OWNING YOUR OWN BUSINESSAND LIVING THE LIFE YOU ABSOLUTELY LOVE

PRESENTS

Hello, and welcome to video number three on starting your very own virtual bookkeeping business. Thank you so much for your questions and comments on videos number one and two. You know, for me it’s great just to feel your excitement. But the most exciting part of all is when I get the sense that you can see how you can create a life that you absolutely love by being your own boss. Again, I’m proud of you for making it this far in the training. I know that you’ve taken in a lot of useful information. That you’re carefully weighing your options and thinking about what you should do.

You’re doing this the smart way, so bravo!

In this third video, you’re going to discover the systems that you need to build your virtual bookkeeping business. We’re going to discuss the most important part of your business: getting clients. Because if you don’t have clients, then you don’t have a business; you have a hobby. And hobbies are no good because they cost money, while businesses, your bookkeeping business included, are meant to make you money.

Before we dive into the systems and clients, let’s do a brief recap of that second video. It’s important to know where we are, right? In the second video, we talked about how you don’t need a special degree, education, or certification to be a

WELCOME BACK!

CREATE THE LIFE YOU ABSOLUTELY LOVE

bookkeeping professional. Nor do you have to have prior experience. I walked you through the old-school method becoming a bookkeeper: two years of bland training, followed by another two years of work experience.

Then we talked about to fast-track your success and bypass those four, long years using a simple formula: real-world skills, real-world clients, and an experienced support system. These three elements are your keys to becoming a successful virtual bookkeeping business owner.

We also discussed the hierarchy of bookkeeping and the future of the profession. Transactions form the base of the hierarchy, followed by financial statements. These two areas are increasingly managed using artificial intelligence and automation which leaves us free to focus on the top three tiers.

The work in the top three levels of the hierarchy consists of interpreting documents for clients, advising clients, and working to become a trusted advisor who your client will feel comfortable coming to regardless of the situation. These are the areas that give you an edge over both automation and your competition. In the world of bookkeeping, a client’s trust means job security.

In the second part of video two, you learned the three character traits necessary for starting a virtual bookkeeping business: determination, likability, and compassion. You also discovered the three abilities critical to your success: an eagle eye, resourcefulness, and motivation. We also outlined the resources that you need to be your own boss: a little money, some time, and a whole lot of support.

VIDEO #2 REVIEW

To be a 21st Century Bookkeeping Professional You DO NOT Need...

DEGREE Any special degree or

formal education

CPA LICENSE Any certification or CPA license

EXPERIENCE Long years of experience

As you now know, every business starts with three key ingredients: skills, systems and clients. In video two, we focussed on the first ingredient. We talked about what skills you need to develop in order to be successful, but skills alone aren’t enough to start a flourishing bookkeeping business. So today, we’re going to discuss the other two key ingredients: systems and clients.

Hi, this is Ben Robinson, founder of Bookkeeper Business Launch. I’ve helped 4,096 women and men to start their very own highly profitable bookkeeping businesses. I’m also the leader of the largest online community of virtual bookkeeping business owners. For 14 years I owned my own bookkeeping and tax business. Today, my mission is to help women and men to live a life that they absolutely love.

Tracy from our community is a great example. It really makes me smile to read her posts: “I quit my job as a school bus driver to do my business full time. I’ve already doubled my income. Words cannot express how grateful I am to Ben, the entire BBL team, and this amazing Facebook community for helping me realize my dreams.”

Reading posts like this gives me goosebumps; It’s why I do what I do.

Okay, go grab your pen and paper, because we’re about to dive into those all-important elements: systems and clients. But before we do that, we’ve got to address an all-too-common myth about being a business owner which goes something like this: “In order to be a business owner you have to be cut from some special, rare cloth. Business ownership is a mystery that only a few can solve.”

VIDEO #2 REVIEW

Or so the myth goes. The truth is, all it takes to become a successful business owner is innovation: providing a valuable service, marketing it, and going out and getting clients. Most business owners are ordinary women and men just like you and me. They can’t walk on water or levitate. So please, don’t think that you need to be some sort of special snowflake in order to be successful in the business world. Keep your business simple and focus on what the client wants. Think about how you can help others to live the lives that they want to live. That’s innovation. That’s value. And guess what? The market rewards people who add value, and the more value that you bring to the market, the more the market will reward you. Being a successful business owner comes back to the character traits, abilities and resources that you learned about in video number two. I promised in the very first video of this series to give you all the facts about a virtual bookkeeping business and being a business owner. That way you can make the call. It’s important that you did it. You make the call if this is right for you.

Well, here’s a fact that you gotta know, I’ve shared it with you before, but I need to say it again: Business ownership is hard work. It is not easy. It is not a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a sacrifice. These are the costs. That’s your investment. But, it’s a short-term sacrifice in return for a lifetime of benefit. It’s building an asset, and that asset is having your own business and being your own boss. And you get to keep that for as long as you want.

I know that these aren’t popular truths to say. There are a lot of people out there, on the web and otherwise, that are just telling people what they want to hear about how easy it is to make money. But I’m telling you what you need to hear. And what you need to hear is the truth. The facts. Because I know that you’re smart.

ANOTHER BOOKKEEPING MYTH

THIS ISN’T TRUE… AT ALL.

“I need to be cut from a special cloth.”

I know that, deep down, you realise all this. I’m just bringing it to the surface so that you can weigh your decision to start a business and do that with extreme care. Before you start your virtual bookkeeping business, you need to know what kind of business it is that you want. Are you looking to earn a little extra spending cash or do you want your business to be a side hustle? Do you want it to be a part-time business? Or maybe a full-time business? Do you want to earn an extra $1,000 a month or maybe $5,000 or more per month? You see, it’s important that you know what you want before you begin.

To help you get clear about what it is that you want, let’s look at the ‘solar system’ of virtual bookkeeping businesses so that you can see all the possibilities. I like to use this model to explain your journey because I see bookkeeping business ownership as a choose-your-own-adventure. You get to call the shots. You’re the boss, and you decide which planet that you’re going to land on.

And of course, no matter which planet that you choose, you’re not stuck there. You can move forward. You can move back. It all depends on what your goals are and where you are in your life. For example, let’s say that your first goal is to earn an extra $1,000 per month. This would provide you and your family with some financial breathing room, some margin. It would enable you to pay off some debt, to take a family vacation, and most importantly, to have that financial peace.

THE MYTHS OF BOOKKEEPING

NO BIZ

TINY BIZ

LITTLE BIZ

SMALL BIZ

MINI EMPIRE

And after you’ve stayed on this planet for a while you decide, “Hey, you know what? I’d like to turn this into a $5,000 per month business” or something like that. Well, now you can leave this planet and go on to the next one. You call the shots. That’s the beauty of being your own boss. Now, let’s look at this solar system in a little bit more detail.

When we start our business, we’re on the sad, lonely planet that’s call No Biz. We want to get off that thing. We want to get in our rocket and get off that planet as fast as we can. Just like the most challenging part of a rocket launch is to break through the Earth’s atmosphere and away from it’s gravitational pull, the most challenging part of starting any new business is getting that first client. And when you land your first client, you arrive at your first destination.

We’re going to call this planet Tiny Biz. On planet Tiny Biz, you have one to three clients. You’re only earning an extra $500 to $1,000 a month, but you’re getting a taste of financial success. And more importantly, you’re building your confidence. You see that your virtual bookkeeping business actually works, and you start to think, “You know what? I think I can take this bookkeeping business to the next level.”

There are different challenges at each stage of this journey and the challenge while you’re on Tiny Biz is feeling overwhelmed. You feel scattered, and that’s because you’ve never done any of this stuff before. It’s all brand new. Each time you do something, it’s most likely the first time that you’ve ever done it. But as you get your second client, then your third client, you begin to settle in on Tiny Biz a little bit more every day.

TINY BIZ

CLIENTS 1-3

EARNINGS $500-$1,000 per Month

STATUS You’re Gaining

Confidence

CHALLENGE Overwhelm. There’s a lot of new stuff happening.

You’ll still occasionally feel overwhelmed. That feeling never goes away completely, but it’ll never be as bad as it was with your first client. You can choose to remain on Tiny Biz for as long as you want, forever even. The overwhelm will go away, and if this is where you want to live, then by all means, you should stay here. But you might also say, “You know what, I want to take this to the next level. I want more clients so that I can earn, let’s say, $2,000 a month.”

So you load up your rocket ship and you take off towards your next destination, which we’ll call Little Biz. Little Biz is where you have four to nine clients and you’re probably earning between $1,000 and $2,000 per month. Here, you continue to build your confidence. You begin to refine your systems and you adapt them to the needs of your business and your clients.

On the planet of Little Biz, your biggest challenge is answering questions like, “Hey, this marketing stuff works! Am I taking on too many clients? Should I stop my marketing? Am I becoming too successful too quickly?” All these questions are bouncing around in your head. But as you settle in on planet Little Biz, those thoughts will start to give way to, “Hey, you know what? I could turn this into a real business. I could get others, team members, to help me. I could take on more clients and get rid of a lot of the day-to-day work.”

If this is what you’re thinking, then you’ll want to pack up again, get in your rocket, and head on to your third destination: Small Biz. Now this is the planet is where you have ten to twenty-nine clients. You’re earning $3,000 to $6,000 per month. Your focus has moved up the bookkeeping hierarchy. This means you’re doing a lot more interpretation and advising. At the same time, you’re doing less financial statement preparation and none of the transactional stuff. You’re focusing on the more exciting activities within your bookkeeping business.

SMALL BIZ

CLIENTS 4-9

EARNINGS $1,000-$2,000

per Month

STATUS You Continue

Gaining Confidence

CHALLENGE WOW! This marketing works. Lots of client work.

But again, as with every planet, there’s challenges on planet Small Biz. And most of them here center around people. Whereas planets Little Biz and Tiny Biz were all about systems and processes, planet Small Biz is about people. Finding the right people, hiring those people, onboarding those people, and educating those people. Again, at first this is new, so it can seem overwhelming. But you’ll soon begin to settle in again and figure things out. You’ve got experience, and you’re getting support.

You might think to yourself, “You know what, I’m going to stay on Small Biz. This is perfect.” And that’s fine. Again, this is a choose-your-own-adventure. Then again, you might also say, “You know what, I’m ready to crush this business. I’m smart and I know what I’m doing.”

There’s one more destination, and this one leads you to the outer edges of the solar system. It’s planet Mini Empire. Now, planet Mini Empire is when you have 30 clients or more, and you’re earning $80,000 or more, per year. You want to move into a six figure income as soon as possible. And just like on planet Small Biz, you continue to move up the bookkeeping hierarchy. You focus on even higher value-adding services for your clients and you rarely interact with those clients directly.This is because you’re running the machine, and that machine consists of your processes, your people, and your marketing. The big challenge here on Mini Empire is removing yourself from the day-to-day nitty-gritty work. To start focusing more on your business, more about hiring, systems, refinement, and marketing activities.

Here, it’s more about your leadership than anything else. It’s a totally different mindset than the one needed on Little Biz and it takes some getting used to.

MINI EMPIRE

CLIENTS 30+

EARNINGS $80,000+ per Year

STATUS You Focus on

High-Value Activities

CHALLENGE Moving to more of an entrepreneurial role overseeing

the work of your team.

But you’re full of determination, and you’ll overcome this challenge just like you have the challenges on every single planet so far. So we’ve looked at No Biz, Tiny Biz, Little Biz, Small Biz and Mini Empire. Those planets represent all of the possibilities for your virtual bookkeeping business. Depending on where you want to land, there will be certain things that you’ll need.

You can scale your business to whatever size you want. That’s the magic of having freedom and flexibility. You’re going to decide, “Hey, I want to go to this planet first.” Then you’ll shift your focus to meeting the distinct challenges of that planet. And to be a success, no matter what your destination is you’ll also need those other two key ingredients; systems and clients.

Whether you want to land and stay on Tiny Biz or you want to go all the way up to Mini Empire, you’ve got to adopt the right proven systems, and you’ve got to develop a method of attracting quality clients in a predictable, consistent, and profitable way.

Did you know that franchises are much more likely to succeed than stand-alone do-it-yourself type businesses? There’s a good reason for this. Franchises are built upon proven systems. Systems that work over and over again like clockwork. Just like a franchise, your virtual bookkeeping business needs proven systems to succeed. You don’t want to reinvent the wheel or start from scratch when it comes to your business. That’s a recipe for disaster in terms of money wasted, time that you’ll never get back, and immense frustration. Trust me, I know.

When you couple these proven systems with the right 21st-Century Bookkeeping skills, you can be confident in what you do. Together, these systems and skills mean that you’re delivering quality services to your clients. This confidence is enhanced even further because you know that you have more than 4,000 people available to help you with whatever challenges are thrown your way.

CHOOSE YOUR PLANET

NO BIZ

TINY BIZ

LITTLE BIZ

SMALL BIZ

MINI EMPIRE

Let’s boil it down and talk about two broad categories that systems falls into: growth (getting clients) and innovation. Peter Drucker, the most influential business expert of the 20th century, said this, “Because the purpose of a business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two--and only two--basic functions: marketing and innovation.”

Marketing and innovation produce results. Everything else is a costs. In our case, our marketing goals are clear. What we want to do is get clients, quality clients, in a predictable, consistent and profitable manner. Then there’s innovation. In terms of your bookkeeping business, innovation is finding ways to move up the hierarchy of bookkeeping. Now most bookkeepers, they focus on transactions and financial statements. And it’s true that those things are very important, but you’re also going to provide value-adding services like interpretation and advising.

Using your noggin to find ways to help your clients to live their ideal lives: that’s innovation. Never settling for the status quo: that’s innovation. Your virtual bookkeeping business and your service offering is either growing or dying. Innovation equals growth and growth is good.

CATEGORIES OF SYSTEMS

“Because the purpose of a business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two - and only two - basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.”

~ Peter Drucker, the Father of Business Management

Now we’re going to boil the process of starting a successful business down to its essence: innovation and marketing. It’s really that simple. Once again, it’s not easy. Business ownership is not easy, but it is simple. So many people complicate it needlessly, but at its core everything that you do in your business should center on either marketing or innovation, period.

Using these two main categories of business: innovation and marketing, here are the six systems that you’ll need to put into place in your virtual bookkeeping business.

• System number one is marketing for a new client. • System number two is onboarding a new client. • System number three, is taking care of client clean-up work, when their books

are messy. • System number four is the monthly client service delivery. • System five is client connection. Now some people mistakenly call this

communication, and it’s not that. It’s connection. • And finally, system number six, is refining the client experience which ties in

directly with innovation. This is the part where you sharpen your axe.

These are the six key systems. If you decide to venture out to the Small Biz and Mini Empire, you’ll need to develop a couple of other systems that are more team-related. But right now, that’s not your focus. Notice that all of these systems address your relationships. This is because that’s what business is all about: relationships. And this is especially true for bookkeeping businesses.

CHARACTER TRAITS

MARKETING FOR A NEW

CLIENT

ONBOARD A NEW CLIENT

CLIENT CONNECTION

SERVICE DELIVERY

(Prep the Financial Statments Monthly)

CLEAN UP WORK

(When the Books are Messy)

CLIENT EXPERIENCE

This includes relationships with clients, with team members, with referral partners--the list goes on and on. When we shift our focus to giving to other people what they want instead of looking at what we want, everything else eventually falls into place. Zig Ziglar said, “You can have anything you want in life if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

These six systems will help you to deliver your clients what they want. For each of these systems, there are components that break them down into concrete activities, which eventually end up on your to-do list. And all these systems need to be simple. This is something I learned this during my days in the Air Force, the KISS acronym: Keep It Simple, Stupid. It might sound a bit harsh, but it’s an important lesson.

Now let’s talk about a common misconception when it comes to systems: Systems are not apps, tools, or any kind of technology. Apps, tools and technology are levers. They’re things that can help you to implement your systems. They can help you to complete the task. But they shouldn’t be your main focus. Your main focus should be developing your systems.

After you’ve done this and your systems are all in place,you can look into the apps, tools, and technology available to help you. And I know, because so many people ask me, “Hey Ben, what apps, tools, and technology should I use?” So what I’ve done is I’ve included a list of the latest tools, technologies, and applications that you’ll need in the workbook that’s with this video. The good news is, there’s not a lot of them out there that you need. When it comes to technology, less is more. You only want to use things that help you to move up the bookkeeping hierarchy.

CHARACTER TRAITS

Okay, back to systems. Systems mean consistency. Consistency means that you’re efficient, efficiency equals sanity, and sanity leads to peace. No systems, no peace. So once you couple your systems with those 21st-Century Bookkeeping skills you’ll have confidence in your ability to deliver. You’ll also have happy clients, which is very important.

But wait, without clients none of your systems mean anything. So what we’re going to do now is roll up our sleeves and find out how to attract quality bookkeeping clients.

Let’s go get you a client. One client, your first client. And when I say “a client,” that’s your sole focus at first: one client. I don’t care if you eventually want to get to Tiny Biz or Mini Empire or somewhere between, your first goal is that one client. That’s because once you get past this hurdle and get that first client, you’ll arrive on planet Tiny Biz. And from there, getting each client after that becomes so much easier and the big reason for this is the boost in your confidence. Once you land your first client, your confidence, it just soars because you’ve overcome your fear. Let’s revisit the Peter Drucker quote from earlier, he said, “Because the purpose of a business is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two and only two basic functions.” Those two functions are marketing and innovation.

Marketing and innovation are what produce results in a business. All the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business. And here’s another unpopular truth about being a business owner: You have to market yourself. There is no shortcut to getting clients. You have to do the work. If you don’t, then you won’t have a business. If you don’t think you can do that, then you need to go get a J-O-B, a job. You need to see marketing and getting clients as a benefit. Marketing is all about your effort. It’s your input that’s going to separate you from the crowd. Your marketing distinguishes you from the competition and it’s part of the admission fee to the 3-F Lifestyle. I’ll put it this way: when you begin your business, you’re not a bookkeeping professional, you’re a marketing machine that just happens to offer bookkeeping services.

Listen, if you’re not able to handle this truth, that’s okay. But you need to exit this video right now and stop considering business ownership, because if you want to own a successful business, you got to learn how to market that business. As your business grows, you’ll be able to focus less on marketing and more on other goals. But when you’re just getting started, marketing is the most important thing.

ABILITIES

Now, let’s get more into the weeds and get tactical about marketing. What I want to do first is give you the top two proven ways of marketing your bookkeeping services to help you get your first client. Within our group, we watch how our students land their first client. We do surveys, we listen to them, and 72% of our students tell us that they got their first client through something that we call ‘Yakkity Yak.’ Remember that song Yakkity Yak (Don’t Talk Back)? Well, yakkity yak is just talking. It’s talking with your friends, your family, and your neighbors and it doesn’t involve anything fancy.. There’s no sales message at all, it’s just a simple statement of fact.

The message goes something like this: “Hey, I’m starting a bookkeeping business.” That’s it. Now let me ask you, does that statement make you feel like you’re doing marketing or selling something? Does it make you feel weird or slimy to tell your family, your friends, and your neighbors what you’re doing? Well, it shouldn’t. If it does, again, that’s not a good sign. And by sharing this very simple message with those who are closest to you, you have a really good shot of landing your first client.

That’s because everyone in your circle know business owners. Some of them may even be business owners. We all know people who need bookkeeping services that you provide. And the clients that you get through yakkity yak, through your friends, family, and neighbors, they’re usually really good clients. So yakkity yak is by far the most effective way for you to get your first client.

The next best way to get your first client is through networking. This can be online, like through LinkedIn connections or Facebook groups, or it can be in-person, through your Chamber of Commerce, Meetups, and something called BNI groups.

ABILITIES

The two very best ways to get your first client:

YAKKITY-YAK Tell everyone you know that you’re starting a bookkeeping business.

NETWORKING Find specialized groups online or in-person

networking groups in your area.

RESOURCES

Now, like most of my students, I’m an introvert. So I understand that going to an in-person networking group can feel awkward. Yup, and we just have to get over ourselves. We just have to do it. Because a life that we deserve, it’s reserved and when we pay the price, that’s part of our reservation. And learning to go to a networking event and put yourself out there is a prime example of how you pay that price.

Now between yakkity yak and networking, you can get to Tiny Biz. You could probably also get to Little Biz using only these two marketing methods. But my advice to students and to you is to develop as many ways as possible to attract clients. Never ever depend upon one method to get all of your clients. Because if something happens to that one method, if it disappears or goes away, then your ability to get clients goes away as well.

I don’t care if you’re introverted and left-handed like me, you can still do marketing and you can still get clients. Bookkeeping services are the easiest services in the world to market to business owners. Every business owner already needs the great services that you’ll provide. And chances are their current bookkeeper is not doing a stellar job. At least, that’s been my experience.

What this means is that you have a starving audience: people that are hungry for the services you provide. And as you already discovered, your professional bookkeeping services come with built-in demand. So your marketing strategy should be simple. However, yesterday’s marketing tactics are no longer effective. It used to be, back years ago, that as a bookkeeper you would just hang out your shingle and clients would come, beating a path to you.

INSIDE THE NEXT VIDEO...

This won’t happen in today’s business climate. And a lot of the general marketing strategies and tactics in the marketplace won’t work for your bookkeeping business. Your business is unique. You must focus on finding the right marketing strategies and tactics in order to get the results that you want. You need to follow a proven system which will attract clients in a predictable, consistent, and profitable way. I’ll sum up marketing this way: If you can’t handle doing it, you don’t need to start any business. Because in the words of Peter Drucker, “Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business.”

So there you have the proven blueprint for your virtual bookkeeping business: skills, systems. and clients. Together, these three ingredients will put you on the path to the 3-F Lifestyle and a life that you absolutely love. But there’s one more critical ingredient and that’s support. There’s an ancient Chinese proverb that goes something like this: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.“

So where do you find support from others? And where do you find the proven systems that you need for your virtual bookkeeping business? Where do you find proven marketing blueprint, one that works for virtual bookkeeping business owners? Where do you get a step-by-step guide to attracting quality clients? And how do you develop those 21st-Century Bookkeeping skills?

RESOURCES

Well, I’ll tell you. It’s called Bookkeeper Business Launch. Bookkeeper Business Launch is the only proven formula that guides you step by step on how to bootstrap a 100% virtual bookkeeping business from scratch. All while also making you a member of the most active community of virtual bookkeeping business owners. In the next video, I’ll give you all the details about this program. Registration is open right now, so I want you to be on the lookout for this next video so that you can watch it and digest it as soon as possible.

Now, do you need Bookkeeper Business Launch to be a successful bookkeeper? No, you don’t. But it will save you hundreds of hours of trial-and-error work, and it will save you thousands of dollars. I know exactly what the cost of doing it all from scratch is because that’s what I did.. I had to find the right systems. I had to find the formulas to start my bookkeeping business on my own. Now, I’m sharing this formula with over 4,000 women and men, so that they can start their own virtual bookkeeping businesses.

I only wish that I’d had something like this, something like Bookkeeper Business Launch, when I first started. I can’t tell you what I would’ve given to be able to fast-track my success. Now, if you’re someone who wants to get ahead fast and you want to start seeing results as quickly as possible, then here’s what you need to do. First, you need to check out the next video. It’s critical. If you’ve got plenty of time and money on your hands to burn on trial and error, then go ahead and skip it. But otherwise, it’s absolutely crucial. While you’re waiting on the information on Bookkeeper Business Launch, you’ve also got some action items to take care of.

A Name You Can Trust

INSIDE THE NEXT VIDEO...

The first action item, is to download the workbook that goes along with this video. We’ve placed a link to the workbook on this page. Inside that workbook, you’ll find out exactly what apps, tools, and technologies you’ll need to start your virtual bookkeeping business, whether you choose to do that through us or on your own. You’ll also find a lot more useful information inside the workbook, and it’s free. So go and get your hands on it.

The second action item is to comment below. Let me know that you’re ready for a virtual bookkeeping business. Just simply comment and say, “I’m in.” Tell us that you want this new life for you and your family, that you want a virtual bookkeeping business. Let me know that you want the life that you desire and deserve, and that you’re willing to pay the price make short-term sacrifices in order to reap a lifetime of benefits.

Thank you so much for joining me in this video series. I can’t wait to see you in the next video, which will be all about Bookkeeper Business Launch.