Sales and Marketing. A General List of Businesses that relate to your services. Other resources.

Other resources

Look in the newspaper for Part Time Bookkeeping. You can submit a letter along with
a resume to the company searching for a bookkeeper, explaining how they can save on
Workers Compensation. Federal and State Taxes, and get the high quality of work
from a "Professional." Think of the breakdown this way. When a small business
owner hires an employee, it comes with baggage such as Workers Сотр.
Unemployment and Payroll Taxes that they must deal with, as well as an employee's
state of mind. This is not always in the best interest of the employer. When you hire a
"Sub-Contractor." they have a different state of mind because the Sub-Contractor
owns their company. They arc the reason why they may or may not eat next week.
Which means more productive work for the Small Business Owner. The selfemployed
individual (you) is much more capable of wanting to do the j ob compared to
an employee who expects to get paid because they show up. The other expectation is that a professional who does this ever)- day for a half dozen other clients is more
proficient and won t take as long as an employee who will always try to milk the time
clock. So in all actuality, when you have a bookkeeper who works part-time. 20 hours
per week, they have in their mentality that the 20 hours per week has to be met
because at $10 to $15 per hour they can't afford any minute less. So they will make
the j ob take a long time. When you go in to your client's office, you look at the pile of
papers and say with a more realistic analysis that it should only take you 10 hours to
complete because you don't need to make the j ob last long. So for Mr. Small Business
Owner, that 20-hour per week j ob at $15 per hour costs him $300 per week in wages,
plus 7.65% in FICA/Medicare. plus 3.4% in State Unemployment (depending on your
state). .08% in Federal Unemployment, and another 1.5% in Workers Compensation.
That $300-per-week employee realistically costs the Small Business Owner $340 per
week. You come in and can get the j ob done in 10 hours, alleviating Workers Сотр.
Unemployment. FICA/Medicare and company politics. You're more professional, you
want the client and will service them better, so your bill is only $250 per week ($25
per hour x 10 hours). You're already saving the client $115 per week. Explaining that
to a potential client in simplified terms will get more of a response and a greater
possibility of landing a new client.

Place advertisements in your local newspaper and employment newspapers. If
someone is going through an audit, you could place an ad regarding your abilities to
organize and compile financial statements for Audits. Make sure that you inform the
client when they call that you can correspond with the Auditor: however you are not
allowed to be present at a trial because you are not a CPA or an Enrolled Agent, unless
otherwise required to testify by the IRS. Also place your other services in the ad as
well. Never put your prices in the ad! Let the client meet you even if it's over the
phone, so you can build a comfort zone.

Look in the local newspaper for Fictitious Business Names posted. A lot of times,
those arc new businesses just starting out. You'll be amazed afier reviewing that
section of the newspaper, which one of your contacts calls you with a referral from
one of the businesses listed.

The State Board of Equalization (Sales Tax in your state) sells a list of new businesses
that have just applied for a Sales Tax Identification number. Contact your State Office
to find out how you can purchase that list of new business names. This list will be
fresher than any other new business list you could purchase, and the deliverability
rate will be much better. Not all states offer this list.

If you decide that you want to go "door to door" so to speak, be advised that people
donll like solicitors. It is completely different when you are referred to a potential
client than if you just came in off the street. I can't stand solicitors! It's the hardest
thing that I have to deal with in terms of my phone manners. 1 try to keep in mind
that my contacts are solicitors, and they are doing the hardest j o b f o r me.
They're getting their foot in the door, which could potentially bring me business as
well. I guess my main setbacks are telephone solicitors who call you when you're
finally sitting down to dinner with your family whom you haven't seen all day. Try to
present yourself as UN-solicited as possible. If you call them, try to give them helpful
information or resources, especially if they are a new business just starting out. I
think that creating your own list of prospects is the hardest way to generate clients.
But if it comes naturally to you. run with it!