The vast majority of small businesses are unable to afford a dedicated accountant or bookkeepers, and yet if you offer a bookkeeping service, you can and will have an enormous amount of customers. If you're thinking about starting your own bookkeeping business, then you need to learn the ins and outs of bookkeeping. The tips in this article will help you on your way to creating an accountant-type business.

Where to Start Your Bookkeeping Business

Bookkeeping can be hard, especially if you are just starting. You have to remember everything you're required to do and keep records of it. You have to make sure you give receipts when you have to, and it can be costly and time-consuming.

The key to starting your own bookkeeping business is to find a niche. The best way to find your niche is by asking questions of other people. What are they getting from their bookkeeping service? What do they like about it?

Once you have an idea of your niche, you can figure out what to offer in terms of services.

This could be through webinars or an actual series of in-depth courses on web-based bookkeeping software.

There are a lot of free tools available for bookkeeping and bookkeeping software, such as:

• Charts like pie charts, bar charts, etc.
• Calculators like time sheets, spread sheets, etc.
• Tracking solutions like budgeting, accounting, bill estimating, etc.
• And more.

What not to Offer

The most important thing to not offer is your own accounting services. This means that you're in the business of providing software or books for others to use. It also means that you are not the person that will deal with customers, and you will never be able to address the customers' individual needs. It is important to start the bookkeeping business that way. Your first customers will be the ones that get you off the ground.

Give Yourself a Year

The first year should be spent trying to get your bookkeeping business off the ground. You need to be careful to not go too fast and get yourself into trouble. The only way to find your niche and be able to stick with it is to give yourself a year to establish your bookkeeping business. You need to have a solid foundation for your business, and you'll need this foundation to build your business from. The more clients you have the more money you make. You need to be careful not to spread yourself too thin. If you aren't careful, you'll find yourself with the minimum amount of clients, and you'll be making nothing at all.

Get Support from a Professional

You need a team that you can trust. No matter how good of a bookkeeper or accountant you may be, you need someone you can talk to about your business. If you don't get help, you'll most likely get burned.

You'll also find that you have better success and will be able to build a better business if you can get other bookkeepers and accountants to share what they know.

Start with Your Personal Network

Get your personal network involved. Ask your friends, family, and coworkers for help in setting up your business. Your personal network is the one that will support your bookkeeping business because they know you and are happy to see you succeed.

Once your business is set up, make it a goal to give every customer a bookkeeping quote when they buy something. Be prepared to give a lot of quotes, but this will get you more business and get you more quotes. And more quotes means more business.

Starting a business can be hard, but bookkeeping is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to make money.