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In this short post I've tried to gather together all of the main concerns that bookkeepers have voiced to me over the past 10 years, and some of the concerns I had before I started my practice and answer them for you.

Whether you start your practice or not will probably come down to fear.  An irrational fear.  The fear of failure.  There's only one guaranteed way to fail in your bookkeeping business and that's not to even start.  You'll avoid the feeling of failure because you'll tell yourself …

Sometimes we can only truly understand the progress we've made and how far we've come when we are able to take a glimpse at the past.

Today's post is a bit personal for me.  It's a bit of a walk down memory lane and it's sparked a few emotions.  

Tonight, I was doing just that courtesy of the WayBack machine, an archive of web pages.  I was looking at the site for my very first business I started when I was 20, 17 years ago.  It was a web design business and it really started memories flooding…

The client who always dumps a box of receipts on your desk right before the tax return deadline.

The client who asks you for financial advice and then does the opposite. Every. Single. Time.

The client who seems to vanish off the face of the earth until you've sent out multiple 'payment overdue' reminders.

The chances are you recognise at least one of these nightmare clients. If you have been really unlucky, you'll be familiar with all three — and a few more besides!

All you want to do is he…

Before I start sharing these fantastic ways to build your email list, I want to talk about why you should be building an email list.  If you've taken my Create Your Own Sales Funnel course, or Email Marketing course then you'll already know this, so please bear with me.

Why have an email list?

I'm not exaggerating when I say that your email list is one of your most valuable business assets.  I know that if I lost my whole business tomorrow, as long as I have my email list that I could start al…

When you price your service you want to put them at the point where the majority of your buyers are able to afford them, thus selling to more people.  This makes absolute common sense.

It's also a huge mistake that so many bookkeepers around the country are making day after day.  

When I talk about my idea of a minimum of £35 per hour price point, I'm often met with the reply "That's fine for other places, but clients here won't pay that much"

It's almost like people in that part of the count…

This last week has been hell.  Leaving my office and setting up my desk at home seemed to flick a switch for me.

I was full of positivity and plans, and then depression set in.

I've been short-tempered, and falling out with everyone, including my mum.  

The future looked bleak.  I've been imagining the worst possible outcomes of everything and generally feeling that my work over the last ten years has been for nothing. 

Imposter syndrome has taken over and I feel like a fraud.  Two weeks ago…

If you were to look for something that was most like marketing for your business it would be dating.  This may sound very strange, but the two are extremely similar. It’s also an experience most of us have had and can draw upon.

When you start dating, you probably already know the type of person you are looking for.  You possibly have some type of list of attributes you’d like a future partner to have, and those which would be a red line.  If you think about it, this is just like defining your …

Last Thursday I went to a local takeaway for lunch.  While I was waiting I heard the most incredible conversation between a customer and a member of staff.  It went something like this.

Staff: No can of Coke today?

Customer: No.  I'm giving up on fizzy drinks.  I'm not even missing them.

Staff: When did you do that?

Customer: Monday.  If I don't notice a difference by Friday I'll start drinking them again.

I had to hide a small snigger.  Here we were on Thursday and he had kicked his ha…

When you start a bookkeeping practice there are hundreds of things you could do.  There are many things you should do, but only 3 things you need to do.

Legally, you need to register with a supervisor under the Money Laundering Regulations, register with the Information Commissioners Office under the General Data Protection Regulations and tell HMRC that you're now self employed (if that's the route you've chosen)

Registering for supervision for Money Laundering Regulations is a fairly straigh…

There's a myth doing the rounds.  If you're a great bookkeeper you will have a great bookkeeping practice.

It's the rock that many a good bookkeeper can perish on.  Just because you're an amazing bookkeeper, doesn't mean you can have an amazing bookkeeping business. 

The reverse also holds true, just because you're not an amazing bookkeeper doesn't mean you wont have an amazing bookkeeping business. 

You do need to have the skills and confidence to complete any work that you undertake.  I'm n…