The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Bookkeeping Business

1.   Skill Confidence

The very first thing you need before starting a bookkeeping business is confidence in your ability to actually do the work.

Starting a bookkeeping business without the certainty that you can actually do bookkeeping (and do it well!) is not the best plan. In fact, I want you to be able to rate yourself at least an eight out of ten in your bookkeeping skills before you try to start your business.

We're not going to look for ten out of ten. I think that's a little unattainable. But I do think that you need to make sure that you know you're good.

(And BTW, if you can’t honestly rate yourself that high, or you’re not confident in it, BABs is the place to be…especially since the price may be going up very soon!)

2.   Finding the Answers

The second thing you need before starting a bookkeeping business—which is why I allow you to have the eight out of ten instead of ten out of ten—is trust in yourself to know the answers to questions your clients may ask you, or at least a trusted source you can go to in order to find them when you don’t.

This means that even if you don't know all of the answers, you know that you're resourceful, you know what red flags to be looking for in things, and you know where you can go to find the answer. You trust yourself to close that gap however you have to.

(Again, one of the things that you can do to get there is to join BABs to get yourself up to that eight out of ten skill set, and to learn more answers you will need to have in your arsenal!)

3.   Believe in Your Success

The third thing you need for starting a bookkeeping business is a bit different: when you’re starting a bookkeeping business, you need to believe in your success unwaveringly.

You have to be really committed to the idea that this is going to work; it’s just a matter of when, not if.

4.   Throw Out the Timeline

That leads directly into number four, which is to drop the timeline.

We’re not focusing on starting a bookkeeping business and reaching our idea of “success” in X amount of days, or we're throwing it out.

I'm not promising you a six-figure business in six weeks flat or anything else that you see on marketing timelines. What I will say is that I've seen time and time again that for the people who believe in their success and commit to it, it’s not a question of “if” they’ll succeed. It’s just a question of when.

So drop the timeline. Commit to getting there, not to when you're going to get there.

5.   Get Certified

The fifth thing you need before starting a bookkeeping business is to get certified in your bookkeeping software of choice.

I didn’t used to say this, because it isn’t strictly necessary, but it is one of the things I really wish I’d done sooner in my own business.

This is something that you mostly want to do for you. If it's Xero (my #1 recommended software!) you're doing it because you get other perks, but you're definitely going to learn something, too.

If you're going to be using a software, it's good for you to receive any perks that it may come with it. And it gives you a confidence boost, as well.

6.   Register an LLC

When you’re starting a bookkeeping business, I really do think you should register an LLC.

I say this to any small business owner, so why wouldn't I say this to you?

Don't overthink the name. You can change the name later. Just get the LLC. You can add a DBA, but you should have an LLC for all of the reasons that everyone should have an LLC. You want to grow this business in a way that is legitimate.

7.   Get a Business Bank Account

Next, once you’ve opened the LLC, open a separate business bank account.

Personally, I love Chase. Chase is my recommendation for anyone starting a bookkeeping business. But regardless of which bank you use, I would recommend getting yourself a separate business bank account to keep personal and business finances separated.

8.   Get a Business Credit Card

The next thing you need to do when starting a bookkeeping business is to look into a business credit card. And again, Chase is my go-to here.

When you do these things, you now have your LLC, a business bank account in the name of the LLC, and a credit card in the name of the LLC. Everything is as it should be. And that's where you do your business spending.

9.   Get Paid Legitimately and Easily

Trust me on this one: when you’re starting a bookkeeping business, you want to find a way to get paid legitimately and easily.

Notice I didn’t say “a way to get paid for free.” There’s a reason for that: if I could change another thing about how I went about starting a bookkeeping business, I would never have attempted to get paid for free.

Chasing people down is for the birds. Find a way to get paid on autopay. Make it legitimate. Make sure you're getting paid easily so that your client doesn't have to do much thinking when they go to pay you.

You want to make sure you don't have to do much thinking either, or much chasing, because you want to spend your time doing bookkeeping, not chasing down payment for it.

10. Get Legal in Line

Next, get your legal in line.

You do not want to wait to get your legal in line when starting a bookkeeping business. You want to make sure your website is legal. You want to make sure that you've got contracts that you're using for your clients. You want to make sure you have contracts if you're hiring anybody. It will become a much bigger (and more expensive) problem in the future if you wait, trust me.

11. Develop a Sales System

This one is a biggie: develop a sales system.

This is extremely important when starting a bookkeeping business.  You want to understand how are people finding you, how they move forward with a quote once they find you, how they’re booking with you, etcetera.

You want to make that process as automated and seamless as possible.

12. Understand Your Vision for Your Life

The twelfth thing you need to do when starting a bookkeeping business might sound a little weird, but I promise you it is crucial: you need to understand what you want your life to look like.

If you don’t have a vision for what you want your life to look like, you won’t be able to build the business in a way that supports that.

I'm now living the kind of life that I wanted to back when I was starting a bookkeeping business, but I didn't accidentally get here. I started with this vision. For years, I built my business around what this would look like. You can’t stumble into it; you have to start with it.

13. Build With the End in Mind

Once you have that vision, the next step is exactly what I just talked about: you build with the end in mind.

As you’re starting a bookkeeping business, ask yourself if the decisions that you're making are the ones that an established, confident business owner would make. The kind of business owner that runs the type of business that will support your life.

With every decision, big or small, you want to ask yourself: is this decision going to get me closer to what I want? Does it support what I want? Is this what I would do if I knew that vision was coming true?

14. Be Impeccable With Your Word

When you’re starting a bookkeeping business, you need to be impeccable with your word.

Be impeccable with your word. Do what you say you're going to do. Be who you say you're going to be.

Keep your word to yourself, your team, and to your clients.

You have to treat your clients like gold. They are your greatest asset, and they are the ones that are most likely to love and refer you and keep your business going. If you want a referral, do what you say you're going to do when you say you're going to do it. Keep your promises. They are important. 

15. Detach From The Outcome

This might sound contrary to what I said earlier about believing unwaveringly in your success, but I promise the two go together: you want to detach from the outcome.

While you have to believe in your overall success, you can't hold on so tightly to each little thing working out perfectly.

This is acceptance, not apathy. You have to tell yourself that it will be what it will be; you’re going to show up hoping that it’s the best, but if it isn’t the right thing for whatever reason, you will accept that…and know that it doesn’t mean anything about you. It doesn’t mean anything about the other party. It's just not the right thing right now.

If something doesn’t work, that's not the end of the world. It’s just time to try something new, and maybe that one will work.

16. Commit Fiercely

This connects back to the “believing in your success” piece of starting a bookkeeping business.

You not only want to believe that your success will happen, but you want to be fiercely committed to making it happen.

This step of starting a bookkeeping business takes that belief and turns it into something more. You're not just going to think about success; you’re going to keep showing up and doing what you have to do to make it happen.

17. Take Inventory

The seventeenth thing you need for starting a bookkeeping business is how you commit fiercely, even when you’re busy and in the thick of things: you take inventory of the things that you need to do. You write them down, reorganize them by order of need or want, and start striking off things accordingly as you can.

(You can do it with this list right away!)

18. Take the Simplest Step With the Greatest Impact

The eighteenth thing you want to do while starting a bookkeeping business: take the simplest step that will make the greatest impact.

That one is worth reading again, slowly: take the simplest step that will make the greatest impact.

This is something you can do every day. If time is limited, look at that list you’ve made, then take the simplest step that will make the greatest impact.

That might not be number one on the list, but it'll be the one that you can do at the time that will still move the needle.

19. Leave Perfectionism Behind

Last but not least, if you’re dreaming about starting a bookkeeping business, this is what you need to do from the get-go…

Leave your perfectionism in your cubicle.

Just show up. Do the thing. It doesn't have to be perfect. Done is better than perfect a million times over.  

EPISODE RESOURCES:

Need to boost your bookkeeping basics? Join BABs now: https://www.katieferro.com/become

Want a peek behind the curtain into LIBBY, my program all about what it really takes to have a simple and scalable (and successful) bookkeeping business? Get access to my free, on-demand four-part series, 6 Secrets to a Simple, Scalable Bookkeeping Business: www.katieferro.com/6-secrets

Learn how to take your bookkeeping skills and turn them into a business that allows you to replace (or surpass) your corporate salary, be present for your life, and profoundly impact your clients without selling your life in the process by joining Life by the Books (LIBBY).

CONNECT WITH KATIE:

Website: https://www.katieferro.com/

For first dibs (and the best prices!) on new offers from me, follow me on Instagram, then subscribe to my email list: 

IG: www.instagram.com/orderlyaccountingbykatie 

Email Opt In: www.katieferro.com/email