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Choosing a business structure can be a tough decision for the new business owner. CorpNet wants to make the process easier.

This free, online tool helps small business owners navigate the process of picking the right business structure for their new business.

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Partner With CorpNet

As a bookkeeper, accountant, or consultant, your clients can now depend on you to maintain their business filings and corporate compliance. Become a CorpNet Reseller or a Referral Partner and let our team of dedicated business filing experts help you grow your business.

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So, it’s not at all surprising your accounting clients are worried about the recession. It’s up to you then to understand and persuade your clients why your accounting business is even more crucial to their company’s survival.

Watch Over and Protect Them

In times of economic stress, your clients need you more than ever. Although you may encounter some resistance from clients busy trying to keep their businesses afloat, it’s important your post COVID marketing efforts stress how vital accounting services are at this time.

Key points should include how accounting experts can help:

• Point out areas to cut costs
• Point out areas where costs should not be reduced
• Provide advice on employee benefits and employee tax deductions
• Create financial documents for possible loan applications
• Determine better sources of profits
• Manage working capital
• Consult on how clients can get paid faster

Some panicking business clients may start haphazardly cutting expenses and think accounting can be cut, but you need to show them why operating without the advice of an accountant or CPA is like driving blindly behind the wheel. You can provide vital resources, which is especially needed during a recession when every penny counts.

Solve Immediate Problems

As stated above, your clients are anxious and looking for immediate results. Help put them at ease by analyzing their financial situations looking for some expenses they can cut immediately. Suggest planned salary increases be postponed until the business improves. Some possible areas clients can cut back on:

• Recurring expenses. Every business has recurring expenses that have been forgotten, such as subscriptions and memberships that renew automatically.
• Insurance. From health insurance to business owner’s policies, your clients should assess their needs at least annually. In a year like this one, it pays to review their insurance needs and costs more often than that. Have they gone virtual or laid off employees? Do they no longer require certain types of insurance as a result?
• Staying virtual. If they have temporarily been operating remotely, can they save money by pivoting to becoming a virtual company permanently? Is it feasible to operate partially virtual, which could still save them money? Talk it over with your clients to see how to make it work.

While personalization is always key in your accounting business, it’s even more important now to show your clients you have their individual best interests at heart.

Offer Long-term Advice

Your clients want to look forward to happier days and your accounting firm can help them plan for that brighter future. In addition to offering advice on cutting expenses, show how your accounting firm recognizes the needs of a growing business by:

• Learning how their entire company operates so you can help your clients improve performance, reduce redundancy, and increase satisfaction. Suggest cross-training their employees to reduce the need to hire and to strengthen the company. A knowledgeable workforce makes companies more efficient, resilient, and productive.
• Bring your knowledge of the marketplace. Can your clients capitalize on market trends and create spin-off products or services? Is there enough capital to expand to a new location or create a new sales channel? See 4 Reasons Why a Recession Is a Good Time for Your Clients to Start a Business to learn more about excelling in uncertain times.
• Help your clients create long-term goals so they can be more proactive instead of reactive. Have regular meetings with clients (you don’t need to meet in person) to lay out the plans and steps they need to take to get their businesses through a possible recession.

Budgets, Taxes and More

Obviously, your accounting clients will need your insight and expertise even more now as they navigate the “new normal.” Some will need help navigating the government’s Economic Injury Disaster Relief (EIDL) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding and forgiveness options, disaster tax deductions, and changing IRS requirements. Many will need advice beyond the realm of normal accounting firm services.

CorpNet we can help you help your clients with any of their corporation compliance questions or filing needs. Connect us by joining the CorpNet Partner Program and start offering your clients:

• Incorporation and LLC formation
• Business licenses and permits
• National registered agent services
• Annual reports and compliance services in any state!

The program offers wholesale discounted pricing as a white label Reseller or become a Referral partner and refer your clients over to us and receive up to a 30% referral fee on each sale.

References:

https://www.newsweek.com/half-americans-are-worried-that-major-recession-coming-survey-1464387
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/08/872470104/economists-announce-the-u-s-economy-is-officially-in-a-recession

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Here are five post-COVID marketing strategies for accountants to win and keep clients for the long-term.

Establish the Business as Post COVID-19 Experts

As the economy struggles to get back on track and clients have specific questions on how to file taxes, apply for relief funding and provide documentation for loan forgiveness, accountants need to secure their clients’ trust by providing quick answers. Accountants should be familiar with all aspects of the issues their clients will face and then use focused post COVID marketing strategies to position themselves as the experts, such as:

• Create a list of FAQs regarding coronavirus and accounting related issues, then post it on your websites and social media platforms and include it in your email marketing newsletters.
• Send personalized email reminders related to government-postponed filing deadlines and business compliance concerns.
• Offer to byline blog posts for other websites offering advice for post-COVID-19 issues and always link back to the business’ website and social media platforms.

By positioning the accounting business as experts, current customers will remain loyal and new customers will be attracted to come on board.

Pivot to a New Way of Doing Business

Most businesses in the pandemic were required to pivot their focus to stay afloat while consumers and businesses alike sheltered in place and scaled down operations. Accounting businesses with large staffs were also required to ask employees to work remotely to ensure safety. One thing that may not change as safer-at-home policies are lifted is the business/client comfort level with virtual consultations. People who hadn’t participated in online meetings before, quickly became familiar and comfortable with the technology and may want to continue to meet virtually—at least for a while.

Virtual capabilities are appealing for clients still feeling nervous about in-person meetings, which may last well into 2021. Accountants marketing their virtual services to new and old clients will likely do well and show they are making accommodations for all their clients’ needs.

Pivot to a New Clientele

Now is a good time to assess your clientele and determine if your accounting firm would be more successful focusing on working with a new type of client or clients in specific industries, such as restaurant owners or the gig entrepreneurs. To figure out whether the business should pivot to a new focus, ask the following questions:

• Are some customer relationships more lucrative than others?
• Do you already have a cluster of clients from a particular industry and will they refer their colleagues?
• Did your business acquire clients out of your immediate geographic area? Perhaps you can focus on attracting more out-of-town clients and transform into a virtual accounting business.

Keep in mind, the more focused the clientele, the more focused your marketing strategy needs to be to cover key points important to the industry of your clients.

Strategize and Bootstrap

As business starts ramping up again it’s important to develop an effective and cost-smart marketing strategy. Fortunately, there are many free or low-cost ways to get the message out about your accounting services.

• Social Media – Social media’s contribution to brand awareness cannot be discounted. Besides the business’s own Facebook or LinkedIn pages, accountants could stand out by answering questions on other people’s social pages. You should also look into joining group social media pages with like-minded businesses to make connections and find new sources of clients.
• Community Involvement – People like to do business with companies that give back to their communities. Although volunteering in person may not be possible for a while, accountants can still offer their services for free or at a discounted fee to customers or organizations in need.
• Referral Program – Offering clients a reward or discount for referrals is a great way to increase your clientele without having to spend a lot of money. Also, it’s important to ask satisfied clients to give your business a positive review on referral websites like Yelp. Finally, consider joining a business referral group, also called a business referral network or lead club. Basically, these groups are networking organizations with an emphasis on giving and getting referrals.

Be the Solution

Customers in the wake of the pandemic crisis are looking for reassurance and stability. Yes, everyone wants to get back to business, but what the new normal will look like is anyone’s guess. That’s why it’s important for accounting business owners to be a consistent presence in the lives of their clients.

Think of all the ways customers currently communicate with their accountants and then think of new innovative ways. In addition to phone calls and email, the “always-online” world is communicating through chatbots, chat boxes, Facebook messages, Twitter direct messages, Zoom meetings and Google Hangouts (just to name a few). When customers have problems, they want solutions and they want them fast. Be the solution.

Become a One-Stop Shop

Accountants who want to grow their practices should consider broadening their service offerings. Many of your current and potential clients are looking for more than just accounting advice.

For example, you can target people who may be considering starting a business—or growing their current companies. You can help them do that by adding corporate compliance services, such as incorporation guidance, trademark research, and documentation filings—services that can make your accounting practice a one-stop partner.

To make adding incorporation services seamless and cost effective, accountants can sign up with the CorpNet Partner program. CorpNet acts as a “silent partner” and takes care of clients’ compliance issues, so your business can focus on other important tasks.

As I just said, here at CorpNet we want to be your solution. We understand how stressful and challenging it is for so many small business owners today. We are here to help so you don’t get overwhelmed. Call our business consultants at 888.449.2638 for help with starting a business, obtaining business licenses, or staying in compliance.

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If you’re just starting out or, like us, tired of paying for office space, there is another option: Become a virtual bookkeeper.

With the right business technology, attention to legal compliance and marketing savvy, you could become a virtual bookkeeper and make your entrepreneurial dreams come true—right from your own home.

All the Right Tools to Become a Virtual Bookkeeper

As a virtual business owner myself, I know both the pleasures and the frustrations of working at home. According to a survey by Endurance International Group, the biggest challenges that entrepreneurs face when working from home are:

• Time management (41%)
• Attracting new clients or customers (34%)
• Family or friends interrupting my workday (32%)
• Limited resources (26%)
• Scaling my business (23%)
• No time for my personal life and interests (22%)

Fortunately, there are plenty of tech solutions to help. To become a successful virtual bookkeeper, effective time management is a crucial skill. Working from home, it’s easy to get distracted by home projects or even the refrigerator. Start by tracking your time with an app like Toggl. Simply create an account and connect the Toggl timer to your computer’s apps. Just click to start the timer whenever you begin a task and then click again to stop when you’ve ended the task or whenever you take a break.

It also helps to have a project management app you can use to keep projects on track, as well as a customer relationship management (CRM) program to track progress on leads and keep notes on clients’ personal and business details. HubSpot CRM is a popular option that’s free for multiple users. Nimble is a simple solution, offering contact management, sales and marketing automation, business intelligence, social listening and engagement and mobile/browser apps.

You’ll also want to store your business data in the cloud so you can easily access your files and get work done wherever you are, making you more efficient.

Because you’re most likely on a budget, you don’t want to overspend on equipment when you’re just starting out. On the other hand, outdated technology could slow your growth and hinder your productivity. Consider leasing office equipment instead of buying it outright. This can save you money, and you’ll get the most current technology, plus the support you need to keep the equipment running smoothly.

Compliance and More

Starting a virtual bookkeeping business, like starting any business, requires adhering to the rules and regulations established by the state in which you do business. A good first step in starting a successful bookkeeping business is choosing your legal form of business.

Sole proprietorships are the most prevalent form of business for solo entrepreneurs but provide no protection for your personal assets. If you want to shield your personal assets (and enjoy some other benefits), you can register your business as a corporation or limited liability company (LLC). Be sure to learn the differences between the various business structures before you commit. The business structure you choose affects everything from your tax filings to your legal status and more, so it’s important to do your homework. Check CorpNet to get help understanding your state’s compliance requirements and choosing your business structure.

To learn your city’s regulations on virtual home-based businesses, you need to check with your city’s business development office. Your city not only wants to ensure you’re running a legitimate business, it also wants to be sure you’re not violating the rights of the other residents in your neighborhood. All cities and towns have specific zoning laws concerning physical changes, traffic restrictions, and nuisances that could affect how you run your business.

Restrictions on physical changes might include prohibiting exterior physical changes to the home for the purposes of conducting business and prohibiting business signage on your home. There may also be traffic restrictions such as limiting the numbers of visitors to your home, where visitors can park, or whether or not you can have employees working in your home.

Marketing Savvy for the Virtual Bookkeeper

If marketing skills are not one of your strengths, it’s wise to outsource these important tasks to someone else. In fact, since starting a business takes a lot of your time, getting expert help with marketing is a good way to becoming a successful virtual bookkeeper Although getting referrals from happy customers is one of the best ways for a bookkeeper to get new clients, you also need to develop a well-planned marketing strategy so you have multiple ways to attract customers, including social media and direct mail.

To keep costs down, look for a freelance marketing person who can handle everything from website SEO to social media campaigns. Outsourcing doesn’t mean you can completely let go of the responsibility for your own marketing. After all, you want to make sure your marketing efforts truly represent your business. Make sure your marketing person sets you up to get reports on the progress of marketing campaigns, social media activity, and website analytics. Because search engine optimization (SEO) algorithms are always changing, staying on top of what works for your industry is not always possible. There are plenty of programs available to keep track of SEO trends if you want to do it yourself, but most small business owners quickly realize their efforts are better spent elsewhere. If you choose to outsource, make sure your marketing person understands SEO for the bookkeeping industry and your particular target market.

Once your business grows and you need to hire employees, you don’t necessarily have to leave the virtual business world behind. Today’s workers appreciate and sometimes expect to be allowed to work remotely, assuring your virtual bookkeeping business can stay virtual and still be successful.

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I know in my business, bandwidth can be a barrier to growth—but not bandwidth in the technical sense. Instead, we’re sometimes limited by our own bandwidth and how much our team can accomplish with the time and resources we have. Sometimes we manage our bandwidth well, and sometimes we don’t.

There were times we tried to take on a task we should have outsourced, or skimped when a tech upgrade would have done the trick. Management can make or break your business growth. Is there room for improvement in your accounting firm management?

According to Karbon, a resource for accountants, accounting practices of all types are stifled by nearly identical barriers. Here are five of the most common:

1. How to acquire new clients
2. Setting the right prices
3. Standardizing processes
4. Marketing for growth
5. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance

We’re here to help eradicate these barriers to growth—or at least offer some accounting firm management tips that will make them manageable enough to surmount.

How to Acquire New Clients

The best advice I can give any business owner seeking to acquire new clients is this: work your connections. Your current client base can be your “in” to boost your client list. There’s no shame in asking for referrals. Money is such an important area of consumers’ and business owners’ lives that they almost always seek out referrals and reviews before making a decision on what company to trust with their finances.

According to the most recent BrightLocal survey, seven out of 10 consumers will leave a review for a business if they’re asked to, and 84 percent of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Bottom line: You need to ask for referrals and reviews and then act on them. Once you’ve completed a service, let clients know you’d appreciate it if they would recommend your business to their friends, family members, and business peers. Make sure to promote your social media platforms on your website and in your email correspondence. Finally, don’t forget to add a quick note on each invoice thanking the client for their business and asking them to put in a good word for you on Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn or anywhere else your business has a presence.

Setting the Right Prices

Deciding how to price your services is always a tricky task, but it’s one of the most important things accounting firm management should concern itself with. First, take some time to analyze and list your services and what makes your accounting business stand out from others. Then consider your pricing model. Are you still charging by the hour? Billing by the hour has long been the standard in the accounting industry, but it’s not necessarily the most profitable route.

More and more accounting firms are making the switch to a value-based pricing model. For many, determining your price based on the value provided to your clients makes more sense. Now you just need to convince your clients.

Value pricing is not a set-in-stone price. It requires constant review and adjustment, and you must know what’s important to your clients. One way you can add value: Look for extra services you can outsource that bring in money for your accounting firm. For example, if you join the CorpNet Partner program, you can offer your clients business formation and compliance services. CorpNet handles the work and your firm makes money.

Standardizing Processes

Even if you have only one employee, having an employee handbook for him or her to read and sign is essential to good accounting firm management. Written workplace policies can help prevent disagreements and lawsuits. In addition, an employee handbook is vital to spell out procedures and systems involved in different aspects of your business. Making the effort to standardize processes can save you a ton of time, since you won’t have to explain certain procedures over and over or reinvent the wheel. Better yet, standardization ensures all your clients get the same level of service from your firm. For more help on what to include in an employee handbook, check the Small Business Administration (SBA) website.

Marketing for Growth

The key to marketing for growth is attracting and retaining targeted leads. Leads that fit your specific target market are more likely to become clients, which means those leads are worth spending a little more time and money to get.

Study your best clients and look for similarities in gender, income, occupation and other characteristics. Jot down how you acquired these clients and determine whether you’re currently doing enough of that type of marketing. Finally, brainstorm to come up with new ways you can sell more to your existing customers. The probability of selling to an existing client is up to 14 times higher than the probability of selling to a new client.

Maintaining a Healthy Work-life Balance

I need to be honest here: I don’t believe attaining work-life balance is possible for small business owners. Well, at least not an equal balance. You may not be able to “turn off work” completely at the end of the day, but there are a few things you can do to keep some sanity in your life (and have a part of your life that doesn’t involve work).

Who or what in your life is most important other than your business? Now think about how you can put that person, people, or passion into your daily life. It might be as simple as setting aside time for dinner with your significant other a few nights a week, reading bedtime stories to your children every night, or having a monthly brunch or golf date with your best friends.

If you’ve got a passion outside your business, like fitness or spirituality, figure out how to make that part of your life every day. For example, meditating in the mornings or going for a run four days a week can help keep your business from completely taking over your life.

Getting Over the Growth Hurdles

Which of these five barriers are hampering the efforts of your accounting firm management and ultimate growth? What tactics have you used to overcome them?

The post Don’t Let Poor Accounting Firm Management Stifle Your Growth appeared first on CorpNet.

There are a number of accounting franchises available, some of which you may have heard of and some you likely haven’t. The decision to start an accounting business on your own or with the support of a franchise system depends on what kind of operation and lifestyle you want to have.

Let me explain further:

As a franchisee for one of the accounting franchises, you pay an initial fee to buy into the system, plus ongoing royalties to a franchisor during the operation of your franchise. In return, you get the right to the use of the franchise’s trademark, ongoing support from the franchisor, and the right to use its proven operational system plus any products or services specific to that franchise. For example, as one of the system’s accounting franchises, you’d most likely be supplied with proprietary software, marketing assistance, ad templates, and more.

Starting from scratch means going about all of that on your own, which is harder but also gives you more freedom. In this post, we’ll look at the pros and cons of buying an accounting franchise.

Pros of Accounting Franchises

According to the Franchise Business Economic Outlook for 2018, the franchise sector grew faster than the overall economy in 2017 and is set to do so again in 2018. The number of franchise establishments increased by 1.6 percent in 2017 and is expected to increase another 1.9 percent in 2018 to 759,000. In addition, franchise employment is forecast to grow 3.7 percent in 2018 and employment in the franchise industry as a whole will continue to outpace economy-wide employment growth. Finally, the economic output from franchise businesses is estimated to increase by 6.2 percent in 2018.

Buying an accounting franchise doesn’t mean you’ll achieve instant business success right immediately. But it can give you a significant head start in terms of the following:

Location: A good franchise company will have already researched market trends and demographics to find potential new locations, which increases your odds of success. Market research is one of the most important tasks a new entrepreneur must do, and buying an accounting franchise in an area with potential for growth can give you an edge that an independent startup doesn’t have. A franchisor may also be able to give you information on your competition in the area and building lease costs.

Financing: While independent small business owners must find their own resources for startup funds (such as family and friends, bank financing, crowdsourcing), franchisees frequently reap the benefits of in-house financing from the franchisor and access to third-party financing from partner resources. Financing helps with startup costs, equipment, inventory, accounts receivable, and payroll.

Proven operational systems: New business owners often make a ton of mistakes during the startup phase. However, as the owner of an accounting franchise, all the kinks have been worked out for you. Daily routine operations have been fine-tuned so you’re getting a proven operating system and the training to keep it running smoothly. Even though you have the skills to be an excellent accountant, you may lack the skills to actually run an office, such as managing human resource issues, obtaining business licenses, and more. Investing in a franchise offers you support in areas you may be weak in.

Brand recognition: No matter how well known you are in your community, as a franchisee you’ll benefit from hanging out your shingle with a recognizable brand name with years of a solid reputation behind the name. For consumers seeking out accounting services, the power of a brand name can help you attract clients you might never have attracted otherwise.

Strength in numbers: Being a part of a franchise system also means you have the power of the franchisor behind you when you’re negotiating terms with partner businesses, buying materials and supplies and more. Other businesses are more likely to trust you as a new business owner when you have a well-known brand name behind you.

Are Accounting Franchises Worth It?

You started your business in order to be your own boss. By buying a franchise, are you giving up control? Not altogether, but you may find some of the rules and restrictions of being a franchisee a drawback.

Fees: First, although most franchises offer help with financing, the fees involved in buying into the system can be hefty. In Item 7 of the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) required by federal and state franchise law‚ states franchisors must disclose the initial investment amount to potential franchisees. The initial investment could be $10,000, $80,000 or more depending on the franchisor, but the amount stated must include:

• The initial franchise fee;
• Training expenses;
• Real property whether purchased or leased;
• Equipment‚ fixtures‚ construction‚ and decorating costs‚ whether purchased or leased;
• Initial inventory;
• Security deposits‚ business licenses‚ and other prepaid expenses; and
• Additional funds required by the franchisee before operations begin and during the initial phase of the franchise business.

In addition, you can expect to pay ongoing franchise fees, an ongoing royalty fee, and an ad royalty fee. Most likely the franchisor will also have minimum requirements for net worth and liquid cash. All of this can be a huge detriment for startup entrepreneurs considering going the franchise route.

Restrictions: If you don’t think you can follow the accounting franchise’s rules, think twice about buying a franchise. Most franchises have strict rules on everything from how customers are greeted to how and where you can publicize your business. If you’re the type to want to forge your own path and make your own decisions, franchising might not be the best route for you.

Do Your Homework

The franchise option is worth investigating if you think you’d like the support and guidance accounting franchises provide. Here are some resources to help:

• International Franchise Association (IFA) Start here with your franchise research. The IFA reports the latest news in franchising, holds events around the country, and provides information on over 1,200 franchises in its online directory. Check out the IFA’s special programs for veteran, women and minority franchisees.
• The Franchise King Joel Libava is a franchise guru, advisor and author of Become a Franchise Owner!: The Start-Up Guide to Lowering Risk, Making Money, and Owning What you Libava also has a website with information about franchising, including a blog, and a franchise quiz to help you determine if franchising is the right path for you.
• Franchisedirect.com Franchises are categorized by industry and by business type on this directory site; you can click directly from FranchiseDirect to request more information.
• SBA’s Introduction to Franchising This self-paced training exercise from the Small Business Administration (SBA) presents an overview of franchising, as well as how to determine if franchising is right for you, and how to choose the right one.

You can’t build a business overnight, so take the time to investigate if investing in accounting franchises are a good fit for you.

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