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Many bookkeepers are still charging less than £20 an hour, scared that they have clients who can't or won't pay their rates if they were to increase.  

There's also a fear that increasing prices may alienate potential new clients and have them in search of more reasonable prices.

While this can be true for a small number of clients (normally those you wouldn't want in your practice) the majority are looking for better value rather than cheaper prices.

Here are 10 ways you can begin to get you…

Here are twenty ideas to win back your motivation and fall in love with your work all over again.

Recognise that Goals and Paths are Two Different Things

You’ve been focusing on your goal but not really getting closer. Your business is much too busy, and you feel like you’re expending all your energy on clients.

If this is happening to you, you’ve likely wandered off the path towards your goal. Re-evaluate your path: Is it moving you forward? Are you letting yourself get caught on tangents?

Since launching our brand new pricing system, Ekela, there's been a question that's come up a few times.  Why can I only quote monthly?  Why can't I quote annually?

Well, there's a really great reason for that.  Let me explain.  

Ekela is built to be something that no other pricing system is.  It's built to take advantage of everything I've been teaching from pricing over the last 7 years.  Based on research from some of the top names in behavioural economics, it pulls together the best advice…

Go back a few years, and you’d find that most bookkeepers charged by the hour. It was crazy on so many levels and I spoke loads about why. Fortunately, time has moved on and the majority of bookkeepers now quote with fixed prices.

While this is better for clients, it’s introduced a very new type of crazy. The crazy of offering one single fixed price. However personalised for a particular client it’s more than likely the WRONG price.

We all place different values on the same item, so it’s virtu…

When you set up your bookkeeping practice, the chances are that you won't have a huge budget for marketing.  In your mind it's easy to think that this will put you at a massive disadvantage to those who have deeper pockets and can spend money on paid adverts or SEO experts but this isn't always the case.  When you don't have much of a budget you just need to work harder finding those opportunities to get your name out there.  They do exist, though, and I'm going to share with you 4 absolutely fr…

Wherever I look I see this same question.  How much should I charge for....?

I've even found a whole Facebook group set up just to share prices.  It's full of questions like "How much should I charge for £40k turnover with 10 invoices?" 

While everyone has an opinion on what the "going rate" is, it's very difficult to really pin down what a bookkeeper should charge in certain circumstances.  Every bookkeeper is unique and every client is unique.  We all see value in very different ways.  Even …

It’s not enough to dream of success. It’s not even enough to set goals.

The only way to truly achieve your dreams and build the business you’re meant to build is to sit down and just do it.

And that’s where many of us…well, fail is a strong word. But it’s the doing that trips us up more times than not.

We overbook our calendars until today’s to-dos become next week’s past dues. We procrastinate on the things that are important while attending to things that are merely “nice to do.” And someti…

Imagine you had a client who consistently failed to get you the information you needed, or do the tasks needed so that you can do your work.

They couldn’t find the time to get a copy of their bank statements.

They were too busy to chase up supplier invoices.

They were working too hard and completely forgot to sign off their VAT return.

It wouldn’t take long before you sat them down for a serious talk about the future of your relationship - and their business. A client such as that is a frust…

Oscar Wilde said, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness."

Whenever you do something different from others, people will start to take notice of you.  It's inevitable.  They may think that they can do what you do.  They may even try their hand at it.

Should you be worried?

As bookkeepers, we are in a profession that, whether we like it or not, has a really low barrier to entry.  There's not a huge amount of investment involved in setting up a practice…

Four in a Bed is probably one of my favourite programmes right now.  Anything with Alex Polizzi and Mary Portas are really great too.  I love shows that show the human side of business, and that anyone can do it.

One thing that really frustrates me, though, is when something simple is suggested and met with the response "No one's ever complained about that before!"  I could scream at the TV.  

Most of us don't really like confrontation.  We generally don't complain when we get poor service.  W…