The Freelance Bookkeeper

You’ve heard all the big promises.

“Start your own business and be your own boss!”

“Why work for someone else when the sky’s the limit for your income in your own business?”

“Roll out of bed whenever you want to, and commute to your home office in your pajamas.”

Sounds tempting. But can you really believe these promises?

The truth? Yes and no.

You can have these things, but there’s a little more to it than meets the eye.

Certainly you ARE your own boss when you go freelance. But that also means that nothing gets done unless you do it yourself or hire someone else to do it. Not a bad thing, since you don’t have to answer to anyone and you get to design everything about your business just the way you want it. However, you are also responsible to do far more than just the billable work for your clients!

You get to do the marketing to pull in the clients. You get to take care of all the administrative work to set up and run your business. And you get to do all the strategic planning and decision making to guide your business to success.

Bottom line: You take on a lot more responsibility when you start your own business. So you really should get paid more! But guess who decides how much you’ll get paid?

As far as your income potential, yes, the sky is the limit in that you are not locked into a pay scale dictated by someone else. But how much you actually earn will really depend on how you set up your business.

Will you be charging by the hour? Will you be the only one working in your company? Will you hire subcontractors or even employees? The reality in a service business is, when you’re trading time for money and that is your only source of revenue, there are very real capacity limits. That, in turn, limits how much you can make. After all, there are just so many hours in a day.

This is where planning will make a BIG difference. You must be clear on your expectations of how many hours you will be working, what the market will bear, and how you will generate your revenue.

What about working in your pajamas? You can if you want to. You’re the boss, remember? But will you? Again, that will depend on how you set up your business and the ways you will work with your clients.

If you will be working on a virtual basis – meaning only through the Internet – then sure, you can work in your pajamas and your clients will never be the wiser. But if you plan on meeting your clients face to face or working at their offices to do their bookkeeping, you will likely need to keep normal business hours and wear business casual attire.

So can you believe the big benefits of working in your own freelance business? Absolutely. But it comes down to being very clear on what you want your business to be like and what you’re willing to DO to make it happen.

Here’s my short list of the skills I think are absolutely necessary if you’re serious about starting a successful freelance bookkeeping business, based on my own experience over the past 18 years. (Oh my, has it really been that long?)
 

1. You must be proactive and willing to take the initiative to get the results you want in your business. No one will do it for you.
    
2. You must expect that a steady, paycheck-like income is not guaranteed, and plan accordingly. Especially in the beginning. 
    
3. You must be willing to learn new skills on a regular basis. In QuickBooks software alone, there are new features to learn each year, as well as other technology that you must be willing to keep up with on an ongoing basis. 
    
4. You must be willing to do what it takes to get results. It’s not about the hours you put in, like it was when you were an employee. You must stay focused on results and priorities all the time. That’s what it means to work smarter, not harder. 
    
5. You must be tenacious! Stick with it long enough to get results, and don’t give up easily. Accept that you will make mistakes. Learn from them and do what works. That’s how you build a solid business. 
    
6. You must be able to keep your business and your personal life separate. Working all the time will cause you to burn out. But playing when you should be working will put you out of business. Find a schedule that works for both parts of your life, and stick to it.
    

So is it really worth it to work freelance? Personally, I wouldn’t do it any other way. For me, it’s all about freedom. I get to call the shots AND do all the work to have that privilege.

If you’re willing to do what it really takes to be your own boss, then maybe becoming a freelance bookkeeper is the right choice for you too. It all depends on what you want your business (and your life) to be like, and what you’re willing to do to get it.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR OWN BLOG OR E-ZINE? You have permission to re-publish it, as long as you include the following author’s bio and link:

Gabrielle Fontaine, PB is a freelance Professional Bookkeeper and Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. She also publishes an interactive blog especially for bookkeepers who are ready to break free and run their own home-based bookkeeping service. Get more information at http://www.TheFreelanceBookkeeper.com

5 Comments »

With all the doom and gloom predictions for the economy, small business owners will be looking for ways to save money in their businesses. That means they will want to protect what they have, as well as find ways to trim fat. Do you see the opportunity?

You can position yourself as an invaluable resource to assist these businesses to not only save money, but maximize their profits – for free.

Because so many small businesses do not keep good financial records, you can demonstrate to them how cleaning up their books can actually help them to save money. One way to demonstrate this is by giving them a free article or tips sheet.

For example, you could explain how to review financial records to find ways to save on overhead. Your goal is to educate them on how they can use up-to-date reports to manage their business more profitably. If their records are not in good shape, your free information may prompt them to turn to you as the expert for help to get their financial records in order.

You can also offer to give a free one-hour consultation so you can demonstrate the value of hiring a freelance bookkeeper so that they can spend their valuable time on doing revenue-producing activities. So many small business owners need to learn that it is just not a good use of their time to be keeping their own books. They save money in the long run by hiring you to do it for them on a regular basis.

If you are a member of your local Chamber of Commerce, consider putting on a mini-class about good record keeping practices for small business owners. This too will position you as an expert and attract new clients. Visibility in your business community will go a long way towards building your credibility and your client base.

The basic idea here is to give your market – small business owners – a reason to look to you as the expert by taking the initiative to start a relationship with them. A great way to build trust is by offering something of value for free. If they like what you have to offer, they will be more inclined to come to you for help when they need it most.

The old saying is definitely true: People do business with people they know, like and trust. Start building relationships with new client prospects by giving them something of value for free.

So what will you give away that will work as your new client magnet?

~Gabrielle

3 Comments »