Meet Dave

“I WANTED TO BUILD A BUSINESS AROUND MY LIFESTYLE…”

Dave was self-employed his entire career.

Then, in 2015, Dave got some of the worst news of his life.

He was diagnosed with cancer.

This forced Dave to stop working for over a year and a half, as he focused all of his energies on his battle to survive.

After winning his battle, Dave decided he wanted to start a new business.

Only this time, he wanted a business that would allow him to focus on his biggest priority: a comfortable life where he and his wife could spend as much time as possible with their family.

As Dave said:

“We have a son, daughter-in-law, and a 1.5-year-old granddaughter who is a huge joy in our lives. We knew if we built a business correctly, we’d have times to do things with them.”

Dave shares his struggle before joining Bookkeeper Business Launch

*Disclaimer: These results are not typical and you may or may not achieve the same results. Success in a bookkeeping business depends on your willingness to put in effort, your attention to detail, and various other factors.

"I NEEDED CONSISTENT INCOME..."

Dave initially decided to try real estate investing. Despite his concerns of becoming trapped in the “feast or famine” cycle, he felt it would be a good fit. Unfortunately, after some expensive failures early on, he decided that it wasn’t the right direction for him to pursue.

Still, Dave wasn’t ready to give up. One day he was chatting with a friend in the real estate investing business. They were discussing potential options for Dave’s new business venture that would allow Dave to accomplish his goals.

That’s when Dave mentioned how his wife Laurie knew bookkeeping. His friend explained how incredibly valuable a good bookkeeper was to a real estate investor and urged Dave to look further into providing a bookkeeping service.

After some discussion, Dave and Laurie decided to go into business together.

The deal was simple… Laurie, would handle the bookkeeping and Dave, who was the “people person”, would handle marketing, sales, and the business side of things.

That’s when Dave first noticed an ad for Bookkeeper Business Launch on their Facebook page.

Dave and Laurie decided to join the program together, after they agreed that they wanted to follow a proven path to build their successful bookkeeping business. From everything they saw, Bookkeeper Business Launch seemed like just the thing:

“It was the first time I joined a course like this. But I had spent that much money on crazier things. And Ben clearly had a system that worked.”

"WE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO GET CLIENTS..."

When they were first getting started, Dave’s biggest fear was getting clients.

One of the first lessons Dave learned in the course was the importance of “picking a niche,” or figuring out a specific type of client to work with. Dave realized this was would be a great way to get the right prospects to immediately want to work with him. And he also realized it would make it much easier for people to refer clients to him.

For Dave, his niche was obvious after his conversation with his friend. He wanted to work with real estate investors.

However, there was a big problem. There weren’t many real estate investors in his area.

Fortunately, Bookkeeper Business Launch taught Dave how to make his business “virtual” — where he could work with people from anywhere, something Dave didn’t even realize was possible.

That’s when Dave discovered how he and Laurie could connect with potential clients all over the country, using services like LinkedIn

Following the steps inside Bookkeeper Business Launch, Dave and Laurie got their first client within four months of joining the program.

And because they had focused on a specific niche their first client recommended them to other real estate investors.

Before they knew it, their business began to grow, with the clients starting to rolling in…

“Ben opened our eyes to how to do this virtually. He showed us how to put the business online, do the marketing, and how to speak to and onboard a client”.

Dave shares how he got his first five clients

"WE WEREN'T TECH SAVVY…"

Unfortunately, not everything was so easy and simple.

Running a virtual business was a new concept for Dave and Laurie, and they didn’t consider themselves “tech savvy.” Neither of them really used social media, and the only reason they even had a Facebook account was to see pictures of their children’s lives.

Still, they soon discovered a simple way to use Facebook to grow their business after one of Dave’s clients invited him into private a few Facebook groups just for real estate investors.

It was there, in this “digital meeting space,” that Dave began to answer bookkeeping related questions and started to give advice when he could.

This strategy of giving helpful advice in Facebook groups, combined with the referrals from clients because Laurie was doing such great work, meant their business really started to take-off.

“Our business exploded. We went from 2 clients to 40 in 16 months. And we think we can double our business this year.”

Dave and Laurie’s website, : reibookkeepers.com

Dave shares how he went from 2 to 40 clients in 2018

"WE HIT SIX FIGURES AND PLAN TO DOUBLE IT…"

Having a niche allowed Dave to get clients in unexpected ways.

For example, Dave was invited to be a guest on one of the top real estate podcasts in the country. Even though Dave didn’t know what a podcast was at the time, his helpful content led to a bunch of people emailing him, asking to hire his company.

Another one of David’s clients gave a talk at a real estate investing summit, where he shared how working with David’s company led to such well organized financial records banks were willing to give him bigger loans.

That meant this client was able to make a lot more money to do bigger and better deals.

That talk alone send a stampede of new clients in Dave and Laurie’s direction, without Dave having to do any proactive marketing at all!

The biggest contributor to their success was the amazing service that Dave and Laurie were providing. And it all meant that their business was making more than $100,000 per year within 16 months of joining Bookkeeper Business Launch.

“One year after taking on our first client we hit 6-figures. We have so few expenses that 90% of what we make is profit.”

Dave shares the moment his business hit 6-figures

"WE DO WHAT WE WANT WHENEVER WE WANT..."

Despite their rapid growth, Dave and Laurie haven’t increased their work hours, with each of them putting in about 40 hours a week.

If they want to take an afternoon or full day off, they do… guilt free!

Dave explained that this ability to grow their business without working excessive hours was possible because of two things inside of the program.

First, Bookkeeper Business Launch taught them how to run a business on their terms, meaning they rarely have to rush or drop everything to please a client.

“This isn’t neurosurgery. Nothing in this business is terribly difficult or has to be done immediately. If a client has a problem, it can wait.”

Second, the course taught Dave and Laurie how to automate large sections of their business.

For example, they learned ways to systemize the bookkeeping so they could do it faster. And they followed the steps to deliver proposals and onboard clients. So they can take on new customers quickly.

As a result, they now serve 40 clients, all in the same amount of time it used to take them to help one.

“Ben taught us to automate as much as possible. We’re more efficient so we can get things done much easier and faster than we used to.”

One of David’s proposals to a client.

Dave explains how they took on 40 clients without working more hours.

"IT'S THE LIFESTYLE WE WERE LOOKING FOR…"

Dave and Laurie are on track to double their business this year.

And their main focus is to increase their income without working more hours.

Right now they find themselves in a situation where money doesn’t matter as much as their lifestyle, and they want to keep it that way.

“If my son calls and asks me to pick my granddaughter up from daycare I say “yes” and close my computer… We have the lifestyle we were looking for.”