How To Become A Bookkeeper From Home (Earn Up T0 £50,000 +)
Find out how to become a bookkeeper from having no experience and running a successful business from home. I have been a licensed bookkeeper for about 4 years now. I only do it part-time, so I am not earning £50,000 +, but you have the potential to earn this if you want to do this full-time!
The earning amount stated above I’ve taken into consideration 4 weeks holiday, so if you don’t take a holiday, it would be more.
Table of contents
- What Is A Bookkeeper?
- What Does A Bookkeeper Actually Do?
- What’s The Difference Between A Bookkeeper And An Accountant?
- How Much Does A Bookkeeper Make?
- Types Of Bookkeeping Jobs
- What Qualifications Do You Need To Become A Bookkeeper?
- How To Start A Bookkeeping Business With No Experience
- What Should A Bookkeeping Website Include?
- Ideas For Your Bookkeeping Website
- Why become a Firm in Practice?
- Where To Find Bookkeeping Jobs For A VA
- How Long Does It Take To Be A Bookkeeper?
- The Pros And Cons Of A Bookkeeping Business
- Start your bookkeeping business Today
What Is A Bookkeeper?
Basically, a bookkeeper is a person whose job is to keep records of the financial affairs of a business.
What Does A Bookkeeper Actually Do?
Bookkeepers keep track of the business expenses and income. They make sure your company bank account’s in’s, and out’s are accounted for and placed in the right categories in the bookkeeper’s software.
For example:
- They invoice customers and make sure invoices are paid.
- Bills that come in are entered on the system and marked to be paid.
- Recording of sales
- Recording of receipts
- Bank account reconciliation
- Manage Payroll
- Filing
- Producing reports
What’s The Difference Between A Bookkeeper And An Accountant?
The difference between a bookkeeper and an accountant is that the accountant checks your accounts at the end of the year, makes sure everything is in order, advises you where to save tax, and does your company annual tax return.
How Much Does A Bookkeeper Make?
A self-employed bookkeeper should be charging at least £25 or $34 per hour, depending on your location. You have to take into account you are working for yourself now, which means you pay your own tax and national insurance, your pension and accountant fees to consider.
Types Of Bookkeeping Jobs
Work as an employee
You can work as an employee, so you don’t need a license to work as a bookkeeper. Some businesses will place you on courses to learn on the job. You will have a fixed salary and get paid for your holidays.
Works as a freelancer and start your own business
To work as a freelancer in the UK, you need to obtain a bookkeeper license. This is the only downside.
I’m not sure if this applies to the USA but make sure you check this out beforehand.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
This means you need to be supervised by a professional body such as the IAB (International Association of Bookkeepers) or HMRC.
So each year, you need to have done at least 30 CPD points of learning. This can be done quite easily by reading documents or if you’ve been on a course related to bookkeeping.
Submit your DBS clearance yearly.
Have the relevant qualifications.
Registered with a data protection body.
Compliant with anti-money laundering policies.
You can join IAB by quoting 281809 in the membership box area.
Every month, they provide me with lots of support with their Ambassador groups and their twice-monthly live Q&As with the 2 main directors, who are both successful bookkeepers in their own right.
The IAB also offers AML supervision and has many guidance documents and helpful information on its website. They’ve really supported me in my career and business, and I think you would really benefit from their help too.
Here’s a PDF below containing some of the benefits I receive as a member. One benefit is that we have access to a Tax and VAT hotline worth £3,500 per year, but I get it free with my membership.
What Qualifications Do You Need To Become A Bookkeeper?
You need to have at least a LEVEL 2 Bookkeepers qualification which is easily obtainable at local colleges or even online. I recommend working towards high-level bookkeeping qualifications to get the best clients.
I also recommend doing a Payroll course too to add to your resume.
Bookkeeping skills you need:
You will need:
- Good organisation skills.
- Good with numbers.
- Basic computer skills.
- Multi-tasker.
How To Start A Bookkeeping Business With No Experience
To start with no experience, you will need to learn the basics. You can self-teach yourself by reading and watching videos, but this is far too time-consuming, and you may miss out on vital learning skills. I recommend:
Online courses. I went through Open University and highly recommend it.
College. College is great too as you can interact with other people.
Once you’ve gained your qualifications, then you can become a Licensed Bookkeeper.
You definitely need to be certified and licensed if you’re in the UK and want to be a freelancer and work for yourself. This is required by law. If you’re in the US or another country, you will have to find out if this is the same in your area.
Set up your business. Decide if you’re going to be a sole trader or have a Limited Company.
Get yourself a website. I recommend going through Bluehost, which is low cost, and you will get a FREE domain and WordPress website.
Get a few business cards printed. This can easily be done on CANVA where you can also design a logo.
You will need bookkeeping software. I have had experience with Sage and Quickbooks, and Quickbooks is by far the best! It’s easier to understand, and the support you get is excellent.
QuickBooks has a FREE online course, so you know how to use the software.
What Should A Bookkeeping Website Include?
One thing you must do before you get started on writing out your pages on your website is to learn SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
I wish I had learned this years ago. I thought I could just create a website, publish, put a few ads on Google and bang, I’d be ranking on page 1 of Google. Eh, no, that definitely didn’t happen.
If you learn this from the start, you will be up and running in no time. NO JOKE! I recommend Mike Pearsons Stupid Simple SEO course. I bought books, courses, ebooks on SEO, but they were all overwhelming. This course is easy to understand, he explains everything and guides you through it step-by-step, and you can implement it straight away on your website.
ONE BIG TIP FROM ME TO YOU – Once you successfully implement SEO on your website, there is no actual need to pay for Google Ads!!
When you have got SEO out of the way, here is what you should have on your website.
You should have 5 main pages on your website, such as:
- HOME PAGE – This page should be your sales pitch and to briefly summarise what you do
- ABOUT – This page should be about you, so upload a logo and state what qualifications you have.
- SERVICES – State what services you provide, including fees.
- CONTACT – Last but not least, a contact page where customers can get hold of you. Telephone and email address. Make sure you get a business email address. It looks more professional.
- BLOG PAGE – This is where you write useful information your potential clients are looking for. Check out my other post Why You Need A Blog For Business.
You can also have (once you’ve gained some clients) testimonials.
Ideas For Your Bookkeeping Website
Are you wondering what you can put on your website? Here are a few ideas to get you started.
{BUSINESS NAME} ARE ABOUT KEEPING YOU ORGANISED
I can help with your general day to day bookkeeping using Quickbooks, Excel Spreadsheets or a system you are already using.
Here is what I offer:
Day to day bookkeeping
Sales & purchase ledger and credit control
Management account production
Bank account reconciliation
Bookkeeping and accounting software installation and adviceIf you are not using any bookkeeping systems, your accounts will be processed using Quickbooks where you will also have access to online with an additional cost of only £12 per month.
{YOUR BUSINESS NAME} can either collect your paperwork from your office if your local, scan and email it to me, drop them off at my office or post them.
STANDARD
Pay-as-you-go – £25 per hourPACKAGES
10 hours per month – £225 (save £25)
15 hours per month – £350 (save (£25)
20 hours per month – £450 (save £50)
40 hours per month – £900 (save £100)Urgent Jobs
Out of hours, urgent jobs require an additional payment of £20
Why become a Firm in Practice?
Let’s look at the reasons why you might want to become a registered Firm in Practice (having a license):
- Credibility. Qualifications globally recognised and Ofqual regulated.
- Trust. Gaining trust from your prospective clients is the most important part of building a bookkeeping relationship and practice.
- Confidence. Passing your bookkeeping qualification not only gives you confidence in your abilities, but it also gives your customers confidence too.
- Prestige. As a professional member of a body, your professional qualification allows you to add recognised letters after your name.
Where To Find Bookkeeping Jobs For A VA
I go my first job by word of mouth so as soon as you’ve passed your courses. Let everyone know! Here is a list of ideas:
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