I Love Bookkeeping

Jackie’s family had always wanted to live in America so her family moved to LA, but for various reasons, it didn’t work out. She needed to set something up that was relevant to her degree in order for it to be seen as successful in the eyes of Immigration and be able to stay in the States. She stumbled across Bookkeeper Business Launch in 2016 and it showed her a way to make her plan real. [4:50] Jackie officially launched her business in January of 2017, and she landed her first client a few weeks into the new year. She invested in SEO and advertising and tried to do the marketing herself until she realized that she had to stop trying to do everything and going through the feast or famine cycle. [6:40] Jackie now has 21 clients, most of which are being billed a set amount each month. A few of them have the habit of showing up in August needing all the accounts up to date for the previous year. [8:10] The best part of the business is in analyzing the data, interpreting the numbers, and forecasting where the b

Jessica’s personal style is hyper feminine, but deep down she likes math and numbers. That synthesis is where the moniker Sparkle Bookkeeping came from. [2:50] When Jessica was in college she had an opportunity to work for a cannabis tax firm, and got a feel for the industry as well as learned bookkeeping directly. After a while, she wanted to try something new. She felt like she would be able to do it on her own and she discovered Bookkeeper Business Launch. [6:20] The mindset aspect of the business has been a big part of Jessica’s journey. By applying what she learned in the course, her business has started to really take off. [8:00] Working for yourself is a rollercoaster ride with really high good days and some pretty terrible bad days, but it all evens out after a while if you can push through. [8:35] Jessica currently serves 17 clients mainly found through referrals. When she first started, she didn’t really picture much more than just herself and the books, but having found success, she believes that s

Jenna used to work as an auditor, but the position involved being surrounded by negative people as well as physical demands that didn’t work with her family’s schedule. After getting denied when she tried to adjust her work schedule, Jenna realized that she should probably venture out on her own. She found the Bookkeeper Business Launch program and once someone she trusted vouched for the content, she signed up. [5:00] Jenna currently has 10 clients and is not looking to build an empire. She’s pretty happy right now just working with her clients and doing the work, but that may change as her children get older. [6:40] When Jenna was starting her bookkeeping business, she was looking for someone to handle the tax work, and the person that she previously worked with told her that the bookkeeper for the firm that he worked for had given their notice and they needed to find a new bookkeeper for their clients. Many of the clients that Jenna now has have come through this referral relationship. [8:20] She also has

Kerrie went into corporate accounting after getting her accounting degree. She decided after 5 years that it wasn’t her cup of tea and opened her own business that lasted for a couple of years. A major move meant she had to find something else and she ended up working in a public school for 13 years. During that time, Kerrie’s husband developed a chronic illness and Kerrie knew she needed to find a job that gave her more flexibility. She discovered Bookkeeper Business Launch and that’s where it all started. [5:05] You are always skeptical when you come across work-at-home opportunities online, but Ben’s course seemed to really stand out and offer a solution that Kerrie was looking for. [6:30] Kerrie has two clients of her own, as well as three other clients she has done consulting work with. She started out with a few subcontracting jobs that she recently decided to drop as she figures out what she wants for her business. [8:30] Bookkeeping is a great fit for anyone that has the ability to learn quickly and p

Heather got her accounting degree in 2014 and worked in corporate accounting for a few years. That’s when she realized that she was meant to be her own boss and really didn’t enjoy the corporate environment. She discovered Bookkeeping Business Launch and after giving birth to her son, she decided to dive into it and give it a shot. [4:10] Initially she was skeptical about the program and whether she could handle it with a newborn, but something clicked once he was two months old. She took her time starting the business but after a year of working on things and landing her first client, it really took off. [6:00] The lack of flexibility was Heather’s main issue with the corporate environment. Being able to determine her own hours and how she runs her business has been very important to her. Flexibility and freedom are very common reasons for people wanting to start their own business. [9:05] Currently Heather has 14 clients, 2 of which she had to part ways with at the beginning of the year, because they didn’t

Elizabeth was looking for a way to earn money that also allowed her to spend time with her children. Bookkeeper Business Launch seemed like a good fit so she signed up in August of 2017. She didn’t originally do much with the program until she was talking to someone who essentially told her that they would hire her if she finished the program. She officially had her first client by June 2018 and has since built a business of seven clients total. [4:30] Elizabeth’s vision for the business is where she doesn’t have to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the business. [5:35] Money is not her primary motivation at the moment. She has enough clients now that she is focused more on being successful. Success is the ability to reach your goals by doing things your way. [6:45] A typical day for Elizabeth depends on what day of the month they are in and what’s due. She uses a CRM to manage her schedule and figure out what she needs to tackle first. Her day usually ends at 3pm, at which point she’s on family tim

Ashley is very organized and isn’t afraid to ask for help which is the thing that makes her business possible. [2:15] Ashley was a stay-at-home mom to her four kids in the beginning, but she always wanted to be able to contribute more to her family and the world at large. She felt that starting a business was the first step to contributing to her surroundings. Her husband was actually the person who referred her to the Bookkeeper Business Launch program and a few months later she decided to pull the trigger. [5:40] Currently, Ashley serves 11 clients and on her goal sheet, which is something that she writes down every day, her first goal is to hit six figures this year. Her bigger goal for the next two years is to be the boss of a million dollar company. [6:45] Inspiring young women is one of Ashley’s major motivations, in addition to providing a life for her family that she didn’t have growing up. [9:30] Working from home has worked out well. It enables her to be there for her family and her clients. [10:20]

Mary can remember always being good at bookkeeping, even when she was young. While going to school, she worked full time in a corporate office in the accounting department for three years. She never finished her bachelor’s degree. Instead, she moved back to where she and her husband were from and worked for a local pharmacy where she was mentored by the in-house CPA. [4:30] During that time Mary’s husband deployed so she needed something to keep her busy. She was nominated to be the president of the local business association. It was around that time that Mary started to look for more flexibility so she could spend more time with her growing family, this lead to some timely advice from a friend to just do bookkeeping for more than one business. [7:00] Self-discipline has been key to Mary’s success. Being able to manage her time and still get things done is a very important quality to have once there is no one to tell you what to do. [8:40] When Mary started her business, she already had four clients and has b

Melissa was working 70 to 80 hours a week at her job and was starting to get really burned out. She decided that she needed to make a change and that was when she was injured during a run. This gave her plenty of time to look for opportunities to work from home. She found her first client online and that gave her three months to find more. Word of mouth and BNI has been how she’s found the majority of the clients she has now, with the process being largely organic. [4:45] Melissa serves 62 clients that they work with every month and she has a goal to get to 100 clients by the end of the year. [5:25] We rarely stop to smell the roses and appreciate everything we accomplish. Remember to write down how far you’ve come and keep that in mind. [6:20] Melissa has made plenty of mistakes over the past 18 months. One of the biggest things she’s learned is to stick to her pricing and not negotiate. If the client wants to negotiate, that may be an indicator that they don’t value your service. [8:15] Melissa works solely

In January of 2018, Christopher was two years away from retiring from the military and was thinking about the future. He wanted to figure out how he was going to make money once he was out and found the Bookkeeper Business Launch course and thought that it might be a good fit. Turns out it was. [3:45] Chris got his first client one month after completing the course. He connected with them on Craigslist and is still working with them today. [4:30] Chris used the money from the first client and joined the BNI (Business Networking International). Using only BNI referrals, Chris got to ten clients by October. He also got five more clients using paid leads from Thumbtack. [6:50] BNI meetings are structured so the first fifteen minutes are meant for networking with the members and occasionally giving ten minute presentations. For Chris, being in BNI is not his natural environment. He was actually voted “Most Likely To Eat Alone” in high school because he was such an introvert, but he faced his fears and did it anyw

Hannah found that with her previous business she was traveling a lot and wasn’t able to spend much time with her husband. She was researching jobs that she could do from home at that time and came across the Bookkeeper Business Launch course on the Penny Hoarder website and decided to give it a try. [6:10] Hannah serves around 12 clients at this point. There was a lot of fear originally, taking on a client beyond Hannah’s husband who was her first, but she realized that she really did have all the tools she needed to be an exceptional bookkeeper thanks to Ben’s course. [8:35] All of Hannah’s clients have come from LinkedIn mining, a special tactic that is covered in the course. She spent some money on Facebook but the stuff that has worked and gotten her paying clients has been completely free. [9:20] Hannah originally started out working with farmers but quickly realized they are not clients interested in paying for a bookkeeper. She has since expanded to working with agriculture businesses instead. [12:00]

David went to school to be a math teacher but ended up in engineering and getting a math degree. Due to the recession, he got laid off and found himself wondering what to do without a job. He started working at a church and did some of their admin work, which was David’s first real exposure to bookkeeping. One bookkeeping gig turned into another. [4:45] David realized that bookkeeping was a skill that he could start a business with and since he always wanted to start his own business he thought it might make a good fit. For David, one of his core motivations is building something new. [6:50] David currently works with 16 monthly clients which he has acquired over the past 15 months since December of 2017. After his first gig with the church, David started searching for ways to create a bookkeeping business and that’s how he found Bookkeeper Business Launch. [9:40] David established his business and then started building relationships. Those conversations have naturally led to more opportunities with new clien

After Daniel’s last deployment he was looking to start his own business. He had some experience and education in accounting so that field made the most sense. When he discovered the Bookkeeping Business Launch program, he decided to take the leap. [3:50] Painters were the niche that Daniel served, mainly due to running a painting business of his own in college and because he knew where to find them and no one was serving the market directly. [5:10] Daniel planted a lot of seeds early on, including LinkedIn, guest blog posting, and more, that netted him his first few clients. [7:00] Bookkeeping for the first time was the first challenge that Daniel had to overcome. Once he started taking on clients, finding good people to help him scale his growing business was the major hurdle. [9:00] Daniel had to get himself out of the business so that it can continue without him due to having to deploy in the near future. This gives him flexibility once he returns to the business when the deployment ends. [11:30] The value

Amanda was a bank teller in the past, which is where she discovered her love of working with money. She started her bookkeeping business in 2017 after going through the Bookkeeper Business Launch program and has since built up a base of 15 clients. [3:30] Amanda gravitates towards artists and creatives; 90% of the people she works with fall into those categories. [5:15] Amanda didn’t want to quit her job, but circumstances forced her hand to consider other options. She started looking for ways to make more money or save more. She ended up on the Pennyhoarder.com website, where she found one of Ben’s articles which lead her to bookkeeping. [7:20] Having a good support network was really important to Amanda when starting her own business. She was definitely scared about taking the leap. Going through the course really helped prepare her for what she needed to do while also giving her a good refresher on bookkeeping fundamentals. [9:20] Employers feel like they are doing you a favor by giving you a job, but clie

In many ways Jeremy started his bookkeeping business on a whim. He encountered Bookkeeper Business Launch online and always had an entrepreneurial streak so it seemed like a good fit. The freedom to call his own shots and choose his own destiny is what Jeremy was looking for, combined with his appreciation for numbers and it just made sense. [5:30] Jeremy currently has 8 clients, 6 of which he is working with on a monthly basis. On top of his bookkeeping business, Jeremy is also a Financial Manager at a publicly traded manufacturing firm. [7:25] Jeremy is pretty passive in his marketing efforts. His first client was a referral from a former coworker and he wasn’t really marketing at the time. Most people get their very first client in a similar way, basically talking to people and letting them know about their new bookkeeping business. Jeremy is also a member of a couple of formal networking groups and has dabbled a bit in Craigslist. [10:40] Of the eight clients so far, Jeremy has only spent a few hundred do

Kim started in late August of 2017 after purchasing Bookkeeper Business Launch. Four days later she registered her business name and closed her first client, who later on became her husband. [3:00] Kim had been in the banking industry for 16 years and knew that there was definitely a need for bookkeepers in business. When Kim’s husband decided to start his trucking business, Kim made the choice to start her own bookkeeping business at the same time. [4:15] Kim currently has 8 active clients. There are always ups and downs in the business, and clients come and go. She mainly focuses on transportation due to her insider view of the industry. [6:05] Kim always had the desire to open her own business, but she never really knew what she wanted to do. The high costs of most business models made them prohibitive. When she discovered the idea of bookkeeping, it made a lot of sense given her background and experience. Time-freedom is the word Kim would use to describe the idea of running her own business. [9:30] Retai

Kirsten took an accounting class in high school many years ago and she really enjoyed it. She eventually dropped out of college where she was studying accounting and became a mother. She was a stay-at-home mom for 18 years and tried a number of business ideas but none of them really resonated. She eventually got an email from Ben about becoming a bookkeeper, ended up on one of his webinars and ultimately took the course. [7:40] Kirsten currently has four clients but has had up to nine at one time. Some of them Kirsten decided to fire and some have gone in other directions. [9:00] Time management was Kirsten’s first major challenge; homeschooling nine kids can make working from home fairly difficult. Being intentional with her time has been very important. [11:30] When it came to getting clients, putting out content that would get someone interested in what Kirsten was offering without being too sales-y was tough for her. Her first client was a friend that she had known for nearly 20 years who owned a business

Jaime has been running his bookkeeping business for the past two years and has acquired 13 clients in that time. He’s hoping to get more clients and continue growing, but it’s a scary thing to think about. [3:10] When Jaime first started, he was going to partner with a friend of his that had a degree in Bookkeeping. He discovered that a lot of random tasks end up on your plate as a bookkeeper and felt that he just didn’t want to work for someone else anymore. His friend wasn’t ready to make the leap at the same time though, and Jaime decided to go out on his own. He discovered that he was in over his head and looked for help; when he found Bookkeeper Business Launch it changed his business. [7:10] After signing up for the course in April, Jaime got his first client in June. He reached out to his former colleagues who had ventured out to create their own firms and one of them said yes. [9:00] One of his clients has been very influential in helpling Jaime find new clients. He has referred Jaime to a number of i

When Justin was 19 years old, he was introduced to the idea of owning a business but he felt like he wasn’t ready to go it on his own. He decided on a career in banking which worked out well enough for the first few years until his wife told him they were going to have another child. This led him to looking at how to make money on the side and eventually Ben’s course. [6:00] In early 2017, Justin was still working his full-time job while serving 11 clients, which was starting to burn him out. When he had the opportunity to take on a bigger client, Justin’s wife gave him the push to go for it and make his business his full time occupation. [9:20] Justin developed a good network while he was working and spent his time getting to know who he wanted to work with and asking for specific referrals. [11:50] When looking at new potential clients, Justin wants to see that the client is coachable and open to suggestions. He’s made mistakes taking on clients that weren’t a fit. It’s less about the niche or industry and

Tracy had been in the accounting world for 20 years and decided to leave the corporate world to spend more time with her kids. She ended up driving a school bus for a little while and decided that she needed to find a way to combine her love of numbers and spending time with her family. Tracy ran into Ben’s videos online, and that led her to buy his course and begin her bookkeeping journey. [4:30] Tracy officially opened her doors in June of 2017 and got started by subcontracting for her fiance’s accountant a little after tax season. This was a good way to jump-start Tracy’s career and shift her mindset from employee to business owner. There were plenty of times when Tracy felt like she was overwhelmed, but she was able to persevere and push through. [8:35] She didn’t start getting clients of her own right away. Tracy wanted to make sure she could do the job before getting in too deep, and working as a subcontractor gave her some people she could ask for help if she needed it. [9:55] Tracy currently serves 13