Actually many of my accounting clients came to me from my other business which is practice management for mental health clinicians. Some of them were patients who would ask the “do you know anyone who...” kind of question from their doc.
Two things that I found worked best - small ads in your local neighborhood papers just offering basic services and a free consultation. The other way involves shoe leather - a simple one page brochure and some business cards. Find out the name of the business owner before time and what they do. Cold calls - go back if there appears to be some interest and they don’t say yes the first time. Mailings are a waste of time and money IMO. If you have a land line, you get one free listing in your local business phone book. Lot of people use the web now so a very simple ad might be an option but the people I’ve had call as the result of a web ad were just shopping around and primarily interested in price so I don’t do that any more. Tell everyone you know what you’re doing and ask them for referrals. Not quite sure how to do what they think they want done? It’s just numbers - you’ll figure out how to get it done or think about showing them another way. Some people I do their bank deposits, pay their bills, do their payroll, reconcile their bank account. Others I just do a monthly P&L from their check book and warn them about tax issues, red flags in spending, suggest better places to buy their supplies, etc. Create your own need.
Most small businesses can’t afford a full time accountant at their place of business but maybe with your services they could get by with just a part-time clerk that you could hire and train for them. Found that I had to do a lot of training of business owners as to why they needed to have a P&L that they understood and why they needed a budget and how to prepare one. Just keep everything as simple as possible for them and for you.
I keep all my clients records on my computer and just pick up stuff from their offices. Keeps them from spending money on software that they maybe won’t use - a side benefit to them and then you can work at home on your schedule.
Just think small and simple. The big ones will come. If you have lots of small clients and one leaves, the impact on your receivables isn’t as great.
Probably more than you wanted to know but now you know most everything I know. Good luck.
Thank you so much Grams, your advice helped more than you could know.