I've learned the best start-up is a service driven business model

[ceo77]

I've gone through several that involved international trade and I even went through the dropship phase and then it dawned on me...

I'm good with numbers and figured every business needs or has someone doing the bookkeeping so why not do that (all the while i'm looking for a new job and not trying to start a business.)

With the idea fresh in my head I download a bootleg copy of Quickbooks Premier and by Bookkkeeping for Dummies from Borders. I study and absorb info for the next month or so until I can finally look at things and know what they mean.

Next I started organizing friends I knew (who had small businesses) books on the side. Nothing special, a few hours a week. Eventually the more I grew confident, I started looking to move to bigger companies.

Right now I have 2 part time gigs as an independent contractor doing their bookkeeping and end of the month paperwork. They pay 175 a week.

I got 8 more gigs where I do 2 hours of work per week for each and do their books and the end of the month. $450 per month for each.


Thats a $61,400 a year pace and right now I'm looking to partner with a certified CPA and maybe a few entry level clerks to partner up with to take on bigger jobs.

4 companies have offered me full time jobs paying an average of 55k per year with good benifits, but I turned them all down.

At the end of the day I scraped all the product driven business model and decided to go the serivce route. I don't have to worry about buying and marketing products and I don't have to worry about taking out lines of credit or anything like that. My market his huge and I feel like this is the best decision I've made. People looking to start a business should develop a skill or trade and SELL it.




edit: I breezed through this a little fast so i had to edit oome of this for writing errors.

[forchunet]

Wow inspiring story. I too want to get started in entrepreneurship and decided early on that the service method would be my best bet.

This shows me that it can be done.

[ceo77]

Wow inspiring story. I too want to get started in entrepreneurship and decided early on that the service method would be my best bet.

This shows me that it can be done.

More companies are willing to outsource certain jobs to freelances because they don't have to put them on the payroll or pay for any medical benefits.

Find something that you can work as little as possible per client and take in a couple hundred dollars per week. It adds up fast.

I'm to the point where I can find someone else with a skill set to compliment what i'm doing to go after bigger fish so i can charge more. I can higher newbies to do small tasks so i can do take on more jobs. I'm using the LLC I formed for something else that I pretty much abandoned.

I'm still working at my full time job believe it or not. (i'm being greedy right now, that and the fact that the medical benifits are good.) I plan on quitting sometime in September.

[johnbears]

I've gone through several that involved international trade and I even went through the dropship phase and then it dawned on me...

I'm good with numbers and figured every business needs or has someone doing the bookkeeping so why not do that (all the while i'm looking for a new job and not trying to start a business.)

With the idea fresh in my head I download a bootleg copy of Quickbooks Premier and by Bookkkeeping for Dummies from Borders. I study and absorb info for the next month or so until I can finally look at things and know what they mean.

Next I started organizing friends I knew (who had small businesses) books on the side. Nothing special, a few hours a week. Eventually the more I grew confident, I started looking to move to bigger companies.

Right now I have 2 part time gigs as an independent contractor doing their bookkeeping and end of the month paperwork. They pay 175 a week.

I got 8 more gigs where I do 2 hours of work per week for each and do their books and the end of the month. $450 per month for each.


Thats a $61,400 a year pace and right now I'm looking to partner with a certified CPA and maybe a few entry level clerks to partner up with to take on bigger jobs.

4 companies have offered me full time jobs paying an average of 55k per year with good benifits, but I turned them all down.

At the end of the day I scraped all the product driven business model and decided to go the serivce route. I don't have to worry about buying and marketing products and I don't have to worry about taking out lines of credit or anything like that. My market his huge and I feel like this is the best decision I've made. People looking to start a business should develop a skill or trade and SELL it.




edit: I breezed through this a little fast so i had to edit oome of this for writing errors.

You worked for your friends at first, didn't they have accountants or bookkeepers before you? And how did you sell yourself to other companies (Are you being cheaper, more service)?

[ceo77]

You worked for your friends at first, didn't they have accountants or bookkeepers before you? And how did you sell yourself to other companies (Are you being cheaper, more service)?

Basically my friends either didn't have one or they were trying to do it themselves. I organized everything for them, showed them how to maintain it and kept it moving. I used them as references for the resume and then I started going after small sized businesses. The key for me since I already had a full time job was to target companies that needed their books maintained on a weekly or monthly basis. Some comanies need a full time bookkeeper and then major companies have people maintaining the books in sections. The price point for me was easy because I know what accountants charge and 1. i'm not an accountant and 2. i sell the idea of not having to hire a full time employee and not have to worry about paying for insurance etc.

Eventually I'm gonna start targeting medium size companies.

[johnbears]

Basically my friends either didn't have one or they were trying to do it themselves. I organized everything for them, showed them how to maintain it and kept it moving. I used them as references for the resume and then I started going after small sized businesses. The key for me since I already had a full time job was to target companies that needed their books maintained on a weekly or monthly basis. Some comanies need a full time bookkeeper and then major companies have people maintaining the books in sections. The price point for me was easy because I know what accountants charge and 1. i'm not an accountant and 2. i sell the idea of not having to hire a full time employee and not have to worry about paying for insurance etc.

Eventually I'm gonna start targeting medium size companies.

Inspiring story so far. I wish you the best and lots of success.

Did I understand you right, small sized businesses for which you do the bookkeeping agreed to have you as a bookkeeper because you had some reference from friends, and they didn't have to pay u health insurance etc,? In other words, did these businesses get rid of their accountant/bookkeeper and hire you? Or were these small businesses startup which did not have bookkeepers to begin with?

You should't do the bookkeeping. Get college students with accounting/business majors to do it. You should get lots of other business to use your service. Repeat your success mate.

Looking forward to your development.

[mbrand2222]

What methods are you using to sell your service? Are you doing it locally? On the Internet? or both? How much do you spend on advertising (if you don't mind my asking)? Sounds like a great business.

[ceo77]

Inspiring story so far. I wish you the best and lots of success.

Did I understand you right, small sized businesses for which you do the bookkeeping agreed to have you as a bookkeeper because you had some reference from friends, and they didn't have to pay u health insurance etc,? In other words, did these businesses get rid of their accountant/bookkeeper and hire you? Or were these small businesses startup which did not have bookkeepers to begin with?
You should't do the bookkeeping. Get college students with accounting/business majors to do it. You should get lots of other business to use your service. Repeat your success mate.

Looking forward to your development.

I focused on companies that didn't have a bookkeeper. As I was being interviewed, I was interviewing them as well and based on their needs if it was obvious they were in need of a full time bookkeeper I declined and moved on. Businesses with volume transactions that occur daily will need someone doing their books daily. I focused on companies that only needed their books completed weekly bi weekly and at the end of the month. I used my friends to build 1. perfect my craft and 2. build a client base. Now when i'm interviewing perspective clients I use not having to pay medical and not being on their full time payroll as talking points because they will or should see it as cost effective. I mainly marketed to small businesses that are past the start up phase and are looking to have their books done by a professional on a part time basis.

[ceo77]

What methods are you using to sell your service? Are you doing it locally? On the Internet? or both? How much do you spend on advertising (if you don't mind my asking)? Sounds like a great business.

Right now I'm doing it locally. I live in North Jersey about 15 minutes from NYC and I basically started by using craigslist and your basic classified ad spots which I did maybe twice a month. I got referals from my friends as well. Craigslist was a huge boost though, and is where I got my first 4 clients.

Because I'm only marketing locally its cheap. I've gotten jobs where I acted as a consultant and charge by the hour to help set up a proper bookkeeping system as well which includes implementing and training.

[johnbears]

I focused on companies that didn't have a bookkeeper. As I was being interviewed, I was interviewing them as well and based on their needs if it was obvious they were in need of a full time bookkeeper I declined and moved on. Businesses with volume transactions that occur daily will need someone doing their books daily. I focused on companies that only needed their books completed weekly bi weekly and at the end of the month. I used my friends to build 1. perfect my craft and 2. build a client base. Now when i'm interviewing perspective clients I use not having to pay medical and not being on their full time payroll as talking points because they will or should see it as cost effective. I mainly marketed to small businesses that are past the start up phase and are looking to have their books done by a professional on a part time basis.

My brother has a restaurant and their bookkeeper comes by twice a week for 3 hours each. So when my uncle opened a restaurants a while a back, my uncle asked my brother where to get a bookkeeper. My brother refered their bookkeeper. The moral of the story, when you work good for your current clients then they will eventually refer you to others or even better YOU ask them to be refered (you can offer them an incentive to do so). Look into restaurants my friend.

What do you think?

[ceo77]

My brother has a restaurant and their bookkeeper comes by twice a week for 3 hours each. So when my uncle opened a restaurants a while a back, my uncle asked my brother where to get a bookkeeper. My brother refered their bookkeeper. The moral of the story, when you work good for your current clients then they will eventually refer you to others or even better YOU ask them to be refered (you can offer them an incentive to do so). Look into restaurants my friend.

What do you think?

That was acually my first gig. One of my friends opened one and thats how it started. I still work for him. Definately a client base i've been trying to tap into. I'm doing a lot of networking right now. The crazy part is 8 months ago I knew nothing about bookkeeping or taxes. I'm working on getting a certification right now because some potential clients wanted to see some type of "certification". I will have that some time in September.