How Arielle Grew Fix My Books into a 5-Figure Per Month Bookkeeping Firm from Scratch
Arielle Alipio immigrated to Canada, from Hong Kong, with her husband while changing careers from HR to bookkeeping. After working for minimum wage for another firm, she set off on her own and now runs a five-figure monthly income that employs three bookkeepers.
Learn how Arielle:
Applied for more than 200 jobs on freelance websites before landing her first client
Scaled past 15 clients thanks to Client Hub’s all-in-one practice management solution
Grew quickly and now has a waitlist without spending a penny on advertising
From Immigrant to Employee to Business Owner
“I think I was around 15 clients, and I don't know if I could have grown as fast if I didn't have Client Hub.”
After immigrating to Canada due to unrest back home, Arielle needed to find a new career. So she got a job as a bookkeeper at a CPA firm working for minimum wage. When the pandemic required Arielle to work from home, she decided she could build her own business there, too.
She began by applying for bookkeeping jobs on freelance sites, like Upwork, but nothing happened. That is, until her 217th submission, when someone took the risk, loved her work, and gave her a good review.
That one review kept growing until Arielle had around 15 loyal clients, which is when new challenges developed.
A few may sound familiar to you:
Too many apps left the possibility for things to slip through the cracks
Having to double-check the work of employees constantly
Manual follow-ups via email and Slack to get what she needed from clients
Security concerns due to unsecure communication channels such as email
How Client Hub Helped Scale the Bookkeeping Business
“Client Hub was one of the things that really helped me scale and be successful.”
It takes organization to manage the work of 3 bookkeepers. Arielle uses Client Hub to manage workflow, assign client tasks, and quickly see the status of every project in her business.
A few of the many benefits her firm sees by using Client Hub include:
Fewer tools: No more hunting searching through an email inbox; everything needed is in the same secure, easy-to-find platform.
A secure place to communicate: Financial documents are sensitive, and emailing them doesn’t always sit well with clients (or with Arielle). Client Hub provides a secure portal for you and your clients to share documents and ask and answer questions.
Client tasks on the go: Business owners often find themselves “in the field” and don’t have time to get behind their desk to send you what they need. Arielle gets her mobile clients to use the Client Hub app, which keeps their books clean and current.
Expense categories (Arielle’s favorite): Uncategorized expenses are the worst! To ensure every purchase has a home, Arielle assigns uncategorized expenses as tasks to clients in Client Hub, prompting them to label those expenditures quickly.
Any Advice for Fellow Firm Owners?
“My advice is to find a niche, find something that you really, really like to do… having a niche lets you charge more because you're an expert in something. Also, it will simplify your workflow. If you have the same type of class, you know the process, back to front, and it's very easy to spot mistakes.”
The Future Looks Bright
Now that she’s got a system that can scale to handle many more clients, Arielle is focusing on building her brand Fix My Books through search engine optimization (SEO) and her successful YouTube channel, which teaches bookkeeping basics to business owners.
Arielle’s firm currently has a waitlist of potential clients. But she’s unwilling to sacrifice quality for quantity and wants to do things right. As Arielle adds to her team and continues to take advantage of Client Hub, her bookkeeping business is sure to keep growing.
Always feel free to contact Fix My Books as we are here to help!