When to Cut Your Prices

You should periodically increase your prices in order to remain competitive and profitable.  And now that we’re in the middle of a recession you may be considering a reduction in your current fees.  However, don’t let that be the motivating factor.  While you should never be embarrassed by your prices, there are those rare instances when you should lower them.  In Paul and Sarah Edwards’ book Home-Based Business for Dummies, they provide 5 circumstances when lowering your prices just might save you in the end.

1. You’ve overpriced your services.

This can easily happen, especially when first starting your business.   We strongly recommend that you set firm prices upfront.  But everyone makes mistakes, and you can easily revisit your pricing list in order to set more reasonable fees if you find you’ve overpriced yourself.

2. Your expenses have decreased.

You can pass your savings on to your clients, if you would like.  Or you can see this windfall as your reward for cutting your own expenses.  Either choice can benefit your business.

3. You want to reward long-term clients.

There’s no doubt about it; this makes for good customer service.  You want to retain long-standing clients and offering them reduced fees for certain services may be one way to ensure that happens.

4. You want to get new work.

This is an age-old incentive in attracting new clients to your practice.  By offering a one-time discount you can build your client roster rather quickly.  Also consider offering your clients a similar discount for referring any of their friends and family to you.

5. You want to extend a professional courtesy.

Many professionals offer colleagues a special discount.  You might consider doing the same.  Perhaps you might do this for other home-based business owners.  While you may lose a little money upfront, consider all that you might gain in referrals later.

Cutting prices, when done for the right reasons, can be good business.  If you have considered reducing your fees as a result of the recession, think again.  There are better reasons for discounting your services as listed above.  When implemented properly you may find yourself with even more clients as a result.

UAC Provides You with Valuable Business Tips

If you’re interested in more business-building advice, you will greatly benefit from UAC’s video library which contains all the following DVDs:

If you are looking for ways to better promote your business, consider our DVD, “The Art and Science of Getting Clients.” You’ll learn how to access effective marketing techniques that can help you grow your tax practice by $30,000 to $125,000 per year!

But don’t stop there.  Consider learning about expanding your business by adding bookkeeping services to your menu.  Learn more about our Professional Bookkeeper Program and order our DVD “Introduction to the Professional Bookkeeper Program.”

And if you do that you’ll also want to know how to “Start Today and Have Your Own Bookkeeping Service”; this video will let you know how you can build your own accounting practice.

Finally, learn how to introduce your services to potential clients by using the “‘Yes’: Sample Marketing DVD.” Use this to role play, watch with clients or pass out to prospective clients.

If you order these DVDs the worst-case scenario is you will add valuable materials to your professional library for a very small cost.  But the best-case scenario is that you will change the course of your career and enjoy a lucrative business with an unending stream of clients who find your services to be priceless.  Don’t wait to boost your business potential.  Order our special DVD 4-pack today!

Resources

Edwards, Paul and Sarah.  Home-Bases Business for Dummies.  New Jersey: Wiley Publishing, 2005.

What Drives You?

Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value. – Jim RohnPeople who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents. – Andrew CarnegieBe miserable.  Or motivate yourself.  Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice. – Wayne Dyer.Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything. – Napoleon Hill

They say tough times bring out the best in people.  We’re guessing our current economic slump qualifies as a tough time, especially for small business owners like you.  Is it bringing out your best?

A recession will test your character, and your response will determine what you’re made of.  Will you advance or retreat?  Whatever your response, it will be determined by your internal motivation.  Steven Covey once said, “Motivation is a fire from within.  If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly.”

The last thing you should do is allow the recession to dictate how successful your business is.  Rather than hunker down to wait out these tough times, you can take initiative and empower your business with a competitive edge, making it the premier financial provider in your area.  But that choice is yours.  Will you make it?

Increase Your Services

Increasing your service offerings makes your practice more appealing to prospective clients.  Nothing will complement your tax practice more than Professional Bookkeeping services. By increasing the number of products you offer, you’ll not only be able to provide your clients with a complete financial service package, but you will also be able to generate a better income for you and your family as well.

You already know that the income from a tax preparation business peaks during the first four months of the year. Many professional tax preparers bill at rates of $100 per hour or more, enabling them to work 4 to 6 months per year and semi-retire the rest of the year. But in these financially troubling times, that might not be enough to support you and your family.  By adding bookkeeping and accounting services to your menu, you’ll create a stable income stream for your business that will be consistent year-round.

When you enroll in the Professional Bookkeeper Program you have access to the following:

  • A self-paced program you can complete in as little as 60 hours
  • Practical, hands-on training that will prepare you for typical day-to-day small business accounting functions
  • The ability to earn the Professional Bookkeeper (PB) designation
  • 6 months of follow-up support with our trained professionals
  • 12 valuable instructional DVD’s and manuals designed to help you continually review and master concepts
  • The confidence to become the premier full-service financial provider in your area
  • An iron-clad guarantee that makes the PB Program a risk-free professional investment

Implement Effective Marketing Strategies

When you employ proven marketing techniques in order to promote your practice, you gain a competitive edge that enables you to grow your business and your bottom line.  The Universal Practice Builder Program was designed to train you how to put your practice on top, attracting quality clients using cost- and time-effective techniques.

This program offers the following:

  • $30,000 in new annualized billings in only 12 months
  • Tactical goal planning and setting
  • The ability to generate 15 to 25 qualified leads per month
  • Phone marketing instruction and training
  • Training in the benefits of newsletters and websites
  • 12-proven marketing strategies
  • Five business assessments
  • A customized business website

Most of your competitors are just as shell-shocked by the recession as you are.  Most of them are also lying low and hoping their businesses can weather the economic storm.  You will gain an advantage by improving your business by becoming a full-service financial provider.  The Professional Bookkeeper and Universal Practice Builder Programs will enable you to do that.  By enhancing your services and implementing effective marketing strategies, your tax practice will quickly become the premier financial service provider in your area.

Don’t cower to the recession.  Take action and advance your business now.  Register today!

Universal Graduates Advance Their Careers amidst the Recession

As previously reported, startups are on the rise. This may surprise many who mistakenly believe new businesses shouldn’t be launched in the middle of a recession.  The truth is a recession may be the best time to rethink your career and work towards self-employment.  Universal’s training programs have enabled countless professionals like you to do just that!

When the recession hit in 2006, Lisa Bybee was the foreman of a Boston-based carpentry company.  Instead of wallowing in the economic turmoil, Lisa decided to ensure her financial future by pursuing additional training.  And because she had always been interested in accounting, it was only natural that she gravitate to Universal Accounting Center (UAC).  She first enrolled in the Professional Bookkeeper’s Guide to QuickBooks and liked it so much she completed the Professional Bookkeeper Program shortly thereafter.  Less than one year later, Lisa started her own practice, Parkers Accounting, which she named after her late grandmother (Edra Mae Parker) and father (James Parker Bybee) who had both spent decades working in the accounting industry.

While Shilly Riser may not yet have her own practice, she used Universal’s training programs to secure a $20,000 raise!  Just last year, she was working as an administrative assistant who dreamed of one day owning her own practice.  After attending one of Universal’s free seminars, she realized that she could definitely start her own accounting practice as long as she received the necessary training and secured a bit more confidence.  She first enrolled in Universal’s Professional Bookkeeper (PB) Program, then the Professional Bookkeeper’s Guide to QuickBooks and finally the Universal Practice Builder Program. When asked the key benefit to completing these programs, Shilly replied, “It gave me the confidence to start my own business.”  This year she hopes to see that happen, and she believes the marketing techniques she learned from Universal will enable her to do just that.

Angelica Vincent quit her job working as manager of finance for a major non-profit health organization to launch her own financial practice.  Looking for all the help she could get, she enrolled in just about every program Universal offers:  the Professional Bookkeeper Program, the Professional Bookkeeper’s Guide to QuickBooks, the Professional Tax Preparer Program and the Universal Practice Builder Program.  Now, just months after quitting her job and before completing all of UAC’s training programs, Angelica has 22 regular accounting clients and 23 tax clients while continuing to get swamped with referrals.  She attests, “If it wasn’t for UAC, I would not be where I am today.”

Small businesses are more agile than big corporations and can quickly change direction or implement new strategies that will enable them to better navigate through a recession.  And with little to no equipment, inventory, and software costs, and the ability to work from home, an accounting practice is a business you can easily start.  Not to mention, you can moonlight as a freelance accountant until you gather enough clients to take your practice full-time.  Training is all that’s left!  And with some help from Universal’s stellar programs, you too can change the trajectory of your career!

If you’re interested in advancing your career with additional training, either to secure a better job, earn a promotion or launch your own practice, visit Universal Accounting Center to learn more about our programs and read what other graduates have said about their experiences!  Or better yet, call 1 -877-833-7909 to talk to a team specialists who will help you determine which Universal program will help you achieve your career goals.

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Universal Accounting Center

If It’s Accounting, It’s Universal:

Get to Know More About the Company That Will Change Your Career!

Universal Accounting is a company that is making a difference in the lives of their students! For those who are pursuing or looking into the possibilities of pursuing a career path into the Accounting, Bookkeeping and Tax Preparation services, you need to get to know more about what all Universal offers in their comprehensive training programs.

If you prefer onsite classroom study or looking for the benefits received on independent study, we have developed the programs that you will be able to get the one-on-one experience in your own home. The skills we have used over the course of the last 28 years, with the trial and error, the fine-tuning of accounting methods and strategies, and what we and thousands more have experienced running their own practices – we have provided to you the advantage to stay on top of your profession. Our coursework is designed to be exactly what you will be doing when you are servicing the biggest customer base available, the small business owner.

If you are looking for the knowledge, the skills, and the know-how to start or build your accounting or tax practice, or just looking to gain the essential skills to further your career in your place of business, Universal’s Programs are what you are going to need.

Click here to take the Video Tour of Universal and all that we offer to you, the accounting and tax professional to be the best in your field and to have the success in business and in your professional life that you are seeking.Our exclusive short-term universal accounting courses do just that!

Imagine staying on top of the latest in the industry and having access to the experts who can assist you through training? Imagine what you are learning can be applied the very next day at work? Imagine being able to keep the materials, and the reading for continued referencing as you take that path in Accounting, Bookkeeping and Tax Preparation? You don’t have to imagine too hard, because that is one of the many things you receive when you enroll in these specialized programs! Click here to get to know Universal Accounting.

Are You Ready For The Next Step?Be in business for yourself, but not by yourself getting paid what you’re worth! Are you tired of thinking, “Why not me?” You have gotten this far in your search to do what you want to in your chosen career, take the next step. The time is now to be able to get the training and the change you desire in your professional life. Click here to find out if Professional Tax Preparation Certification is a fit for you.

Be the Profit Expert Professional for Small Business! Don’t hesitate another day in getting the Accounting and Marketing Training that makes the difference. Click here to get more information on what you need to know about becoming the Profit Center Expert for small business accounting and tax!

The Right Education Makes Financial Success a Reality

“60% of college graduates are moving back in with mom and dad within the first 12 months of graduation because they can’t find a job in their field.” I heard this interesting statistic the other day as I drove into the office. I wish I could remember the source, but it caused me to stop and think for a minute. A college degree doesn’t guarantee financial security like it once did. Whether you have a college or university education or not, what I heard on the radio is very consistent with a survey taken by the folks at Universal Accounting Center earlier this year. This survey includes people who have a formal education and those who don’t.100 graduates of the Professional Bookkeepers Program or Professional Tax Preparers Program surveyed 12 months after graduation:74% were working in the accounting or tax field, had been promoted to a management position, or owned their own accounting or tax preparation practice.

The “right” investment in yourself will create the income and lifestyle that you and your family deserve.

Tax preparation has really evolved over the years. Today, a Professional Tax Preparer is armed with more than just a scratch-pad and a pencil. As the tax code increases in complexity, the need for specially trained and qualified Tax Preparers becomes more and more apparent. As a result, your education should take advantage of and reflect the impact that new technology has had on the industry and the profession.

5 Things Every Good Tax Preparation Education Must Have

1. Classroom or Distance Learning. At first glance, many would consider a classroom setting the most effective environment to learn in. For most of us, demands on our time require that school work around our lives, not the other way around. Have you ever tried to “rewind” a classroom lecture when you don’t understand a concept? Of course, you can sometimes ask questions, but with so many students in one class, often there just isn’t time to get to every question. Besides, we are often nervous to ask what others might think are “dumb” questions. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to “rewind” and “review” topics to improve your confidence that you had a thorough understanding? DVD-based training makes that possible at a level that can’t be duplicated in a classroom. What if you miss a class because it doesn’t work with your schedule, can you make it up? Or do you fall behind? Unfortunately, most classroom courses don’t offer make-up classes for students who have conflicts. You’re either there… or you’re not. When considering a distance learning program, a combination of video (DVD or VHS) and written material provides the most effective combination which not only replicates but improves upon the classroom experience. Believe it or not, most distance learning programs out there that teach Tax Preparation provide you with a written textbook. And that’s it.2. Is a complete education important to you? To succeed it must be. Many programs available only teach you one aspect of tax preparation and the least profitable one at that. You’ll typically learn about how the tax code affects individuals. But what about business taxes, where the real money is? A Tax Preparation education that only teaches you about half of the system, is only half of education. Admittedly, there are a few programs that offer, for an additional fee, further education in business taxes, but it’s not their specialty. In looking for the “right” education, you need to get it from someone that will teach you mastery of personal taxes, and knows business taxes inside and out. Because that’s what you’ll need to start your own Professional Tax Preparation business. CPAs focus on business taxes. Why? Because that’s where the money is.3. Learn by doing most Tax Preparation training materials focus on tax theory. Often, the difference between having some understanding and really mastering is in the doing. There is no better way to understand what it’s all about to prepare taxes than by hands-on learning. I wouldn’t trust a doctor or surgeon whose only experience came from reading a book or two …would you? By preparing sample returns, learning how to prepare taxes becomes much like learning how to ride a bike. It will not only become easier, but it will become automatic. The “right” education will include more than just “tax theory”.4. Who will answer my questions? With the best Video or Textbook training, there will still be questions. Will your Distance Learning course provide a way for those questions to be answered?

    • Is there telephone support?
    • Is there e-mail support?

After your coursework is completed and you’re working with clients, will they still support you? When you have questions, will they leave you to find the answers for yourself? We won’t. The “right” education will not only answer your questions via phone or e-mail while you’re taking the course but provides the advice of qualified tax professionals to advise you through your first year as a Professional Tax Preparer. Even after you finish the course, your school should be there to support you so that you’re never left alone.5. Is your education guaranteed? When you attend a college, university, or trade school, what guarantee do they provide that the training you receive will increase your income or create the lifestyle that you want? None. The “perfect” education will provide a guarantee that the information and instruction that you receive will create the kind of income and lifestyle that you are looking for. The “right” education will include a guarantee. Something that says, “We stand behind what we do, what we teach, and what your education will mean.”

“Education is learning what you didn’t know you didn’t even know.”-Daniel J. Boorstin

With the “right” information you can choose the “right” education. If you’d like to learn more about what it takes to become a Professional Tax Preparer or what’s involved in choosing the perfect tax preparation education, you’re only a couple of mouse clicks away. Just follow the link below and find out what’s available for you in the exciting and rewarding business of Professional Tax Preparation. I want to learn more about a career in Professional Tax Preparation.

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