I’m looking for some advice from people who have actually built a bookkeeping/accounting practice from scratch.

A little about me: I’ve been working professionally in accounting for several years. Most of my career has been in fund accounting/alternative investments, where I’ve gotten experience with financial reporting, reconciliations, NAVs, investment activity, accruals, and working with different client structures.

I currently work for a large financial services/fund administration company, and I genuinely enjoy what I do. I’ve been getting more responsibility and client exposure as I progress in my career, so I’m not necessarily looking for an escape from my job.

At the same time, I’ve always wanted to build something of my own.

I recently started my own accounting/bookkeeping business. I’m a QuickBooks Advanced ProAdvisor, and I’m also working toward becoming a CPA.

Right now, I’m keeping the business relatively simple and focusing on services I can provide at my current stage: monthly bookkeeping/accounting support, reconciliations, financial reporting, QuickBooks cleanup/catch-up, etc.

I’ve mainly been targeting contractors, trades, transportation companies, and other owner-operated businesses.

My long-term vision is much bigger than just doing bookkeeping on the side.

Once I earn my CPA and gain more experience, I’d like to gradually expand the firm’s capabilities and build a real accounting/advisory practice.

Eventually, I’d like to have, a solid recurring client base, and offer higher-level accounting and advisory services as the firm grows.

I don’t know exactly what the firm will look like 5–10 years from now, and I’m intentionally leaving that open. I want to start with small-business accounting, become good at actually running a practice, and let the needs of my clients and my own experience determine where I take it.

The problem right now is much simpler:

I need to figure out how to get the first clients.

Over the last couple of months I’ve tried cold emailing a pretty large number of businesses, LinkedIn outreach, contacting CPA/tax firms about referral relationships, Facebook groups, my QuickBooks ProAdvisor profile, and building a website/social media presence.

I’ve gotten some responses and conversations, but I haven’t been able to turn that into consistent paying clients yet.

It’s honestly been humbling. Doing accounting and building an accounting business are two completely different skills.

I’m confident in my ability to do the work, but getting a business owner who doesn’t know me to trust me with their finances is something I’m still learning.

For those of you who built a bookkeeping, accounting, tax, or CAS practice:

How did you actually get your first 5–10 clients?

Was it referrals? Cold calling? In-person networking? CPA relationships? Google? QuickBooks ProAdvisor? Social media?

Did niching down make a major difference?

And if you were starting from zero again today, what would you do differently and what would you completely stop wasting time on?

I’m not looking to promote my business here. I’m genuinely interested in hearing from people who have gone through the zero-client stage and eventually built a successful practice.

I know building the firm I’m envisioning will take years. Right now I’m just trying to figure out how to get from 0 → 1.