Getting a business off the ground, questions.

So DH and I have been talking for a while now about him starting a bookkeeping business from home. He's qualified, and will finish his B. Business in Accounting at the end of the year. Currently he's not working at all, he's been home taking care of me. So I guess if you have started a small business from home (and especially if it's a bookkeeping business):

What set up costs are involved? Obviously he'll need an ABN, a work space etc (we're making him a study space in the garage that could easily double up), what other start up costs are involved?

Should we talk to a financial advisor or an accountant about this?

How did you establish yourself, find work etc?

On average, how much work can you expect to bring in, both initially when starting up, and then later in when more established. What sort of money does it bring in (I'm thinking not a great deal but that's not an issue).

Anything else you want to add would be awesome. It's something we've been seriously considering him doing for a while, and now with the family situation the way it is, and he's not working at all, we figure why not?

Public liability insurance. It probably won't cost you much since it's hard to think how you might cause damages but I wouldn't operate a business without it.

I've found the best value advertising we have done is Google AdWords. We used all sorts of advertising and Google consistently delivers clients. Depending on whether you want to expand your business SEO is something that you could do that will only cost you time but pays off in that people tend to look at the first few pages of organic results on a search then quit.

I have no idea how much bookkeeping brings in but you could contact a few and ask what they charge.

That's a good idea, on the insurance and contacting bookkeepers to see what they charge, I didn't consider either of those.

PZ, I've looked into this in detail. The Institute of Certified Bookkeepers website has some detailed information on what's required in order to set up a business. There's also a checklist on their website with regard to what you need to do to get started. Have a look on there.

If you have any more specific questions, let me know and I'll be happy to help.

Thanks Jaycee! I'll check that out and most likely will have a load of questions for you lol.

I had my own bookkeeping business back in Melbourne. I found my clients by working with an Accountant who's clients needed bookkeepers. Took a bit of calling around to find an Accountant willing to recommend me. Many have their own in house bookkeepers they send out or had enough contract ones already.

Some work was ongoing, some was just one or two sessions in order to set-up them up in QB or Myob. I found in most cases I worked on site on their computer with their software. If they are tech savvie enough, you can sometime work from home by dialing into their system, especially if most of their paperwork is electronic. So a good net connection is vital.

You can look into preferred provider with QB or MYOB, this can help with the cost of software if you need to provide the package. There are also bookkeeping franchises.

Thanks guys, this is great. DH and I are 90% sure we're going to go ahead, I guess it's just down to nutting things out and setting up.