Bookkeepers are in demand as most businesses and freelancers need to keep records to calculate taxes and manage finances. You should check with the local authorities to see if you need any licenses to make your bookkeeping business stay legally compliant. There’s no better time to check out Bookkeeper Launch and get started on your next successful career. Your website should include a list of your services, some background about your experience and skills, and a way to contact you, at a minimum.

• A major part of registering your business and opening up shop is choosing a business entity.
• A client’s financial activities will include all transactions related to their income and expenses and a bookkeeper is responsible for recording all of these transactions accurately.
• A paid course may accelerate your progress and give you confidence, but there’s always a way for bootstrappers to get started on the cheap.
• Belay Solutions company’s base is in Atlanta, but it has employees across 48 states in the U.S.

Holly lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and daughter and enjoys reading, traveling, and yoga. Then, I was busy with client work and marketing anytime my kids went down for naps or were having some independent playtime. Now I have two bookkeepers helping out, so I rarely do client work, unless they get stumped. While I feel that this business model is perfect for an introvert, you do need to be able to communicate with your clients. Of course, there are creative ways to do this, but most people do a phone consultation, so it’s important to have good communication skills. ESignatures are going to be a large part of your firm if you plan on working entirely remote.

How to Start a Bookkeeping Business – A Step-by-Step Guide

As a bookkeeping service, you can provide companies with better and more comprehensive data. And because you work from home, you may work with fewer distractions (and stress!), which in turn makes you more efficient. If you want to sell yourself to potential clients, you should know how valuable you are to their small business. Here’s the beauty of being a remote bookkeeper; you can also work with almost any type of small business you want. Some clients will want you to handle all or most bookkeeping tasks; like invoicing, billing customers, or preparing payroll.

In a typical work week as a virtual bookkeeper, you can expect to work … as much or as little as you want. Virtual bookkeepers also make themselves available for discussions around budget planning, late customer payments, cash flow, and any other finance-related questions. If you’d like to build a solid foundation that leads to a thriving bookkeeping business, I highly recommend Bookkeeper Launch and their free discovery series. Sign up for a FREE Discovery Series to learn how to own a successful digital bookkeeping biz. The low overhead and next-to-nothing startup costs combined with the $80+ per hour rate help it land this coveted title.

Set Up Your Software

This agreement ensures you are both on the same page concerning business operations. Holly Reisem Hanna is a former nurse who decided to start a blog to make money from home while caring for her daughter. Since its inception in 2009, The Work at Home Woman has helped millions of readers find legitimate work-at-home jobs and business ideas. Under Holly’s guidance, The Work at Home Woman was named one of the best websites for your career by Forbes two years in a row.

Just make sure you have a plan to pay off the balance before the introductory offer ends and a variable APR sets in. A business plan involves outlining your plans for your company in detail. It is a comprehensive document that explains not only your services but also your market and the competitive advantage you’ll have in your business. It’ll help you focus your business and run efficiently out of the gate. This could help you build credibility inside that segment, as well as help you hone your skills. Additionally, determining your target audience will be simple if you have a specialty.

How to Become a Bookkeeper: Next Steps

A virtual bookkeeping firm can’t rely on signs outside an office building to advertise itself. To preserve your time for expanding your business, think about how to outsource tasks to other team members. Outsourcing tasks might cost some money upfront but frees up time for running your business, working with your clients, and acquiring new ones. For firms planning on holding virtual meetings with clients, you will want to invest in a Zoom Pro subscription to schedule longer meeting times with larger groups of attendees. Have all your accounting software subscriptions in place before you get a client. As your business expands and you add team members, you may need to reevaluate your software needs.

• The first step to getting started is making sure you have a proper education and understanding of bookkeeping and accounting rules.
• She also added that there are a lot of bad bookkeepers out there, and the difference between a good and a bad bookkeeper can have a huge impact on a business.
• Intuit is dedicated to providing its employees with the ability to learn and grow throughout their time with our company.
• However, it’s important when starting out to choose the best software for your own accounting.
• We’ll cover everything from the legal side of registering a new business to pricing, marketing and more.

If these are skills you’ve mastered, you may consider starting your own bookkeeping business. If you’re interested in becoming a QuickBooks Live bookkeeper, Intuit can provide you with the tools necessary to learn bookkeeping and accounting skills and get certified. Get started by signing up for the Intuit Bookkeeping Certification program today. Customers schedule an appointment to have a bookkeeper review their transactions, and  multiple schedules are available to choose from. You will have access to a client management portal, and can communicate with customers through video conferencing and messaging. When you feel you have enough education, you can begin applying for jobs or start your own bookkeeping business.

The company prides itself on creating a work-life balance for its employees and supporting employees’ personal and professional growth. Also, you will have to get up to speed on any updates to the field, including new software or bookkeeping materials before getting started. To work from home as a bookkeeper, you don’t remote bookkeeping necessarily need a degree in accounting. Remember that the amount that you charge should be contingent on your years of experience, specialization in industries, certifications you carry and your area. And, of course, your rate isn’t fixed — you can always change it if you feel like you’re not priced correctly.

In the early days of accounting, we relied on the abacus then PC’s and floppy disks to show our work to clients. Virtual bookkeeping involves providing a way to access data for important folks https://www.bookstime.com/ in your client’s organization. But besides the boring technical stuff, you also offer a core set of working benefits that can make an immediate impact on a company’s financial health.

To figure out how you’ll make money as a virtual bookkeeper, you’ll need to write a business plan. And it is, but you may still be asking yourself, “Well, what’s it like to run a virtual bookkeeping business? A virtual bookkeeper helps companies stay on financial track, understand their bigger financial picture, and decide where to spend money. As your business grows and you hire employees, you can consider whether to rent office space or keep working remotely. You want your business name to reflect you as a person and the type of services you provide.

So you set the number of clients, hours, and the amount of time you want to work each week. Once you’ve settled on a business name, you’ll need to register your business in the state in which you will do business. Unlike certified public accountants, bookkeepers don’t file tax returns or audit financial statements. Unless they are a certified public accountant (CPA), bookkeepers should not prepare tax returns or sign the returns as a paid preparer.