BOOXKEEPING WANTS BOTH VETERANS AND MILITARY SPOUSES TO JOIN ITS RANKS
An emerging bookkeeping franchise is not only targeting Veterans, but also active military spouses with an aggressive discount to attract them.
BooXkeeping, which offers remote bookkeeping services to small and medium-sized businesses throughout the United States, is offering a 30% reduced franchise fee to the United States military Veterans and spouses of active military members.
“This work can be done remotely and if a military member moves locations, their spouse can take the business with them!" said Max Emma, CEO of BooXkeeping, which is headquartered in Las Vegas, NV.
Max said he likes veterans as franchisees because their military training gives them the ability to execute plans well. A BooXkeeping franchise can also be started as quickly or slowly as a person wants, making it ideal for Veterans who are transitioning back into civilian life. They can do it on evenings and weekends for extra income or they can jump in full-time, Max noted.
In addition to Veterans and spouses of active military members, ideal franchisees for BooXkeeping would include stay-athome parents who are looking to get back into the workforce, maybe on a part-time basis; professional accountants who are looking to include bookkeeping into their portfolio of services; and existing bookkeepers who want help attracting new clients to their business.
Another category of people BooXkeeping is targeting is people looking to come to the United States under the E2 Treaty Investor Visa. Max said the franchise prefers its franchisees to be owner operators. For the first four franchisees who come onboard, Booxkeeping is offering a generous 50% discount on the franchise fee.
“Early Adapters” will only have to pay $14,900, and the first franchisee is expected to sign before the end of the year. Within the next five years, the CEO aims to have 100 franchise locations throughout the United States. At the moment, BooXkeeping franchises are available in 35 states -- including California, Texas and Florida -- with more to be added next year. The franchise offers protected territories to its franchisees, as well as an opportunity to provide bookkeeping services nationwide.
Getting started
Max started BooXkeeping in 2011 after he did some research and found that pricing for outsourcing bookkeeping services was all over the place. After starting and running some other businesses, he was looking for another opportunity and was also looking to outsource his own bookkeeping.
“I created a scope of work and I went to probably 20 bookkeepers in San Diego and for the exact same scope of work, I got prices ranging from $300 to $1,800,” he explained. “I understood that there is an opportunity because there was such a big range for the exact same scope of work. I’m an accountant by trade, so I decided to go back to my roots.”
Opportunities abound
Max said BooXkeeping presents an excellent opportunity for individuals who are looking to start a business with low initial investment, low overhead, but high revenue earning potential. A BooXkeeping Franchise can be started with a printer, a scanner, a computer, and a home office.
“Bookkeeping is a $4.2 billion per year industry in the United States and it currently has about 3.5% of annual growth rate, and most small companies outsource their bookkeeping,” he stated.
Outsourcing their bookkeeping allows small businesses to concentrate on their core business offering and saves them money because then they don’t have to hire a full-time bookkeeper, the CEO explained.
Small businesses that do their own inhouse bookkeeping usually end up having their bookkeeper do some administrative work, which means they end up overpaying for that person, or they have an admin person taking care of the bookkeeping, which they are often not qualified to do. By outsourcing their bookkeeping, they get to pay for a bookkeeper only for the time they require that service.
Support and training
BooXkeeping training starts with two weeks of BooXkeeping University in Las Vegas. During non-pandemic times, the first week of training would be in-person and include training on the franchise’s policy and procedures, two days of live sales and networking training and classes on using the Booxkeeping software and the franchise’s internal client management system, which is called BooXDesk.
The second week is done remotely online with a live instructor while the franchisee is in their home location.
If the franchise has enough people to train on the east coast, they could also host a training session in that area of the country.
As for support, Booxkeeping offers full marketing support. It provides franchisees with a local web page, SEO, and content for blogs and social media. Booxkeeping also helps franchisees with staffing.
Max said his advice to anyone looking at opening a bookkeeping franchise is to understand why they want to become a business owner. He would advise people to figure out if they are looking to make passive income or have the business become their full-time job. It’s a good idea when getting into any business opportunity to have a strategic plan for yourself for the next several years, he advised.
For Veterans, spouses of active military personnel and anyone else who wants to start a business with low initial investment and huge upside, BooXkeeping offers an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an emerging brand and grow with that brand.