The First 90 Days: Marketing Before Momentum
Building visibility, trust, and structure before results ever showed up
How to Get Bookkeeping Clients: What Worked Before Anything Looked Successful
If you are wondering how to get bookkeeping clients without spending thousands on ads, courses, or marketing hacks, this is for you. This is a behind-the-scenes look at how I built my first two clients through intentional marketing, repetition, and confidence long before momentum ever showed up.
I recently shared in a bookkeepers Facebook group how I signed nine clients in my first year of business. The most common question that followed was simple and honest: What are you doing to get clients?
I remember asking the same question at the beginning.
Here is the truth most people do not want to hear. There is no single strategy that works in this industry. No magic post. No perfect funnel. No overnight win.
The clients came because of what I was quietly building before anyone was watching.
This was never about making sales. It was about preparation, repetition, and confidence before visibility ever caught up.
Using Marketing Templates as a Bookkeeper Without Blending In
Like most people starting today, I went straight to social media.
I burned myself out posting because social media was what I consumed personally, so it felt like the obvious place to start. Then the algorithm did what it does best. Once it realized I was starting a bookkeeping business, my feed turned into endless ads for $1,000 courses and $700 checklists promising to fix everything.
After spending ten years as the sole bookkeeper for a multi-million dollar company, those price points shocked me.
That is when I found The Social Accountant, which offers monthly Canva templates designed specifically for bookkeepers and accountants. Each month includes posts, reels, blogs or newsletters, story ideas, and general inspiration.
For me, it was a low-barrier entry point. I had just come off nearly two years away from social media and honestly had no idea where to begin. The monthly cost felt reasonable, and it gave me structure while I learned Canva and found my footing.
What became clear pretty quickly, though, was that almost every other bookkeeper was using the same templates or something very similar.
I do not blame anyone for that. Templates are helpful. But it forced me to ask a different question. How do you stand out as a bookkeeper when everyone is posting the same content?
That is when I stopped treating templates as finished content and started using them as starting points.
Every month, I would scan the templates, select the ideas that aligned with my brand, and then repurpose them. Instagram posts became reels. Captions became newsletter topics. Blogs became Pinterest pins. Nothing stayed in its original form.
My favorite part of The Social Accountant is their monthly client newsletter. It is short, clear, and genuinely useful. It communicates important tax information and deadlines without overwhelming clients, which is harder to do than it sounds.
Bookkeeping content can feel heavy to the average person scrolling for entertainment. Using templates as inspiration helped me stay consistent without feeling repetitive or stale.
The Foundation I Built Before Clients Showed Up
Before clients ever reached out, I focused on building a professional foundation behind the scenes.
That included creating bookkeeping websites that clearly explained what I do, who I help, and how someone could take the next step if they were ready. Not flashy. Not complicated. Just clear, intentional, and trustworthy.
When people clicked through from a post or a shared link, they didn’t land on a placeholder. They landed on something that reflected how I wanted to show up as a professional.
As I built my own website and systems, I realized how much time new bookkeepers spend trying to piece things together from scratch.
What took me months of trial, error, and refinement was not about design. It was about clarity. Clear messaging. Clear structure. Clear next steps.
The bookkeeping website templates I now offer are a reflection of that process. They are not meant to make you look flashy or overproduced. They are meant to help you show up professionally before momentum shows up.
Each template is built to give you a clean foundation so when someone clicks through, they immediately understand what you do, who you help, and how to take the next step when they are ready.
This is the same quiet preparation that supported my first clients long before growth felt visible.
And if these templates don’t call to you or your brand, you can always edit them to reflect what is yours while keeping the foundation in place. You can learn more here.
Bookkeeping Marketing Does Not End Where You Post
People go to social platforms to be entertained, not educated on bookkeeping. It is great for building awareness and connecting with other business owners, not necessarily to go viral. The posts that mattered most were the ones where I showed my face or shared longer-form thoughts through newsletters like The Weekly Ledger.
Those were the pieces I reshared to my personal profiles.
The reason was simple. I already had an audience there. These were people who had known me at different points in my life. They might not have been close friends, but they knew I was trustworthy and credible.
You would be surprised how many people in your extended network quietly need your services.
Tapping into your personal network is real marketing, whether it feels like it or not.
Relationships compound. Support spreads. And sometimes the person who shares your post is the bridge to your first client.
Networking as a Bookkeeper After Working Solo
Social media is just one form of connection.
Finances are personal, and most business owners are not eager to hand over their books to someone they do not know. Many are embarrassed by how messy things feel behind the scenes.
So I did something very uncomfortable. I joined a local BNI chapter.
Before that, I had never even heard of BNI. A college friend I had not spoken to in over a decade reached out after seeing I started my business and invited me to his chapter.
I will share more about BNI in a future post, but the biggest value it gave me had nothing to do with immediate clients.
It gave me my voice back.
After ten years working behind a computer screen, I had to relearn how to speak about what I do, clearly and confidently. Weekly 30 to 60 second presentations forced repetition. Repetition built confidence. Confidence made conversations feel natural instead of forced.
The required one-on-one meetings taught me how to connect with people quickly, listen well, and talk about my services without shrinking myself.
That confidence mattered far more than I realized at the time.
Finding Bookkeeping Clients Through Aligned Networking
Traditional networking has value, but alignment matters just as much.
As a mom of two, I eventually found my way into mom-focused networking groups. These were simple monthly happy hours, nothing formal. I was not particularly excited about them at first.
They ended up being some of the most meaningful connections I made.
Those rooms led to my first speaking opportunity, something I never expected when starting my bookkeeping business. Shared life stages created trust faster. Conversations felt easier. Relationships felt more natural.
Enjoyment leads to consistency. Consistency compounds.
Find spaces you actually enjoy showing up to. Finances are personal, and in a world full of automation and AI, human connection still matters.
How My First Bookkeeping Clients Found Me
None of this brought me a client immediately.
Three months in, after consistently posting and networking, I shared a simple post showing my face and acknowledging that I was a bookkeeper and here to help small business owners. I reshared it to my personal profile. A friend reshared it to theirs.
The next day, I saw a new form submission on my website. Someone across the country had reached out because they saw that post.
A few days later, it happened again. Another share. Another form submission. Two clients in one week before the first was even fully onboarded.
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No pressure and no frequent emails. Just occasional updates when something new is published.
Momentum Is Just Visibility Catching Up
None of this was accidental.
People were watching long before they reached out. Reading. Listening. Observing.
Marketing works long before it feels like it is working, especially when you are not spending money on ads. The confidence came from the preparation. The momentum came when visibility finally caught up.
This is the work that happens quietly, long before anything looks like success.
Resources mentioned in this post
• Google Workspace – professional email, file storage, and client collaboration
• Squarespace Websites – as a Squarespace Circle Silver Member, I can pass along savings
• Chase Business Banking – flexibility for payments as your business grows