you’re faced with a million links to click in the menu bar.

Not only will you be helping them, you’ll also be heading closer to your 6-figure bookkeeping business dream. One of the most potent parts of the 7×5 Marketing plan is meeting with accountants. Suppose you have a good relationship with an accountant. In that case, it can fast-track you to a 6-figure business sooner since she can plug you into her extensive client pipeline, which hopefully will eventually be yours too. You can’t figure out why your bookkeeping business hasn’t grown as you thought it would. Business name registration – bookkeepers must register a name for their business.