Best Home-Based Business Can Add Up
As seen in the Salt Lake Tribune
Many would-be entrepreneurs dream of starting their own businesses, but have no idea where to begin. Theses entrepreneurs fear large personal investments with little or no return, or believe almost any home-based business idea is some get-rich scheme involving envelope stuffing or online marketing.
Yet there are many home-based businesses that are perfectly legitimate and offer significant earnings potential to entrepreneurs willing to try. In their book, “The Best Home Businesses for the 21st Century,” Paul and Sarah Edward profile more than 100 viable business ideas that can be performed in a home-based setting, such as fitness trainers to advertising consultants. Ranked among the “best of the best” is a bookkeeping service.
“Despite the availability of easy-to-use accounting software, many small business owners have neither the time nor the inclination to use the software themselves,” Edward says. “Wise business people also realize that their time can be better spent in marketing and doing the income-producing work of their business.”
Starting a bookkeeping service represents one of the lowest costs of entry for any home-based business. The main cost associated with starting such a business is purchasing a computer. The opportunities in the bookkeeping field far outweigh the costs of entry. In the Salt Lake area alone, many of the 33,000 area businesses use a freelancer to handle their accounting and bookkeeping duties, earning freelancers up to $60 per hour for their services. And with the number of small businesses in the Salt Lake area increasing rapidly (more than 1,000 new business licenses issued each month), phenomenal growth opportunities exist for bookkeepers.
A bookkeeping service can be started and operated by almost anyone. Many freelance bookkeepers gained their experience on the job or have learned through attending centers like the Universal Accounting Center, a Salt Lake City-based training center for accountants and bookkeepers. Relatively few freelancers have accounting degrees or are certified public accountants.
Allen Bostrom, CPA, and an instructor at the Universal Accounting Center, explained how someone could begin a home-based business. “We offer seminars that focus on the process of starting and marketing a bookkeeping service. We take the mystery of how to start your business right, what equipment and software you need, and what to charge your clients,” Bostrom said. “We even include information on whom to market your services to and what message to share with potential clients.
“We present valuable information to anyone interested in starting a home-based business, whether they’re experienced or not,” Bostrom said.
Bostrom said that process of getting clients is not difficult,if the person knows what to do, and will do it. Once a home-based business is established, Bostrom said the bookkeeper will often have a steady monthly income that will average $300 per month per client for only six to eight hours of work.
“Many bookkeepers pick up clients while working full-time and do work for them evenings or on weekends,” Bostrom said. “Operating a home-based business this way makes the financial transition from employed to self-employed much easier. Before long you have replaced a full-time income with part-time work.”
In addition to more income, operating a home-based bookkeeping service offers a degree of flexibility not often found in the corporate world. “Most of the bookkeeping work can be done at home so that you can plan your work around your own, or your family’s schedule,” Bostrom said. “Today with mobile phones, fax machines,a nd the Internet, you can work with clients anywhere in the world as though you were right down the street.”
Universal Accounting Center offers a free two-hour seminar to individuals wanting to start their own home-based bookkeeping business. The seminar covers the basics of starting a business including marketing and growing the business, equipment needs, fees, and more.
For further information, or to register for a free seminar, call 801-265-3777.
