Featured Listing: charterededucation.com

Tell us a little about yourself. What’s your background? How did you start the business?

I’m an accountant and when I was training for my chartered accountant exams, I found there were no suitable online resources to practice and revise. I started the site with a few homemade notes, mind maps and quizzes.

As an e-Commerce business where are your products made?

The products are digital downloads.

How have you marketed the product and where are your customers originating from?

The only marketing is through organic traffic to the website; I don’t pay for advertisements.

Is the asset on your listing owner-operated, how much time does it take to run the business, who else is needed on the team, and what is automated?

I spend less than one hour a month working on the website, but I think it would benefit from someone spending more time on it.

What does someone need to do to continue operating the business in its current form?

Have a good understanding of accounting principles so they can teach others.

Can you list a few opportunities for a potential new owner to continue growing the business?

Products for other accounting markets, like AICPA, ACCA and ICAEW could have strong sales potential.

What has been the evolution of this asset since its launch?

I started the site as a basic blog in 2011 and began posting notes and mind maps. Later I started adding multiple choice quizzes. In 2013/14 I renamed the website CharteredEducation.com and made it into a full time business. I also started selling courses on behalf of another accounting tutor. In 2015 sales were about €7,000 and around that time I changed jobs. This left me with less time to focus on the website so I trimmed back the product offering to the original core products which are easy to update each year.

How does this business make money? What are the current revenue streams?

Most money is from selling digital downloads, and the site makes a little from Adsense.

What marketing channels are most profitable for the business?

Organic traffic

How does the business currently acquire customers and what is your breakdown for marketing costs?

The site doesn’t cost anything in marketing, all sales are from its organic traffic.

How big is your current team? How many people does it take to run this business?

Just me, sometimes I get help from other accountants to review materials and check for errors. I have previously used Upwork for help in creating material for sale.

What’s the reason for selling your business on Flippa?

I’ve retrained as a commercial pilot and have been promoted at work, so I just don’t have the time to focus on providing accounting education anymore.