There has been an explosion of small businesses running from home thanks to the Internet revolution. Layoffs and job insecurity in the global market have made it very attractive for millions of people to start their own businesses. In the beginning, they will most likely take care of all their bookkeeping in order to keep costs down. But as these companies grow, the option of outsourcing their bookkeeping function to others becomes very attractive as it allows the business owner to concentrate on growing the business as opposed to just maintaining it. For people with bookkeeping experience, there is a growing demand for those services and that is why opening your own bookkeeping business is a great idea right now.

Essential Equipment

So what will you need to strike out on your own with your own bookkeeping business? Basically, you will need to set up an office. A computer, printer, fax machine, adding machine, and cell phone will all be necessary plus a high-speed Internet connection. In addition, you will obviously need some bookkeeping software. It is definitely recommended that you get a high-end bookkeeping platform so that you can offer clients as many options as possible with respect to the services you can provide. Even if you have to get some office furniture, you should be able to open your own bookkeeping business for $5,000 or less.

Skills & Experience

Prior bookkeeping or accounting experience is not a plus, it is vital. Financial records are very sensitive and vital materials and you will no doubt be asked to sign documentation asserting that your work is accurate and reliable. It is a mistake to think that because you can use Quickbooks proficiently that you are a bookkeeper and this will most likely get you into legal problems down the road should you make a mistake with someone's financial records. I would recommend no less than 3-5 years of solid bookkeeping / accounting experience before thinking about opening up your own bookkeeping business. Plus, the more experience you have to offer a client, the more successful you will be in finding new clients that will want to use your services. Marketing and sales experience or training will also be necessary if you are to be successful marketing your business.

Charges & Earnings

You can probably expect to make $30-40,000 in your first full year of operation but this will clearly depend on your success with marketing and in building your client list. At first, you may only be able to command $15-20 per hour for your services, but as your reputation grows, so too does your hourly rate. When you grow large enough to hire on another bookkeeper, that is when the profits start to really increase.

Marketing

As I said in the introduction, the explosion in businesses operating from home is probably your biggest target market and therefore the people you want to concentrate your advertising efforts on. As most of these businesses operate in some capacity from the Internet, that is where you will want to focus the marketing of your business. A website is a great marketing tool but you will need to have a lot of relevant content to bookkeeping if you want to do well with the search engines and thus direct potential clients to your site. You may need to hire a writer to develop your content so that it is keyword optimized and thus search engine friendly. It may also be a good idea to hire a website designer to create a killer site that will get the clients to your door. But, by concentrating on the small business owners working from their homes and by offering reliable services, there is no reason why your own home-based bookkeeping business will not be a success!