This is lifted directly from a chat with Peasie in another thread but it's a subject that has a potential to hijack the thread so I've listed it and posted seperately for general thoughts and comments.
Here is the post lifted from the other thread :
The offices question is a cunundrum. Does one get taken seriously either by clients or accountants if one does not have offices?
Conversely can a bookkeepers income justify offices where one is restricted only to the bookkeeping and not allowed to venture into accountants territory.
As you've noticed, the emphasis of the business model that I'm using is process automation rather than the bookkeeping side but it's the bookkeeping side that will hopefully give me the post qualification experience (signed off by qualified accountants) in order to eventually get my ACCA practice certificate.
Therefore it shouldn't really be regarded as a bookkeeping practice but rather the gestation period of an accountancy practice... Similar I suppose to the link between a catapilla and a butterfly... Or in my case Moth!
One idea that I'm toying with to pad out the office is rent a desk for local qualified bookkeepers so they run their own practice from my premises but to clients it looks as though my practice is larger than it really is.
The issue that I can see with that though is an office full of people all thinking that they are the boss and pulling in different directions with different sets of values. That aside I don't think that a collective of bookkeepers is actually that bad an idea espechially if they are willing to subvert their own practices under a common banner (mine).
On the question of identifying the offices, the offices would not be the registered office of the business but, when I do get the offices I will put the address and pic on the website. At the moment I'm back in negotiations over a turnkey agreement for 400 sq. ft of office with toilets, kitchen and meeting room. I'm thinking good for about 6 to 8 people but I'm only looking at two direct employee's which is where rent a desk comes into play.
What are your thoughts?
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I can see the merits in this idea. It wouldn't work with me. Just going by an incident about 10 minutes ago. I'm doing mock (paper) exams over the weekend and I will be doing a mock (online) exam on Monday. I couldn't get a balance sheet to balance. I knew I was £650 out - I could even see where the £650 was but it just wasn't making any sense to me. The problem I think was my calculator. The buttons are sticking. I was insisting on the calculator as my mental arithmetic was letting me down. All of my mistakes have been stupid things that wouldn't happen if I was using a spreadsheet which I'm more used to than a calculator. Anyways, I'm rambling again. The reason I mention this, as I was on my own and shouting and swearing at the calculator. I was all for throwing it out the window - but the window was closed and it's getting on a Friday afternoon so I'd end up having to pay overtime rates for a glazier or joiner.
It wouldn't be fair on the other people in an office in they were quietly working away and suddenly they are hit on the back of the head by a calculator launched by an angry Peasie.
I could see a bookkeeper that wanted to work only with small businesses using it as they wouldn't be bothering about looking large but other bookkeepers might worry about what their clients thought if they turned up at the office and saw someone elses name on the door.
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Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
Taking the need for an office question first, I think this ties in well with another questing today about giving the impression that you are bigger than you are.
I think it's a chicken and egg question myself. I can see that having an office, especially within a town centre, could get you lots of extra trade you would not otherwise have got through people passing and noticing you, so theoretically anyway, the office should pay for itself. But I think there is a fear, I certainly have it, that it might take longer to get to this position that you can reasonably afford. So you need the office to get the clients and need the clients to afford the office.
On the face of it what you are offering is the perfect solution. However, that said, I don't think I would share office space with another bookkeeper, especially if we are all competing for the same clients. I would share an office with an estate agent, or even an accountant if we could clearly define who gets what work.
the catch 22 situation inherent in this scenario is a real mind bender.
On the bright side I've got some properties to view next week. One that's £350 per month for 242 sq ft and another at £540 which has two offices adding up to 376 sq, ft. Both are full service everything inclusive. The larger one also includes new furniture so it's just bring your own staff and computers.
So, the question here is, how much are your premises worth in terms of advertising and increased credibility. If more than the rental then they pay for themselves. If less than the rental then your better off running your business from a back bedroom.
There is no way that sucess or failure of this approach could be judged over just 3 months so to go down this path would, to my estimate mean commiting myself to a years experiment which could prove to be either a sucess or a costly mistake.
The area that I'm looking at has a lot of competition and one of the offices is actually an old chartered accountancy practice offices that I would be taking over which I hope would do a bit of it's own advertising.
I think that the rent a desk idea whilst good comes with a lot of inherent problems if you team up with the wrong bookkeepers and may even end up having a detrimental effect on your business. Maybe that idea is actually a non starter in an open office scenario.
On a side note here, have you ever noticed that people in our business when walking down a high street are the one's who look up at the businesses above the shops!
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I don't think there is any doubt that you will make your money back. It's just how long till that happens. I looked at it before, but having 2 young kids I couldn't commit to proper office hours, which would mean closing the office here and there (no good) or employing someone to deal with reception and telephones.
I just don't have the cash right now, but to listen to Bob from Crunchers (actually, anyone heard from bob recently) if you don't start with big mentality you're doomed to be ever small, so take the risk.
I'm happy right now with my office in the Garden, and by the time my boys are both at school I'll have my HND and on my way to my degree in Accounts and hopefully be ready to take that step.
Who knows, Peasie, we could open an office together in Irvine and carve up Ayrshire between us? (but with seperate smaller offices incase that calculator of yours grows wings)
Don't fancy driving 20 miles there and then back each day. I wouldn't mind travelling that distance to meet a client as I could claim the miles at 45p per mile but travelling to an office I couldn't claim.
As for the "if you don't start with big mentality" - am I in a minority of 1 that has no great desire to become big?
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Never buy black socks from a normal shop. They shaft you every time.
Honestly, right now, no. All I want right now is enough clients to mean I can work 20 hours a week and have a decent life, spending time with my boys. When they get older I might want more.
The way that I am if it wasn't for single parenting I would be benchmarking my progress against KPMG or PWC as I do suffer a little with the complex that if your not growing then you're going backwards.
As far as I can see a couple of good quality staff trained to do things the way that I want is going to be the key to getting the work / life balance right and getting the business off the ground as I am still intending to be dropping my boy off at school and picking him up everyday which is much better than being a consultant in banking as banks feel that when you are on contract with them every hour belongs to them.
One thing that I have got to get away from is attempting to do everything myself.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
I think this is a difficult thing for me to Shaun. I have a fear of delegating, I always worry that people will mess it up and I'll need to do it again myself anyway. Like you, this is something I will need to overcome.
Shamus wrote:..which is much better than being a consultant in banking as banks feel that when you are on contract with them every hour belongs to them.
You may find your clients think this way instead? One thing I've found is every client thinks they're your only client and their problem is the only thing you have to deal with.
To some degree it's an understandable point of view but it can be a headache to manage.
In repect of having an office it is a real dilemma. Working from home has a real impact on work / life balance. Paperwork is accessible and there's only something on your mind that's "needs" doing.
On the other hand having an office mightn't work if you don't have staff because you can spend so much time on clients premises. At the moment I probably work from home one day a week plus large parts of the weekends.
I'd love to hear from people who think they've got the balance right and how the do it?
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Tony
Responses are intended as outline only. Formal advice should be sort from your Institutes Technical Department or a suitably qualified Accountant.
