sole proprietorship

Many small business owners prefers to outsource managing their books, either because it’s not something they enjoy, or it’s something they lack the push and urge to learn. This is why starting a business as a bookkeeper for other business owners can be an excellent business idea. Even one page can be enough to lay out your plan for how to start and grow your bookkeeping business. Before starting a bookkeeping business, you should consider what qualifications you need. Fortunately, you don’t need any special training or experience to become a bookkeeper. Imagine getting to set your schedule, work with your favorite clients, and enjoy your work. You can make that a reality by starting a bookkeeping business or franchise.

While no formal education or classes are required, the examinations are difficult and will prove you have the knowledge to serve tax clients properly. Kelly is an SMB Editor specializing in starting and marketing new ventures. Before joining the team, she was a Content Producer at Fit Small Business where she served as an editor and strategist covering small business marketing content.

Step 8: Market Your Bookkeeping Business

If you don’t have experience, you can find many predesigned websites online or have one put together for less than $500. Choose a Structure – Different website platforms have many different styles and structures to choose from. Find a clean, manageable layout that will not distract visitors from your services. When you decide to go into business for yourself, a big part of your decision may be the thought of making your own hours and working less. The only way to make that transition a reality is by time management.

Small https://bookkeeping-reviews.com/ owners know that time management, organization, and detail-orientation all need to go into keeping a strong system of accounting afloat. If these are skills you’ve mastered, you may consider starting your own bookkeeping business.

Chapter 3 – Market Your Services

Too little and you aren’t fairly compensated for your work; too much and you’ll have a tough time competing with other bookkeeping businesses. A bookkeeper’s work is applicable across many different types of industries — after all, every business needs to track and optimize its finances. However, to help market your business and set it apart amongst the competition, you may decide to specialize in a specific industry. This part of the business plan should discuss what your bookkeeping business does and its main goals.

  • Similarly, if you just want to work part-time hours, you can do that, too.
  • Even though the bookkeepers do not prepare tax returns, having books up-to-date can bring significant savings.
  • You’ll need some training and certification to become a professional bookkeeper.
  • All content on this page is for general informational purposes only and does not apply to any specific case, is not legal, tax or insurance advice and should not be relied upon.
  • It holds information about you, your business, and your services.

Having a five- or ten-year plan allows you to track your progress and make adjustments along the way. Consider a workflow management system like Jetpack Workflow. The right workflow management system can save you hours and allow you to monitor your team without micromanaging it. You could use Google Sheets or a shared Excel file to manage your team and allocate tasks. However, this method isn’t helpful if you have a large team.

Operations Plan

A bookkeeper’s top responsibility is to keep a chronological list of related debits and credits of a business; which forms part of a ledger of accounts. As a book-keeper you will be responsible for writing the daybooks, which contain records of purchases, sales, receipts, and payments. The best point of take-off is to know the meaning of book keeping, which is simply an activity that bothers on the recording of business transactions. Book keepers are also known as account clerks, accountants etc.

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