The Freelance Bookkeeper

Hey everyone! I know this is a busy time right now, but I wanted to pass along a quick link to a great resource, if you are already working with QuickBooks (and you should be) or you are looking to learn the program.

If you haven’t been to the QuickBooks Community web site yet, you’re in for a treat. There is a ton of useful information  and resources there. In particular, I thought you’d like to see the videos and tutorials they have available for free. You can find them at: http://www.quickbooksgroup.com/webx/qblibrary/Tutorials/?@437.oRxze3zxvbg@

That should keep you busy until my next post, which will wrap up our business planning for the new year. So keep your eyes open for that. Let’s all jump into 2008 at full tilt!

And just so you know, right now I’m busy putting together the finishing touches on a teleseminar I’ll be hosting on January 8th with a very special guest. I can’t give you the details just yet, but suffice it to say that this free class will teach you a highly effective way to find new clients quickly. Stay tuned because I’ll be publishing the full scoop in a day or so.

Ciao for now!

~Gabrielle

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In the last post we talked about getting down in writing your “big picture” plan for 2008 for your freelance bookkeeping business. Whether you are just starting out, or even if you’ve been on your own for a while, making a plan each year is your first step toward getting the results you want in the least amount of time. It is an extremely valuable tool to help keep you focused and moving in the right direction all year long. That’s why I do it myself every year.

This week, let’s add a little more structure and detail to your plan and start moving it from a mere vision to a solid action plan that you can start putting into motion immediately.

If you’ve been following along, you should have some of your basic parameters written down already. These include your target income amount, the specific services (otherwise known as profit centers) that will generate your income, and your desired work schedule. These are what I call your milestone goals.

Now, let’s start creating a foundation on which to build your business and make it real over the next 12 months. Do that by defining the following:

1.   In one or two sentences, describe your business overall, as if someone asked you, “What do you (or your business) do?”

Want an example? Here’s my brief business summary: “I provide QuickBooks training and consulting services via the Web to Internet savvy entrepreneurs and solo professionals. I also do seasonal income tax preparation on a contract basis.

2  Give a brief description of each of your profits centers, or specific services, such as monthly bookkeeping services, QuickBooks training / consulting, or payroll services. You should define what it is exactly you will be doing for your clients.

A word of caution here. YOU should define the work you want to do. Your clients will, of course, ask for other services that you may or may not want to provide on a case-by-case basis. But you have got to remember that YOU are the boss. So if you want a business that you love, you have to decide the work you want to perform. Do not let your clients call the shots. So DO NOT say that you will perform whatever services your clients want you to do. That’s a sure way to build a business that you will be enslaved to, and will not give you ultimate satisfaction or the income you desire.

Of course, you should listen to what your clients want. Because without demand, no one will want to pay you. My point is that you should choose the work you do, instead of being a victim of it.

3.   Now it’s time to bring in some reality to your plan. Under each of your profit centers / services, you will also want to predict what your costs will be. If you don’t know, you may have to do a little research. But make your best guess based on what you do know what you will have to spend in order to provide the services you’ve defined for your clients.

This exercise will help you to know how much you need to charge and still turn a profit in your first year. It will also help you to see if your income milestone is within reasonable reach this year.

4.  Lastly, you will want to predict how much of your income will come from each of your profit centers. Which will be the easiest to sell? Which will be your “flagship” service? Again, you may not know the answers to those questions, but you’ve got to start somewhere. So make your best guess. These plans are not written in stone and you can adjust them as you get more experience.

Your business plans are beginning to take shape, and I hope this is getting you excited about your business. To help you complete this part of your plan, I’m giving you a form you can use to start putting it all together.

Business Profile - Overview (Word Doc)

 Next time we’ll add the finishing touches to your plan and turn it into an Action Plan so you can hit the road running as soon as the holidays are over.

In the meantime, here’s a little inpsiration to keep you focused on the road to success!

Business Plan Video

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This year is quickly coming to a close. That means you should be asking yourself a very important question, whether you have already started your freelance bookkeeping business or not.

What will your financial and business situation be next year at this time? Do you know?

I do.

No, I’m not psychic. But I do have a plan. And this is the time of year when I revise my business road-map, pointing me to the destination I want to visit in my business by this time next year.

Every year during the “slow” holiday season, I carve out some time for myself and envision where I will be next year; what my life will look like, and how it will be different than it is today. I acknowledge the progress I’ve made over the past 12 months, seeing how far I’ve really come. Then I set my course for the next year, capturing the specifics in writing. I type up my plans in Word, and keep the printed pages in a binder for easy reference.

Am I talking about a business plan? In a general sense, yes. But my belief is that your business plan should take on the format that works best for you, otherwise you’ll never use it. But it should be down in writing (not just in your head).

The only exception to that rule is if you need to secure funding from an outside source, such as an SBA loan, to get your business running. Then, you do need to follow a specific format. For our purposes though, I’m assuming that is not your situation.

Start With The Big Picture

You’ve probably been thinking about your business and trying to imagine what it will be like once you are “successful.” Great! Now let’s get specific about what (reasonable) success for you will look like in just 12 months time.

Start by answering these questions:

1. How much do you expect to make by the end of the year?
2. Which types of services will be your primary revenue generators?
3. What will your work schedule be like?

If you don’t already know what you want in these areas, guess. We will refine what is realistic for you as we go along. But you’ve got to start somewhere. And it is a lot more fun to just say what you want first. Then worry about how you can actually make it happen later. Don’t worry, your plan will not just be a pipe-dream. I’m just trying to stop you from thinking too small.

So before we go on, take some time for yourself over the next week or so and think about what you really want your business to be like by December 31, 2008. Visualize it. Then write it down. This is your plan, so include whatever detail you want at this point. This is just your first draft at the big picture stage. Have fun with it!

As always, if you have questions, ask them. But for now I want you to just commit to paper what you want and think you can achieve over the next 12 months (without fussing about the obstacles yet).

By the way, this is a great exercise to see how much you think you can get done in a certain amount of time at a gut level. That is a skill worth developing, especially since you will be juggling multiple client projects in the future and will need to know what your capacity is so you can set realistic deadlines. So start honing that skill now!

Then we’ll take the next step in building a plan that will get you into action and on your way quickly. It’s a lot easier to get where you’re going when you’ve got a map. So get to work on your 2008 business map this week!

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