We recently connected with Jacqueline Valdez and have shared our conversation below.
Jacqueline, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
I’ve had about 6 years of experience doing accounting for a painting company prior to the job I had at the time. The current job I had was doing bookeeping related tasks including managing Quickbooks for a produce company. Although I am extremely grateful for the job opportunities I’ve had, I was not happy. I found myself just putting in the required hours, constantly looking at the time waiting for it to be time to leave. I realized all my jobs had one thing in common, and that was my work would be completed in the first few hours of the day and the rest of the day I would spend it killing time. I knew the work I was doing was important, but I always felt like I could do so much more. It all started with a $5 ad I posted on Craigslist offering Bookkeeping Services. I obtained my first two clients from there. I looked up in Indeed companies that were looking for a bookkeeper and although many had full time employee requirements, I still reached out. I was able to get an interview with this third client and that’s when I put my two weeks notice to the current job I had. I quickly realized the services I have to offer bring a lot of value to business owners. My background experience in construction accounting also gave a lot of my clients the piece of mind they needed to help their business. What was most exciting about this idea to me is that now instead of helping one business owner for 3 hours and wasting 5 in a day I could help 2 or 3 business owners per day with zero hours wasted.
Jacqueline, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I have been doing accounting for about 9 years now. I have an associates degree in accounting but I really learned most of what I know today working as a project accountant for a painting company. There I learned all about project accounting, prevailing wage projects and the software Quickbooks Desktop. I later took on another job for a produce company where I learned about bookkeeping for companies with large quantities of items. Once I decided to go on my own I took a course to learn all the tricks for Quickbooks Online and get more knowledge under my belt. I also became a Notary Public. One of the reasons why I feel I am successful today is because my clients can feel I care about their business. My approach when first meeting a new client is to learn about their business, the current practices they already have in place, and ask questions about what their business needs and goals they may have. Every single business is run differently so what works for one might not work for another. Each business I work with I start off with taking high priority tasks off of their hands so the business owners can focus on other aspects of their business. My goal is for business owners to have the piece of mind that the bookkeeping aspect of their business is being taken care of and is one less worry for them. I also give my clients the option to tell me how much they’d like me to help with. I offer services like handling the day to day bookkeeping tasks, accounts payable and receivable, notary services, invoicing, communicating directly with their clients and so on.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Most of my new clients are coming from referrals. I used to believe that marketing is the best way to obtain clients but although I try I am not too creative when it comes to social media. After having my business for a few years I realized that the best thing anyone can do really is strive to be the best at whatever it is you do. In my case I can say I consider myself responsible and always come through for my clients, I make sure every client I take on I can make the deadlines or whatever we agree to. Without realizing it, I have made connections with not only my clients but also their vendors / customers whom all get a chance to see my work ethic. Thanks to this I have been referred multiple times and obtained new clients. It is a beautiful feeling when someone comes to you requesting your services because they already know the value that you bring.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
My advice is to be professional, direct and honest at all times and maintain boundaries. When you become a business owners it’s really easy to fall into the trap of saying yes to every client, every job, every employee. I found myself doing more than bookkeeping for some clients and not knowing how to say no. I realized I had to teach some of my clients about bookkeeping first and be very clear about what services I provide and what I don’t. I also realized I had to be clear about my work schedule and available times to avoid confusion. Communicating very clearly at the beginning of a business relationship and setting expectations has helped maintain a good working partnership where I appreciate my clients and they appreciate what I do,
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bkbyalliance.com
- Instagram: Bkbyalliance
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/jacqueline-valdez
Image Credits
Meredith Castillo