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 5 Steps to Starting Your Own Bookkeeping Business

by Sylvia Jaumann

If you’re a bookkeeper who has spent many nights dreaming of starting your own bookkeeping business and saying “bye-bye” to your “boss from hell”, you’re in luck. Starting a bookkeeping business is one of the easiest businesses to begin. Here are 5 simple steps to get you started.

1. Get your home office setup. If you’ve got a desk and computer with accounting software installed, you’re ready to go. You’ll just need a few office supplies and a place to store files and work-in-progress for your clients. Get yourself organized.

2. Select your target market. What kind of bookkeeping are you comfortable with? Would you prefer working with retail businesses, contractors or nonprofit? Do you like bookkeeping for small corporations or proprietorships? Figure out what kind of companies you want to do business with and target those.

3. Figure out your hourly rate. Do some research on pricing by calling around to different bookkeeping businesses to find out what the going hourly rate is for your local area. This is important because you do not want to over-price or under-price your rates; you want to be competitive.

4. Setup a system for keeping track of your clients before you get too busy. You need to have a system in place that will allow you to easily bounce between each client’s set of books so you know instantly where you left off and what needs to be done.

5. Start marketing your bookkeeping services. Contact accountants for referrals, send out letters to potential clients and place classified ads in the “Work Wanted” section of your local newspaper.

The hardest part will be landing your first bookkeeping client. Once you have one client and you do a good job for them, you’ll find that word of mouth gets around and you’ll soon have clients lining up to do business with you.


Looking for more information on organizational systems or marketing for your bookkeeping business? Click here for additional information about how to Start & Run Your Own Bookkeeping Business.