How to Get Bookkeeping Clients When You Have No Experience
Over the years, I have received a lot of questions about getting started as a bookkeeper. These usually fall under two categories.
- Where do I go to learn how to be a bookkeeper?
- How do I get my first bookkeeping client if I have no work experience?
These are both great questions. Let's talk about the second one today.
The age-old paradox is trying to land a job in order to get experience, but every job wants you to have prior experience.
In this post, we're going to assume you have some bookkeeping knowledge but just no job experience. Maybe you've taken a class or two. Maybe you've just handled your own books. We'll discuss how to learn the basics in another post.
I don't recommend hiring yourself out to a stranger if you don't have a basic understanding of what a bookkeeper does. It's hard enough for small business owners to find help with their bookkeeping needs. It wouldn't be fair to make them train you or for you to use them as an experiment while you learn. I will give a related example below, so keep reading.
In order to get bookkeeping clients, you'll need to get creative. Your approach will depend on why you don't have experience. Here are some examples of what I mean.
- You're fresh out of school and need your first job.
- You have a lot of job experience but none as a bookkeeper.
- You have some bookkeeping experience, but it was a long time ago. Or, things didn't go well with your last client/employer and you can't use them as a reference.
I'll try to give you suggestions that cover all of these scenarios. So, if you'd like help getting your first new clients, or even getting more bookkeeping clients, here are my suggestions.
5 Ways to Get Bookkeeping Clients When You Have No Experience
Offer free or low-cost bookkeeping services.
If you know enough to do good work but just can't find bookkeeping clients, you should start by offering your services for free or at least highly discounted. Explain that you're trying to gain experience and that you'd like to prove your value by working for the first three months for free. It's low risk for the small business owner. They're getting free bookkeeping as long as they don't "get what they paid for." This first client is your advertising, so spend the time to do your best work.
If you enjoy working for them and they are happy with your work, quote them a discounted rate for the next three months, with subsequent increases in 6-12 months until you're making a decent rate.
Start by going to job sites and searching for new businesses there. There are lots of sites filled with job postings, so it's a good idea to explore what's available. The problem is that these sites often become a race to the bottom by offering lower and lower rates to attract new clients. In this case, maybe that's fine because all you're trying to do is to get a bit of experience. Once you have some experience, though, I think there are better ways to grow your bookkeeping business.
Some of you will ask about hourly rates vs fixed rates vs value pricing. We've discussed this before, but the short answer is you should bill hourly when you're just getting started. You won't know what your time is worth or how long it takes you to complete basic tasks until you've got more experience.
Reach out to friends and family members.
Are there people in your inner circle that run small businesses? In my experience, many small businesses have their bookkeeping done by a close family member. More often than not, this is a cost-saving measure. They may not enjoy doing their own books and would appreciate the help.
This may start like #1 and be free work to start, but not always. Offer to help out part-time. You could work alongside their current bookkeeper too, which would give you a chance to ask questions. Each bookkeeper has their own way of doing things. Every time I get to work with another bookkeeper, I pick up a new tip that I would have never learned on my own.
Attend local (or virtual) networking events.
If you're trying to attract clients, you need to go where they are. By the same logic, if you want to be a bookkeeper, you should probably hang out with other bookkeepers.
Find out if there are any Chamber of Commerce meetings, industry groups, industry conferences, or similar happening near you. You don't need to go in there with a t-shirt cannon full of business cards. The first step is to meet new people. Get to know the small businesses in your town, and let them know who you are and the type of bookkeeping services you offer. If you are genuine and friendly, you should eventually find clients.
If you can't find anything local, look for virtual events. Sometimes your initial networking attempts will be online. I've met a lot of great people while answering questions on forums. A prospective client might be posting a question or looking for bookkeeping tips. Providing helpful answers could be a great way to attract clients.
It's also important to keep in mind that everything you do isn't about expanding your client base. You also get to meet other professionals. There are a lot of great people out there who are more than willing to offer advice to someone getting started. They may already have more clients than they can handle. That means if you make a strong connection, they may refer clients to you. These relationships might prove even more valuable than any new clients you gain.
Volunteer for non-profit organizations.
Yes, this is similar to #1, which will also get you the experience you need. However, I think this has a couple of added benefits.
Second, you'll get volunteer experience on your resume as well, which looks great to potential clients.
Third, you get experience with non-profit bookkeeping clients. Non-profits have a lot of rules they have to follow. Acquiring this experience could lead you to run a bookkeeping business entirely devoted to non-profits.
Just in general, I highly suggest looking at a wide range of organizations. When you're starting out, you won't know what type of businesses will be your ideal bookkeeping clients. Each industry has its own unique twist on bookkeeping, so a wide range of experience will set you apart from the competition. Here's a short list.
- Non-profits
- Retail
- Restaurants
- Construction
- Client services
- Online vs local
- One-person bookkeeping departments vs being a clerk in an accounting firm
Promote your bookkeeping services online.
When I needed to take my business online and didn't know how to find new clients, the first thing I did was start a blog. I had only worked with local businesses and didn't really know where to find remote bookkeeping clients. I had never done this before, but I figured there were a lot more potential clients online than there were in my town.
Writing a blog post about a topic that prospective clients find interesting is a good way to get your name out there. If you start doing this regularly, your name will show up in search results, which will lead new clients straight to your site.
Use social media marketing as a way to talk with fellow bookkeepers, accountants, prospective clients, and related companies. I won't give any specific site recommendations. Whatever I say today will sound outdated in a week. Find out where the people you want to work with are hanging out, join up, and provide real value. Yes, promote your blog post, but answer questions, share posts you find valuable, and get to know the people in your industry.
As someone who has done this poorly at various points in my life, I can confirm that just sharing out links to what you do is far less effective than helping other people solve their problems. I figure you can either tell someone what you do, or show them. If you show them you provide small businesses with real value, they'll look to you when they need more help.
Final thoughts.
I want to reinforce the fact that these tips are for people who genuinely want to be bookkeepers. Although this isn't a path to vast riches, you're providing a valuable service to small business owners. Doing this poorly can cause some real harm to their business. Make sure you're upfront about your experience (and lack thereof) when using these steps. I know it means the pay won't be great for the first year, but building that trust will pay off. A lot of your future referrals will come from your current and past clients.
My other bit of advice is to never stop learning. I've written about bookkeeper certifications, bookkeeping courses, and other ways to educate yourself. I think doing the work is the best way to learn, but this is a field that constantly evolves. By regularly sharpening your skills, you put yourself in a better position to stand out in the crowd.
Good luck! If you have any questions, or want to share your experiences, please reach out. Also, if you want to get these posts as soon as they come out, please consider signing up for the newsletter.
