When Steve Eckman started his accounting practice he had much to be proud of. Quality services helping small businesses. After working with Universal Accounting Center the practice then took off and is thriving. It is more than just accounting, bookkeeping and tax, it is helping small business owners.
After building a successful accounting practice Steve Eckman shares some thoughts about the journey and what has made the difference for him.
When reflecting on the successful tax practice Bill Brough shares some of his insights.
Listen to Bill Brough as he describes his Successful Tax Practice. Consider his likes and preferences as you start and build your practice.
Become a Profit & Growth Expert
Building Your Accounting Practice Not only must you offer quality accounting services at a fair price, you must also illustrate why you have the best people to outsource your clients accounting and bookkeeping needs. The best way to accomplish this is by distinguishing your qualified staff as the best in the area.
Certifications and designations can represent the expertise of you and/or your staff in offering specialized accounting services. It also shows your firm’s commitment to being the best in the market.
Often within the accounting community itself there is confusion between what is accounting, and what is bookkeeping. Forget the lay person and let’s have a candid discussion. What services should you offer?
Some choose to refer to bookkeeping as write-up work, it’s bookkeeping.
* Disclaimer, unfortunately there are some states where the terms accountant and accounting have been regulated such that regardless the services offered only CPA’s or degreed accountants can refer to themselves as such. This is no different than a doctor doing the work of a nurse and still referring to themselves as a doctor. If you are paid to be a nurse, and you do nursing, your a nurse.
When working with small businesses there are specific accounting credentials and or designations that represent qualified accounting services.
Professional Bookkeeper, PB
* Proficient in the day-to-day accounting procedures in small business
* Accounting, Bookkeeping, Write-up services
QuickBooks Specialist, QS
* Certified in the use of QuickBooks as a bookkeeper
Professional Tax Preparer, PTP
* Certified in the preparation of both individual and business returns
Successful Graduates
Jon Schofield has an especially interesting story. After working for years as a professional accountant for big companies and ultimately as a controller for a large corporation, he desired a change. More specially, he wanted to own and operate his own business.
Regardless of his 16 years of experience as a professional accountant, Jon realized that he didn’t have the training or knowledge to serve the small business sector, and in order for his new business venture to work, he needed to be well-versed in small business accounting. That’s when Universal Accounting’s Professional Bookkeeper Program became very appealing. Far from a get-rich-quick scheme, the principles taught in the course gave him a step-by-step process for building a profitable business. It took some work to get there, but Jon now reaps the rewards of what he describes as “the best decision I made in my career”: starting a business with the Professional Bookkeeper Program.
I sat down with Jon one day and asked him some questions. Here’s some insight into Jon’s success:
Why did you take the Professional Bookkeeper Course?
There were a number of things that Jon had become unfamiliar with in the course of his corporate career, and a number of small business accounting tasks that he didn’t even know how to do. “Even though I had had a lot of experience it was not necessarily the type of experience I needed to be a small business accountant.”
What were your goals?
“I approached it with the idea that it was certainly a good second job, and if things worked well I could make it go as a full-time career. I wanted to make it work, but in my mind I wasn’t sure if I could make it work.”
How has your life changed for the better since starting your own accounting practice?
Jon enjoys the flexible work schedule that comes with owning your own business. He also appreciates determining the work he will and will not do. He says, “I now have enough work to pay my bills so that I can be more selective and take higher paying jobs.” Jon currently makes $45 to 50 dollars per hour.
How Much Could You Make?
Let’s do the math. We’ll assume the low end when offering just bookkeeping services, consider a graduate who earns approximately $300 a month per client (an average amount).
20 clients X $300.00 = $6,000 per month. That’s $72,000 per year.
You Don’t Need a Degree to Start Your Own Practice
A bewildered university student once approached me. She had heard the most “off-the-wall” comment from one of my graduates. This student had told her that you didn’t have to have a university degree to start a bookkeeping service.
That piqued her interest. She explained that she was a single mother that had working on an accounting degree at a local university for more than two years. Her whole purpose for getting the degree was so that she could do books for small businesses from her home. The cost of going to school wasn’t only financially draining, but the stress and time away from her kids was starting to negatively impact her parenting. Isn’t it interesting that she was getting the degree for her family, but getting there was damaging to the family.
Furthermore, she was getting nervous. She explained that she was now a junior in the accounting program at the University, and realized that she didn’t have the foggiest idea how to set up, or maintain a set of books for a small business. And the further she went into college, the further she was getting from small business issues.
I explained to her that anyone that understands accounting can do books for small businesses on a contract basis. Probably, all she would need was a business license, and for a few dollars she could pick that up. To say she got excited is an understatement!
A few weeks later I got a letter from her, wherein she commented that she was well underway to reaching her dreams.
We have received hundreds of phone calls, letters, and emails, from past graduates about the high quality of our articles, services, and teaching materials. Read on to see what our graduates have to say about us.
Thousands of successful bookkeepers have proven that our system works! Be our next success story!
Hear Real-World Success Stories
Click on any of the names below to hear graduates of the Professional Bookkeeper Program rave about how it gave them the skills and marketing know-how to start their own successful accounting and bookkeeping services. If they can do it, so can you!
 Victoria Richardson |
When you’re ready to start your own success story, enroll in the Professional Bookkeeper Program. In less than 60 hours you could be on your way to owning a lucrative practice with satisfied clients of your own. Don’t delay your success another day. Enroll now!
