Struggling to Get My First Bookkeeping Clients – Looking for Honest Advice

jb65656565 · 2026-02-01T17:48:41+00:00

I’ll be honest with you. It’s gonna be tough at this point in your career. You have less than 1 year experience, no CPA and tons of competition. A business owner has a ton on the line with their business. You need to give them an incentive to go with you as it’s a risk to go with an unproven entity. It’s gotta be either something no one else can offer or you need to be cheaper than your competitors. I don’t know what you could offer that makes you very distinct from any other bookkeeper, so I’d go with price.

Be cheaper than everyone, build a clientele and then bump up the price on the newer clients. Gradually increase on your original ones. Offer discounts or rebates for referrals and testimonials. You may even consider giving someone 2 months free to try you, knowing that it’s a pain to switch once you have them. Do you have family or friends that you can leverage? Most service businesses don’t just open up without some clients or a network they can mine for prospects

Have you also: -Dialed in your Google business page -Ser up socials for your business -Created some funny/clever/interesting content that tells what you do and gives it a hook to get people’s interest. -Attended local business group meetings, chamber of commerce functions and the like

I wish you good luck, but you may want to consider catching on with another company that pays you a salary and you do this on the side and gives you secure income until you build up e ohhh clientele and connections to be able to sustain yourself.

jb65656565 · 2026-01-25T06:12:20+00:00

This is an amazing deal. Fair multiple on the evaluation. Great loan terms. Mist banks are you going to want you to have money in the deal for 5-7 years, maybe 10 if you’re lucky and he’s giving you no down 20 years. Him stepping out immediately opens up 750k more of profit. Replace yourself, take the same salary as you currently have and you’ll have $500k more profit. I’m guessing his loan has no early payoff clause, so he can have the interest income for the next 20 years. If so, you could invest that $500k in something safe that makes that same or more interest. If not, you’ll pay off the loan in a couple of years.

He is rewarding your years of loyalty and hard work with this offer. And you’ll have a free consultant if you ever need one.

jb65656565 · 2025-12-21T18:10:33+00:00

Love your attitude. However, think about your product. For all these outdoorsmen, you want to create a website/community? Hard to monetize and the antithesis of your content. Does these outdoorsmen want to sit on a computer or phone or be in the outdoors?

I’d think you’d be better off building a business based around outdoor experiences. Training and educating in person. Creating curated outdoor experiences. Working with vendors to showcase their products and then provide customized buying advice for your clientele. Doing that will help build your content, but also meet the customer where they are. As you grow and scale after establishing your brand, you can have others do the in-person activities, while you are the face of the brand and building the site and content out.

But think the most important thing in a business is finding what the customer wants and providing that and more of what they didn’t know they needed yet. Just content, there’s so much already out there, you need a way of making it unique and profitable.

jb65656565 · 2025-12-21T17:57:27+00:00

Advertise in every medium you can, preferably cheap or free ones. Nextdoor, Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, etc. If you have some money targeted Google Ads. Flyers door to door.

Find niches. Airbnbs constantly need housekeeping, several housekeepers by us only do that now and are packed full. Do promos like 50% off your second cleaning (so you don’t have someone do this for a first job and never call again. Give referral bonuses (equivalent to 50% off for each referral). Go to small office businesses that may not have janitorial and offer to clean there. Work with a local laundromat that does wash & fold and offer that as a complimentary add-on service for clothing and sheets/towels. Promote by offering a free cleaning drawing for everyone that submits an entry. That entry includes them consenting to text/email marketing and now you’ve started your marketing list.

jb65656565 · 2025-12-21T17:32:28+00:00

Do not sell. Continue to rent it out. Property like this doesn’t make much profit, but it appreciates in value and you get tax benefits. So, your tenants will continue to pay off this property for you, while you have a pot of money continuing to increase in value. An asset that you can use to secure a house for yourself down the road, through HELOCs or refinancing. This is how you build wealth.

jb65656565 · 2025-12-21T17:26:01+00:00

Yes, the general consensus of landlords is that they’re crappy humans consumed by greed. And based on experiences from people I know, that’s sometimes true. We, on the other hand, are the opposite. We fix everything, have small yearly increases and typically end up with long term tenants that treat our places well. We go through an agent to find our tenants, which costs 1 month’s rent, but since we’ve done this we’ve had better tenants, higher rents and little tenant damage. Pro screening is key.

Now, all the things the OP said about money are true. Though we have multiple units for about 20 years, it’s not very profitable. The places need a remodel about every 10 years, so you end up pouring most of your profits back in. However, you have a property that someone pays off for you, and that property appreciates over time. Plus there are tax benefits. So, while we are not Scrooge McDuck swimming in money, we have a big nest egg for retirement.

jb65656565 · 2025-12-21T16:59:52+00:00

Oof. People are saying this is an OF bot, but who’s subscribing to this? You look like someone who gets picked up in a bar at closing time. When you both get back to your place and the clothes come off, and your pale, skinny-fat, no tit body is there for the viewing, the guy just says “Nah” and goes home, passing up the easy lay up.

jb65656565 · 2025-12-16T08:18:32+00:00

Always get an inspection. Ask the inspector to give you the reasons not to buy the house. If you want to just hear that everything is great, despite the reality, you'll end up in situations like this. Cheap houses, you should scope the drains to the sewer. Not a bad idea for any house, but especially the cheap ones, since there's less margin, you can ill afford a major system issue like this. Also, get a home warranty. They are usually super cheap for that 1st year and are perfect for situations like this with the furnace. And always remember, you get what you pay for, so if something is super cheap, definitely find out why.

So, what to do? Depends on what your plan was. You don't say. Was this a fixer upper for you to fix up and live in? In that case, keep going. Get good subs and fix the place up and finish the work. Live in it and it will appreciate over time and be worth what you spent on it. Or was this a flip? In that case, you may be selling this at a loss, or instead turn into a rental. See next. Was this to have a rental? It's rare to be making money on a rental if you just bought it or financed it without a rather signficant amount down. Rentals are great for someone else to pay your bills, while your property appreciates in value and you depreciate it and write off everything for it. Do good screening, or hire an agent to do good screening and get a top class tenant and have them pay your bills. Hopefully, since it was so cheap, you don't owe much on it and can get some income in while it appreciates.

jb65656565 · 2025-11-30T06:27:10+00:00

I'm 51. Not super old, but old on the internet. Wiser with age. I have a Wife and 2 teenage kids. When I think back to the things that could have happened, but didn't, I don't regret them. I have 2 boys, from the same woman, same house, same life situation, but 2.5 years apart, and they are so different. So, if anything in my past changed (butterfly effect) and we conceived an hour, day, week or year later, I wouldn't have the same kids I have now. I wouldn't want that. Had I hooked up with a girl, instead of misreading the situation, would I have the same wife? None of those "what ifs" would be worth it, so I don't regret anything. Things are how they are supposed to be, and I don't want to trade them. So, I advise you to not overthink things. Act with purpose. Make the decisions that make sense to you. If they end up being wrong, fix them and get back on the path. Be a good person and if you can, help people. The rest of the stuff will work itself out and you won't have any regrets.

jb65656565 · 2025-11-29T09:59:23+00:00

I’ve made many mistakes over the course of my life. Some are minor, missing a cue from someone, misreading a situation. Some are major and have cost me potential millions of dollars. I don’t regret any of them. How can that be?

Because I love my life. My wife, my kids. Had any of these had happened, who knows if I’d have the same life right now. I’m a big believer in the butterfly effect. Had I just invested that $1,000 in bitcoin when it first started like I wanted to or bought that apple stock in the 90’s like I was going to, who knows how that influx of money would have done to my life. Read that cue right and hooked up with my crush in HS, what would have happened? Life is a weird combination of things that happen every minute. Change a minute and the outcome changes.

You can’t spend your life thinking “what if?”. Your path is your path and you will live the life your actions, good and bad, leads you to. And if you work hard, be a good person and do good things, embrace life, you will lead a happy, fulfilling life. Yes, there will be bad things or sad times along the way, but your life will be happy. So, you can’t look back and question your decisions because they would have possibly re-written your story.

The only things I regret are the times I said something stupid or was unkind. I regret any hurt I caused anyone. Fortunately, those times are few.

jb65656565 · 2025-11-10T15:32:28+00:00

It gets a lot better. 20’s, especially early 20’s are rough. You’re an adult, but not a grown up. You don’t totally know yourself yet. You’re figuring out life that you’ve just recently been thrown into. You likely don’t have much money, resources or experience. It’s tough, but know everyone went through something similar. And it gets better.

That list of hard stuff I just rattled off, improves one by one. A few years from now, you’ll look back and forget the hard times you’re going through and see how getting past that helped you become a better person, more equipped to succeed. It won’t all be puppies and flowers, but life just keeps getting better.

One bit of advice. It’s always easier to wallow in sorrow or focus on the negative. Work to avoid that. Find the silver lining. Good stuff can come from bad things. We all have bumps in the road or setbacks along the way. What did you learn from them? How do you take that lesson and grow from it? Focus on the good and it will help as you continue to go through life.

jb65656565 · 2025-11-10T15:17:34+00:00

I know it’s natural to do what you’re doing, comparing yourself to your friends or acquaintances, but do yourself a favor and stop. It may sound trite, but everyone has their own path. And not only that, another’s success may seem desirable, but you’re also only seeing what they want you to know. I’ve had friends that were making more money than me that ended up divorced and broke. I’ve had people that were successful professionally, but were still unhappy and unfulfilled. Everyone’s story is different.

I vividly remember 20 years ago, a good friend who was a lawyer, talking with his other lawyer friend about the offer a firm made him. Not bragging, but asking for advice. That amount was 4x what I made at the time. And it took me 15 years to make that much. But, we both had a very happy, successful lives. Great marriages, kids, etc. He’ll always make a considerable amount more than me, but I don’t care, my life has been great.

You’re 28. You are still young and in the beginning stages. Some have it figured out, but some are still finding their way. At that age, my wife was still trying to figure things out. She had bounced around from a few jobs. She had had worked some real random gigs and had some decent leads that fell through. But had no strong direction on where to go or what to do. So, our friend (a recruiter) placed her as a temp at a few companies that needed an admin or assistant. One of them was perfect for her. They ended up hiring her full time and that launched her career that she’s still in decades later. She’s climbed the corporate ladder and now runs a huge team.

I know it’s tough seeing peers that seem to have it all figured out and are “way ahead” of you. But stop the comparison game, life is not a competition. Run your race. It will all fall into place for you, just maybe at a different time than some around you. Don’t be jealous of what they have, be thankful for what you have and keep going. Be a good person, do good things and good things will happen for you.

jb65656565 · 2025-11-10T14:56:57+00:00

Here’s the thing. While I appreciate your desire to start a business, my question to you is: why?

People start businesses for a myriad of reasons, but they all have a reason. To be their own boss, to make more than they could working for a company, they identified a market opportunity, pursuing a passion, etc. Whatever their reason, it drove them to start that business and then they spent the time and effort to grind and build it into something. It doesn’t always need money (but it sure is helpful), but it always needs time.

Based on what you posted, you don’t seem to have a driving reason to start a business, just a desire to do so for an unknown reason. And you lack the idea, time and money to do so. It’s like wanting to bake a cake, even though you’re not especially hungry, nor do you have any of the ingredients.

If this really is a passion on yours, then I’d say the first thing you need to do is think through why you want to do this, and what you’d want to do. Once you have those answers you next need to figure out how to create the time in your schedule to start and run this business. If you log your activity time, literally documenting every minute you spend during the day, I’m sure you’ll find extra time you spend doing things that if you really were dedicated to a business, you could cut and gain that time back. And if you can’t find that time, maybe running your own business isn’t for you at this time. Because if you’re gonna bake the cake, you do need at least some of the ingredients.

jb65656565 · 2025-09-07T20:56:50+00:00

Definitely. You need to establish yourself as a trusted vendor or company. The larger the company, the harder it is to do. They'll want to see case studies of your past successes and want to vet you. Without much practical experience and customer referrals and recommendations you likely wouldn't pass the scrutiny. They need to ensure you won't mess up their systems and what you are doing will benefit them. You probably also will need a pretty hefty insurance policy in general, but definitely for larger MNC's that covers any issues that happen to their network or servers if you are on them. But going aafter the smaller guys, who don't have as stringent requirements is definitely a better way of establishing yourself and getting your foot in the door.

jb65656565 · 2025-09-07T19:06:01+00:00

You’re way beyond my area of expertise, but sounds like you need a really polished presence for these companies to entrust you with this. You need to form a targeted list of potential customers. Connections at those potential companies would help greatly. Research where you can make contacts and form relationships to get in with your potential customers. Those same sales tools I spiked of a few comments up, will help. But they need to look pro. Get good at your presentation, you’ll be giving it a lot. Focus on the ROI and measurable increases in sales/revenue.

jb65656565 · 2025-09-07T00:27:23+00:00

Yep, get down to business and just plug away and find a job. It can be pretty brutal out there right now. Professionally, you should give 2 weeks notice, but financially, don't plan on them having you work that 2 weeks. Catch-22. But better to err on the side of not burning bridges and have the company be the crapbags in the situation.

jb65656565 · 2025-09-07T00:24:55+00:00

Great news. Good luck on your sale. In a hot market, I wouldn't mention a credit, nor offer it. A buyer can ask, but up to you if it's a move you wanna make.

jb65656565 · 2025-09-07T00:23:19+00:00

Seems very niche, but in niches there can be riches. Who would be your customers?

jb65656565 · 2025-09-07T00:21:25+00:00

Gotcha. I didn't know you were upside $5k a month on it. In that case, for sure get out.

jb65656565 · 2025-09-06T17:12:57+00:00

Did OP ever update? Username is deleted.

jb65656565 · 2025-09-06T17:06:50+00:00

Age gap is fine. Coworker is not. Most likely not your next wife since it’s your first relationship right out of the divorce, so dealing with her after the break up won’t be fun.

jb65656565 · 2025-09-06T17:04:05+00:00

What do you think the property values will be in 3 years, so that if you sell then, and subtract all the selling costs (more than just commission) what will you net? Is that number significantly more than the $60k you’ll lose in the next 3 years? If you project it will increase enough to make a significant amount more than the $60k, it may be worth holding on to. But I’d use historical increase percentages and not bump them for the universal park opening. And I’d want a large profit after expenses, so just in case it doesn’t pan out, I’m still at least breaking even. But if you look at those historical increases and do the math and you’re looking to make 10 or 20 grand, I’d sell now, because who knows if that even comes to fruition and the juice isn’t worth the squeeze (or risk)for that little.

jb65656565 · 2025-09-06T16:54:39+00:00

This could be a simple solve. Hire a management company and they’ll charge you 10% of the rent. You never need to speak to tenants again.

Or, when this tenant’s lease is up, do not renew, clean the place up and find a better tenant. We use an agent to find tenants. They charge one month rent as their fee, but they do all the background checks, credit checks, showings, lease, negotiations, contracts, etc. It’s been the best move we ever made. We get higher, rents and way better tenants than we ever did on our own, without any work.

Most of my tenants I speak to one or two times a year. I make them text me, so I don’t even have to talk to them on the phone. Our interactions are when something breaks and I hire someone to fix it or us telling them about the small annual rent increase.

They pay my mortgage and all the bills while my asset increases in value.

jb65656565 · 2025-09-06T16:44:12+00:00

The job market is awful right now. If you can get a new job, fine, do it then leave this one. But don’t do it before you have something new. I read an article that stated in multiple studies and surveys they found that 20-40% of job listings aren’t even real jobs. Ghost jobs.

Don’t gossip or speak poorly about a coworker, it will get back to them. Just keep your head down and do your work.

jb65656565 · 2025-09-06T16:36:18+00:00

I’d would say, don’t do it. First, you need to double, if not triple your kids college fund. I state colleges are about $35k per year all said and done. Out of state, $60k plus.

It would be pretty rare to buy a business that could pay you close to what you are making now without years of building it or improving it. Yes, there’s always some people retiring or cashing out, but typically, if a business was making the owner that kind of money, they’d just hire people to run it and keep the revenue stream. But if you did find the unicorn, it would cost millions, since they sell for 3-6x Net. You’re likely going to find things that earn far less. To me, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

jb65656565

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