Introduction and looking for advice for my new bookkeeping business!

@AJBookkeeping 

Hi there, Angie!

I wanted to congratulate you on starting your own bookkeeping business. To start this journey years earlier than expected is all the more impressive and exciting.

Out of curiosity, is there any particular type of guidance that you're needing? For example, are you looking more for insight on using QuickBooks, or growing your firm, or both? The Community has some fantastic resources, and I want to ensure you get the help you need!

Firm of the Future is a blog that posts on topics related to accountancy and growing firms. One example of a post that you may be interested in is: 5 Tips to Maximize Your New Find-a-ProAdvisor Profile.

I also highly recommend the ProAdvisor certification courses. They really helped me to prepare for the test and gain a better understanding of the software.

There are also webinars taught by ProAdvisors, which are free and offer CPE credits. For further information, including how to register for them, please see the following link: QuickBooks Accountant University.

Congratulations again on starting this path. Given your years of experience, passion, and specialties in these fields, I'm sure you'll have the ProAdvisor badge and NACPB certification in no time!

Should you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to let me know. I'm looking forward to seeing your posts and insight! 

Thanks for the warm welcome and helpful links David! I have just finished the ProAdvisor certification course and am getting ready to take the exam. I will definitely check out the links to the other resources you provided as well. I am looking for any and all advice pertaining to starting a bookkeeping business and working with Quickbooks Online as I am new to both!

Congrats on finishing the certification course, Angie. Sounds like you're off to a great start!

I'd like to chime in and invite @lynda and/or @ParkwayInc to join the conversation. These two are knowledgeable bookkeepers and QuickBooks experts. Their years of experience give them the ability to offer some great pointers for getting started, or help out if you have any specific questions.

We wish you the best on your upcoming ProAdvisor exam. Take care!

Congratulations on taking the leap into business ownership @AJBookkeeping (Angie)!

From the sound of it you have a lot of experience with accounting principles so I feel that it would be safe to assume you are interested in learning how to find your first client and how to grow your practice.

In general, I always suggest that people do the following things when they are just getting started in business:

1. Setup your free QuickBooks Online Accountant subscription
   1. When you are just getting started this provides a great opportunity to play around with QuickBooks Online by connecting your own bank accounts through the bank feeds.  Even if you make a mess of things, you can purge the data and start fresh until you bring on your first client.
2. Setup your ProAdvisor Profile
   1. While setting up your profile, try to be very specific with the industries you service (choose between 3-5 max) and only check off the products that you actually plan to provide services for.  While it may seem like a good idea to be available for everything, it does not help you or your potential client.
3. Start studying for your QBO certification
   1. Spend at least an hour each day going through the materials in the online course. While going through the sessions, take good notes on all of the review questions asked, they will help you with the final exam.
   2. While taking the exam, take screenshots of each question with the answer you selected and save them in Microsoft PowerPoint. This will help you document the questions and the answers you provided in case the quiz freezes and you have to start again, or if you do not pass the first time and need to take it again.
4. Setup your Google My Business Listing
   1. Google is the largest search engine in the world and still handles about 87% of the web queries. Setting up your account takes a bit of time but allows you to tell Google everything about what you do.
5. Start posting at least 1 post per week
   1. Once your account has been setup, you will be able to create posts that will be displayed next to your online listing. Each post will last for 7 days, so do one per week at least.
6. Setup your Microsoft Bing Account: 
   1. After your GMB is setup, you can login to Microsoft Bing for Businesses  and claim your business listing there also.  Recently, they added a tool that allows you to import your information from Google to save you time while creating the business listing.
7. Setup a Yelp account for your business
   1. While Yelp is not my favorite, it is a necessary evil.  When people search on an android device it uses Google Chrome and will show GMB reviews. When someone searches with an Apple device, that always defaults to Safari browser which displays Yelp reviews first.
8. Complete More Industry Specific Certifications
   1. QuickBooks Online Advanced Certification
   2. QuickBooks Desktop Certification
   3. Xero
   4. Freshbooks
   5. Etc...
9. Complete Software Certifications:
   1. Tsheets
   2. Knowify
   3. Bill.com

Tips on Certifications:

The more QuickBooks based certifications that you take in the beginning, the higher you will rank on the Find A ProAdvisor website.

Getting Certified:

The reason I suggest taking Xero and FreshBooks certifications is two fold:

1. You should know the product so you can decide what platform you want to work with and to make it easier to convert clients from platform to the other if you need to.
2. Each certification listing will provide you a profile that you can link back to your company website, this helps build your domain authority

When creating your business profiles:

The first business profile you create is the hardest, start writing it in Microsoft Word and be sure to spell check it in word before posting it.

To complete most business listings you will need the following things:

• Short Intro paragraph (250 characters or less)
• Longer Description (1000 characters or less)
• Company Logo (if you have one)
• Name Address Phone & Website (this must be consistent everywhere online)
• Pictures (this can be pictures of your office (even home office) of you, or even your company mascot. You can also create images that are related to the services you offer. 

Create a folder that you store all this stuff in and it will make it easier to copy and paste as you build out more listings online!

Here is a link to an article that explains Google My Business

Selecting a Niche:

Do not try to focus on a niche to early or you may find that you are cutting off a large part of the available market. You also limit your exposure to some of the valuable lessons that will help develop your career quicker.

When you do decide on a niche, take the time to test out the applications designed specifically for that niche and create a database of all the features and functions they each have and what you like and why.  This information will be very useful when closing the deal with new clients in your new niche!

This will also provide you a great opportunity to grab more business profiles that link back to your website. This is one of the best methods of SEO for your online presence!

Finally, join our Facebook Group QB Community Live and reach out if you have more questions!!

Matthew Fulton

Parkway Business Solutions

First of all Congratulations Angie  @AJBookkeeping Angie for taking the leap into entrepreneurship.  Being your own boss is simply amazing!  

Since my partner, @ParkwayInc already tackled this question so efficiently, I'll just add my two cents worth.  

Certifications

Getting certified as a QB ProAdvisor is key.  This may generate some leads.  If you can keep going, take that Advanced cert as soon as you can.  That helps list you above all the other Proadvisors that do not take the time necessary to pass the harder test.  It is difficult but worth it.

Intuit Community

Showing off what you know and helping others here in this community can generate leads.  It also will make some of your answers searchable with Google.  I started out just answering questions to help people with QuickBooks many years ago. The added benefit is these questions are searchable through Google and you may find you will get some good leads from them. 

Website

Hire a website person.  Ask for referrals or check with fiverr.  They have some pretty inexpensive resources.  Your website is the first look someone has of your business -- you want to look professional.

Referrals

Meet with local small CPA firms and let them know you exist.  They may just do tax work and you may be able to get referrals from them as a partnership of you do the bookkeeping, they do the tax work.  It is a win-win for both of you!  

All of this should get you started.  And yes, join our Facebook group!  We would love to have you!  Both Matthew and I love to help bookkeepers and accountants get started.  It is a bit of a passion of ours.

Lynda

Artesani Bookkeeping

Thank you so much Lynda and Matt, those are all excellent suggestions and I am extremely grateful for the advice :)

Hi Lynda, i was trying to find out about the new quickbooks payment reminders. It seems great if your custys have an email address but not so great if they dont. I selected all my custys to get reminders after 30 days but it did not let me send to my custys that needed printed ones. Is this the case or did i set somthing up wrong

Thank you