My name is Jody Seibert and I created this is for bookkeepers building a solo practice. If you’re drowning in content, advice, and lost in the crowd of those “start your bookkeeping business today” programs — you’re in the right place. You know accounting, but transitioning from following an employer’s process set up by someone else is drastically different from looking at a client’s books and figuring out how to clean them up and maintain them. You don’t need more hours of watching videos or group calls. There’s client work to do and your own business to build.
I didn’t intend to start a bookkeeping business. When I lost my job in the 2009 recession, there were no jobs to apply for. I worked a couple of part time jobs and started answering ads from small businesses looking for bookkeeping help. I needed to survive. As a career accountant with a B.S. in Accounting, I thought “how hard can that be?” The answer was “that hard.”
When accounting software is set up using setup wizards and the bookkeeping done with good intentions but no real bookkeeping knowledge, the result is far from perfect. Cleaning up imperfect bookkeeping is not for the faint of heart.
I had no idea what I was doing when I started my business. Survival was the goal. Building an empire was never a thought. I made many mistakes. It was also when I really began to understand the application of accounting theory and what good accounting actually looks like in practice. I also learned to jettison the jargon when speaking with clients. They don’t care about GAAP — they want to know how their business is doing financially.
Being an avid reader, I read everything I could about starting and running a business. I watched webinars. I attended local seminars. I networked as best as an introvert can. I made many mistakes and learned a lot.
I can’t promise you won’t make mistakes — you will. But you don’t have to make all the same ones I did.
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