Q&A: What Type Of Clients Should You Look For When First Starting Out?

This is a VERY common question most often asked by those who are either just getting started, or who have been struggling to get their freelance bookkeeping business off the ground.

It really can feel like a big mystery in the beginning:
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Q: I am just starting my bookkeeping business and looking for new clients. Can you recommend what type of businesses to target for someone that is relatively new to Quickbooks so that I can get started without getting in over my head? How do I target the right businesses for me and send out my marketing materials?
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This is a great question, and even seasoned freelance bookkeepers do well to see if we are building our businesses deliberately, or if we’re just taking on any client that comes our way.

That can get you into trouble in short order, if you’re not careful!

My best suggestion, especially when starting out, is to narrow your focus even more than just to small businesses in your area (you can always expand your target later).

Traditional advice says that you should get involved with business groups such as the local Chamber of Commerce. That may or may not be a good idea (depending on your goals and the area in the country where you live).

A better choice would be to first get very clear on the specific kinds of businesses you want to serve. Who would you LIKE to work for, and who are you best qualified to help? You’ve got to be specific.

You simply can’t find the right clients for you if you don’t know how to identify them!

To start moving in the right direction, ask yourself a few simple questions:
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• What type(s) of businesses are you most familiar / have experience with?
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• Is there a type of business that you are passionate about (such as one that would be associated with a hobby or interest that you have)?
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• Are there any specific kinds of businesses that you think you would LIKE as clients, even if you don’t have any experience working with them yet?
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Do you like working with retail businesses? Do you prefer service-based businesses? What about manufacturing, or contractors, or even non-profits?

All of these types of businesses have their unique needs when it comes to their bookkeeping. So if you focus in specifically on the type of businesses you are familiar with, have worked with in the past first (or those you have a passion for and would love to learn more about), you can more easily find clients whom you can truly enjoy serving, and do it more confidently.

When you specialize, you will also be able to raise your rates more quickly then if you remain a generalist. It is much harder to serve many different industries, and even harder to do it well AND to be paid what you deserve.

Once you know WHO you want to really focus on, your next question should be, “Where do these type(s) of business owners hang out?”

If it’s the Chamber of Commerce or the Rotary, great! But are there other industry groups in your area or online that would help you find more of the EXACT type of client you’re looking for?

For example, years ago I used to do work specifically for independent insurance adjusting companies. I did a little research and found that there was an industry association that nearly all of them belonged to, and there was an active chapter in my area. I also found another small local business group specific to this industry. I joined both groups and started attending their events, even volunteering to help the association’s staff to coordinate their meetings.That way I had a reason to contact the members individually so that they could get to know me in an indirect way.

This strategy helped me to become known, build relationships and get some perfectly targeted clients. They knew that I already understood how their business worked and I was seen as THE person to go to when they needed help. (I had no competition)

So take a little time this week to target your best clients for where you are in your business right now. Be as specific as possible. Then do a little research to find out where they tend to gather, whether locally or in online discussion boards. Then look for opportunities to let them know who you are and the services you have to offer them. Build relationships first, and the referrals will follow.

So…what kinds of clients do YOU like working with the most? I’d love to hear your thoughts, experiences and advice, too!

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Tagged As: best bookkeeping clients, bookkeeper marketing, how to find the best clients, Marketing, target marketing

How to Get Bookkeeping Clients to Come to You – New Webinar Training

There are actually many more small businesses that need the help of professional bookkeepers than there are bookkeepers to go around!

So why is it so hard to find new clients – especially when starting a freelance bookkeeping service business?

Get the real answer to that question (and many more) on a brand new LIVE webinar designed especially for Freelance Bookkeepers on Wednesday, February 23 at 7:00 PM Eastern Time (6:00 Central, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific)

If you’ve been looking for …

* Effective, low and no-cost ways to pull in additional revenue quickly and easily

* A reliable way to get referrals that’s easy and sends you a steady stream of new client inquiries every month

* High quality clients who appreciate your expertise and are glad to pay you what you’re worth

…then you’ll want to join me on this ground-breaking webinar.

“Freelance Bookkeeper Marketing: Proven Strategies for Getting Clients to Come to You”

Get all the details here:

http://thefreelancebookkeeper.com/webinar

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The BEST Way I’ve Found to Attract More Clients and Beat Your Competition

Have you ever thought about what a little bit of fame could do for your business?

If you were considered a top, highly respected bookkeeper in your community, what kind of clients could you attract?

Best-selling business authors are assumed to be the best in their field, usually because they’ve written articles and/or published a book. That’s the catalyst that helps them get invited to appear on TV spots or radio talk shows. And you can be sure that that kind of attention works wonders for their business.

SECRET REVEALED: Business authors don’t write books to make money from the book sales, but to make sales in their business because of the authority and notoriety the books give them!

But when we think about it, what great feat have they accomplished?

Nothing too difficult, really. They’ve provided some helpful information related to their field of expertise…and made it easily accessible to the public. That’s it!

Guess what?

You can easily (and quickly) do nearly the same thing and start positioning yourself as the go-to bookkeeper in your community too! That’s what will help you attract high-quality clients to your business like a magnet (and they won’t complain about your rates, either!)

Why So Few Do It

Q: If it’s so easy, why don’t more small business owners do it?

A: Because writing a book can be a huge, time-consuming project…when done the hard way, which is how most people do it. It can take a long, LONG time. Most entrepreneurs cannot afford the time. And once it’s written, they don’t know how to get their book published.

But what’s slowing them down is actually VERY good news for you!

With the Internet and online technology, it is quite easy (and MUCH faster than traditional methods) to publish information, whether in writing, as audios, or with videos (or all three!).  You can even SELL your information to create another income stream for your business!

This is exactly what I’ve done in my own virtual bookkeeping business, and it has attracted FAR more high quality clients to me than I can possibly serve myself. I regularly refer incoming client inquiries to colleagues because I am truly booked solid. (And my colleagues always ask how I’m able to keep pulling in so much business!)

How did I get my business to this point?

By simply providing helpful, instructional information online surrounding my expertise as a QuickBooks trainer and consultant. I’m just sharing my knowledge by publishing what are known as info-products.

And here’s the secret – as a professional freelance bookkeeper, you can DEFINITELY do this too. One way is by offering a free or low-priced, special report from your company website.

That’s actually how I got started.

And the best part is, once you do it, it’s like having a little salesperson working for your business 24/7! Online technology automates the whole thing.

And I’ve got to tell you, it sure is a nice little bonus to open your email in the morning and find out that you’ve made sales (and found new customers and prospects) overnight while you were sleeping.

Will Info-Products Work For YOU?

Creating small, but effective info-products works for ALL kinds of businesses, but it’s especially powerful for service-based businesses.

Because so few people are doing this effectively, creating small but valuable educational products positions you as the obvious expert and the person your prospects will trust and want to do business with when they need your services. In effect, you won’t have any competition!

As you become more known and in demand, you can also easily raise your rates.

If you can see how powerful it would be to position yourself as THE bookkeeper to go to by simply providing useful information geared toward your best customers’ needs, then I highly recommend you seriously consider publishing simple information products as lead generators for your freelance bookkeeping business.

It’s really quite easy to do.

And remember, you can even sell the information to create an additional revenue stream. Few ways of marketing your business is sweeter than that!

But I bet you’re wondering, “Where do I begin?”

I’m glad you asked!

This coming Thursday, February 10th at 7:00 PM (Eastern Time) there’s a FREE online webinar that shows you how to create your first info-product fast AND avoid making BIG mistakes that can backfire on you and actually KILL your reputation.

Even though I’ve been doing this successfully in my business for years now, I’ll definitely be attending this online event myself. The guy teaching it is (in my opinion) the absolute BEST!

I always pick up time-saving tips every time I attend one of his events.

If you’d like to attend too (remember, it’s 100% FREE), you can get all the details here:

=> Click Here for the Webinar Details

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Tagged As: attract clients, bookkeeper marketing, bookkeeping business, info-products, info-products for bookkeepers, sell information

Cloud Computing: What ‘They’ Aren’t Telling You

As freelance bookkeepers, we are working more and more with our clients through the web. Even if you are not already working “virtually” or through the Internet, many of our clients are using important web-based and mobile technology to help run their businesses.

We are only going to see more of this in the months ahead. Especially with the break-neck pace of new app development – including how financial information is being accessed and manipulated – it’s important to listen to what’s NOT being said by the companies promoting “The Move To The Cloud.”

What do you think about this? Should we be worried about having vital financial information stored in the cloud? Or is this really no different than the risks we face with our dependency on electricity, or the risk of loss due to theft or natural disaster?

What’s your take on it?

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Tagged As: cloud computing, financial data in the cloud, financial information on the internet, risk of loss in the cloud, virtual bookkeeping risks, web-based software

How Virtual Bookkeeping Can Protect Your Clients

In the previous post we discussed some of the benefits to YOU for taking your bookkeeping business virtual. But there are some significant benefits to your clients for letting you take their bookkeeping online as well.

One of the big ones is, it can actually save them THOUSANDS of dollars in taxes, interest and penalties. No kidding.

To illustrate what I mean, let’s take a look at a Tax Court case that took place earlier this year. (K. J. Fessey v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue)

If this self-employed loan consultant had used a virtual bookkeeper to not only keep his books, but a paperless solution to handle all the paperwork, he would have saved himself a HUGE amount of time and tax dollars.

This sole proprietor ended up owing over $11,000 in taxes and over $4,700 in interest and penalties, with the vast majority of that being due to business deductions that the Court determined he could not claim.

Why were so many of his business expenses disallowed by the Court?

One word: Substantiation.

It wasn’t because these weren’t truly viable business expenses, but rather, he could not prove that the expenses were directly related to his business.

Didn’t he keep records?

Yes, but much of his recordkeeping was done using his American Express credit card statements alone. With the statements he had documentation of who he paid, how much and on what date, but nothing more. Because he did not have his receipts, there were no additional details to prove WHAT the money had been spent on specifically.

The Court denied many of his business expenses because a credit card statement alone is not evidence of the business purpose of an expense. Receipts contain details that demonstrate the nature of the purchase; just noting the vendor is not proof enough that the purchase was for business purposes.  (i.e., just because you buy something at Staples doesn’t mean it was for your business)

Receipts provide the best substantiation of business expenses and need to be stored with the credit card statements or financial records files, for tax purposes.

So how does a Virtual Bookkeeper come to the rescue?

Having complete bookkeeping records would have given him better documentation. Additionally, by using a paperless solution, electronic copies of his receipts would have been saved and tied to each transaction. He would have had air-tight proof of his business deductions. None of his deductible expenses would have been lost.

Since most small business owners don’t like to be bogged down with keeping track of all the receipts, using a paperless solution is a way to get rid of the clutter and conveniently provide the information you need as a bookkeeper to properly keep the books.

By simply scanning receipts as they come in, or gathering those that are already in electronic form, and sending them to an electronic dropbox, your client can forget about the bookkeeping AND feel secure that nothing will be lost. Should the IRS come calling, they could easily breeze through a tax audit unscathed.

And of course, we all know how difficult it can be do to “after the fact” bookkeeping from bank and credit card statements alone. So going paperless makes your job much easier, too.

If going virtual and converting business expenses to a paperless system sounds like a good fit for your business, consider which of your clients are vulnerable and would benefit most by switching to virtual bookkeeping and paperless expense tracking.

To get started, all that’s needed is a scanner.

I also highly recommend considering the use of document management software, such as SmartVault. I use that program myself, and it is a great all-in-one solution for your virtual services that also works seemlessly with QuickBooks. It’s easy and convenient to use both for you and your clients. And convenience is a BIG motivation for getting your clients to go paperless.

If the concept of using the Internet and electronic solutions in your freelance bookkeeping business is new to you, you may want to catch the replay of the free training webinar I did last week, “Taking Your Bookkeeping Services Online” (See below for details)

No matter how you decide to do it, one of the BIG reasons your clients will want to work with you, is because you can protect them from a very painful tax audit by making sure their business expenses are adequately substantiated (with receipts) and accessible.

That kind of protection is worth a lot and will help your clients, or potential clients, see the true value of what you can do for them.

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Free Resources

“Taking Your Bookkeeping Services Online” – This free training webinar replay shows you why bookkeeping services through the Internet is the wave of the future, and why getting onboard now will make your life easier and your business more profitable.

Here’s what a fellow bookkeeper had to say about this webinar:

I got so much helpful information last week on the webinar.  Just started using SmartVault and LOVE it!  Told my employer he has until the end of the year to get over keeping paperwork too.
– Karen Howell

The webinar replay is free, but it will only be available through October 31st.

=> Get Access to the Webinar Now

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SmartVault document management solution. This is an all-in-one paperless solution that also integrates with QuickBooks. In fact, SmartVault started as a QuickBooks document management product, and now is a total online solution for handling paperwork on a virtual basis. You can start using it for your own business (recommended) as well as for your clients for free (no obligation to upgrade). I use SmartVault in my own business, and believe this is the best choice for Virtual Bookkeepers.

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