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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Amy worked at a bank for 14 years and eventually it became not worth the hours she had to put in anymore, so she decided to retire. This led her to thinking about what else she could do for work, ideally from home. Since she was good with numbers already, bookkeeping seemed like a solid choice. She signed up for Bookkeeper Business Launch and went from there. [6:00] Nonprofits were the niche that Amy chose to work with because working around or in them has been a part of her history and...

Tracy’s 35th birthday really changed things for her. She was working as a substitute teacher and wasn’t really enjoying it when her husband suggested that taxes may be a way to go. She stumbled upon some videos put together by Ben Robinson, and she decided to jump in with both feet. [4:20] Tracy learned most of her bookkeeping skills by going through Ben’s course, in addition to some minor experience in high school and college accounting. [5:40] If you don’t have clients you don’t have a...

Ben had graduated with his degree in 2017 and worked part-time for a local music guy, which was great until music turned out to be not very lucrative. After getting hooked by a Facebook ad, Ben decided to check out a great course that helped him launch his bookkeeping business. [3:00] 99% of what Ben focuses on is real estate. Oklahoma has a growing real estate market so it made a lot of sense to niche down. [5:20] Ben spent around 6 hours per day networking and connecting with various...

Why should you ask candidates about their salary expectations? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan discuss how business owners can set salary expectations based on a candidate's skill level, experience, and location. Hannah and Melissa start the conversation by announcing that this will be their last episode on the podcast. Ben Robinson will go back to hosting the show next season. Hannah explains how inflation is changing salary expectations and making it harder to attract...

You think you've found someone who would be a good fit for your bookkeeping business. How do you make them a job offer they can't refuse? In this episode, co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan go through the key steps to creating enticing job offers that get you the right candidates every time. Hannah and Melissa start the conversation by describing how making an offer is arguably one of the most important elements of hiring. Melissa shares her go-to strategy for making a job offer...

Want to learn how to conduct successful interviews and improve your skills in assessing candidates? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan go through the main elements of an effective interview and how you can significantly increase your chances of hiring the right person. Hannah starts the conversation by highlighting how interviewing can be daunting, especially if you're a new business owner. For Hannah, the first step to having a successful interview is being clear on the type of...

Want to know how to create job postings that attract stronger candidates? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan discuss creative, inviting ways to write effective job postings that filter out unqualified applicants and attract the ideal candidate. Hannah introduces the topic by highlighting the struggles new business owners face when it comes to job postings. Melissa highly recommends the Bookkeepers.com community for posting bookkeeping jobs due to its high talent quality.. While the...

When should you use fixed rates versus hourly rates for your bookkeeping tasks? In today’s episode, co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan explore the pros and cons of flat-rate pricing versus hourly billing - and which payment type works best for a bookkeeping business. Melissa starts the conversation by highlighting the difference between paying an hourly rate versus a flat rate and what the law says about it. For Melissa, all new hires should be paid a flat rate until they get...

Should you hire an employee or a subcontractor for your bookkeeping business? Co-hosts Hannah Robinson and Melissa Honan break down the difference between hiring an employee and a subcontractor, their pros and cons, and when it makes sense to go with either. Melissa starts the conversation by describing the difference between hiring employees and hiring subcontractors. Melissa explains why it's important that subcontractors and employees be held to the same performance standard. For...