Small business bookkeeper - Helping clients escape QuickBooks prison

General
1

Hey Beancount community! Bob here, bookkeeper serving 50+ small businesses across various industries.

My mission: liberating small businesses from expensive, restrictive accounting software.

Client transformations:

  • Restaurant with 3 locations (inventory tracking nightmare → streamlined)
  • Construction company (job costing chaos → crystal clear)
  • E-commerce startup (multi-channel sales → unified view)
  • Medical practice (insurance complexity → automated)
  • Consulting firm (project profitability → transparent)

Small business wins with Beancount:

  • Monthly fees: $200/month → $0
  • Setup time: 2 weeks → 2 days
  • Report generation: 4 hours → 10 minutes
  • Year-end prep: 3 days → 3 hours
  • Data ownership: locked in → fully portable

Services I provide:

  • Migration consulting
  • Custom automation scripts
  • Monthly financial packages
  • Tax preparation support
  • Cash flow forecasting

The biggest challenge? Convincing business owners that simple can be better than feature-bloated.

What resonates: “You own your data, not the software company.”

Any other bookkeepers here making the switch? How do you handle client education?

2

Welcome Bob! Tax specialist here. Love your “data ownership” message - so true! Your restaurant inventory tracking solution would help my food service clients. How do you handle FIFO/LIFO in Beancount?

3

Hi Bob! Fellow accounting professional. Your client transformation stories are amazing! The construction job costing solution sounds perfect for my contractor clients. Any templates you can share?

4

Welcome Bob! The cost savings are compelling. I help mid-size companies and the “simple can be better” message is hard to sell to CFOs used to enterprise software. What’s your most convincing client case study?