How did you get started doing this type of work?

I was working in 1986 as a bookkeeper for a large, multi-location car rental franchise when friends and family started approaching me to prepare tax returns. This experience allowed me to work for a debt consolidation company a few years later, specializing in tax liens and levies. Most of my clients at that time were business owners without a formal bookkeeping system. To help taxpayers get into compliance, I started using QuickBooks (in 1992) to develop some sort of financial records for tax return preparation.

I have not changed this formula in 30 years, although now I also use Quicken, Peachtree, Excel or plain old paper and pencil.