Is bookkeeping a profitable business
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Is Bookkeeping A Profitable Business? What Can You Earn?

Are you thinking of starting your own bookkeeping business and are wondering – is bookkeeping a profitable business? 

Before you pour your heart and soul (and money!) into a side hustle, you want to find out whether it’s even worth it to start a bookkeeping business that makes you some decent moolah. 

The short answer is: YES, a bookkeeping business can be highly profitable!

You just need to follow some rules and learn how to run a business. Sounds hard? Don’t worry, it isn’t. 

As a former bookkeeper myself, I’ve got all your questions covered. 

I’ll talk you through the following: 

  • What is bookkeeping
  • The skills you need
  • What expenses you should expect
  • How to set up a bookkeeping business in just 5 steps (without any prior experience!)

And most importantly: how much money you can make as a bookkeeper and how to keep your business profitable. 

Are you ready? Let’s jump into starting YOUR very own profitable bookkeeping business! 

Summary

  • What Is A Bookkeeping Business
  • Is A Bookkeeping Business Profitable?
  • Expenses Of A Bookkeeping Business 
  • How Much Can I Earn As A Bookkeeper?
  • How To Start A Bookkeeping Business Without Experience 
  • Advantages Of Being A Bookkeeper
  • Disadvantages Of Being A Bookkeeper 
  • Risks Of Having A Bookkeeping Business
  • FAQs to Is Bookkeeping A Profitable Business
  • Final Thoughts on Is Booking A Profitable Business

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Some of the links on here are affiliate links and I may earn if you click on them, AT NO EXTRA cost to you. Hope you find the information here useful! Thanks.

Before I tell you everything you want to know about how to start a bookkeeping business and how to keep it profitable, I want to let you know about my favorite bookkeeping course.

The reason I love this mega bookkeeping course so much is their in-depth details. 

Not only do they walk you through starting your own business, they offer multiple courses on how to promote and market your business as well.

They have something for you, no matter what stage of your virtual assistant bookkeeping business you are in. 

Whether you’re starting, growing, or scaling, they have detailed guides on everything you need to know.

While most of their courses need to be paid for, they have an extremely popular free course run by Ben Robinson, the founder of Bookkeepers.com. (If it is FREE, it’s for me!).

This free course gives you all the basic knowledge you need to become the boss of your own bookkeeping business.

What Is A Bookkeeping Business? 

What is bookkeeping? And what does a bookkeeper business do all day long for their clients? Here’s a quick overview!

A bookkeeping business is responsible for keeping records of all financial transactions of a business, such as incoming and outgoing payments. 

For tracking and monitoring purposes, these transactions go into the so-called charts of accounts which is a summary of certain types of accounts such as: 

  • Assets (e.g. vehicles or buildings)
  • Liabilities (e.g. loans)
  • Equity (worth of the company: Value of asset – total of liabilities = equity)
  • Income (i.e. revenue from selling a product or service)
  • Expenses (e.g. employee salaries)

The bookkeeper then puts all of the transactions into a balance sheet to calculate the overall profit and loss at the end of the month. 

This is so you can analyze where you spent your money and what your income streams are. 

Bookkeeping for a small business can help save clients money and increase their revenue. 

Other responsibilities of a bookkeeper are: 

  • Paying vendor bills
  • Issuing invoices to customers
  • Sending reminders to customers for overdue invoices
  • Filing receipts and chasing missing receipts
  • Generating financial reports

The most important thing as a bookkeeper is to make sure that every transaction has a receipt. This is essential for internal and external audits (by the authorities) to prove that you’re not being paid for a service or product you haven’t provided. 

Likewise, you can’t pay a vendor without having received an invoice from them outlining what it is you should be paying for.

Is A Bookkeeping Business Profitable? 

You desperately want to be opening your own bookkeeping business, love keeping track of financial records, and are wondering: is a bookkeeper business launch worth it? 

A bookkeeping business is only profitable if your bookkeeping business income is higher than your expenses per month. 

Luckily, you are your own boss, and you can easily achieve this by: 

  • Working from home 
  • Sharing an office space and office utilities with other business owners
  • Taking free bookkeeping courses 
  • Filing a tax return for your business each year
  • Working more efficiently so you can take on more clients
  • Choosing your own rate (hourly or fixed)

This brings us to the expenses you would have as a bookkeeper.

Expenses Of A Bookkeeping Business

A bookkeeping business is profitable if you can keep your expenses as low as possible. Want to learn all the bookkeeping skills as quickly as possible for as affordable as possible? 

Then keep reading because I’ve got something great for you! This is how I learned the tasks of a bookkeeper in no time (without spending much)!

1.Skills

Skills are your most important asset! These will make you stand out from your competition. And the more you know, the more you can charge your clients.

You can never learn enough! So keep at it.

Bookkeeper Launch is a mega bookkeeping course from bookkeepers.com. Ben makes it so easy to understand and get through. 

I loved it!

Not only do they give you in-depth details on how to start your own bookkeeping business, but they also offer multiple courses on how to promote and market your business as well. 

While most of their courses need to be paid for, they have an extremely popular free course run by Ben Robinson, the founder of Bookkeepers.com (If it’s FREE, it’s for me!). 

This free course gives you all the basic knowledge you need to become the boss of your own bookkeeping business. 

Ben makes it SO easy for you to love bookkeeping!

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2.Software

The software is probably going to be one of the biggest expenses you will have. There are certain bookkeeping programs you can choose from: 

3.Office & Tech Supplies

To carry out your work properly and be professional, you need to pay for the following supplies (if you don’t have them yet):

4.Business Costs

A business doesn’t come for free! Here are a few more things to consider when you start a bookkeeping business:

5.Insurances 

It’s important to have business insurance, so in the case of a client being unhappy and wanting to sue you, your personal assets are protected. 

Don’t forget that if you work for yourself, you also need to pay for your health insurance.

How Much Can I Earn As A Bookkeeper?

How much does a bookkeeper earn and is virtual bookkeeping profitable? 

It’s hard to come up with a rate to charge your client. This varies on the following: 

  • Location
  • Experience
  • Availability of bookkeepers nearby
  • Range of tasks
  • Financial situation of your client

You’re a professional who deserves to be paid for your skills (that’s why your client outsources this task), therefore you can charge an hourly rate of USD 35 USD 55.

How To Start A Bookkeeping Business Without Experience

Is bookkeeping a good business to start when you have no experience? While it’s beneficial to have worked in an office environment before, it’s not a must. 

We all start somewhere, right? 

If you’re down working for someone else’s profit and have the drive and passion to learn something new and put in the work, then there’s nothing stopping you from starting a bookkeeping business.

I’ll show you the steps you need to take if you want to learn how to build a bookkeeping business (in just 5 steps!). 

1.Make A Business Plan

Every idea should start with a plan. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you should know what you want to achieve and how you can get there. 

Ask yourself the following:  

  • How many hours per day / how many days per week do I want to work? 
  • What kind of clients do I want to work for? 
  • Do I want to specialize in a certain niche? 
  • What do I need to get started? 
  • How much money do I need to invest? Do I need a loan from the bank? 
  • How much do I want to charge my client? 

Once you have answered these questions, you can start to obtain the skills you need to have as a bookkeeper. 

Is bookkeeping a profitable business

2.Obtain Your Skills

The Bookkeeper Launch is an in-depth bookkeeping course that teaches you all the skills you need to be a successful bookkeeper as well as how to start your business. 

But it doesn’t stop here! Ben Robinson, the founder, also helps you to promote and market your business!

If you don’t want to give up before you even start, you should highly consider taking these 3 free classes. Because I get it, starting your own thing can be extremely overwhelming and you need someone who guides you through it. 

3.Register Your Business

Now comes all the boring paperwork stuff! But it’s also exciting because now it’s finally real! These are the things you will need to successfully register your business:

  • Register your business name & structure
  • Get a tax ID 
  • Get insurance 
  • Open a company bank account

Common business structures: 

  • Corporation
  • Partnership
  • Sole proprietorship
  • LLC (Limited Liability Company)

Corporation

A corporation is a legal entity that is separate from its owner. Meaning that the owner isn’t personally liable for the debts of the business. 

The owner can hire employees, enter contracts, get loans, and has to pay taxes.

Partnership

A partnership consists of a minimum of 2 people who have an agreement with each other to operate and manage a business. They also share their profits as well as liabilities.

Sole Proprietorship

Starting out as a sole trader is the most common business structure. It consists of just one owner who pays personal income tax on profits earned from the business. 

Sole traders can use their own name for their business.

LLC (Limited Liability Company)

An LLC is a business structure in the U.S. No income taxes need to be paid, but a personal tax return has to be lodged every financial year. 

The owner is protected from the debts and liabilities of the business.

4.Get Prepared

It isn’t hard to learn how to start a home-based bookkeeping business, especially when you get some help from professionals like Ben Robinson

You have already done a lot of the hard work like creating your business plan, learning the skills, and purchasing all your tech and office supplies. 

Now you want to be at the point where you could simply start to work for a client (if you had one). This brings us to the last point of our bookkeeping startup list:

Is bookkeeping a profitable business

5.Find Clients

You can start by getting your name out through family and friends. Other ways to promote your business are the following platforms: 

  • Create your own website so people can find you on Google
  • Facebook groups
  • Local newspapers
  • Local directories such as the Yellow Pages
  • Other social media channels
  • Distribute your business cards and flyers at relevant locations

If you struggle to find clients, Ben Robinson from Bookkeepers.com is the right person to help you! 

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Advantages Of Starting A Bookkeeping Business

  • Start-up costs are fairly low
  • No certifications needed
  • Bookkeeping courses are affordable
  • You can work from anywhere
  • Bookkeeping is a stable and continuous business
  • You can keep your running costs low

Disadvantages & Risks Of Starting A Bookkeeping Business

  • Difficult customers who want to make you liable for their mistakes
  • Messy client books to work on
  • You need to be tech-savvy
  • You are responsible to keep your client’s data safe from hackers
  • Receiving pressure to complete work by a certain deadline
  • Certain accounting software can be expensive 
Is bookkeeping a profitable business

FAQs to Is Bookkeeping A Profitable Business

Is Bookkeeping A Stressful Job? 

So, is bookkeeping a stressful job? This depends on the client you work with and whether their books are messy and need to be completed by a deadline in the near future. 

In that case, bookkeeping can be quite stressful (especially when you have your own bookkeeper business and you’re the only one who does the work). 

What Type Of Personality Does A Bookkeeper Have? 

Curious what type of personality does a bookkeeper have? In most cases, bookkeepers are ordinary people who like to work in a structured environment. 

They are very organized and reliable individuals and are good at spotting details. Bookkeepers like to ‘fix’ mistakes and help their clients bring structure into their mess.

Do Bookkeepers Earn More Money Than Accountants? 

Do bookkeepers earn more money than accountants? No, typically, bookkeepers don’t earn more money than accountants. 

This is because you can work as a bookkeeper by simply completing a course, while an accountant needs to have a degree to work in their field. An accountant is more specialized and they work for larger companies.

Are Bookkeepers In Demand? 

Wondering if bookkeepers are in demand? Yes, they are! A lot of company owners are too busy to keep their books in order, so they need qualified personnel to do this work for them. 

Bookkeeping is an important task of a business that needs to be completed regularly, so bookkeepers and accountants will always be needed.

What Is The Hourly Rate For Bookkeeping? 

What is the hourly rate for bookkeeping? On average, the hourly rate for bookkeeping in the United States is USD 21. A bookkeeper can make between USD 18 to USD 23 per hour. 

You can make more money the more experience you have or if you own a bookkeeping business.

Is bookkeeping a profitable business

Can You Make Good Money As A Bookkeeper? 

Yes, you can make very good money as a bookkeeper. In fact, bookkeeping is one of the jobs that pay the highest salary when working remotely. 

Bookkeepers are and will always be in demand and depending on your experience and what field you specialize in, you can charge a high rate for your services. 

Final Thoughts on Is Bookkeeping A Profitable Business

Is bookkeeping a profitable business? I’m pretty sure you have no doubt anymore that it is. You have also gained some insight into how to start a bookkeeping business from home.

Still on the fence? Then you should try out these 3 free classes from bookkeepers.com. If it doesn’t cost any money, what do you have to lose? 

No side hustle has been built overnight and there’s a bit of work you will have to put into creating a bookkeeping startup but once that’s done, you can sit back and serve your recurring clients. 

Doing bookkeeping as a business is a great opportunity to work from home (or go traveling) and have minimal expenses per month. 

No wasted time in traffic, no office space you need to rent, and no inventory you have to keep. 

The list goes on. 

Does this sound perfect for you? Then go grab yourself a cuppa, sit down, and start creating a plan for your bookkeeping business! 

I wish you the best of luck! 

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