30 Favorite Types of Clients for Beginner Bookkeepers
Have you started your bookkeeping business and now searching for your first client? These are my favorite types of clients I recommend working for when first starting out. Throughout this article, I will provide helpful tips on how to identify a good client, as well as share types of clients you may want to avoid.
Watch the video here, or keep reading!
Artists Need Bookkeepers!
Small business artists, typically, have a simple business structure. Artists, oftentimes, have the stereotype of not paying close attention to their finances because they are focused on their craft. Here is a list of my favorite artist clients:
#1 - Etsy Sellers
Etsy is a large website with tons of artists that have created profitable businesses through selling their items. Maybe you have a favorite etsy seller or business you can reach out to and see if they need a bookkeeper.
#2 - Graphic Designers
A bookkeeper is helpful for a graphic designer to help manage the designer’s often irregular income streams from freelance projects, client retainers, and product sales, ensuring accurate tracking of invoices and payments. Additionally, they can handle business expenses such as design software, hardware, and marketing costs, streamlining financial management and allowing the designer to focus on creative work. This partnership can also help the designer plan for taxes and scale their business more effectively.
#3 - Photographers
#4 - Home Bakers
A home baker might need a bookkeeper to manage their income from various sales channels, track expenses like ingredients, packaging, and equipment, and ensure accurate financial records. This helps with tax preparation, budgeting, and freeing up time to focus on baking and growing the business.
#5 - Craft Sellers
Do you go to craft fairs or a local farmer’s market? I recommend you bring your bookkeeper business card and pass it out. You might come across candle makers, knitters, sewers, painters, someone who does pottery, any kind of crafts that people make that they have created their own business to sell. They might need a bookkeeper!
Helpful Tip #1
Think of the people around you. The people you come into contact with every day.
It has become more and more common for a stay-at-home parent to start a business. There are so many opportunities for work and side hustles you can do from home. Think about your friends, family, and neighbors; who might have started a business and need a bookkeeper?
Teachers Make Great Bookkeeping Clients!
#6 - Tutors
Tutors often have multiple students, classes, or contracts, which can make it challenging to track income accurately. A bookkeeper can help record payments, track overdue invoices, and manage expenses such as educational materials, online tools, or travel costs.
#7 - Music Teachers
Does your family member have a piano teacher or voice lesson coach? You could ask them and see if they need help managing their books.
#8 - Yoga Teachers
Or someone who teaches fitness classes as a freelancer. Yoga teachers often have various income sources, such as private sessions, group classes, workshops, retreats, and online courses. A bookkeeper can help track all these revenue streams, ensuring accurate records of income from each service.
#9 - Personal Trainers
#10 - Coaches/Consultants
An individual who has an expertise and they are consulting with other business owners helping other people do a skill.
#11 - Art Teachers
#12 - Day Care Providers
Day care providers constantly have money coming in and money going out for expenses. There may be a little more involvement in their books, but I think this would still be manageable as a beginning bookkeeper.
#13 - Preschools
One thing to be aware of, some preschools are non-profits. Non-profits have certain bookkeeping requirements they have to follow and will likely have a board. The board should be able to help you and inform you of the requirements for their business. Therefore, I think it’s still a good option for a beginner bookkeeper.
Helpful Tip #2
When looking for your first client, think about the size of the client and how many employees the business has. If it is a single solopreneur, their bookkeeping is going to be a lot simpler than a company with multiple employees. If a company hires contractors it’s also going to be easier for you than having to process payroll for multiple employees each month.
As a new bookkeeping business owner, you can probably handle a client with 1 or 2 employees. That being said, the more employees the business has, the bookkeeping also gets more complicated.
But don’t lose hope, I am a firm believer that you can figure things out as a bookkeeper. Don’t automatically discount a business because they have employees.
You can learn payroll. The client likely already has a payroll company or you can help them set it up. Just think about if payroll is a service you want to provide when starting your bookkeeping business.
RELATED VIDEO: CLIENT EXAMPLES: Small, Medium & Large for bookkeepers
Service Providers Need Bookkeeping Help Too!
Service providers usually have pretty simple business structures. They typically don’t have inventory for you to manage. They probably don’t have a brick and mortar store and it’s probably just a person or a person and their assistant working from home providing a service to others. Maybe you know some of these service providers that you can offer bookkeeping services to:
#14 - Wedding Florist
#15 - Event Planner
Being a bookkeeper for an event planner offers the opportunity to manage complex finances involving multiple vendors, client payments, and event-related expenses, ensuring accurate and organized financial records. This helps the event planner stay on top of budgets, payments, and profitability, allowing them to focus on creating seamless events while their finances are efficiently handled.
#16 - Pet Sitter and Dog Walker
#17 - House Cleaner and Organizer
#18 - Catering Service
Maybe someone you know started a catering business out of their home? This would make a great first client for your bookkeeping business.
#19 - Handyperson Service
Lots of people need a handy person to come into their home and fix a broken drawer or work on simple plumbing problems. Handy people are often busy doing the work and don’t have time to keep up on their bookkeeping. That’s where you come in!
#20 - AirBNB Host
#21 - Financial Planner
#22 - Electronics Repair Person
#23 - Massage Therapist
Online Businesses are Growing!
There is a big boom online, with people like me, YouTubers, or people who are making money online. The virtual business model is growing more quickly than the brick-and-mortar store and these online businesses need bookkeepers.
Online businesses, like YouTubers and other digital entrepreneurs, often have multiple income streams such as ad revenue, sponsorships, affiliate marketing, and product sales, which can make tracking finances complex. A bookkeeper can help by organizing these income sources, managing expenses like software, marketing, and equipment, and ensuring accurate tax reporting, all while saving time.
Additionally, as online businesses scale, having organized financial records is crucial for making informed decisions, planning for growth, and staying compliant with tax regulations, allowing entrepreneurs to focus on creating content and growing their brand.
Some beginner bookkeeper client options would be...
#24 - YouTubers
#25 - Podcasters/Bloggers
#26 - Freelance Writers
#27 - Social Media Managers
#28 - Marketing Managers
#29 - Virtual Assistants
#30 - Copy Editor/Ghostwriter
These are all great businesses to reach out to when starting your bookkeeping business!
Clients to Avoid
I promised you I would include businesses that are a little more complex and maybe not a good option for a beginner bookkeeper.
This shouldn’t scare you away from these businesses. You can certainly makemore money in these niches. I recommend specializing in one kind of bookkeeping and get to know that really well. But if you’re just starting out with your 1st, 2nd, or 3rd client, you might want to avoid these more complicated industries.
VIDEO PLAYLIST: Bookkeeper Niches
#1 - Construction
Personally I have never done construction bookkeeping, but I know there are entire classes and courses centered around these businesses. Therefore, I know it can be more complicated and maybe not a good option when you’re first starting out.
#2 - Attorneys
This is actually a niche that I, personally, am working towards being specialized in. I’m learning more and more about trust accounts, client cost advances, and all the specialized things that lawyers need to do in their books. Again, attorney clients have lots of advanced bookkeeping needs and may not be the first client you want to take on.
#3 - Medical
Anyone in the medical field tends to be a little more complicated because you’re dealing with insurance. I did work for a speech pathologist in the past and it was a great client, but it had an added element when you have to send things through insurance and medical billing. It’s a specialty in and of itself. Check out this video I made on medical bookkeeping.
#4 - Real Estate
I don’t know a lot about bookkeeping in real estate, but I have heard it has some complexities.
#5 - Restaurants
Restaurants can be challenging. They have a lot of transactions every day. They also have money coming in and going out of the cash register, which leads to more difficult bookkeeping services.
I haven’t worked with every one of these businesses, but I tried to create a list of simple clients for you to look for when starting your bookkeeping business. If you would like more support with finding your first few clients, check out my course, Bookkeeper Marketing Coach.
Let me know if you have worked with any of these clients I mentioned or if you know of any other simple businesses that a beginning bookkeeper should look for.
