I have a friend who owns a small business in another state who wants me to clean up his books, do a business financial statement, update his taxes in two states, create a website, %26amp; then do his bookkeeping on an ongoing basis. I have no idea how to set a price - should it be a set price for everything (excluding the ongoing bookkeeping), hourly, or a retainer?How do I set a price to do bookkeeping remotely for a small business in another state?
Since you have no way of knowing how long this will take it would be best to quote a hourly rate. Once you build everything and get it running smoothly you can determine if you want to do this for a flat rate or a retainer.
You likely will lose if you quote a flat rate on a job like this. There are too many unknowns that could cause you to work lots of hours with little pay.
