How to start your own bookkeeping practice using Pastel
Have you ever thought about starting your own bookkeeping business?
Once you become a Certified Sage Pastel Partner Practitioner you can use your skills to offer bookkeeping services and to start your own bookkeeping / accounting practice.
While you do need to be registered with an accounting body in order to be a Tax Practitioner (specific requirements are listed by SARS), there is nothing that stops you from providing a service where you do all the transactional processing for a business.
You can even do this for businesses on a part time basis.
Sage Pastel Partner (or Xpress which is a variant of Sage Pastel Partner) is used by many bookkeeping and accounting firms to do the bookkeeping for their clients. In fact, it is more widely used than any other accounting software for this purpose.
Why is this a great business opportunity?
Maybe you don’t realise what a great business opportunity this is. So let’s take a look at a few reasons why this is something you should seriously consider.
Every business needs a bookkeeper
Firstly bookkeeping services are in high demand (and will always be in high demand) because every business needs a bookkeeper.
In order to submit tax returns to SARS, to prepare financial statements for lenders (such as banks) and for the shareholders to see how their business is doing, every business must first keep a set of accounts.
It’s a basic requirement for every business.
Many smaller businesses cannot afford to hire their own full time bookkeeper.
But they still need bookkeeping services.
So what they usually do is a hire a bookkeeper on a part time or outsourced basis.
This is an opportunity for you.
You can offer to do their bookkeeping for them for a monthly fee. This can involve preparing invoices, preparing customer statements, doing bank recons, reconciling customer and supplier accounts and so on. All of these activities are covered in the Sage Pastel Partner Practitioner course.
You can start this part-time
Many people working in the corporate space dream of being able to leave their jobs and start their own businesses.
Very few people actually do this because it’s just too risky to give up a salary and have to rely on an uncertain business income.
What’s great about starting a bookkeeping business is that you can start doing it part time i.e. after working hours and on weekends.
Then, when you are earning enough from your part time bookkeeping business to sustain you, you can leave your corporate job and focus on building your bookkeeping practice even further.
I have an acquaintance who did this very successfully.
He was working as a financial manager and started working part time on getting clients. Once he had enough clients he resigned from his job. He now earns more from his practice then he did working in the corporate.
He is also a lot more happier and less stressed.
Low Startup Costs
Many businesses require significant capital in order to start up. For example, if you wanted to open a well known franchise store you would need millions of rands of startup capital.
However, you can startup a bookkeeping practice for very little money.
Once you are trained on how to use the software you only need to pay the fee to licence the Sage Pastel Software.
If you’re just starting out and you only have one client you can use Sage Pastel Xpress Startup software which is very cost effective.
Once you have more clients you can upgrade to the Sage Pastel Xpress Advantage software. This allows you to have unlimited companies on your package.
If you get much more clients who require functionality such as Import Cost allocations you can then upgrade even further to the Sage Pastel Partner Advantage – which is the most feature rich of the programs.
How to get started
Your first step would be to get certified on the use of the software.
Please click here for Sage Pastel Partner course details.
Remember that you can do the course before buying the software as you will receive an educational version of the software to use in completing the course.
Thank you so much Zunaid
I can’t wait to start my business.
That is fantastic Felix. We look forward to having you onboard.
I would like to become a pastel and VIP agent,
what are the steps ? processors and costs ?
I currently hold an FD’s position but want to start my own business
Hi Ian
Please see this article
https://www.talentstream.co.za/become-sage-certified-pastel-consultant-trainer/
You can also leave your contact details on the following link and we will give you a call:
https://www.talentstream.co.za/contact/
Kind regards
Zunaid
Hi. My wife is an accountant and I might want to join her company. She can’t teach me as she is extremely busy and does not even know that I am interested. My question is what is the difference between if she teach me and/or doing the Sage Pastel Advance Course. I understand that you will issue a certificate once I have successfully finished the course. I am not interested in working for another company and would love to do the course if there is more advantages other than getting a certificate .
Hope to hear from you soon!
Hi Malcolm
Even people who have been working with Pastel for many years who end up doing a course with us tell us that they learn so much about functions they didn’t even know existed.
By doing a course you’re going to make sure you cover everything.
Furthermore, it’s also going to be more structured vs someone just showing you.
So besides the certification there is a great deal to be benefitted by doing a course.
Our videos also in fact cover practical issues beyond what is just in the official material.
Hope that helps.
Kind regards
Zunaid
My accounting is rusty. I need a change and I am happy that I can make a difference in my life with this course. Thank you for the opportunity to become a great bookkeeper. Gonna love this.
Its great to have you on onboard Isabella and I trust the course will be very beneficial for you.
I am in practise as a accountant which software would be best for me i have clients who i need to do vat submissions for them.
Hi Uvo
If you are doing the transactional processing, then Pastel Partner will be the most cost effective as it allows you to run unlimited companies on it.
All of the packages can be used for VAT though as they all generate a VAT 201 report.
Kind regards
Zunaid
Good day
i want to do pastel and how much
Please see here:
https://www.talentstream.co.za/sage-pastel-training-courses/
Good day Zunaid
I am fully interested with your clear information for your courses.I never experience people have so much care about others.What makes you so special for you is not about someone paid for the course or not you just give a satisfied explanation sothat the person should know what to decide and what is this about..Thank you so much for your caring,assistance even your encouragement.I can not wait to be one of your students.p
We look forward to having you onboard Sylvia.
Hie…I’m interested in learning pastel. How much will it cost me to do it and for how long will it take me to complete the course?
Secondly how much is the license
Hi Vensen
Please see the courses here:
https://www.talentstream.co.za/sage-pastel-training-courses/
The cost of the software varies depending on the type of package. Currently you can start from around R2500.
Kind regards
Zunaid
So does this mean once I am certified to use pastel, I can use it in any country, provided I have the sage licence?
Hi Thabo
Yes you can use Pastel in any country provided you have the licence.
Kind regards
Zunaid
Thankx Zunaid
When would you used pastel
It is an accounting software package that is very widely used by many companies.