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How to get started as a virtual bookkeeper in 7 steps - YouTube
Channel: 5 Minute Bookkeeping
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hi i'm veronica masik and i empower
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virtual bookkeepers to become confident
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professionals and business owners
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are you new to virtual bookkeeping in
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this video i'll go over how to get
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started as a virtual bookkeeper in seven
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steps virtual bookkeeping is a great way
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to be your own boss and make money
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working from home you can work with
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clients anywhere and set your own hours
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but bookkeeping isn't something you just
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decide to do when you make the decision
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to become a bookkeeper you're making the
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choice to become a professional and a
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business owner you have to be willing to
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put in the time and get training to use
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the right tools and become successful as
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a virtual bookkeeper
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let's go over how to get started as a
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virtual bookkeeper in seven steps let's
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start with step number one if you want
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to be a bookkeeper you have to get
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bookkeeper training
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you can give bookkeeper training in a
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few ways number one is on your own
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you can do the accounting coach
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bookkeeper training
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and there's also a new intuit
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certification to get that certification
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you first have to go through the
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training on coursera and get the intuit
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bookkeeping professional certificate and
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then move on to the actual certification
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and that is the intuit certified
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bookkeeping professional certification
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offered by sir deport
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another option is to do what i would
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call a complete training and
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certification program such as bookkeeper
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launch and universal accounting
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these programs will help you from
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beginning to end so they will walk you
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through they will give you all of the
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training all the support that you need
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everything from the technical aspects of
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doing bookkeeping
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to the technology aspects of doing the
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box as well as receiving support from
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the community
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and coaches and trainers
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another option is your local community
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college just take some bookkeeping
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courses from there as well as online
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learning from other online schools
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second step is to get quickbooks online
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training and certification
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so while the bookkeeper training is
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going to help you to get the theory and
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really the rules of doing bookkeeping
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you have to also learn accounting
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software and my software of choice is
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quickbooks online
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with quickbooks online i have been able
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to work with clients all throughout the
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united states as well as throughout the
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world and so really quick books online
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or another program like it is your
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gateway to working with clients
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virtually
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the great thing is that you can get
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training and certification for free
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directly from quickbooks you'll need to
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sign up for a free quickbooks online
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accountant account it will include the
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training as well as the certification so
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don't make the mistake of finding other
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programs in which you'll have to pay you
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can do it all for free from quickbooks
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online accountant
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you can also get free tutorials from my
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own youtube channel five minute
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bookkeeping so make sure that you
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subscribe to my channel so you can get
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all of the latest videos and also go
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through my youtube channel and the
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playlist and then you'll see where i
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have all of the tutorials
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then you can also get
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more in-depth training either from my
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own 5mb academy in which i have free and
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paid training as well as royal wise
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training and royal wise training really
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focuses on helping you dive deeper into
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quickbooks online and learning it inside
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and out and i really highly recommend
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them
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number three the legal staff
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if you're going to be a bookkeeper and
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you're going to do bookkeeping for other
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people you now own a business and so you
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need to come up with a business name
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i would encourage you to just avoid
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overthinking your business name
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initially in fact just start with your
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name and you can always change that
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later i see a lot of people who get
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stuck and who
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they just wait too long they're trying
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to find the name the perfect name
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they're asking people and it's just
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delaying you from getting started
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so just get started don't overthink it
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next is a business license
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check in your local area whether you're
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required to have a business license that
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all depends throughout the united states
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it's different in other parts of the
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world i'm sure it's different as well
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and then you'll need to decide on a
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business structure and here i'm speaking
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about the us because that's what i'm
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familiar with
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you might go for a dba or a doing
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business ass
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and that means that you haven't set up
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your business for legal purposes but
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you're still allowed to do business as a
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name different from your own name
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then you have an llc and that is a
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limited liability company
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this is an option that you can make at a
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state level it does afford you some
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legal protection but i'm not an attorney
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so i encourage you to consult an
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attorney for any additional legal
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structures if you're starting a
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partnership an s corporation in other
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types of legal entities consult an
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attorney as well as a cpa
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and also in the u.s get a tax id this is
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also known as an ein number and you get
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that from the irs
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the reason i encourage you to get an ein
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number is because otherwise you will
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have to use your social security number
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to submit like w9 forms and other types
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of forms and you really don't want to be
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sharing your social security number so
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get an ein number
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then we have banking
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you need to open a business bank account
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if you're not able to open a business
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bank account as an alternative you'll
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need to open a separate personal bank
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account that you will use only for your
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business
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and number four is marketing
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you have to do marketing in order to get
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clients
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start with a domain name you need to get
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a domain name based on your desired
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company name and again as i said don't
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overthink it maybe your domain name just
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needs to be your first and last name
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right now and then get an email address
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so that should be your name at your
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domain name
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avoid using gmail addresses yahoo
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addresses they're not very professional
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and that's just the sign that you're an
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amateur or that you're just getting
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started
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and you want to convey a sense of
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confidence when you're talking to
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prospective clients so that you know
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that you you know you're forming a
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legitimate business
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next you need a headshot make sure that
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you have a nice headshot people want to
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do business with real people and you'll
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be using your headshot a lot throughout
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your social media and if possible when
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you can afford it get a professional
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headshot here's an example of a headshot
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that i did just with my camera i mean it
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looks okay but i mean you see like kind
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of junk in the background
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um you know it just could look a whole
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lot better and then the picture on the
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right is actually in the same room but i
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used my professional camera
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with a a blurred background and i also
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edited the photo to get rid of some
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imperfections which there were a lot but
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as you can see you can do a lot even on
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your own if you're handy with the camera
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and with editing software and if not
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assess it go to a professional
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photographer who can really capture and
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bring out the best in you
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then you'll need to set up your social
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media accounts you'll need a facebook
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page for your business i encourage you
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to also set up an instagram account and
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a linkedin account
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and a lot of people ask do they need a
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website right away well not right away
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and in fact i'm going to advise you just
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to work on it later and that's just so
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that you can keep moving along in your
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journey otherwise you'll get stuck
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you'll overthink your website just work
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on it later
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number five sales so what do we do with
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clients once we
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once we get these clients what do we do
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with them
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at the very minimum you need to have an
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engagement letter you can find a free
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engagement letter template at my free
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virtual bookkeepers toolbox
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and then you'll need to have some idea
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about your pricing
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check out my free pricing strategies for
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bookkeepers and accountants and also my
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simple pricing system these are all
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included in my 5mb academy
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you'll find these at 5mbacademy.com
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a lot of people also worry about what do
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i ask my potential client what questions
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should i ask i'm so nervous and i know i
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was so nervous when i talked to my first
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perspective client but what i learned
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over time that yes there are some
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questions you need to ask about their
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business but the most important thing
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you need to do is that you need to learn
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to listen and stop worrying about you
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know what are you going to say what are
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you going to ask because when you're
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doing that you're not really listening
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to your prospective client
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so just let them tell you what their
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issues are when they tell you things
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then say hey tell me more or why is that
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an issue why is that a problem
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so just get them talking they'll tell
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you everything you need to know so don't
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worry so much about what you will ask
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focus on developing your listening
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skills
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number six workflows how are you going
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to work with virtual clients how are you
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going to deliver your services and work
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efficiently with them when you're
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working virtually
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well it's all about systems and
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workflows as i said you want to work
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officially with virtual clients you need
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to know what documents to get from them
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you need to know how to get those
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documents from them so that they're not
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emailing you a bunch of documents you
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need to know which apps in which
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software to integrate with quickbooks if
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you'll be doing any integrations or
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providing additional services
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and you'll need systems for working with
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virtual clients and delivering services
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check out my 5mb academy at
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5mbacademy.com
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check out my free virtual bookkeepers
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toolbox
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also look for my paid program the
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virtual bookkeepers roadmap and also the
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qbop diagnostic review and there are a
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lot more courses some of them are free
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some are paid so check that out the 5b
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academy is really all about
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helping you to streamline your business
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and work efficiently using proven
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systems and workflows
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and finally you need community and
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support
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one of the things that i struggled with
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when i started my own business was that
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there wasn't a community there really
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weren't any people to talk to or people
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who were doing what i was doing and it
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felt so lonely and i just had so many
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doubts and and i just had to figure
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everything out on my own which was
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really hard and so i decided to build a
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a community on facebook it's called the
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five minute community in which you can
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come and ask questions it's a safe and
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positive place for you to learn from
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others to ask questions of me ask
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questions of the group and learn from
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others who are just like you and who are
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either where you are or who are further
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ahead of you which is really important
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than to learn what others are doing and
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what they have learned along their
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journey
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so how do you get access to all of the
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links and everything that i mentioned in
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this video download my free virtual
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keepers toolbox i've linked that below
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in the description for you if this
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content is helping you then subscribe to
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my channel ring the bell and give me a
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thumbs up and let me know in the
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comments if there are any other topics
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you'd like me to cover in the future i'm
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here to help you i'll see you next time
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