Is Online Bookkeeping a Good Business? A Resource Roundup

Have you been thinking about a career as a virtual bookkeeper? Are you asking yourself, “Is online bookkeeping a good business for me?”

If so, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve collected a variety of resources to help you decide if a work-from-home bookkeeping business could be the anywhere and anytime career you’ve been looking for.

Through our links, you can learn the basics: bookkeeper job description, how bookkeepers can work from home, and how to become a freelance bookkeeper. You’ll get a peek into a day in the life of a virtual bookkeeper.  We also give you resources for topics like starting a bookkeeping business with no experience and how to become a better bookkeeper.

In this article, you’ll get reviews, interviews, supporting articles, and other resources we’ve gathered over years of blogging.

A First Look at Online Bookkeeping

We start with a general description of bookkeeping from Indeed. Does this work sound like a great fit for you? Are you considering starting a virtual bookkeeping business from home? If so, you're probably wondering: is bookkeeping a good career choice?

Bookkeeping can provide income that can range from $33,000/year for beginners to $125,000/year, with an average of over $60,000/year, according to Glassdoor.

But are virtual bookkeepers in high demand? This article from I’ve Tried That explores a variety of places you can find jobs for your bookkeeping service.

What if you’d love to become a bookkeeper, but your finances or life don’t have space for you to go to college to learn the skills you need? We’ve got an article on the cost benefits of a college education vs. online courses such as Bookkeeper Launch. You can read our article here, along with tuition fees at a college teaching accounting.

Ready to learn? Great! Let’s dive in!

Is Online Bookkeeping a Good Business? What the Experts Say

CPA Ben Robinson started Bookkeeper Business Launch because he found that bookkeepers with a college education needed retraining before they could perform well for his company. As of this writing, the course now known as Bookkeeper Launch has helped over 15,000 students begin their careers as virtual bookkeepers ready to thrive. In our interview with Ben, he talks about how to become a bookkeeper even if you have no experience – and why you might want to.

Here’s a breakdown of potential profit margins for a bookkeeper business, to give you a sense of what your income and expenses might look like as a virtual bookkeeper.

We also interviewed Justin Boynton, the owner of virtual bookkeeping agency Watch My Green, about how providing virtual bookkeeping services allows him to fit his work around his family life, and not the other way around. 

Why Do We Recommend Bookkeeper Launch?

Here at Anywhere and Anytime Careers, we highly recommend the Bookkeeper Launch course. AAC owner Robin Mc Carroll has been following Ben Robinson’s progress with this ever-evolving course since the first version. Here are her thoughts about what makes Ben and his courses so special. 

But you don’t just need to take Robin’s word for it. We’ve done several in-depth reviews of Bookkeeper Launch over the years. In our most recent review, you'll find:

• an overview of the course and its focus
• an evaluation of the course delivery methods
• a breakdown of the lesson structure
• types of people Bookkeeper Launch is for
• pros and cons of the course
• the strong support system it provides
• pricing structure
• and more

It’s a great way to get to know more about the course without investing any money up-front.

Since early on, graduates of Bookkeeper Launch (previously  called Bookkeeper Business Academy's Bookkeeper Business Blueprint and then  Bookkeeper Business Launch) have credited the course for their success. They say it gives them all the information they need to learn how to become a successful a virtual bookkeeper working from home. This interview with virtual bookkeeper Callie Sitek is just one  of many examples.

A Day in the Life of a Virtual Bookkeeper

So what’s it really like as someone doing bookkeeping working from home? Can you become a stay-at-home mom bookkeeper?

Only you can decide for sure, because you’re the only one who knows the exact circumstances of your life. But you can also do bookkeeping jobs around other things, like childcare, and family time. As long as you finish the work on time, you can do it a few minutes or hours at a time, whenever it fits into the rest of your life. This makes it ideal for parents who want to prioritize their families. In fact, Ben Robinson designed his entire approach around just that – having the number and type of clients you love, so you can live a happy life in all areas.

Want a better idea of how life and a bookkeeping business can play nicely together? Here’s an episode of Ben’s I Love Bookkeeping podcast on balancing work and life.

We’ve also conducted a number of interviews with Bookkeeper Launch graduates who shared about their day-to-day lives:

• Making a Major Life Change to Work from Home: Randy Ballen discusses the perks, challenges, and finances of being a work-from-home virtual bookkeeper. 
• How Does Virtual Bookkeeping Work?: Jackie Snaza talks freedom, flexibility, focus, and dedication – all essential parts of her work-from-home virtual bookkeeping life. 
• Looking for a Stay-At-Home Dad Job? Justin Boynton shares an update on his life as a work-from-home dad and owner of a virtual bookkeeping agency.

Is Online Bookkeeping a Good Business for You and Your Life?

While it’s true that only you can say for sure, there are some ways to tell whether a life as a virtual bookkeeper would be a good choice for you.

Ben Robinson has discovered some skills and personality traits in all the great bookkeepers he’s trained. We share an early version of these in our article, 9 Signs You Would Make a Great Virtual Bookkeeper. Since then, Ben has refined the list.

If all of these sound like you, a virtual bookkeeping business might be a perfect fit.

Still have questions? Why Remote Bookkeeping is One of the Best Work-From-Home Careers outlines some of the benefits of being a virtual bookkeeper.

More, becoming an online bookkeeper can lead to other options. For example, we interviewed Kim Erick, a Bookkeeper Launch graduate who leveraged her bookkeeping skills to support her pivot to tax consulting through Ben Robinson’s sister course, TaxBiz.

Is Bookkeepers.com Legit?

If you’re going to invest your money and effort into something, it makes sense that you want to know it’s legitimate. Bookkeepers.com, the parent company of Bookkeeper Launch, has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau – their highest possible rating.

Part of the reason for this could be that Ben Robinson has never wanted just anyone to enroll in the course. An introductory video series explains how virtual bookkeeping works, what you can expect, what traits are the most important, and more. Potential students are encouraged to watch them first.

There’s also a 30-day, no-questions-asked, 100% refund guarantee. So if you purchase the course, get started, and realize it’s just not for you, you can bow out without consequences.

Bookkeeper Launch also provides its students exceptional support. There are mentors ready to help, and a private support group right within the course platform. You’ll find additional presentations, workshops, and office hours. It’s also a gathering place for fellow students and graduates willing to share what they’ve learned along the way. Ben calls it “The Family,” and the graduates we’ve spoken to definitely see it that way, too.

We at Anywhere and Anytime Careers have watched Bookkeeper Launch from its first days. We’ve reviewed it multiple times, so you can read back and see how it’s grown over time. One of the things Ben Robinson and his team do best is listen to feedback from students and use that to improve the course.

Our first review of of Bookkeeper Launch dated all the way back to when it was Bookkeeper Business Academy's Bookkeeper Business Blueprint. We updated this review several times as the course changed. Eventually, we needed to write a completely new review because there were so many advances. And now we've updated that review several times, too!

Interviews and Reviews with Bookkeeper Launch Graduates

• Work-from-home mom and Bookkeeper Business Launch grad Amy McLaughry reviewed the course for us.
• In Bookkeeping as a Virtual Business, Callie chats with us six months into her career. She’s already certain that the course helped her get her bookkeeping biz launched successfully.
• Holly Ferris also credited Bookkeeper Business Launch with preparing her for “bookkeeping in the real world.”

Conclusion: Is Online Bookkeeping a Good Business?

It helps to possess certain traits, and you’ll need to be willing to work hard to learn the needed skills and build your business. Virtual bookkeeping is in high demand, but it’s not a “get-rich-quick” scheme of a career.

Getting the right training is important, and that’s where Bookkeeper Launch can come in in. This is comprehensive training that will take you from total beginner all the way through building and marketing your new business.

Tuition goes up this summer, so, if you’re considering Bookkeeper Launch, now is a great time to act.

In conclusion: For the right person willing to invest the time and energy to get the training they need to succeed, the answer to the question, “Is online bookkeeping a good business?” can be a solid yes.

Is online bookkeeping a good business for you? We’d love to hear from you! Drop comments or questions below!