Freelance Bookkeeping Series
5 Ways to Stay Ahead of Your Competition

If you are in the business of freelance bookkeeping, one important question to consider is how you will stay ahead of your competition. Here are some ideas.

Keep Your Skills Up to Date

With today's technology, it is important that you keep your technology skills up to date. At the least, you will want to be knowledgeable with QuickBooks and Excel. Click here to learn more about bookkeeping software for small business that you will want to be familiar and up-to-date with.

Keep Your Knowledge Up to Date

It's not enough that you learn the basics of bookkeeping, you must also be up to date with the basic tax and business laws that govern your client's business so that you can offer them the best possible service.

Your client's accountant should be the adviser on the details, but you don't want to leave it all up to the CPA. You should be knowledgeable about such things as filing due dates and procedures.

Bookkeeping Certification

While a degree in bookkeeping is not required, one way that you can be sure to stay up to date on the latest bookkeeping resources and requirements is to join either the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers or the National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers.

In addition, getting certified with one of these organizations will help you stand out from your competition as well as help give you the confidence that you're sufficiently knowledgeable in your bookkeeping skills and give your client the added assurance that they are in good hands.

For a comparison of these two organizations to help you determine which one is better for your freelance bookkeeping goals, click here.

Over Deliver

Ever heard the phrase, "laziness is hard work?" To apply this phrase to your freelance bookkeeping business, it takes more effort to find new clients than to take good care of the clients you already have.

This is just one of the reasons that you should make every effort to over deliver. Taking the easy way out will only cost you in the long run, and it's way more stress than it's worth. So find out what services your client is looking for, agree to that and then perform even better than what they asked for.

Always Make Your Clients Feel Special and Important

In keeping with the previous tip, here are some ways to show your client that you care.

Don't wait for them to contact you when they need something, follow up with a phone call, a visit or even a card when it is not necessary, just to say "thanks for your business," or "happy birthday," or "how is everything."

And always keep it professional. If your client mentions a doctor's appointment, this is not an opportunity for you to start complaining to them about your health problems.

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