Business Strategy for CPA's: Recent Episodes
Geraldine Carter
Business Strategy for CPAs: work less and make more. You know how to be an accountant – it’s running your business you need help with. With guests interviews and solo episodes, you will get business strategy every week to help you simplify your practice, get out of the compliance trap, get your time back, and command higher fees. Stop missing out on life: start working less while adding the next six figures of income. Business Strategy for CPA's is the show for you!
Hey CPA Firm owner, glad you found the podcast.
If you feel like you’ve become trapped by your own accounting firm, you’re fed up PiTB clients who get you their stuff late, don’t appreciate the value you provide, and complain to you when you don’t turn it around on a dime, I can help you stop the chaos and end the long hours, without losing revenue.
If you like the podcast, join 1300+ other CPAs who get Vitamin G, my daily dose of single-tip business strategy delivered straight to their inbox:
Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribe
Readers say they love it because they’re short and on point.
…
THIS WEEK’S EPISODE
Many CPAs have difficult clients.
Many CPAs (think they) have difficult clients.
…
In today’s episode, I offer a more useful and effective framework for thinking about your most difficult clients, so that you can reshape your accounting practice into one that only has amazing clients, and clients who help you be better.
…
Want to get your life back while protecting your revenue?
Here are a few ways I help overworked CPAs:
GET LOTS OF ANSWERS FAST
For the solo CPA with a bunch of rapid-fire questions they want answers to, like:
- How high can I go on prices without sending my clients running?
- What do you think of my niche?
- How do I upsell my legacy clients?
- What’s the script for talking to prospects about higher-level and Advisory services?
- What do I put in my tiered packages?
Book a single strategy call with me, to get answers to questions like these and more. It’s covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don’t feel like it was worth it, just say the word and I‘ll refund your purchase in full.
geraldinecarter.com/call
$495
DOWN TO 40 HOURS CPA MASTERMIND
For the overworked CPA at six figures of revenue who wants to stop working weekends and wants to implement overdue changes, but has trouble doing it alone:
- Get guidance on prices, packages, and becoming more specialized
- Disengage problem clients without blowing a hole in your firm
- Have community of like-minded CPAs on a similar journey to share what you’re working on, bounce ideas off, and get accountability
Make more progress faster and with more ease. Guaranteed to get you down to 40 hours.
geraldinecarter.com/
$7500
1:1 PRIVATE COACHING
For the firm owner with $1M+ in revenue who is caught in the weeds of tax work and fielding never-ending staff questions, I offer a high-touch 5-month experience. The aim is to get you down to working only 5 days a week, while 5-10x-ing your investment.
geraldinecarter.com/custom-vip-coaching
$24,500
REGISTRATION for DOWN TO 40 HOURS CPA MASTERMIND
IS CURRENTLY OPEN!THE NEXT ROUND BEGINS SEPTEMBER 5TH, 2023.
For prices and more info, visit:
https://geraldinecarter.com/cpa-mastermind-enroll
Hey CPA Firm owner, glad you found the podcast.
If you feel like you’ve become trapped by your own accounting firm, you’re fed up PiTB clients who get you their stuff late, don’t appreciate the value you provide, and complain to you when you don’t turn it around on a dime, I can help you stop the chaos and end the long hours, without losing revenue.
If you like the podcast, join 1300+ other CPAs who get Vitamin G, my daily dose of single-tip business strategy delivered straight to their inbox:
Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribe
Readers say they love it because they’re short and on point.
…
THIS WEEK’S EPISODE
Have you ever felt at the edge of burning out or like your sanity is on the line?
Many CPAs get into the profession because they want to help people; they find saying no to prospects to be nearly impossible.
Some end up with an overflowing client roster of underpriced clients and an unrelenting workload that keeps them stuck at the office eight days a week.
There’s a better path.
“Change is 110% possible – you just have to take action.”
Listen to Michael Berry, CPA, as he talks about what he has changed over 8 months in Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind, as he ratchets down his hours, increases his prices, and gets a deeper appreciation for the value he provides for his clients.
…
Listen to other stories from 1:1 clients:
Cut 74% of Clients and Have the Same Net Profit, with Melissa Downs, EA
Offer Productized Services with Sheila Hansen, CPA
Freedom to Choose Not to Double Revenue with Prithi Daswani, CPA
When you need to explore, with Rebecca Driscoll, CPA
15 Hour Weeks, $200K, 70%+ Margins, with Erica Goode, CPA
…
Want to get your life back while protecting your revenue?
Here are a few ways I help overworked CPAs:
GET LOTS OF ANSWERS FAST
For the solo CPA with a bunch of rapid-fire questions they want answers to, like:
- How high can I go on prices without sending my clients running?
- What do you think of my niche?
- How do I upsell my legacy clients?
- What’s the script for talking to prospects about higher-level and Advisory services?
- What do I put in my tiered packages?
Book a single strategy call with me, to get answers to questions like these and more. It’s covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don’t feel like it was worth it, just say the word and I‘ll refund your purchase in full.
geraldinecarter.com/call
$495
DOWN TO 40 HOURS CPA MASTERMIND
For the overworked CPA at six figures of revenue who wants to stop working weekends and wants to implement overdue changes, but has trouble doing it alone:
- Get guidance on prices, packages, and becoming more specialized
- Disengage problem clients without blowing a hole in your firm
- Have community of like-minded CPAs on a similar journey to share what you’re working on, bounce ideas off, and get accountability
Make more progress faster and with more ease. Guaranteed to get you down to 40 hours.
geraldinecarter.com/
$7500
1:1 PRIVATE COACHING
For the firm owner with $1M+ in revenue who is caught in the weeds of tax work and fielding never-ending staff questions, I offer a high-touch 5-month experience. The aim is to get you down to working only 5 days a week, while 5-10x-ing your investment.
geraldinecarter.com/custom-vip-coaching
$24,500
REGISTRATION for DOWN TO 40 HOURS CPA MASTERMIND
IS CURRENTLY OPEN!THE NEXT ROUND BEGINS SEPTEMBER 5TH, 2023.
For prices and more info, visit:
https://geraldinecarter.com/cpa-mastermind-enroll
Hey CPA Firm owner, glad you found the podcast.
If you feel like you’ve become trapped by your own accounting firm, you’re fed up PiTB clients who get you their stuff late, don’t appreciate the value you provide, and complain to you when you don’t turn it around on a dime, I can help you stop the chaos and end the long hours, without losing revenue.
If you like the podcast, join 1000+ other CPAs who get Vitamin G, my daily dose of single-tip business strategy delivered straight to their inbox:
Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribe
…
THIS WEEK’S EPISODE
What if you could cut your client roster waaaaaaay down, without taking a hit to your bottom line?
Melissa Downs, EA did just that. In Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind, she worked through her client roster, updated her pricing, sent out 600+ disengagement letters, and kept her net profit exactly the same.
Six months ago she said she didn’t think it was possible. Not for her, anyway.
Now, she has a 3-week unplugged cruise planned for the fall, and the eventual goal is to live overseas for a few months while the firm runs without her coming in everyday.
You can find Melissa via her website:
https://midwestbkpg.com/
…
Listen to other stories from 1:1 clients:
Offer Productized Services with Sheila Hansen, CPA
Freedom to Choose Not to Double Revenue with Prithi Daswani, CPA
When you need to explore, with Rebecca Driscoll, CPA
15 Hour Weeks, $200K, 70%+ Margins, with Erica Goode, CPA
…
Want to get your life back while protecting your revenue?
Here are a few ways I help overworked CPAs:
GET LOTS OF ANSWERS FAST
For the solo CPA with a bunch of rapid-fire questions they want answers to, like:
- How high can I go on prices without sending my clients running?
- What do you think of my niche?
- How do I upsell my legacy clients?
- What’s the script for talking to prospects about higher-level and Advisory services?
- What do I put in my tiered packages?
Book a single strategy call with me, to get answers to questions like these and more. It’s covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don’t feel like it was worth it, just say the word and I‘ll refund your purchase in full.
geraldinecarter.com/call
$495
DOWN TO 40 HOURS CPA MASTERMIND
For the overworked CPA at six figures of revenue who wants to stop working weekends and wants to implement overdue changes, but has trouble doing it alone:
- Get guidance on prices, packages, and becoming more specialized
- Disengage problem clients without blowing a hole in your firm
- Have a community of like-minded CPAs on a similar journey to share what you’re working on, bounce ideas off, and get accountability
Make more progress faster and with more ease. Guaranteed to get you down to 40 hours.
geraldinecarter.com/
$7500
1:1 PRIVATE COACHING
For the firm owner with $1M+ in revenue who is caught in the weeds of tax work and fielding never-ending staff questions, I offer a high-touch 5-month experience. The aim is to get you down to working only 5 days a week, while 5-10x-ing your investment.
geraldinecarter.com/custom-vip-coaching
$24,500
Hey CPA Firm owner, glad you found the podcast.
If you feel like you’ve become trapped by your own accounting firm, you’re fed up PiTB clients who get you their stuff late, don’t appreciate the value you provide, and complain to you when you don’t turn it around on a dime, I can help you stop the chaos and end the long hours, without losing revenue.
If you like the podcast, join 1000+ other CPAs who get Vitamin G, my daily dose of single-tip business strategy delivered straight to their inbox:
Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribe
…
In this episode, I share 6 ways to get your hours back in your accounting firm. Rather than having “work less” be some vague, hand-wavy “wouldn’t that be nice” idea, I give you six ways to go about getting your hours down.
Without losing revenue.
You’ll get the option to challenge the way you think about revenue creation, from one of working, to one of not-working.
…
Check out my “greatest hits” episodes:
Effortless Value #201
Pricing for Improved Profitability #211
How to Diengage Clients #215
…
A few ways to work with me:
GET LOTS OF ANSWERS FAST
For the solo CPA with a bunch of rapid-fire questions they want answers to, like:
- How high can I go on prices without sending my clients running?
- What do you think of my niche?
- How do I upsell my legacy clients?
- What’s the script for talking to prospects about higher-level and Advisory services?
- What do I put in my tiered packages?
Book a single strategy call with me, to get answers to questions like these and more. It’s covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don’t feel like it was worth it, just say the word and I‘ll refund your purchase in full.
geraldinecarter.com/call
$495
DOWN TO 40 HOURS CPA MASTERMIND
For the overworked CPA at six figures of revenue who wants to stop working weekends and wants to implement overdue changes, but has trouble doing it alone:
- Get guidance on prices, packages, and becoming more specialized
- How to fire clients without blowing a hole in your firm
- A community of like-minded CPAs on a similar journey to share what you’re working on, bounce ideas off, and get accountability
Make more progress faster and with more ease. Guaranteed to get you down to 40 hours.
geraldinecarter.com/
$7500
Hey CPA Firm owner, glad you found the podcast.
If you feel like you’ve become trapped by your own accounting firm, you’re fed up PiTB clients who get you their stuff late, don’t appreciate the value you provide, and complain to you when you don’t turn it around on a dime, I can help you stop the chaos and end the long hours, without losing revenue.
If you like the podcast, join 1000+ other CPAs who get Vitamin G, my daily dose of single-tip business strategy delivered straight to their inbox:
Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribe
….
Here are five questions you can ask yourself to get your brain on board with all the reasons raising prices will be good for you clients and for you, to help you get past price increase resistance you may be experiencing:
- In what ways will it be good for my best clients when I lift my prices?
- In what ways will raising prices help me be more effective for my best clients?
- In what ways will I be able to increase the value I create for my best clients when I raise my prices?
- How will raising my prices give me more time that I can use to focus on serving my best clients better, and making my accounting firm better?
- In what ways do I love raising prices?
…
DOWN TO 40 HOURS CPA MASTERMIND
For the overworked CPA at six figures of revenue who wants to stop working weekends and wants to implement overdue changes, but has trouble doing it alone:
- Get guidance on prices, packages, and becoming more specialized
- How to fire clients without blowing a hole in your firm
- A community of like-minded CPAs on a similar journey to share what you’re working on, bounce ideas off, and get accountability
Make more progress faster and with more ease. Guaranteed to get you down to 40 hours.
geraldinecarter.com/
$7500
Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind
https://geraldinecarter.com/
Hey CPA Firm owner, glad you found the podcast.
If you feel like you’ve become trapped by your own accounting firm, you’re fed up PiTB clients who get you their stuff late, don’t appreciate the value you provide, and complain to you when you don’t turn it around on a dime, I can help you stop the chaos and end the long hours, without losing revenue.
If you like the podcast, join 1000+ other CPAs who get Vitamin G, my daily dose of single-tip business strategy delivered straight to their inbox:
Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribe
…
Burnout is rampant in accounting. Many CPAs are overworked, overwhelmed, tired, and fried. They know work is hard, they know something’s wrong, they know they don’t like what they have. But the problem is they don’t know how to stop it. Many keep working, hoping that by working more hours, the overworking problem will somehow solve itself.
Working more to solve the overworking problem only makes things worse, and can lead straight to burnout. The cost of burnout can be high: it can take a physical or emotional toll, or both.
Listen to today’s episode to hear stories from both Randy Crabtree and Geraldine on what burnout cost, what we can see now in retrospect that we couldn’t see when caught in it, and concrete steps for changing course before the consequences get dire.
You don’t have to work long hours to make money. Listen to 1:1 clients who made the switch:
15 Hour Weeks, $200K, 70%+ Margins, with Erica Goode, CPA
130% Revenue Increase While Working Less with Paige Gott
Freedom to Choose Not to Double Revenue with Prithi Daswani, CPA
…
A few ways to work with me:
GET LOTS OF ANSWERS FAST
For the solo CPA with a bunch of rapid-fire questions they want answers to, like:
- How high can I go on prices without sending my clients running?
- What do you think of my niche?
- How do I upsell my legacy clients?
- What’s the script for talking to prospects about higher-level and Advisory services?
- What do I put in my tiered packages?
Book a single strategy call with me, to get answers to questions like these and more. It’s covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don’t feel like it was worth it, just say the word and I‘ll refund your purchase in full.
geraldinecarter.com/call
$495
DOWN TO 40 HOURS CPA MASTERMIND
For the overworked CPA at six figures of revenue who wants to stop working weekends and wants to implement overdue changes, but has trouble doing it alone:
- Get guidance on prices, packages, and becoming more specialized
- How to fire clients without blowing a hole in your firm
- A community of like-minded CPAs on a similar journey to share what you’re working on, bounce ideas off, and get accountability
Make more progress faster and with more ease. Guaranteed to get you down to 40 hours.
geraldinecarter.com/
$7500
1:1 PRIVATE COACHING
For the firm owner with $1M+ in revenue who is caught in the weeds of tax work and fielding never-ending staff questions, I offer a high-touch 5-month experience. The aim is to get you down to working only 5 days a week, while 5-10x-ing your investment.
geraldinecarter.com/custom-vip-coaching
$24,500
…
Connect with Randy Crabtree:
Website: tri-merit.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randy-crabtree-1945a67/
Bridging the Gap Conference:
https://tri-merit.com/tucpa-conference-2023/
Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind
https://geraldinecarter.com/
Hey CPA Firm owner, glad you found the podcast.
If you feel like you’ve become trapped by your own accounting firm, you’re fed up PiTB clients who get you their stuff late, don’t appreciate the value you provide, and complain to you when you don’t turn it around on a dime, I can help you stop the chaos and end the long hours, without losing revenue.
If you like the podcast, join 1000+ other CPAs who get Vitamin G, my daily dose of single-tip business strategy delivered straight to their inbox:
Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribe
Listen to this episode where I interview Prithi Daswani, CPA a 1:1 client. We worked together for about a year, starting two years ago.
In her story, you’ll hear how she went from 750 clients down to 50 over the course of that time. You’ll hear about the decisions and modifications she made to her practice, so that she could get out from under the relentless workload to find happiness again.
You’ll hear which steps made the biggest impact, which fears she needed to work through in order to implement improvements, and what happened to her revenue over the course of the journey.
The end result? More happiness, a lot less work, steady take-home pay, and the freedom to choose not to double revenue.
Connect with Prithi at https://prithidaswani.com/.
…
Listen to other stories from 1:1 clients:
15 Hour Weeks, $200K, 70%+ Margins, with Erica Goode, CPA
Killer Niche: Farm + Ag CPA with Catherine Ozment, CPA
130% Revenue Increase While Working Less with Paige Gott
How to Build $250K in CPA Advisory Services in 4 Months, with Prithi Daswani, CPA
From Scratch to 6 Figures in 9 Months with Shaan Afridi, CPA
Specializing in Stock-Option Tax Strategy and Consulting, with Minnie Lau, CPA
…
A few ways to work with me:
GET LOTS OF ANSWERS FAST
For the solo CPA with a bunch of rapid-fire questions they want answers to, like:
- How high can I go on prices without sending my clients running?
- What do you think of my niche?
- How do I upsell my legacy clients?
- What’s the script for talking to prospects about higher-level and Advisory services?
- What do I put in my tiered packages?
Book a single strategy call with me, to get answers to questions like these and more. It’s covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don’t feel like it was worth it, just say the word and I‘ll refund your purchase in full.
geraldinecarter.com/call
$495
DOWN TO 40 HOURS CPA MASTERMIND
For the overworked CPA at six figures of revenue who wants to stop working weekends and wants to implement overdue changes, but has trouble doing it alone:
- Get guidance on prices, packages, and becoming more specialized
- How to fire clients without blowing a hole in your firm
- A community of like-minded CPAs on a similar journey to share what you’re working on, bounce ideas off, and get accountability
Make more progress faster and with more ease. Guaranteed to get you down to 40 hours.
geraldinecarter.com/
$7500
1:1 PRIVATE COACHING
For the firm owner with $1M+ in revenue who is caught in the weeds of tax work and fielding never-ending staff questions, I offer a high-touch 5-month experience. The aim is to get you down to working only 5 days a week, while 5-10x-ing your investment.
geraldinecarter.com/custom-vip-coaching
$24,500
Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind
https://geraldinecarter.com/
Hey CPA Firm owner, glad you found the podcast.
If you feel like you’ve become trapped by your own accounting firm, you’re fed up PiTB clients who get you their stuff late, don’t appreciate the value you provide, and complain to you when you don’t turn it around on a dime, I can help you stop the chaos and end the long hours, without losing revenue.
If you like the podcast, join 1000+ other CPAs who get Vitamin G, my daily dose of single-tip business strategy delivered straight to their inbox:
Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribe
…
My guest today is Rebecca Driscoll, of Conscious Accounting.
Sometimes we know that we are not where we want to be in our business, or in our life. But what to do about it and how to fix it remains elusive. Rebecca knew she wanted to find a different path, but didn’t know what path she wanted to be on. She had the courage to explore options, until the one she wanted to be on revealed itself to her. For those who sometimes wander, feel a bit hopeless, or lost, I hope you find the story of Rebecca’s explorations to be inspiring.
…
Connect with Rebecca Driscoll, CPA
https://conscious-accounting.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-driscoll-cpa/
…
Listen to other stories from 1:1 clients:
15 Hour Weeks, $200K, 70%+ Margins, with Erica Goode, CPA
Killer Niche: Farm + Ag CPA with Catherine Ozment, CPA
130% Revenue Increase While Working Less with Paige Gott
How to Build $250K in CPA Advisory Services in 4 Months, with Prithi Daswani, CPA
From Scratch to 6 Figures in 9 Months with Shaan Afridi, CPA
Specializing in Stock-Option Tax Strategy and Consulting, with Minnie Lau, CPA
…
A few ways to work with me:
GET LOTS OF ANSWERS FAST
For the solo CPA with a bunch of rapid-fire questions they want answers to, like:
- How high can I go on prices without sending my clients running?
- What do you think of my niche?
- How do I upsell my legacy clients?
- What’s the script for talking to prospects about higher-level and Advisory services?
- What do I put in my tiered packages?
Book a single strategy call with me, to get answers to questions like these and more. It’s covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don’t feel like it was worth it, just say the word and I‘ll refund your purchase in full.
geraldinecarter.com/call
$495
DOWN TO 40 HOURS CPA MASTERMIND
For the overworked CPA at six figures of revenue who wants to stop working weekends and wants to implement overdue changes, but has trouble doing it alone:
- Get guidance on prices, packages, and becoming more specialized
- How to fire clients without blowing a hole in your firm
- A community of like-minded CPAs on a similar journey to share what you’re working on, bounce ideas off, and get accountability
Make more progress faster and with more ease. Guaranteed to get you down to 40 hours.
geraldinecarter.com/
$7500
1:1 PRIVATE COACHING
For the firm owner with $1M+ in revenue who is caught in the weeds of tax work and fielding never-ending staff questions, I offer a high-touch 5-month experience. The aim is to get you down to working only 5 days a week, while 5-10x-ing your investment.
geraldinecarter.com/custom-vip-coaching
$24,500
Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind
https://geraldinecarter.com/
Hey CPA Firm owner, glad you found the podcast.
If you feel like you’ve become trapped by your own accounting firm, you’re fed up PiTB clients who get you their stuff late, don’t appreciate the value you provide, and complain to you when you don’t turn it around on a dime, I can help you stop the chaos and end the long hours, without losing revenue.
If you like the podcast, join 1000+ other CPAs who get Vitamin G, my daily dose of single-tip business strategy delivered straight to their inbox:
Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribe
…
ChatGPT has taken the world by storm, and many accountants are wondering where its use fits into their accounting practice – now, and two years from now. If you want to find out where to get started, how you might begin using ChatGPT in your accounting practice, and what to watch out for (Hint: the cost of not leaning into it), tune in for answers.
Also be sure to check out my previous episode with Jason, #219 Automation as Business Strategy.
…
A few ways to work with me:
GET LOTS OF ANSWERS FAST
For the solo CPA with a bunch of rapid-fire questions they want answers to, like:
- How high can I go on prices without sending my clients running?
- What do you think of my niche?
- How do I upsell my legacy clients?
- What’s the script for talking to prospects about higher-level and Advisory services?
- What do I put in my tiered packages?
Book a single strategy call with me, to get answers to questions like these and more. It’s covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don’t feel like it was worth it, just say the word and I‘ll refund your purchase in full.
geraldinecarter.com/call
$495
DOWN TO 40 HOURS CPA MASTERMIND
For the overworked CPA at six figures of revenue who wants to stop working weekends and wants to implement overdue changes, but has trouble doing it alone:
- Get guidance on prices, packages, and becoming more specialized
- How to fire clients without blowing a hole in your firm
- A community of like-minded CPAs on a similar journey to share what you’re working on, bounce ideas off, and get accountability
Make more progress faster and with more ease. Guaranteed to get you down to 40 hours.
geraldinecarter.com/
$7500
1:1 PRIVATE COACHING
For the firm owner with $1M+ in revenue who is caught in the weeds of tax work and fielding never-ending staff questions, I offer a high-touch 5-month experience. The aim is to get you down to working only 5 days a week, while 5-10x-ing your investment.
geraldinecarter.com/custom-vip-coaching
$24,500
Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind
https://geraldinecarter.com/
Hey CPA Firm owner, glad you found the podcast.
If you feel like you’ve become trapped by your own accounting firm, you’re fed up PiTB clients who get you their stuff late, don’t appreciate the value you provide, and complain to you when you don’t turn it around on a dime, I can help you stop the chaos and end the long hours, without losing revenue.
If you like the podcast, join 1000+ other CPAs who get Vitamin G, my daily dose of single-tip business strategy delivered straight to their inbox:
Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribe
Be sure to listen to this episode if you’re interested in getting paid for your expertise, without having to do so much hard work. You’ll hear about how, when, and why to use Digital Products in your accounting firm while understanding the pros and cons of them. You’ll also learn how to think about when your accounting practice is ready to introduce these, and when it might be too soon to be worthwhile.
If you want to check out other episodes on this topic, you might like:
Digital Products, Courses, and 90% Margins with The Real Estate CPA, Brandon Hall #179
Get More from Technology with Joe Woodard #244
15 Hour Weeks, $200K, 70%+ Margins, with Erica Goode, CPA #243
…
…
A few ways to work with me:
GET LOTS OF ANSWERS FAST (or)
KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO DO NEXT
For the solo CPA with a bunch of rapid-fire questions they want answers to, like:
- How high can I go on prices without sending my clients running?
- What do you think of my niche?
- How do I upsell my legacy clients?
- What’s the script for talking to prospects about higher-level and Advisory services?
- What do I put in my tiered packages?
Book a single strategy call with me, to get answers to questions like these and more. It’s covered by my 100% satisfaction guarantee. If at the end of the call, you don’t feel like it was worth it, just say the word and I‘ll refund your purchase in full.
geraldinecarter.com/call
$495
DOWN TO 40 HOURS CPA MASTERMIND
For the overworked CPA at six figures of revenue who wants to stop working weekends and wants to implement overdue changes, but has trouble doing it alone:
- Get guidance on prices, packages, and becoming more specialized
- How to fire clients without blowing a hole in your firm
- A community of like-minded CPAs on a similar journey to share what you’re working on, bounce ideas off, and get accountability
Make more progress faster and with more ease. Guaranteed to get you down to 40 hours.
geraldinecarter.com/
$7500
1:1 PRIVATE COACHING
For the firm owner with $1M+ in revenue who is caught in the weeds of tax work and fielding never-ending staff questions, I offer a high-touch 5-month experience. The aim is to get you down to working only 5 days a week, while 5-10x-ing your investment.
geraldinecarter.com/custom-vip-coaching
$24,500
Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind
https://geraldinecarter.com/
Hey CPA Firm owner, glad you found the podcast.
If you feel like you’ve become trapped by your own accounting firm, you’re fed up PiTB clients who get you their stuff late, don’t appreciate the value you provide, and complain to you when you don’t turn it around on a dime, I can help you stop the chaos and end the long hours, without losing revenue.
…
If you like the podcast, join 1000+ other CPAs who get Vitamin G, my daily dose of single-tip business strategy delivered straight to their inbox:
Subscribe here: geraldinecarter.com/subscribe
…
Be sure to listen to this episode if you’re interested in getting paid for your expertise, without having to do so much hard work. You’ll hear about how, when, and why to use Productized Services in your accounting firm while understanding the pros and cons of them. You’ll also hear some examples of how they are used and what to price them at so you’re not stabbing in the dark.
If you want to check out other episodes on this topic, you might like:
- Offer Productized Services with Sheila Hansen, CPA #240
- 15 Hour Weeks, $200K, 70%+ Margins, with Erica Goode, CPA #243
- Specializing in Stock-Option Tax Strategy and Consulting, with Minnie Lau #167
…
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Transitioning from a one-on-one business model to a one-to-many business model is a strategic move that some business owners consider as their practices expand and evolve.
While one-on-one work offers personalized attention and guidance to individual clients, the one-to-many model enables business owners to reach a larger audience, scale their impact, and increase their revenue potential.
Laura Dixon helps women who are obsessive about food and dieting become naturally thin for life.
Laura shares how she started her coaching business using a one-to-one model and then shifted it to a monthly membership model.
Highlights:
— “I always knew what I wanted long-term is recurring consistent revenue in a way that I sell to clients that I love to serve.
— “I set up my business where I'm able to have the flexibility that I want with my family, but also do what I love, help the people that I love to help, and make the money that I want.
— “Long term, I want a massive business. And that means getting really good at delivering something extraordinary, being really good at selling it. And so I'm willing to charge less now because I know what I want 10, 20, 30 years down the road.”
— “I don't want people that kind of want to try stuff in my program. I want people that want to come in, they want to do the work, they want to get the result and they want to get out, and then just live the rest of their life.”
— “I'm able to produce probably five times as much as I was able to when I was working more hours because I'm so clear on who I help.”
Connect with Laura:
Website: https://lauradixoncoaching.com/
Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind
https://geraldinecarter.com/
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https://link.improvetheworld.net/BusinessStrategyforCPAs
By analyzing relevant data, business owners can identify patterns, trends, and insights that enable them to make well-informed decisions, mitigate risks, and capitalize on opportunities.
In this episode, Donny Shimamoto of the Center for Accounting Transformation talks about the two different surveys that his firm is doing right now.
The surveys aim to understand what works and what doesn't work for accounting firms, specifically in the areas of advisory services and staffing strategies.
Conducting surveys to identify the successful practices of accounting firms in terms of advisory services and staffing is crucial for understanding the key factors that contribute to client success.
Donny believes that accountants are here to help improve the world, and the more accountants who contribute to their research, the more the results of that research can help improve the world.
Highlights:
— “Really good business-driven innovation is driven off of data.”
— “Accounting is the foundation of a business. And it is absolutely necessary.”
— “Accounting has the power to help small business owners be much more successful.”
— “Many of us are scared of the word “failure,” but learning from errors or mistakes creates the opportunity to help others learn from what we did.”
Connect with Donny:
Website: https://improvetheworld.net/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnyitk/
Episode mentions:Take the survey!
URL: https://link.improvetheworld.net/BusinessStrategyforCPAs
Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind
https://geraldinecarter.com/
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For a lot of accountants, marketing can either be this thing they know they ought to be doing, but aren’t, or they're doing it and not seeing the response they want. Sometimes it feels like they're pouring money down a hole.
Like any other business, accounting firms are not immune to making marketing mistakes.
In this episode, Matt Banker, founder of Benchmark Growth Marketing, shares some common marketing mistakes that accounting firms make and offers insights on how they can effectively promote their services and stand out in a competitive market.
Highlights:
— “The most common marketing mistake I see is accountants undervalue their website, or spending money sending good traffic to a bad website.”
— “Whatever you're communicating on your website is really influencing a lot of prospects’ first impression of who and what you are.”
— “The words on your website need to be right: the messaging, positioning, making sure that you're communicating what you do and for whom. You want your website to qualify people either in, or out..”
— “A lot of the marketing materials that are targeted for accounting firms are written for everybody. It's generalist content, and no one cares about it. What I really want is someone who has specific expertise that applies to me. The more specific, the more valuable.”
— “The main reason marketing feels expensive is that you haven't budgeted for it. You haven't thought about it as something that is built into your business model.”
Connect with Matt:
Website: https://marketingforaccountingfirms.com/
Free Email Templates:
https://marketingforaccountingfirms.com/free-email-templates-for-accounting-firms/
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The hustle can be tempting: all that activity seems to have a positive effect.
Hustle too much, and risk becoming stretched too thin across too many areas of your accounting practice.
Hustle for too many years, and risk burning out.
If you don't solve your hustle problems now, you run the risk of carrying your hustle problems with you as your accounting practice grows.
And as your accounting practice grows, the problems that caused hustle in the first place continue to grow, leading to more and more hustle.
Consider solving problems that cause hustle now, so you don’t carry them with you.
In this episode, I give you eight hustle-related thought patterns to consider shifting:
- From: “The way to solve this is by working more.” To: “Working less is better for me, my clients, and my business.”
- From: “I am always behind.” To: “I am on top of my work.” To: I am getting ahead of my work.”
- From: “There’s always more to do.” To: “My responsibilities are finite.”
- From: One-time, this-time solutions to the solution that also works when your accounting practice is twice the size.
- From: “This is how we’ve done it.” To: Bigger, better, faster results for your clients.
- From: Speed and intensity. To: Slowing both mind and actions down.
- To: All the ways that when you work less your clients have a better experience.
- To: All the ways that extra time is good for you and extra time is good for your staff.
Going from 40 down to 25 hours requires a new set of skills, and a new way of thinking.
When you work less, it’s better for your accounting practice, it’s better for your clients, and it’s better for you.
Registration for Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind is open!
The summer cohort kicks off May 1st.
Create higher-paying clients without working more hours. Simplify your accounting practice so you can grow and scale without more effort from your team. Permanently end overworking without losing revenue.
Go to geraldinecarter.com to find out more and register.
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Acquiring and retaining clients is crucial for maintaining a successful accounting practice.
But not all potential clients are the right fit for an accounting firm, and working with the wrong clients can drain resources and decrease overall profitability.
One solution to this problem is offering paid intensives to pre-filter potential monthly accounting clients.
This approach allows firms to work closely with clients over a short period to assess their needs, expectations, and overall fit before committing to a longer-term relationship.
In this episode, Sheila Hansen shares her insights on offering her one-time services, particularly the benefits of paid intensives.
Sheila is a CPA from Omaha who focuses on creatives striving for $250K and above in revenue.
Highlights:
— “Clients know they need an accountant, but they may not know exactly why having a good one is important.”
— “Whether clients have a bookkeeper or are keeping books themselves, often they don’t know what their financials are telling them.”
— “While it might be tempting to “teach clients everything,” often clients find value in just one or two steps that make an impact.”
— “When it came to offering this type of intensive, I finally just put it out there – tried it, tested it – to see what worked.”
Connect with Sheila:
Website: https://www.hansenllc.net/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheila.hansen.cpa/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheila-hansen-cpa/
Episode mentions:
235 Advanced Decisions
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/235
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Starting an accounting practice from scratch can be a challenging journey for any entrepreneur.
One of the biggest challenges for a new CPA firm owner is finding a niche that aligns with one’s values and expertise.
Today I speak with Matt Chiappetta, a CFO turned CPA firm owner working with digital solopreneurs.
Starting as a solopreneur just last year, Matt talks about how he found his niche and shares the steps he’s taking to build an audience.
Highlights:
— “You're a soloist and business operator, but that doesn't mean that you need to do everything by yourself all the time.”
— “I don't worry about getting bored in my niche because I feel like there's just so many different ways to serve my target market.”
— “If you don't like your niche, there's nothing preventing you from changing it.”
— “You get an immense amount of clarity when you pick your niche in terms of the problems you're trying to solve, which makes you more valuable for your client.”
— “If you're making genuine connections with the content you’re creating, it almost seems like there is going to be a time when you unexpectedly gain a lot of traction.”
Connect with Matt:
Website: https://www.mattchia.cpa/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattchiacpa
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It's not uncommon for CPA business owners to find themselves overworked and swamped with too many clients.
It's easy to feel overwhelmed, like you're losing control of your business and that it's running you rather than the other way around.
But with the right approach, it's possible to turn the tide and regain control of your CPA practice.
I talk with Laurie Rauk, a CPA from Calgary. She shares the steps she implemented in Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind to transform her business and achieve a manageable practice.
Highlights:
— “When I sent out a price increase letter to my clients and asked them to pay upfront, more of them signed up right away to have me do their personal tax returns this year than I was anticipating.”
— “The clients who decided to stay with me understand that if I'm overstretched and have too many clients to serve, then they are not going to get the good service that they deserve.”
— “Because I have reduced my client base, I'm not feeling pulled in different directions. I feel a lot more in control of the rest of the month here because I know what I've got on my plate now and what's still coming in.”
— “I have a deeper appreciation for the value I bring as a highly trained CPA with 20 years experience and the individualized personalized service that my clients get is worth a price premium.”
— “When I cut 15% - 20% of my client base, my revenue has actually gone up because of the price increases that I introduced.”
Connect with Laurie:
Website: https://laurierauk.ca/
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The need to work 40 hours a week is entirely fictional.
You don’t need to work a 40-hour workweek just because that’s the standard, and because there’s a whole system, economy, business organization structure, all set up around the idea of a 40-hour workweek.
As a CPA firm owner, you can work less and you can work on your business to increase your revenue. And your revenue is not reliant on the time that you put in. Your revenue is reliant on how much value you create for your clients and how effective you are at capturing that value created with your prices.
So I want to talk about the process of getting down from an overworked state, be it 50, 60, 70 hours, or more a week, down to a 40-hour workweek and what that looks like. And then setting up to get down to a 25-hour workweek, and letting go of the appearance of safety of the conventional 40-hour workweek, and taking a fresh approach so that you can have the business that you want and have the life that you want, with your business that supports that and fits nice and neatly inside that life.
Through this process, I also worked on my thinking, because the more I could switch myself into more productive, effective thoughts, the more time I started getting back for myself.
Steps to get down to a 40-hour workweek:
-
Disengage
-
Highgrade your best clients' package and price.
-
Deal with your most pressing challenges.
-
Organize and protect your time
-
Work on the thoughts so that they help you get where you want to go.
It is absolutely possible for you to work the number of hours a week that you want to work, whether it's 40, 38, 32, 28, 24, or 18 and a half. You get to design and you get to decide what you want. And it has nothing to do with the 40-hour standard, which is fiction. You get to decide what you want. And you get to design it.
When you do this work going through this process of getting yourself down to a sane workweek and bringing in the high margin revenue that suits you, it's better for your business, it's better for your clients, and it's better for you and you your life on your one trip through space.
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When you better understand the nature of your problem – if it’s tactical or mindset in nature – you can make better sense of your experience in your accounting firm and why sometimes it might feel so hard.
We try to solve problems with tactics. And we just keep hitting the same nail with the same hammer thinking that we have a tactical problem, not realizing that in fact we have a mindset problem.
We’re not solving the correct problem.
Here are three areas of your accounting practice that are critical to your success.
Here are the tactical challenges and mindset challenges of these three areas:
- Knowing who you're selling to - positioning
- What they want to buy - understanding your buyer
- How to sell it to them - selling
All of them have tactical solutions. And they have mindset problems that tend to come along with them:
- Positioning - “I don’t want to limit myself” & “I’ll be bored” & “What if I don’t pick the right niche”
- Understanding your buyer - “I don’t have time to talk to my clients” & “I know everything and don’t know how to listen” 🙂
- Selling - “Selling is dirty” & “I don’t want to be pushy” & “I don’t like selling”
You need the tactical solution, and we see what happens. If it doesn't work, if you can't solve your problem with the tactical solution, then we need to explore and address the mindset challenges.
A tactical solution without a mindset solution is an incomplete solution.
I want you to have a complete solution.
Because giving you tactics without giving you the mindset help that you need is like giving you a one-sided zipper. Giving you only the mindset without the tactics that you need is like giving you the other side of the zipper.
And it's the same in your business.
It doesn't work without tactical solutions, and it doesn't work without mindset solutions.
Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind is designed to give you the complete solution. Baked into it are tactical solutions, and mindset solutions. It’s the only program of it’s kind to deliver the complete solution you need to get your time and your life back.
Episode mentions:
232 You Can Master Your Time and Calendar, with Dawn Goldberg
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/232
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I've been asking myself for a long time: What are the common characteristics among my clients who make the most progress towards their own version of success the most quickly?
What do I see among them? What are the common traits that they have? Or what are they doing?
I've looked at all the different possible characteristics of their business to try and see what are the commonalities. But when it comes down to it, the most obvious commonality is that they make decisions. And they move.
It is the ability to make decisions and learn from the decision that enables those ones to make progress toward their goals the most quickly and the most consistently.
In this episode, I want to share with you three advanced decisions that you can make in your business that you can start implementing right away so that you start holding onto the steering wheel of your business bus:
- making decisions about your prices
- making decisions about your deadlines
- making decisions about your capacity
Advance decisions are critical for your business because they help you make progress in your business much more quickly.
Making decisions ahead of time is just one piece of the puzzle that helps you work less and make more, and enjoy the business and the life that you want to have.
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How can CPAs grow their accounting practice when they’re over capacity, underutilizing their talents and not providing optimal client support?
Many CPA firms still rely on the hourly billing business model, where the firm has to log more work hours providing services to increase revenue. It focuses on hours and deliverables, not on results and value.
A compelling alternative is the subscription business model, where the provider enables serial transformations to the buyer, and continually adds value to the experience. The subscription model creates an opening for predictable, recurring, higher margin revenue.
In this week’s episode, I talk about the subscription model with my guest, Ron Baker.
Ron is the founder of VeraSage Institute—the leading think tank dedicated to educating professionals internationally, and is a radio talk-show host on the www.VoiceAmerica.com
show: The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Knowledge Economy.
Ron has authored seven best-selling books, including: The Firm of the Future; Pricing on Purpose; Measure What Matters to Customers; and Implementing Value Pricing. His latest book, co-authored with Paul Dunn, Time’s Up!: The Subscription Business Model for Professional Firms, was published in November 2022.
In this two-part conversation (episodes 233 and 234), we talk about:
- Sale prices and multiples
- How AI can help scale businesses
- Disney and other big businesses using the subscription model
- Ways to “plus” your offer
- How CPA firms can shift to subscription model
Highlights:
— “We need to stop charging for the means and pricing the end.”
— “Strategy is about what you don't do. It's about the customers you don't have, the services you don't provide. It's all about trade offs. You simply can't be all things to all people.”
— “It's very difficult for a business to disrupt itself.”
— “CPAs have the ability to enable transformations. It's a privilege and a duty to help our customers, to make that impact on their life.”
Connect with Ron:
Website: https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/
Ron’s book:
Time's Up: The Subscription Business Model for Professional Firms
https://www.thesoulofenterprise.com/timesup
Episode mentions:
Subscription Business Model: Build Greater Wealth in Your CPA Firm, with Ron Baker
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/147
Time to Rethink Your Pricing Strategy?, with Ron Baker, Founder of VeraSage Institute
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/081
Breaking Away from the Mainstream Medical Model with Dr. Lewis Weiner
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/206
Selling Summit CPA for Multiples, with Jody Grunden
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/225
Hold My Beer and Watch Me Niche, with Josh Lance, CPA
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/212
Book mentions:
Uncommon Sense, Common Nonsense by Jules Goddard
https://www.amazon.com/Uncommon-Sense-Common-Nonsense-Organisations/dp/1846686024
Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow
https://www.amazon.com/Built-Sell-Creating-Business-Without-ebook/dp/B004IYISQW
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How can CPAs grow their accounting practice when they’re over capacity, underutilizing their talents and not providing optimal client support?
Many CPA firms still rely on the hourly billing business model, where the firm has to log more work hours providing services to increase revenue. It focuses on hours and deliverables, not on results and value.
A compelling alternative is the subscription business model, where the provider enables serial transformations to the buyer, and continually adds value to the experience. The subscription model creates an opening for predictable, recurring, higher margin revenue.
In this week’s episode, I talk about the subscription model with my guest, Ron Baker.
Ron is the founder of VeraSage Institute—the leading think tank dedicated to educating professionals internationally, and is a radio talk-show host on the www.VoiceAmerica.com
show: The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Knowledge Economy.
Ron has authored seven best-selling books, including: The Firm of the Future; Pricing on Purpose; Measure What Matters to Customers; and Implementing Value Pricing. His latest book, co-authored with Paul Dunn, Time’s Up!: The Subscription Business Model for Professional Firms, was published in November 2022.
In this two-part conversation (episodes 233 and 234), we talk about:
- Why Ron wrote his latest book, Time’s Up
- Pricing strategy and positioning
- Subscription model and DPC (direct primary care) doctors
- How the subscription business model can help CPAs transform their clients’ life
Highlights:
— “If you go to the market with a common offering, you're going to command a common price.”
— “The true value of accountants lie in guiding transformations. They have the power to advance their customers.”
— “To differentiate, CPAs should be able to guide the customer to the desired future state.”
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Many accountants and CPAs (and business owners!) struggle to manage their time and use it to get done what they want.
When they lose a grip on time, the tendency is to work more hours than they want to.
Here today to talk with me about this is Dawn Goldberg, the author of “The Smarter Accountant.”
Dawn shares how accountants and CPAs can get better and more effective with their time.
It includes 5 simple steps:
-
Plan your time.
-
Avoid running off of to-do lists.
-
Manage your mind before, during, and after.
-
Follow through on your plan.
-
Assess so that you can learn from your experiment.
Highlights:
— “Working off of a to-do list is the most ineffective way to manage your time because the human brain gets very overwhelmed with a list of things to do, because it cannot put things into context.”
— “Planning saves so much time. When you make decisions ahead of time you reduce decision fatigue throughout the week.”
— “You absolutely have to first learn how to manage your mind before you can manage your time.”
— “Our brain thinks everything is urgent and so important. So we have to decide on purpose what is important.”
— “You will be amazed at how much more you can get done if you put a boundary around your time.”
Connect with Dawn:
Website: https://thesmarteraccountant.com/
Podcast: https://cpamoms.com/podcasts/
Episode mentions:
193 Create the Exact Business You Want: Introducing The Model
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/193
218 Mindset Coaching for More Powerful Results, with Emma Richter
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/218
Dawn’s book:
The Smarter Accountant: How To Eliminate Stress and Overwhelm, Create More Time, Gain a Competitive Advantage, and More!
https://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Accountant-Eliminate-Overwhelm-Competitive/dp/B0B7QFYW8N
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Lots of people don’t like change. They have enough going on, thank you very much, and one more thing to change is one more thing they have to learn, and remember to do differently.
Change, seems like work.
If we like our currently reality, then there may not be a need to change.
But many people don’t like their current reality. They want things to change, but don’t want to change things.
Because they don’t like change.
I want you to know what change is. I want to unpack it for you, so that it stops being something to avoid or resist or dislike. I want to unpack it for you, so that in seeing what it is, you can make your experience of change easier for you, you can change things more quickly, and better, and eventually, learn to enjoy change.
Change doesn't have to be this mysterious thing – once we unpack it, we can see how it works.
Here is change, unpacked, in seven stages.
Learn to observe progress as you move through seven stages.
And once you know the seven stages, it gets way easier to know where you are in the progression, and you know what stage is next.
Here are the seven stages of change:
Stage 1: Not aware at all.
Stage 2: Aware but believing that you're powerless to change anything.
Stage 3: Aware, and believing you can change things, but aware only after the fact.
Stage 4: Aware in the moment, but it happens so fast, that you don't change it in the moment.
Stage 5: Aware that it's happening in the moment and change it while it's happening.
Stage 6: See it coming and prevent it.
Stage 7: Permanent change.
I hope understanding and appreciating the seven stages of change helps you befriend the change.
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Not all accountants and CPAs get stressed during tax season. They've got their systems down. Stress isn't their go-to thing.
But for many CPAs and accountants, stress is a common experience. But it doesn't necessarily have to be that way.
Here to talk with me about how to go from being stressed to not being stressed in tax season is my guest, Dawn Goldberg.
Dawn Goldberg has been a CPA in public accounting for over 30 years, as well as a mom for over 27 years. She has worked for large firms like Deloitte & Touche and Ernst & Young as well as smaller firms. Dawn is also the author of “The Smarter Accountant – How To Eliminate Stress and Overwhelm, Create More Time, Gain A Competitive Advantage, And More!”
Highlights:
— “Tax season is stressful, is actually an optional thought.”
— “Accountants have this badge of honor. If we're not overworking or not stressed, then we must not be very good at what we do.”
— “In coaching jargon, the intentional model is about thinking thoughts on purpose that are going to create the feeling that you want to generate, that will lead to the actions that you want to be taking, that will create eventually the result that you actually want to have.”
— “Ask yourself this: Do you like what that thought will create if you keep it?”
— “Using the fuel of focus gets me much better results than the fuel of stress.”
Connect with Dawn:
Website: https://thesmarteraccountant.com/
Podcast: https://cpamoms.com/podcasts/
Episode mentions:
193 Create the Exact Business You Want: Introducing The Model
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/193
218 Mindset Coaching for More Powerful Results, with Emma Richter
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/218
Dawn’s book:
The Smarter Accountant: How To Eliminate Stress and Overwhelm, Create More Time, Gain a Competitive Advantage, and More!
https://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Accountant-Eliminate-Overwhelm-Competitive/dp/B0B7QFYW8N
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Would you love to get paid in full up front for tax returns?
There’s a long history of paying for your tax return when you pick it up at your CPAs office, or when they send the invoice, which might be weeks or months after you did the work.
Despite knowing the benefits of getting paid in full up front:
-
You can have a clearer sense of how much of your capacity is now paid and on the books, and how much more you need to sell
-
You have clients who have agreed to your price, so you don’t have send invoices and duck for cover
-
You don’t have a pile of A/R, dangling out there in space, that you need to burn time tracking down
-
You’re no longer held hostage by client you want to fire, but you don’t want to fire them until they pay you, for the last 3 years
-
You have access to and use of the cash, and cash is queen
You still get hung up on 3 common objections, which are:
-
I haven’t done it this way before, I don’t know how to do it
-
Clients aren’t used to paying this way
-
I'm worried about underpricing, I don’t know how long returns take, I can’t price if I don’t know how long it’s going to take, what if they show up with some surprise, what if I get killed on scope creep.
Each of these objections may have some validity. But each objection can be overcome – and I walk you through how, in this episode.
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Can you tell what this is?
Sugar, unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), palm oil, cocoa (processed with alkali), high fructose corn syrup, leavening (baking soda and/or calcium phosphate), salt, soy lecithin, chocolate, artificial flavor.
.
Would you pay $4.25 for two sleeves of them?
.
If you’ve ever bought Oreos, then yes. :)
.
Most regular buyers cannot reverse engineer their way from the ingredient list, to the product, to what the product does.
.
Oreos, satisfy your sweet tooth craving.
.
Regular buyers also face the following ingredient list:
Document review, secure file exchange folder, calls, projections, calculations, planning, strategy, preparation, state return, estimates, portal, filing, emails, correspondence.
.
Most regular buyers cannot reverse engineer their way from the ingredient list, to the product, to what the product does.
.
What it is:
Gold-level tax prep and filing
.
What it does:
Get taxes off your mind, so you can do something fun with your weekend.
.
Next time you’re in the cookie aisle, stand before the Oreos and imagine the casing with only the ingredients listed. No Oreo, no glass of milk. No dunk. No quench.
Just an ingredient list.
In black and white.
Flour, sugar, niacin, palm oil, leavening.
.
Now imagine your client.
.
Now imagine the list of a la carte ingredients you sell.
.
Now you can imagine what your client might be experiencing.
.
For some, a milk-dunked Oreo is a heavenly experience.
For some, painless, seamless tax prep is a heavenly experience.
.
Sell, what it does.
Sell, the experience.
Not, the ingredient list.
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Your clients buy a solution to a problem they have. And the better you get at understanding the nature of their problem, talking to them about their problem, and explaining to them their problem in ways that show them that you understand their problem more deeply than they do, the easier your business will get to run.
Here are 8 questions you can ask to deepen your understanding of your Ideal Buyer’s problem:
- How would they describe their problem, in their words?
- What would they Google, to try to solve it?
- How do they feel now, and how do they want to feel?
- Are they willing to pay what it’s worth to you, for the solution?
- How does your package help them solve this problem?
- Why will your solution work for them, what’s compelling about it?
- Why are you the best person to help them?
- Why will they be delighted to discover your solution?
You have space and permission to design something truly amazing for your clients. With their problems in mind. With your solution being the best one out there in the marketplace. Where there’s nothing else like it, that comes even close.
Go design that, and sell it.
Episode mentions:
214 - Problem Solution Process Result
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/214
221 - 12 Reasons to Niche
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/221
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Falling into the trap of working too much is a common place to land. But working too much doesn’t have to be a thing, even though it’s become normal in our society. The good news: working too much is imminently solvable. Get the solution to 15 reasons you might be overworking and what to do about it.
I use the term overworking to simply mean “working more hours than you want.”
That might mean working 55 hours when you want to work 40 hours.
That might mean working 35 hours when you only want to work 25 hours.
And it also doesn’t mean that working 50 hours a week is necessarily overworking. If you want to work 50 hours a week, you might not be overworking.
15 reasons you might work more hours than you want to:
- Too many clients
- Too many underpriced clients
- Too many types of clients
- Stuck in hourly pricing in all its forms
- Systems stuck in your head, nonexistent, incomplete, unreliable, or unfindable.
- Staff: undertrained, underperforming, or both.
- Too much on your calendar: Too many meetings, meetings longer than they need to be; too many programs, groups, networks.
- Overworking begets overworking. Long hours are inefficient and error prone.
- Doing automatable tasks manually, including digital tasks.
- Work is who you are; it’s how you define yourself
- You don’t know what you’d do with your free time or yourself if you did have time
- It can be a way to garner sympathy or attention
- You think you can multitask
- Avoiding home/personal life
- Because you allow it by rationalizing it 🙂
It’s good news! Each of these is imminently solvable. You can get on the path to working the hours you want. Start by picking 1 or 2 of the most doable ones to work on, that will have the most impact.
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Many CPAs work until they're done. And they either hand their firm down, sell it, or turn off the lights and close the door. Some miss an opportunity to be more strategic about what they choose to build with an eye toward future value creation.
Here today to talk with me about this is my guest, Jody Grunden.
Jody is the co-founder & CEO at Summit CPA Group, A Division of Anders CPAs + Advisors. Summit CPA is the leading provider of Virtual CFO Services in North America.
Highlights:
— “High growth and high profit, those are the two big things that companies look for.”
— “Being remote accelerated growth, because now we could go anywhere and hire anywhere.”
— “There's a great opportunity to get rid of existing clients that are preventing you from making changes [to improve your firm].”
— “Take advantage of the remote atmosphere, whether it's hybrid or fully remote. This is the perfect time.”
— “The most important factors: niche, go remote, and take risks.”
Connect with JODY:
Website: https://www.summitcpa.net/
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jodygrunden
Twitter: @jgrunden and @SummitCPAGroup
Previous episode with Jody:
086 Secrets of Shifting to vCFO Services, with Jody Grunden
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/086
Book mention:
Time's Up!: The Subscription Business Model for Professional Firms, by Ron Baker and Paul Dunn
https://www.amazon.com/Times-Up-Subscription-Business-Professional/dp/1119893526
Software mentions:
Reach Reporting: https://reachreporting.com/
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You can create time.
You don’t have to be busy all the time.
The accounting space mostly believes that CPAs work long hours, and that’s just “how it is.”
That’s not how it needs to be.
You can create time.
You create time.
You can create time with these seven tactics:
- Plan to your time
- Make decisions - faster, more strongly
- Stop wondering - start figuring it out
- Constrain - pick 1 or 3 things to focus on
- Try things - stop thinking of your attempts as failures
- Say no - stop saying you’re a people-pleaser
- Stop thinking busy and stop being busy - start saying you create time and start creating time
You CAN create time, and work a 40-hour workweek. Time to put an end to habitual overworking in the accounting industry :)
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In this episode, we're talking about value creation.
In the accounting space, it’s easy for the firm owner to think that revenue comes from clients, work, time, or deliverables.
Because your client pays the bill for the work you did, it can appear that that’s where the money comes from. But the money comes from the value you created.
The more you think about your clients and creating value for them, and the better you get at capturing the value you create for your clients with effective pricing, the better you'll get at bringing revenue into your accounting practice without having to put in so many hours and so much effort to create that revenue.
When you create more value and capture that value with higher prices, you can meet revenue goals with fewer clients and less work. This is the path to making your accounting practice easier to run. After which, life gets easier.
Remember: all revenue comes from value creation. Not from clients, not from time, not from deliverables, not from work.
Episode mention:
220 Effortless Value: Price for Access, not Work
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/220
Happy holidays!
Enjoy the annual tradition of accounting humor, hosted by Geraldine’s two kids, Hazel and Remy.
This year: Top Ten 10 Signs of a Bad Accountant.
Wishing you all the best in 2023!
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In this episode, I want to give you 12 reasons to focus on a niche or an industry, or your ideal buyer or a market segment. Whatever term you like to call it.
There are slight differences in the details but what's most important is understanding how valuable it can be to your business to focus on an ideal buyer, to pick a niche and move in that direction.
- It simplifies your business.
- It deepens your expertise
- Expertise is more valuable than general knowledge.
- When you create value, it enables your prices to go up.
- When your prices go up, your margins also go up when you niche.
- When your prices go up, you need fewer clients to meet your revenue targets.
- Your business starts to feel easier, because there's just less to keep track of.
- When all your clients look like each other, it becomes so much easier to systematize.
- The more you can get your clients to nest the more space you create in your business and the more mental space you create in your mind.
- When you niche and you focus on an ideal buyer and you deepen your expertise, you become less duplicatable.
- You put yourself in a position to sell expertise without having to do any work.
- Niching and going in the direction of deepening expertise creates options for you in terms of how to create revenue.
And here are some of the objections that I hear about niching:
- Letting go of existing revenue.
- I won't be able to create future revenue.
- I will be bored.
- It feels limiting, as in, “I’m eliminating too many potential customers.”
Each of the above objections gets addressed.
Narrowing your industry, your niche, focusing on an ideal buyer opens up more options for you.
Episode mentions:
211 Pricing for Improved Profitability
212 Hold My Beer and Watch Me Niche
220 How to Price for Access, not Work
179 Digital Products, Courses, and 90% Margins with The Real Estate CPA
Blake Oliver's Earmark CPE podcast
https://earmarkcpe.com/
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Here are some different ways to think about what you price.
Why?
Because what you price informs your revenue. Depending on what you price has a huge impact on how much you work, or don’t work. Depending on what you price will inform your revenue or the revenue that you do not bring in.
If you look at the accounting space right now, the going model is to price work.
But there are at least two problems with this method of pricing work:
- When you sell work, you're always on the hook for working.
- What if you think that clients value work, when in fact, they really value access more?
What would happen if you priced your packages and differentiated your services based solely on access?
If work is what you want to be doing less of, what if you consider the option of selling less work?
What would happen if you safeguarded your time and you priced and sold access?
If your clients value access and access to you is in short supply, consider pricing for access, so you can do less work.
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Accountants and CPAs have loads of systems running through their tax practice. Perhaps some things must still be done manually. But what if more of your work and your staff's work could be automated?
Here today to talk with me about this is my guest, Jason Staats.
Jason is a CPA turned automation nerd who enjoys sharing new ideas and memes on Twitter, Youtube, and Tiktok. He also built Realize, an online community of accounting firm owners.
Highlights:
— “Automation today looks a little more bottom-up. It's automating the very workflow and client-specific problems that we have.”
— “If you can surround yourself with people who are at varying levels of the same journey, that's just going to accelerate your learning so much.”
— “The best way to think about where to start, especially if you do a lot of accounting is, what could you just automate inside of a single accounting file?” — “Inbox rules are the greatest automation hack there is.”
— “In your decision-making feedback loop, you need to have trusted peers or an external coach who can give you honest feedback that isn't subject to the groupthink that you have within a firm.”
Connect with Jason:
Podcast https://www.automationtown.fm/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@jasoncpa
Twitter https://twitter.com/JStaatsCPA
Community https://rlz.io/
Software mentions:
Zapier: https://zapier.com/
Make: https://www.make.com/en/
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Today we are talking about stress and overwhelm and overworking because it's not just common in the accounting space, but it's almost as if it's expected. It's almost assumed that a firm will have or being a CPA will include long hours, and it will include the stress of meeting client demands and client deadlines.
Not only does mental health suffer as a result of setting things up this way. But what we want to dig into today is a conversation about mindset because people talk about it, but it doesn't typically get understood what it actually is.
And in my program, CPA Mastermind, we face it head on and we tackle it. I have a team of coaches who coach mindset one-on-one in private coaching with CPA masterminders.
And today I brought on one of my coaches Emma Richter to talk about what coaching is and isn't, and how it's beneficial inside that program in particular.
Highlights:
— “This mindset work is actually very logical, and emotions and the reactions they cause are logical.”
— “When you can bring the drama out of your statements about time, you'll be surprised at how much more efficient and effective you are with your time.”
— “In reality, your price is up to you. And the market will tell you whether that is a good price or not.”
— “There is no failing. There's only learning. And that is especially true in running a business.”
— “When you help you, you also become a better CPA, a better business owner. And therefore you can help your clients become better business owners.”
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We're talking with Sheila Hansen, who is a participant, a masterminder in my program, Down to 40 Hours CPA Mastermind, to get her perspective on the experience of what it's like, and the value of being in this program.
Sheila helps female-owned creative businesses understand their numbers while increasing profit and scaling to $500K-$2M in revenue.
Highlights:
— “One value of this program is really digging into niching. In some ways it was giving myself permission to go the route that I wanted to go.”
— “We don't have to have it all figured out exactly today.”
— “Clients care about if we can provide a solution that helps them see where their cash is going, and how to keep more of it and spend (or not spend) in a way that aligns with their goals.”
— “In the 10 weeks since we started, I have grown my monthly recurring contracts by 65% in revenue dollars. And in doing so, I only grew my client roster about 25%.”
— “The mindset coaching sessions help me go from being paralyzed and not taking any action or avoiding it all together, to actually moving forward and getting something accomplished.”
Connect with SHEILA:
Website: https://www.hansenllc.net/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheila.hansen.cpa/
Get first access when CPA Mastermind enrollment opens:
https://geraldinecarter.com/waitlist
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Today we're talking about disengaging and disengagement letters and the process of letting go of some, or many of your clients so that you can free up space and bandwidth in your business to focus on generating high-margin revenue.
I want to share with you what this looks like, sounds like, and feels like, so that you have a sense of the experience, so that you know that this is doable for you.
Not only is it doable for you: it is imperative if you are a CPA, especially when working 70, 60, 50 hours a week, and you’re exhausted and worn out and want to keep being a CPA.
Highlights:
— “There's more revenue to be created when you focus at the top end of your client roster and figure out and design higher-value, higher-margin services that are designed to solve problems for your clients.”
— “The risk of not appropriately disengaging so that you can get your time and your bandwidth back is that your best clients, who can't get your attention, leave.”
— “Your position is your north star: it informs your strategy, packaging, pricing, and how you promote your business. Without a north star, a business owner wanders all over the map.”
— “The strategy is universally the same: isolate who you want to work with, decide what problem you're going to solve, choose your prices and your packaging, and then focus on selling to only those people.”
— “Disengaging is good for you. It's good for your business, and it's good for your clients.”
Episode mentions:
211 Pricing For Improved Profitability
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/211
201 Effortless Value
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/201
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As an accountant, chances are good you don't like selling: you don't want to be dirty, pushy, smarmy or gross. Nor do you want to have to convince buyers that accounting is good for them (they should know)!
If you’re stuck believing “sales is dirty,” you will hinder revenue coming in the door.
When you believe that what you offer solves problems for people, and you work in service of your buyer, selling becomes a conversation where you seek an understanding of the problem and the solution, and explore ways to work together that are mutually beneficial.
When you understand the six elements to be looking and listening for, selling gets so much easier. It also helps you see how your buyers view what you offer, which simplifies what you need to communicate when promoting your tax practice, and having discovery conversations.
These six elements help you understand your prospect more deeply, which makes for conversations that get to the heart of the matter more quickly, quickening the sales cycle and improving your conversion rates.
These elements are: symptom, pain, solution, process, result, and value.
Highlights:
— “Your clients are coming to you because they believe that you may be able to help them get from where they are now to where they want to be.”
— “When you talk to your buyer, in their buyer's English, that's how they know that you're listening and that you actually understand them.”
— “When your buyers know that you understand them, and you have a process for helping them, it deepens trust which accelerates their journey of working with you.”
— “The more you can create a repeatable process, the easier it will be to systematize, the less work it will be for you. The more you systematize, the more time you get back, through delegation or otherwise.”
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Many CPAs tell me they are looking for high-paying clients. They wonder where those clients are, and “how to get them to spend more.”
Knowing what I'm about to tell you will expand your view of what's possible for you when you have a deeper appreciation for what's valuable to me as a multi six figure coach and what is less so.
This episode is born of a conversation that came about in CPA mastermind, my four-month coaching program for CPAs to help them build businesses that are much easier run and much more profitable.
They were asking about what my experience as a coach is, so I shared with them where I invest, and how I think about the value of each of the services I receive from my tax return-only CPA to my cashflow CFO/CPA, to my business coach.
This proved to be a helpful way for them to see where I was investing my money in my business and to help them think about their clients and their buyers and where they may be able to capture and create value that they might not have already been seeing.
Highlights:
— “When you don't know where or how to create value, that's value that you cannot capture with your prices.”
— “Working with coach helps me see what's possible for me in my business that I couldn't have seen myself.”
— “I think of my tax return CPA as somebody who tells me what I owe on what I made. I think of my cashflow CPA as somebody who tells me what I need to make. And I think of my business coach as someone who tells me how to make the money I want to make.”
— “When I invest in expertise, the dollars I give to that expertise come back multiplied.”
— “If you have a roster of smart clients running solid businesses, you have latent high-paying clients.”
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Many CPAs serve all kinds of clients, from service-based business owners to manufacturers to nonprofits. It seems like accounting is accounting and tax is tax, and you can do these things for anyone who needs them.
The problem with generalism is that it leads to broad but shallow expertise. And shallow expertise is not worth as much as deep expertise. Acquiring deep expertise requires focusing on a specific type of client.
Focusing in this way can feel scary and limiting: the thinking is that it will be harder to find clients because there will be fewer of them. Or, “it's hard enough to generate business as it is, so why would I want to limit the kinds of clients I work for?”
Here today to talk with me about his journey taking his CPA firm into niches is my guest, Josh Lance. Josh is a CPA CGMA and the founder of Lance CPA Group.
Highlights:
— “You can't just leave that expertise in your brain. It has to be freely shared within your organization.”
— “If we are really experts, and we are good at what we do, and we're going to solve our clients’ problems and help them achieve their desired outcomes, there's a price to pay for that.”
— “If you want to niche, you have to go all in on the niche.”
— “Specialization is going to be a bit messy at the beginning. But in the long run, it's good.”
— “There's so many more clients out there than we could ever imagine to serve that there's no worry where we box ourselves.”
Connect with JOSH:
Website: https://lancecpa.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshualancecpa/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lancejd1
Email: josh@lancecpa.com
Do you wonder how to price accounting services? Stop wondering, stop pricing accounting services, and start pricing for value you create. When you front-load your services with value, you have more latitude to price in a way that ensures both you and your client are mutually profitable in the exchange.
/////
If you want to know more about working with me to increase your profitability, put 15 minutes on my calendar: https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Let me show you how 1:1 VIP coaching can help your business be more profitable and easier to run, in less than 5 months.
/////
This episode is a summation of everything that I've taken in over the years on pricing and how I've effectively used it for great results for my clients.
Topics covered:
- why use price to improve profitability
- six reasons why it's good for your clients when you charge them more
- five reasons that hourly is so bad for your clients, and it's bad for you.
- value and price
- creating value without having to do that much extra work?
- tiered pricing or menu pricing
- how to raise your prices
Highlights:
— “Part of figuring out your pricing is also getting your packages together with your prices on the right track, so that you can stop having a million underpaying clients, and you can get your time back.”
— Remember, “It is good for your clients when your prices are higher.”
— “Value creation helps you increase your prices.”
— “When you can create a situation where it's high profit for you, the seller, and it's high profit for them the buyer, you create a win-win situation where you love selling, because it's nicely profitable for you, and they love buying, because it's nicely profitable for them.”
— “If you want to get your firm's packages and prices on the right track, if you want to stop having a million owner paying clients and you want to get your time back, start with value and use pricing as the tool to capture it.”
Earmark CPE podcast
https://earmarkcpe.com/
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I want to talk to you about experience and transformation. Why? Because if you deepen your understanding of these two aspects of what you provide to your clients, you'll be able to make more money without working as hard.
Many accountants are selling only services and deliverables. And they're missing out on selling transformation and selling an experience. And your buyers tend to value transformation and experience more highly than they tend to value services and deliverables.
I want to show you how you can sell these or how you can think about selling transformation and experience.
When you think first of the transformation you want your client to have, and the experience you want your client to have while working with you, you set yourself up to attract higher-paying clients. Your work is higher margin. And then you don't have to work so many hours trying to tie everything up at the end of the month and during tax season.
Highlights:
— “Many of your clients are looking for transformation in terms of the revenue in their business and in terms of their understanding of and their sense of the handle they have or don't on their money.”
— “Where you can create effortless value is in the onboard experience and your ongoing experience with clients.”
— “Your prospects and clients value transformation and experience much more than they value services.”
— “When you can create value in ways that are divorced from actually doing work, that's how you get paid better without having to work as hard.”
Episode mentions:
201 Effortless Value
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/201
Do you wish you could communicate your value more effectively?
Today I cover how to communicate value in more simple terms and more effectively so that your buyers and clients have a better understanding of what they're buying and why, and to make it more compelling for them to buy from you.
If clients don't understand the terminology that you're using, they will have a very difficult time connecting the dots between the things that you're doing for them, the tasks that you're performing for them, the deliverables, the services, and how that is valuable to them in their businesses and in their lives.
Here are six terms – deliverable services – that accountants and CPAs regularly use, where you can communicate value in more simple terms and more effectively:
Accounts payable - Make sure you're paying your vendors.
Accounts receivable - You need cash to run your business: make sure that you're getting paid on time by your clients.
Payroll - Avoid costly unforced errors - you don’t want to mess around with the IRS. Set this up right the first time.
Cash flow, including forecasts and projections - Make sure you know how much money you have available to invest in the growth of your business. Running your bank accounts dry is a recipe for running yourself ragged.
Revenue recognition - Get a more accurate picture of your books and it will map more accurately and better represent how your business operations are running month-to-month.
KPIs (key performance indicators) - Know when your business is on track or if it's deviating from the plan that we've set, sooner than you would have had we not been tracking KPIs.
Tie out your books, month-end-close - Make sure all your money is accounted for, at the end of every month.
Those are seven different places you can communicate value more simply, more effectively to better help your buyer see the value in what you're selling so that they appreciate the value more.
When they appreciate the value more, they're willing to pay more for it. And when they pay more for the very same thing, because you've communicated the value more effectively, it's one piece of you being able to earn more while working less.
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There's a giant new bill that just came out that we're trying to get on top of and underneath to understand where the business opportunities are.
Here today to talk with me about this is my guest, Randy Crabtree, co-founder and owner of Tri-merit Specialty Tax Professionals, and the host of the Unique CPA podcast.
Highlights:
— “Probably the major winner from somebody who's looking to build out a niche is something to do with the construction industry.”
— “There is a new rule regarding R&D, which probably tech startups are going to benefit.”
— “Anybody that is helping manufacture equipment, potentially that's going to support the manufacturing of semiconductors can benefit from the CHIPS Act.”
— “There are two different investment tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act. One is tied to semiconductor manufacturing, and the other one is tied to green and energy-efficient manufacturing of equipment or recycling of equipment or renewable energies.”
— “There's an incentive for companies that deal with tech startups doing Research and Development. Startup companies can take the R&D tax credit, and at least a portion of it and offset payroll taxes.”
Connect with Randy:
Website: https://tri-merit.com/
Webinar mention:
Pricing for Improved Profitability: Practice Management Webinar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EkcAAQQlOA
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What I have for you today is the audio from a webinar I recently hosted on Crowdcast, in which I shared 4 other business model options for CPAs that don’t require hustle or a battle with technology and automation in order to scale.
What I notice in the accounting space is an absence of how to grow your revenue without hustling. The going model is the hustle model, and there aren't many examples, models, ideas or inspiration about how to do it a much more mellow way so that you can enjoy the fruits of your labor and hang out with your kids, hang out with your family, take care of aging parents, and so on.
If you want to have a really nice business, a really nice income, save for retirement, save for kiddos’ college, and work 20 - 30 hours a week. In CPA terms, sometimes you guys call that a thousand or 1,500 hours a year, then this is the place for you.
So that's what I want to offer you today. I want to give you models, ideas, other ways of looking at your business.
Highlights:
— “Transformation and experience are far and away more valuable than services and deliverables.”
— “There's easier money to be had if you focus on the transformation and the experience first.”
— “Narrowing who your ideal buyer is makes it easier to become an authority. There's easier money to be had when you deepen your authority.”
— “Most accountants and CPAs are not building an audience, which makes it harder to grow and add ever-improving clients.”
— “What got you here is the very thing that will prevent you from getting there.”
Episode mentions:
179 Digital Products, Courses, and 90% Margins with The Real Estate CPA, Brandon Hall
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/179
203 Killer Niche: Farm + Ag CPA with Catherine Ozment https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/203
113 Out of Compliance and into Tax-savvy Stock Option Consulting, with Minnie Lau, CPA https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/113
167 Specializing in Stock-Option Tax Strategy and Consulting, with Minnie Lau https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/167
204 130% Revenue Increase While Working Less with Paige Gott https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/204
Book mention: What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith
https://www.amazon.com/What-Got-Here-Wont-There/dp/1401301304
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Long time listeners to this podcast know I am on the hunt for a better business model for CPAs, than the traditional time-for-money-for-reports model.
In many cases, that model doesn’t work well for the client, and for CPAs who are working long hours, that model doesn’t work great for them either.
CPAs may want to do things differently, but lack role models and examples they can point to to convince them they have other available options.
Here today to talk with me about his journey switching from the traditional model to a more limited size practice in medicine is Dr. Lewis Weiner.
Dr. Weiner is an internal medicine physician in his own private practice in Providence, RI. He offers the MDVIP program - a different approach to primary care with a focus on prevention and a better healthcare experience.
Highlights:
— “The breaking point comes when you feel like you're forsaking the patients you're caring for.”
— “The fear of the status quo, the risk and the knowns of doing nothing were scarier than the potential for change.”
— “What was scary about transitioning away was that people may not, or will not understand this thing. Why is this physician that we all know and has been a part of this community for so long, breaking away from the mainstream?”
— “What helped to get past the angst was that there was so much belief in this being a valid, appropriate and positive option that's being offered to people.”
Connect with Dr. Weiner:
MDVIP Website: https://www.mdvip.com/
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One of the most common questions I get from readers of my email list is: “How do I get high-paying clients?”
This process need not be a mystery.
There is a formula for creating high-paying clients, that gets you out of being at effect of outside forces, and gets you in the driver’s seat. These five steps are ones you can start implementing right away.
Here are five steps you can use to create demand and attract high-paying clients:
STEP 1 - Front-load the crap out of the value your service provides. Find all the ways to provide Effortless Value (listen to episode 201) and build those into your services.
STEP 2 - Undercharge relative to the value to the buyer. Make the price an easy win for your client. This is much easier to do when your service is packed with value, because it allows you to float the price up in keeping with the value you added. Of course, make your price profitable for you too.
STEP 3 - Always create demand. Always. Always does not mean sometimes. Or intermittently. Or once in a while. Or when you need a client. Or when you “feel like it,” or “don’t feel like it.” Always means always. You have 4 types of followers: new and existing, ready or not yet ready to buy. Cultivate all four groups by always creating demand.
STEP 4 - Limit supply for your HIGH-VALUE package. The more demand you create, the more limiting supply becomes necessary. And limited supply enables you to select the best clients from your pool of prospects.
STEP 5 - 100% control over 100% results. While you could focus on that which you cannot control, you are better off focusing on that which you can control. Much is within your control. Much more than you realize.
If you're thinking, “Creating demand sounds great. And boy, I could use help with this.” This is what we work on throughout CPA Mastermind.
We help you niche so you can figure out who you want to provide value to. And we help you build that value out. We create packages so you know what you are selling, and so do your prospects. We price so you understand where your money will come from, how much you need to sell, so your clients know how much the thing they are buying from you costs.
And then we build demand for high value, high-paying clients.
CPA Mastermind is the only program out there of its kind. We're enrolling right now for the fall cohort. Enrollment is open until September 4th. Get in on this round. The next round isn’t until 2023.
If you want high-paying clients and you want to take the mystery out of where they come from, get in on this round. You can go to https://geraldinecarter.com to enroll.
Episode mentions:
201 Effortless Value
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/201
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Sometimes you want to transition away from your current situation and create a new set up.
But between knowing what exactly to create, and how to create it, while transitioning away from the old thing can be a bit daunting.
Here today to talk with me about this is my guest Paige Gott.
Paige is the owner of Tidewater Consulting, and successfully navigated this transition over the last 18 months.
Highlights:
– “I am making basically 130% more per month per client. And I have half the amount of clients than I did at that time.”
– “The best thing I did was go through my client roster and figure out what clients I had outgrown, or who didn't necessarily want or need the level of services I was going to be providing on a regular basis.”
– “My clients are grateful that they can make decisions based on real evidence.”
– “Getting my first client at four figures per month gave me a huge confidence boost, after which I felt better about giving people my prices.”
Connect with PAIGE:
Website: https://tidewater-consulting.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tidewaterconsulting/
Many of you know how difficult and time-consuming it can be to run a tax shop. It's all too easy to get buried under a mountain of tax, underprice services, and be in what feels like a near-steady state of chaos.
My guest today is Catherine Ozment. Catherine is a CPA in south Texas who called two years ago now, wanting to get off the hamster wheel and get intentional about creating a thriving practice that is designed and built to sell at a high multiple.
We're talking today about what has changed since we spoke last year on the podcast and what she has learned in the year since then, so that you can have a window into what shifting your accounting practice is actually like.
Highlights:
— “We have an aging industry. Yet, technology continues to consume our space. Some older and aging senior CPAs are not keeping up with those times, so there’s an opening for those who keep up.”
— “When you have your sights set on excellence and you build relationships with your people, those people see that value and they are willing to pay you for that value.”
— “Getting myself out of the tax factory has made it possible for me to start networking in this (ag) space, and has confirmed that the value that we're producing is so well worth it for these people. We are offering a critical service so they can continue to grow in the ag space.”
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Connect with CATHERINE:
Website: https://www.farmandagcpa.com/
Episode mentions:
141 One Year: From Tax Factory to vCFO & Ag CPA with Catherine Ozment https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/141
142 From Impossible to Exponential Growth: The CPA Mindset
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/142
192 Free Time and 7 Figures Net Revenue with John Lee Dumas
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/192
Many CPAs struggle with pricing. Some have moved to flat rate or subscription pricing, and some still bill by the hour. For CPAs who are used to getting compensated for time and effort, it can be difficult to learn how to see value and to learn how to price accordingly.
But if they don't make the transition, they risk underpricing themselves in perpetuity and having to keep working long hours to make up for unearned revenue.
To talk with me about this problem is my guest, Mark Stiving.
Mark is a pricing educator and advisor, the host of the Impact Pricing podcast and the owner of Impact Pricing, where he teaches clients how to win, keep, and grow customers to drive higher revenue.
In Mark's most recent book, Selling Value, he shares his expertise to help companies win more business at higher prices.
Highlights:
— “Salespeople need to know how people value products.”
— “Our buyers buy products because they want to solve problems.”
— “The salesperson's job is to help the buyer understand the true amount of value they're going to get from the product.”
— “Buyers who don't believe that you understand their problems won't listen to your solutions.”
— “If we truly believe that we're going to deliver more value, we should make sure they understand the value before we give them the price.”
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Connect with MARK:
Website: https://impactpricing.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
Email: mark@impactpricing.com
Episode mentions:
125 Value and Segmented Pricing for CPAs with Pricing Expert Mark Stiving, PhD
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/125
153 A Formula for Quantifying Value with Mark Stiving, PhD
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/153
172 Subscription Pricing Strategies with Mark Stiving, PhD
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/172
Mark’s book:
Selling Value: How to Win More Deals at Higher Prices
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Y8V7FWX/
There is vestigial thinking in the accounting space that value comes from working. “If I worked hard on a thing, then you should pay me money for it.” But that's not how money works: people don't really care if you worked hard on a thing.
I want to undo this idea in your mind that working hard is the thing that is valuable. The idea is effortless value: that you can create a lot of value for your clients without actually having to work hard.
When we create effortless value in our businesses, we can capture that value with our pricing without putting in a lot of extra effort. And when you can capture the value that you create with your prices, then you can work less and make more.
In this episode, I list a dozen ways you can add value that are not tied to doing work:
- Improve the onboard experience.
- Create quick wins early on.
- Get more proactive for your clients.
- Improve the timing and the clarity of communication.
- Improve the clarity of your expectations and communicate those expectations.
- Improve your clients’ likelihood of achieving success or results.
- Increase the speed that you provide results.
- Increase the ease with which clients can reach you.
- Minimize the hassles that they need to deal with in working with you.
Building effortless value into your accounting firm is a sure-fire way to help you generate more revenue without having to work so hard for it.
Building effortless value is something that we work on inside CPA Mastermind.
If you want to know more about CPA Mastermind, check out the webpage at https://geraldinecarter.com/cpa-mastermind.
If you want to get on the interest list so that you can stay apprised of when registration is open and accepting applications, go to https://geraldinecarter.com/interest.
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Episode mention:
196 CPA Mastermind: Create More Profit with Less Effort
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/196
On why and how podcasting can be great for your business.
It has been the core of my business for four years and my business wouldn't be where it is without a podcast.
I share this with you because I see few accountants and CPAs with podcasts in niche spaces. I look for them because I want to get them on my podcast and they're difficult to find. Yet, podcasting can be valuable for your business and so beneficial.
Reasons why that is, and why, especially for accountants and CPAs, I think you are uniquely positioned to benefit from creating and having a podcast:
- Podcasting grows your audience.
- Your expertise deepens by hosting.
- It helps you grow a subscriber list.
- It grows your connections and your network.
- When ideal buyers are listening to your podcast, they tend to come better educated.
- You get to bring your business to life.
Pro tip here from experience: if you want your podcast to serve your business, focus on a specific audience, focus on a specific set of problems that you solve for your people.
This is the stuff that we work on in CPA Mastermind. I designed it to be the best program for CPAs and accountants who want to get their business on the right track.
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Episode mentions:
192 Free Time and 7 Figures Net Revenue with John Lee Dumas
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/192
196 CPA Mastermind: Create More Profit with Less Effort
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/196
179 Digital Products, Courses, and 90% Margins with The Real Estate CPA, Brandon Hall
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/179
A lot of CPAs have had enough, and are looking to sell off parts or all of their business. They have options when it comes to selling. And the farther ahead they plan, the better deal they’ll create for themselves.
Here today to talk with me about what he sees happening right now in the buying and selling of CPA firms is my guest Brannon Poe, owner of Poe Group Advisors.
Highlights:
— “Firms that have a large number of personal tax, not associated with a business, tend to have higher staff turnover, higher tax season hours, lower cash flow to owner.”
— “Staffing is changing the accounting profession faster than anything. Because of staffing changes, people are having to make difficult pruning decisions.”
— “Accounting firms are the slowest to change models. The cloud firm space, however, is definitely growing fast.”
— “If traditional firms don't keep up with the innovation, they're going to lose clients to innovative cloud firms.”
— “The full cloud firms sell for a higher multiple and they tend to sell faster.”
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Connect with BRANNON:
Website: https://poegroupadvisors.com/
Virtual Workshop: http://accountingpracticeacademy.com
Episode mentions:
162 How to Sell a CPA Firm for Optimal Price with Brannon Poe
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/162
Book mentions:
Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It... and Why the Rest Don't by Verne Harnish
https://scalingup.com/book/
For many CPAs, it feels risky to pick a cross-section of the tax-code, and burrow in. The fear is around losing clients, having to turn people away, and what if there’s a recession?
Consequently, most CPAs work as generalists, and pay the price in the form of seemingly infinite rotations on the treadmill.
My guest today has built an exemplary business around expertise in one niche, and that person is Tom Wheelwright, CPA.
Tom is a tax and wealth expert and is the CEO of WealthAbility®. He is the bestselling author of Tax-Free Wealth: How to Build Massive Wealth By Permanently Reducing Your Taxes, and he is releasing his next book this summer titled The Win-Win Wealth Strategy: 7 Investments the Government Will Pay You to Make.
His goal is to help people achieve their financial dreams faster by permanently and legally reducing their taxes.
Highlights:
— “I wrote The Win-Win Wealth Strategy to talk about how taxes really work, how incentives really work, and what the government gets out of it.”
— “Tax incentives have just taken off as a way for the government to influence investment behavior.”
— “Tax incentives are actually investments the government will literally pay you to make.”
— “You subniche to increase your focus and reduce the amount of time that you have to spend doing research, because then you don't have to know about everything.”
— “One of the challenges we have as CPAs, especially the smaller firms, is we tend to rely on personal, direct oversight as opposed to having systems. The client will get to a point where they're looking for systems help. And this is something where we can provide high value services to them.”
— “Don't think this is tax avoidance or tax evasion. It's none of that. This is what the government wants you to do.”
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Connect with TOM:
Tom Wheelwright, CPA Website: https://tomwheelwright.com/
WealthAbility Website: https://wealthability.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomwheelwright/
Episode mentions:
178 Killer Niches for CPAs
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/178
Tom’s book:
The Win-Win Wealth Strategy: 7 Investments The Government Will Pay You To Make
Pre-order: https://winwinwealthstrategy.com/
For multiple copies: https://winwinwealthstrategy.com/bonuses
Many CPAs work super long hours and go for periods of time where their head is down, getting the work done. But when your head is down and you’re busy, how do you take the time to find out what your clients truly want?
Here today to talk with me about this is my guest, Rochelle Moulton.
Rochelle turns consultants and big thinkers into authorities. She earned her consulting and big thinker stripes leading introverted brainiacs at some powerhouse global consulting firms like Towers Perrin and Arthur Andersen.
But even better, she has built, led (and sometimes sold) more than a few 6, 7 and 8-figure consulting businesses. And earned the equivalent of a second MBA building authority brands and businesses with hundreds of soloists.
She has recently launched a mastermind to build wealth in the form of money, time, and flexibility, for soloist women in the expertise space.
Highlights:
— ”In a listening tour, you're going to ask your ideal clients or prospects a very specific list of questions to get insight into something that you're trying to figure out, like a new product or a new program.”
— ”One the kinds of questions to ask, I'll open with something about their business, to make sure that I understand where they're coming from.”
— ”What we think our audience wants is not necessarily what they actually will buy.”
— ”A listening tour gives you a better understanding of what your clients want beyond what you think they want.”
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Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list
Connect with ROCHELLE:
Website: https://rochellemoulton.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConsultingChick
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rochellemoulton/
Episode mentions:
166 How CPAs Can Build and Monetize Authority with Rochelle Moulton
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/166
There are a number of mindset, structure, and mechanical components that are not working well for CPAs and accountants.
Many are working long hours and are underpricing. And they continue to be busy because they are positioning themselves in the marketplace as generalists. It's difficult to create value, which means it's difficult to raise prices, which means it's difficult to do less work.
There is an easier way, and it doesn't have to be thaaaat hard to make the changes that you need in order to get your business pointed in the right direction to get where you want to be.
I'm launching a new program called CPA Mastermind. It’s designed for CPAs and accountants who are solos or small firm owners: to update their business model, make their business more profitable, get their business on the path they want it on, and get their life back.
In short, CPA Mastermind helps CPAs create more profit, with less effort.
Here are the 10 steps that you'll go through in CPA Mastermind:
- Figure out your goals.
- Figure out your strategy.
- Determine your ideal buyer.
- Figure out your value.
- Package your services.
- Determine pricing.
- Improve your website and online presence.
- Replicate your ideal buyers
- Test/experiment.
- Move low-value work off of your client roster
If you don't want to do another year that feels like the last three that you have gone through, check out CPA Mastermind.
Get on the interest list:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/interest
More about the CPA Mastermind:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/cpa-mastermind
Episode mentioned:
125 Value and Segmented Pricing for CPAs with Pricing Expert Mark Stiving, PhD
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/125
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What I have for you today is the audio from a webinar I hosted on Crowdcast on how positioning can help you in your business.
Focusing on your niche or position can be really challenging. What I want is to help you keep on moving and to continue making progress in terms of narrowing who you focus on working with and who you work best with, because it makes your business so much easier.
Highlights:
— Why choose a position in the marketplace?
- It deepens your expertise, which increases the value you can provide, which enables you to raise your prices, which enables you to work less
- It simplifies your business: fewer internal workflows and assembly lines to manage
- Your marketing becomes much more effective: your message resonates more readily with better qualified clients, and you know where to place your message so it’s in front of prospects’ eyes
The moment a CPA separates himself from the crowd, he immediately opens himself up to that very type of business owner who is thirsty for his expertise and will pay him for it.
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Get access to webinar slides: How to Position Your Business
https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/position-your-biz-slides
In episode 193, I introduced a tool called The Model, which you can use to understand how your thoughts, feelings, and actions create your results.
Pricing, and especially raising prices, tends to elicit fear-based thoughts.
In this episode, I give you specific examples around the thoughts CPAs have about pricing, so you can see how your own thoughts about pricing might be inadvertently affecting your prices.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Here are three sample thoughts about pricing, that could play out as follows:
— When an accountant thinks, “They might say no,” she might feel hesitant, and want to think about her new prices some more, and meanwhile not list her new prices. The result is that buyers cannot say yes to her higher price because that higher price doesn't officially exist anywhere. Buyers are effectively saying no to her higher price.
— When a CPA thinks, “I've got to step up and deliver, I better perform,” he feels pressured and doesn’t think his processes all the way through. The quality and delivery are not as good. The result is that he doesn't perform when he feels under pressure about performing.
— When a CPA thinks, “What if they don't think my service is worth it?” she shows up apprehensive and holds back on delivering direct but valuable advice. When she wonders if her service is worth it, she doesn't make it worth it. And then she proves to herself and her prospect that her service is not worth it.
…
Thoughts show up in results.
And, it can help to remember that this is just the brain doing its normal brain-thing. (After all, it was designed to keep people safe from tigers and inside the tribe, so that they could live to tell another day.)
There is nothing wrong with thinking these thoughts. But it helps to be aware of them, in order to choose a new set of thoughts that line up with the results you desire to create.
Low-priced thoughts, create low prices.
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Episode Mentioned:
193 Create the Exact Business You Want: Introducing The Model
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/193
Today I want to introduce you to something called The Model.
It’s a model for understanding and making sense of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and results.
And it is created by Brooke Castillo, the founder of The Life Coach School.
I am a certified coach by The Life Coach School, and as such I am licensed to teach her methodology.
So I want to tell you about what this tool is, give you a sense of what it looks like and how it works and show you how we can use it to create the reality that we want and stop recreating a reality that we don't want.
What I love about the model is that it helps you understand your mind, understand your feelings, understand why you take the actions that you do and why you don't take the actions that you don't, and how these actions in aggregate create the result of our lives.
Highlights:
— “Our thoughts create our feelings, and we can choose what our thoughts are.”
— “The Model is a tool that you can use to understand what's happening in your life, and how to create the life and the business that you want.”
— “What's so powerful about the model is that you can see your thoughts showing up in your results.”
— “Improving your ability to think intentional thoughts on purpose is how you create the business and the life that you want to have.”
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When you run a business, getting a handle on your time can be a challenge.
Keeping your time and your tasks organized, is one way to get more big things done.
Here today to talk with me about this is my guest, John Lee Dumas.
John (or JLD, as he is affectionately known) is the founder and host of the award-winning podcast, Entrepreneurs on Fire.
With more than 100 million listens of his 3000+ episodes, JLD has turned Entrepreneurs On Fire into a media empire that generates more than a million listens every month and 7-figures of NET annual revenue 8 years in a row.
He is also the author of the recently published book, the Common Path to Uncommon Success in which he shares his 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment.
Highlights:
— “How do you start batching when you're working a 60-hour work week? You start with the small things.”
— “When the unexpected happens you just need to be ready to flow with it.”
— “As your business grows, you bring in people to your organization to take more things off your plate so you can keep focusing on what you can do.”
— “It takes time for people to really get a handle on their time because they're going to have to try things out.”
Connect with JOHN:
Website: https://www.eofire.com/
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Most CPAs struggle with pricing. After all, it’s not a topic that’s commonly taught. Even less frequently discussed is pricing mindset - in short, how to think about pricing. If you don’t think about how you think about pricing, you will run on default thinking. And if you run on default thinking about pricing, you're probably going to leave money on the table.
Here today to talk with me about this problem is my guest, The Pricing Lady, Janene Liston.
Janene is a Certified Pricing Professional, and she works with small businesses to improve how they price so they can be most sustainably profitable.
Highlights:
— “What most people understand about pricing comes from being a consumer, especially from the retail industry.”
— “Pricing is about how you set, how you get, and how you manage prices. And it's a way of being or behaving in your business. It’s a mindset.”
— “There are lots of prices that are right for your business and your customers. Your job is to find the price range that you can work in.”
— “Even if you're offering accounting services that are same (as other accountants), you may be able to charge more if you're better at communicating value.”
— “Believe that you are in fact better than the rest, not just by saying it, but actually being better than the rest.”
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Connect with Janene:
Website: https://thepricinglady.com/
Download Janene’s Self-assessment Pricing Scorecard:
https://thepricinglady.com/goodies/
What is cost, what is price, what is value?
First let us clarify how these terms can be used and what they mean.
The seller determines the cost, and it is based on the inputs required to produce the service or product.
The seller determines the price, and it is simply a choice.
The buyer determines the value, which is unique to each person and highly subjective.
You can think of designing the “equation” like this:
Cost < Price < Value
So that:
When the cost is less than the price, the seller sells at a profit.
(The seller’s profit is the price at which he sold, minus his cost, of course.)
When the price is less than the value, the buyer buys at a profit.
The buyer’s profit is less obvious. It’s the value to them, minus the price.
The value to the buyer is what they would have paid.
The buyer’s profit is what they would have paid minus what they paid.
When you design your services such that Cost < Price < Value, you are designing your service to create mutually assured profitability.
It’s a sweet spot worth seeking.
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When you set out to pursue your CPA, being an amazing manager of people was probably not in your crosshairs.
Yet, as your firm grows, the need to become an effective manager of people becomes readily apparent.
If you’re not an effective manager of people, one can get bogged down in staff-related headaches, pulling the focus away from working on the business.
Here today to talk with me about better managing your team, is my guest, Kris Plachy.
Kris is THE Thought Leader and Expert for Female Entrepreneurs. She has poured her life’s work into teaching them how to lead a team. In a space where there is a lot of ‘noise’ and advice, Kris has designed the ‘how to’ of team leadership through her How to CEO for Female Entrepreneurs™ program. She knows without a doubt, there is no challenge you are facing as a leader that she can’t help you solve.
Highlights:
— “You don't evolve and develop leadership and management prowess, if you don't understand the mind of a team member.”
— “The world of work has radically changed in the last two years. If you aren't paying attention to that, you're gonna really struggle to find top talent.”
— “If you're having repetitive problems with same kind of employee, that's just an indication that you have some things you need to work on to make better decisions on who you hire, and have better practices on how you lead and manage.”
— “What's essential in delegation is telling people what success looks like as clearly as you can.”
— “If you're the owner of a business and you can't hold people accountable, you are rudderless. You are operating at the whim of other people's brains, and it will make you nuts.”
— “We want to have a culture of accountability, which means that when you say you're going to deliver something, you do.”
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Connect with Kris:
Website: https://krisplachy.com/
How to CEO Program:
https://leadershipcoachinc.lpages.co/how2ceo/
Book mention:Dan Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth About Motivation
https://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805
Sometimes we overcomplicate our offerings and our services for buyers because: 1. we think it's actually complicated or 2. we want it to sound fancy, or 3. we want the buyer to believe that they need our help and they can't do it on their own.
We think if, “I make it simple for them, they won't buy.” Or, “If I make it simple, they’ll just do it themselves.” As if tax returns were just easy-peasy for everyone.
But the opposite can be true.
If we simplify how we talk about what the buyer needs to know, and we simplify the process for them, it can be easier for them to buy, because finally, they understand what's required of them, what they're getting, and what the value is to them.
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One place that is all too easy to get stuck as a business owner, is in the land of indecision.
As a business owner, I know you know just how many decisions there are to make.
Sometimes it can feel like every decision has to be the right one, and often you lack all the information you need to make a clear and confident decision.
When you find yourself spinning in Stuck-in-Indecision, there is no more data to be gathered.
The only thing to do, the only thing you can do, is make a decision.
Choose one thing.
That choice will get you moving again, and as you move, you will create more information for yourself that will inform your next decision.
This process on repeat will get you beyond the “right answer” you originally sought, and lead you to the thing you actually want.
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Knowing what to say on your website so that prospects quickly understand that you are (or are not) the right accountant for them can be difficult.
Here is a simple structure for writing the content, that goes alongside selling your accounting and tax services.
Your buyer needs to know three things:
One. That you understand their challenges
Two. That you know what they want, instead of what they have
Three. That you have a process to get them from where they are now, to where they want to be.
Think of it as the Pain, the Dream, and the Fix.
When you have these three items clear in your own mind and on your website, it makes sales conversations so much easier.
It’s the gatekeeper to your clients working with you.
CPA Rebootcamp:
https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/cpa-rebootcamp
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I want to round out this 3-part series on TIME with one more episode on unproductive actions we sometimes take that cost us time.
When you can recognize familiar patterns it becomes easier to create a new pattern that’s more productive.
I talk about procrastinating, doing “small tasks” and self-distracting — some of the actions that we do - or don’t do - that are counterproductive and keep us working against ourselves.
When you begin to understand how your thoughts drive your feelings which lead to your actions, which in aggregate create your results over time, THEN we can see if the wiring you have pieced together is actually the wiring you want, and if not, you can update your wiring.
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Episode mentions:
How CPAs Can Create More Time During Busy Season
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/180
How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed and Pressured by Time
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/184
I want to talk with you today about TIME, because it’s tax season, and if ever there was a time of the year that felt crunched, now is likely it.
When you become aware of how you feel about time, it can help you reduce overwhelm, pressure, and stress. It can also help you become more productive, by reducing the time that gets wasted when in a negative state of mind.
While the feelings a person might experience are real – the sense of overwhelm, pressure, stress, anxiety – the feelings themselves are real – but the thoughts driving the feeling might not be true.
Thoughts can be tricky to uncover, so your feelings are useful because they can help reveal to you what you’re thinking.
And when you can see what you are thinking, you can choose to keep thinking the same thought, or think a new thought that serves you better.
Your only step to get started is to simply get curious about your feelings and how your feelings and the thoughts that drive them might be contributing to an experience or reality that you would just as soon not create.
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Episode mentions:
180 How CPAs Can Create More Time During Busy Season
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/180
Shifting off hourly billing can seem like a daunting task, but if done well, it doesn’t need to be that hard. It does require going against the grain.
Right next door, much of the legal profession still uses hourly billing, but not today’s guest.
Digby Leigh is the founder of Digby Leigh and Co, a legal firm dedicated to helping good people do great business.
He is here today to talk with me about how he helped his firm shift away from hourly billing into pricing ahead of time.
Highlights:
— “The fear of changing (from an hourly model) often comes from “Well, we're going to lose money.”
— “We don't have any conversation with the clients about receivables any longer, because they know exactly what it's going to be. So our collections have become a lot easier.”
— “Pricing is a craft.”
— “I'm trying to create a dynamic where a client is actually comparing options, as opposed to comparing me to somebody else. And I've given them the chance to participate in the pricing discussion.”
— “One of the biggest hurdles for people moving away from hourly models is getting past the thought of “I might work for free on this.”
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Connect with DIGBY:
Law firm: https://leighco.ca/
AltFee: http://altfeeco.com/
Many service providers, including CPAs, start out as generalists who take on every client who needs their services. With a broad focus and no perceived expertise, it’s hard for them to provide enormous value that would justify high fees.
My guest today, Paul Klein, shares how he grew his consulting business by niching down to help an underserved market.
Paul is a business consultant and entrepreneur. From his days as 1980s hair band guitarist and lifelong entrepreneur to starting and scaling a successful SaaS company to consulting for some of the biggest brands including Target, Neiman Marcus, Starbucks, Holiday Inn, and other global brands, Paul helps consultants, freelancers, and solopreneurs price their services, stop undercharging in order to build 7 figure businesses.
He is the co-founder of Bizable TV and is also the host of the Pricing Is Positioning podcast and the Rock Your Pricing online course and community.
Highlights:
— “Instead of being a generalist, be a specialist. That's where I really thrived and became much more successful than I ever was in a day job.”
— “With residual or passive income, you create something once and it pays you over and over.”
— “Niching down took us out of the commodity space to that expert space.”
— “Having three pillars of revenue in our business allowed us to ride out those highs and lows of the consulting business.”
— “The true definition of wealth is discretionary time.”
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Connect with PAUL:
Websites: https://www.paulklein.net/
http://Bizabletv.com
Podcast: https://www.paulklein.net/podcast.html
Email: paul@paulklein.net
Books mentioned:
Pricing Creativity by Blair Enns
Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns
https://www.winwithoutpitching.com/books/
Some business owners have yet to learn concepts about accounting and tax that would be useful to them in their businesses.
But business owners are - well - busy - and may have little time or interest in wrapping their head information large and small.
Yet, when your business-owning clients understand important money and tax concepts more readily, it makes your job easier.
How then, to simplify information to make it more readily understood?
Here today to talk with me about this challenge is my guest, Carl Richards. Carl is a Certified Financial Planner™ and creator of the Sketch Guy column, appearing weekly in The New York Times since 2010. Through his simple sketches, Carl makes complex financial concepts easy to understand.
Carl also shares about the experience of compiling his sketches into a book, offering it to his fans, and he has learned from the experiment.
Highlights:
— “Nobody cares about your solutions. They care about their problems.”
— “Stop selling, stop overcoming objections, and start listening.”
— “If we can get really clear about what the goal is and why we're doing the work, then the prescription can be super easy, super simple.”
— “There's this pile of intellectual property now. And so it all starts with believing it's actually really valuable. We just need to create it as intellectual property in a way that we can see it.”
— “To those who are feeling a degree of uncertainty and also thinking there are better ways to share the knowledge and expertise to serve my clients, just try little experiments and interact with people.”
*Want to learn more about CPA Rebootcamp?***
It's a 6-week intensive starting May 9th, designed to make Big Progress fast, earn $25K new dollars that you wouldn't have otherwise, build a new website with priced services, and so much more.
It is designed to guarantee your success. Either you make your money back, or I give it back, AND you can keep the website.
Check it out at SheThinksBigCoaching.com/cpa-rebootcamp .
Application deadline is March 26th.
*Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?***
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Connect with Carl:
Website: https://behaviorgap.com/
Carl’s book:
The One-Page Financial Plan: A Simple Way to Be Smart About Your Money
https://www.amazon.com/One-Page-Financial-Plan-Simple-Smart/dp/1591847559
I want to talk with you today about how you relate to time. It's tax season, and if ever there was a time of the year that felt crunched, now is likely it.
But if we simply fall into our habits and autopilot thinking around time, we have less free time than we might otherwise.
There are ways to free up some of your time simply by becoming aware of how you think about the time that you do have.
Have you ever been curious to think about how you think about your time?
Having different time-thoughts can change how you relate to your time, how you plan your time, and thereby improve your experience of your own time.
Highlights:
— It's important to consider that our thoughts are not always facts.
» Fact: The Rangers beat the Devils 5-4 in OT.
» Thought: I always run out of time. Not fact.
— “We've been proving the veracity of our thoughts by creating evidence in our lives for so long that our thoughts just seem like facts.”
— “How we think about our time shows up in our reality.”
Catch the full episode to hear other time-thoughts that are buggy and could use an update.
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Many CPAs serve a general population of people, doing accounting for anyone with a business, and taxes for anyone who needs a return.
Because they don’t go deep into one subject matter, it makes it hard to provide the enormous value that would warrant high fees.
So, rather than grow revenue by increasing value and therefore fees, they grow revenue by increasing volume.
This is a sure-fire on ramp to the hamster wheel.
Instead, occupying a narrow position in the marketplace can solve the aforementioned problems.
Here today to talk with me about this is my guest, Brandon Hall .
Brandon is the founder and managing partner at The Real Estate CPA. The firm serves more than 700 clients nationwide and has 30 employees.
Highlights:
— “If anybody's going to create courses, I would recommend starting a Facebook group.”
— “How do you just get people to continue to want to buy the next thing? Just offer them an incredible amount of value for whatever they've paid.”
— “When you niche, you will be able to build a brand where you'll be the go-to person, and that will create multi-million dollar revenue streams.”
— “To pick a niche, start with something that you're already interested in, and see if there's a market there.”
— “When you create a group you're creating a community. The world is trending towards online communities to talk about your product, to talk about your services, and ultimately sell your services.”
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Connect with BRANDON:
Website: https://www.therealestatecpa.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonhallcpa/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhallcpa
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/taxsmartinvestors
For many CPAs, it feels risky to pick a cross-section of the tax code and burrow in. The fear is around losing clients, having to turn people away, and what if there’s a recession?
Consequently, most CPAs work as generalists, and pay the price in the form of seemingly infinite rotations on the hamster wheel.
Longtime listeners to this podcast know that I am a HUGE proponent of niching, because it makes business better in countless ways.
My guest today has built an exemplary business around expertise in one niche, and that person is Tom Wheelright.
Tom is a visionary and best-selling author behind multiple companies that specialize in wealth and tax strategy.
Highlights:
— “With the advantage of age, you learn that a very generalized practice is actually the slow way to build a business and an even slower way to build net revenue.”
— “The more education you give away, the more people will buy.”
— “Being mission-driven instead of money-driven makes all the difference in the world because then we can be niche-focused. Then we can actually say “these are the people we want to serve, and this is what we want to do with them.”
— “We have a very clear message to the public and that's why so many people come to us.”
— “An educated client is a better client. If the client gets good education, they become more successful.”
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Connect with TOM:
Website: https://tomwheelwright.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomwheelwright/
Tom’s book:
Tax-Free Wealth: How to Build Massive Wealth by Permanently Lowering Your Taxes
https://www.amazon.com/Tax-Free-Wealth-Massive-Permanently-Lowering/dp/1947588052/
With so much change happening so quickly when it comes to automation in the tech space, it can be hard to keep up.
But keeping up is a minimum requirement.
Here today to talk with me about tech and automation innovation is my guest, Jody Padar.
Jody is known as the Radical CPA, and enjoys disrupting the profession with innovative best practices for processes and technology. She also pioneered business solutions that would later become known as Advisory.
Jody brings her expertise in AI and automation to her latest endeavor as head of tax strategy and evangelism at the recently launched company named APRIL.
Highlights:
— “April is a new technology company designed to disrupt the tax space. We're creating tax software that's going to be distributed through banks.”
— “I don't think our software is ever going to replace the value of an accounting professional.”
— “CPAs need to be aware that their job is going to change in the near future. So they have to figure out who they want to serve, how they want to serve them and how they can put the human back to serving them.”
— “You have to figure out the value you're delivering and how you help your clients understand that there is value in what you're delivering because otherwise, they could just go to an automated service.”
— “Accounting is ripe for automation because nobody's done anything in it in the last 50 years.”
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Connect with JODI:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jody-padar-18a9711/
About April:
https://www.getapril.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6889238594121158657/
Many business owners struggle with their financials, especially early on in their businesses when they can lack a basic understanding of financials and can not have the budget to hire quality accounting support.
As accountants, listeners to this podcast understand that financials are incredibly important, but what they may have limited insight into is which numbers business owners really need and which they don't and how those numbers fit in context.
Here today to talk with me about this perspective from the business owner side is my guest Shelli Warren. Shelli is the team and leadership coach for BizChix, Inc. and the host of the Stacking Your Team podcast, where she provides insight and practical guidance on leadership, team building, and hiring practices.
Shelli has more than 25 years of experience leading technical teams to deliver multimillion-dollar projects for billion-dollar brands at Proctor and Gamble. And now Shelli puts her expertise to work helping women entrepreneurs grow and scale their businesses.
Highlights:
— ”Women business owners are looking for a guide who will help them to manage their money and to make qualified decisions.”
— ”Women business owners are looking for someone who can ask the hard questions, and push them to be more in the mindset of forecasting for the future versus reacting.”
— ”The team that got you here may not be the team that gets you there.”
— ”As you evolve and the business evolves, so does the team, and then so do the requirements that you need in order to always stay out front.”
— ”Women business owners are very willing to pay for reports that are meaningful to them and are designed to help them understand things easier. ”
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Connect with Shelli and Natalie (BizChix):
Website:
Biz Chix https://bizchix.com/category/podcast/bizchix/
Stacking Your Team podcast https://bizchix.com/category/podcast/team/
Instagram and LinkedIn:
Shelli on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stackingyourteampodcast/
Shelli on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelliwarren2/
Natalie on Instagram: https://instagram.com/bizchixpodcast/
Natalie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalieeckdahl/
The idea of narrowing in on your target market is anathema to many CPAs. The temptation to be available to anyone who needs tax and accounting is strong.
But honing in on a segment of the marketplace makes your business so much easier to run.
Here today to talk with me about her own experience getting to know her custom-built market-slice is my guest, Erica Goode.
Erica is a Certified Public Accountant with 12+ years of experience in Big 4 public accounting, Fortune 50 finance, and small business accounting. She is a freelance finance professional, working with a small handful of clients, focusing on financial forecasts while staying out of tax as much as possible.
Highlights:
— “In the world of niching, there is no manual. You get to create and make your own manual.”
— “People are coming to me way sooner in their business journey than I would expect. And they're so aware that they're in need of help and that the help I provide is so valuable to them that they're willing to pay for what I might have inadvertently given away for free.”
— “My strategy sessions turn into discovery calls. They almost are like a jumping-off point for a future relationship.”
— “Once you've built that know, like, and trust factor, if you're the person clients want to work with, then they're going to ask what your price is, not go find the cheaper option.”
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Connect with ERICA:
Website: https://www.ericagoode.com/
Episode mentions:
082 [Coaching] Logic vs Intuition: How to Choose Fulfilling Work, with Erica Goode
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/082
116 From Hourly Billing to Flat Rate for Cares Act Documentation
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/116
Many CPAs serve a general population of people, doing accounting for anyone with a business, and taxes for anyone who needs a return. As a result, their focus is broad, but diffuse, and because they don’t go deep into one subject matter, it makes it hard to provide enormous value that would justify high fees.
So, rather than grow revenue by increasing value and therefore fees, many CPAs grow revenue by increasing volume.
This is a sure-fire path onto the hamster wheel.
Instead, focusing on a particular vertical, or niche, can solve the aforementioned problems.
Here today to talk with me about niching and niche drama is SaraEllen Hutchison.
SaraEllen is a solo practicing consumer rights trial lawyer. She stands up for the rights of individuals bullied by debt collectors or overwhelmed by the mess of identity theft, resulting in 6-figure verdicts and substantial settlements.
Highlights:
— “Niching creates efficiency and time – I focus on one thing, and get really good at it. That builds confidence and I serve the client better.”
— “Finding where you really belong and where you really fit in is vital to being happy enough to stay in an intense profession like the law.”
— “It's important to be patient with yourself, but also, not get so used to the comfort of the familiar.”
— “The nice thing about finding a niche that's not a super obvious one is that you don't have to outspend your competition in advertising.”
— “I'm totally better off financially because I niched down and I'm better off in a holistic sense in my whole lifestyle.”
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Connect with SARA ELLEN:
Website: https://lawyergoddess.com/
If your aim is to work less and make more, there are many benefits to putting some prices on your website, without getting pigeonholed or committed to something that’s not viable.
Highlights:
— “Most buyers have some sense of what they want to pay. And if there’s way too much daylight between your prices and their expectations, they’re just not going to work with you.”
— “Putting some prices on your website makes the pricing part of your discovery conversation so much more comfortable for you.”
— “Use high anchor prices to make your regular price seem less expensive by comparison.”
— “Having pricing for a single meeting helps the buyer infer what prices for other services you offer might roughly be.”
— “Using the phrase “Starting at” allows you to set the floor on the price.”
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Many CPAs struggle with pricing. Some have moved to flat rate or subscription pricing, and many still work by the hour. Subscription of course is a hot topic. But for many CPAs, that business model feels too far out of reach and too theoretical to be able to put it into play in their business anytime soon. But if they don't make the transition, they risk missing out. Here today to talk with me about the subscription business model is my guest Mark Stiving. Mark is a pricing educator and advisor. He's the host of the Impact Pricing podcast and the author of Win Keep Grow, among other books. Mark helps companies win more business at higher prices.
Highlights:
— “To make the shift from the traditional transactional model to the subscription model, you have to figure out how you can add value to a customer on a regular basis.”
— “A customer who frequently receives value from your product or your service is much more willing to offer to pay you as a subscription because they're paying you for the ongoing value they receive.”
— “Accountants and CPAs who want to bring subscription into their business need to really understand what the stream of benefits could be beyond just the delivery of month-end deliverables.”
— “One of the big advantages of subscriptions is it's less expensive to get into and try a new service or a new product.”
— “Accountants and other business owners need to talk to their customers on a regular basis and try to find out what problems they're dealing with, and what solutions they want.”
Connect with MARK:
Website: https://impactpricing.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
Email: mark@impactpricing.com
Past Episodes:
125 Value and Segmented Pricing for CPAs
https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/125
153 A Formula for Quantifying Value
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/153
Mark’s Books:
Win Keep Grow: How to Price and Package to Accelerate Your Subscription Business
https://impactpricing.com/resources/books/
Impact Pricing: Your Blueprint for Driving Profits
https://impactpricing.com/resources/books/
Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?
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Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list
Many CPAs struggle with people-pleasing – saying yes, when they might prefer to say no.
As a habit, it can result in all kinds of undesired outcomes, and because it comes with some pretty sneaky rewards, it can be hard to give up.
Here today to talk with me about this problem is my guest, Sara Bybee Fisk.
Sarah is the creator of a 16-week course called Stop People-Pleasing and a master at simplifying the complex.
Sara talks about how people-pleasing is showing up in our business, and what we can do to stop it.
Highlights:
— “Never say yes in the moment. Always give yourself some kind of buffer.”
— “We say no, or we give the answer that we know we don't want to give, because we don't feel like we actually have a choice.”
— “People-pleasing is the way we are taught from the time we're very little to get our needs met. It’s normal that we do it.”
— “We are programmed to avoid discomfort, to seek pleasure and to conserve energy. And stopping people-pleasing violates every single one of those.”
— “There's no opt out button for discipline.”
Download Sara’s guide on How to Have Difficult Conversations
https://www.sarafisk.coach/
Connect with Sara:
Website: https://www.sarafisk.coach/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaraFiskCoaching
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarafiskcoach/
My two kids commandeered the mic to test out their stand-up routine of jokes for an accountant audience. Enjoy!
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Today I have the five books that I most often recommend to my clients, because I want you to be able to benefit from the excellent writing that’s out there, that can help you move forward more effectively in your business.
These 5 books are straightforward, boot-on-the-ground practical advice for ways to improve your business.
I hope you find something to enjoy that will contribute to the transformation of your business, and lead to you living a whole and beautiful life.
Here they are:
- The Business of Expertise by David C. Baker
https://www.amazon.com/Business-Expertise-Entrepreneurial-Experts-Convert/dp/1605440604
Expertise increases value, and value improves prices. Improved prices allows you to reduce workload, which helps you get off the so-called hamster wheel.
It starts with (differentiated) expertise.
- $100 Million Offers by Alex Hormozi
https://amazon.com/100M-Offers-People-Stupid-Saying/dp/1737475731/
Once you have your differentiated expertise and a clear position in the marketplace, it’s time to learn how to package and title your services, in a way that’s appealing. Then you make offers, observe your results, and learn from what sells.
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0593189647/
Being overworked with a “handle what’s most on fire” strategy is guaranteed to thwart progress.
Integrating more effective habits throughout your business and your day will improve your output.
- The Automatic Customer by John Warrillow
https://amazon.com/Automatic-Customer-Subscription-Warrillow-2015-02-05/dp/B01MY26IQ8/
Once you have your expertise and position honed, your offers dialed in, and your own habits on repeat, it’s time to get your customers (clients) on repeat.
Single transaction has its place, but recurring is where it’s at, and The Automatic Customer (as well as my interview with Mr Warrillow) will help you create your first subscription service.
- Pricing Creativity by Blair Enns
https://www.winwithoutpitching.com/pricing-creativity/
Now that you have your services packaged, it’s time to price them right. Underpricing is like gravity: a powerful force that will keep your business grounded. If you want to reach escape velocity, smart pricing is your rocket fuel.
…………
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Subscription is all the rage in software and in other industries, but the accounting industry is hardly speedy on the uptake.
While the value appears to be there, something - or perhaps many things - are in the way of accountants and CPAs making the shift to the subscription pricing model.
Here today to talk with me about this challenge is my guest, John Warrillow.
John is the founder of The Value Builder System, a practice management software for business advisors. He is also the author of the best-selling book Built to Sell, The Automatic Customer, and The Art of Selling Your Business. He is the host of Built to Sell Radio, which was recognized by Forbes as one of the 10 best podcasts for business owners.
Highlights:
— “Recurring revenue makes your business more predictable, and that allows you to build a much more efficient firm.”
— “Once somebody subscribes to your firm, not only do you get the recurring revenue associated with that subscription, but it makes your customers more likely to buy other things from you.”
— “There's no way you can serve all your customers with one subscription model. Instead, what you want to do is segment first.”
— “You hire salespeople to sell your product or your service. Your job (as the business owner) is to sell your firm.”
— “Scarcity gives people a bit of a nudge towards decision-making. It makes them get over the classic challenge of any subscription, that if it's a subscription, it's always available.”
Download the PDF for this episode:
9 Subscription Models eBook - http://builttosell.com/carter
Connect with JOHN:
Website: https://builttosell.com/
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My guest today is Minnie Lau, CPA, who currently runs a tax practice helping clients optimize their stock options.
18 months ago, Minnie called out of the blue citing the usual symptoms of being swamped with tax and no visible off-ramp. She wanted help getting her business where she was doing work she loved while being well compensated for it without working all the time. She knew she loved stock option tax strategy and consulting, but couldn't locate the path to create her business around it. So we dug in, we built the path which she is now cruising on.
Minnie is here to talk with us about her journey of specializing, what has changed in the year since we last had her on, and what the future holds as she continues to deepen her expertise in this area.
Highlights:
— “Once you're able to articulate the value you're bringing to people, that takes the pricing piece entirely out of the conversation.”
— “Every professional out there is an expert in one superpower. This is the thing that everybody in your office says, “Oh, go talk to this person because it's their jam.”
— “You could build a practice working on the thing that brings you joy and hopefully makes a bit more money at the same time.”
— “The most challenging part of the process was seeing your plan and actually having to take the first step.”
— “If somebody had pointed you in the right direction and you choose not to act upon it, that's on you, your consequences of inaction.”
Connect with MINNIE:
Website: https://www.minnielau.com/
Previous episode:
Out of Compliance and into Tax-savvy Stock Option Consulting
https://businessstrategyforcpas.com/113
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Most CPAs work super long hours for the revenue they bring in. Automation is upending the profession in profound ways. And the race for optimized efficiency is on. But there's another path and that path is not automation. It's authority.
Here today to talk with me about this as my guest, Rochelle Moulton.
Rochelle turns consultants and big thinkers into authorities. She earned her consulting and big thinkers stripes leading introverted brainiacs at some powerful global consulting firms like Towers Perrin and Arthur Anderson. But even better, she has built, led, and sometimes sold more than a few six, seven, and eight-figure consulting businesses and earned the equivalent of a second MBA building authority brands and businesses with hundreds of soloists.
Highlights:
— “Authority is when other people in your specific niche look to you as a trusted source of information and advice in your field.”
— “Building an authority business lets you design a business that allows you to work from your genius zone.”
— “Authority is like expertise on steroids, where you're public and you are publishing your point of view out to the world.”
— “Selling is like a muscle and it needs to be exercised to really perform at its best.”
— “There's an unlimited number of ways you can monetize authority. But the key to think about this is it's the services that you offer and the price tags that you attach.”
Rochelle’s book:
The Authority Code: How To Position, Monetize And Sell Your Expertise https://rochellemoulton.com/book/
Connect with ROCHELLE:
Website: https://rochellemoulton.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConsultingChick
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rochellemoulton/
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
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Today’s guest is Shaan Afridi, a CPA who focuses on cash flow and tax planning for Real Estate Investors. He helps his clients clean up their messy books and understand their cash position, so they can better capitalize on opportunities.
Shaan is a client, and we’ve been working together since about April. In less than eight months and with two tax deadlines in between, Shaan has gone from pretty close to starting from scratch, to more than six figures in revenue.
Shaan talks about his journey as a CPA, from working full-time for someone else to building his own business and transitioning from being a traditional accountant to an advisor.
Highlights:
— “There's always going to be more work in your niche than you can handle. It doesn't matter what the niche is.”
— “Advisory is where the future is because that's where the value is.”
— “If your clients trust you as a tax preparer, they'll be happy to listen to other ways you can help their business.”
— “It's a valid concern that when you outsource work, the quality can be compromised. But it's still possible to find someone who can do good quality work at a very reasonable price.”
— “To get started in advisory services, you don't have to know everything. You just need to know more than what your clients do. As long as you are always building your expertise, soon enough you'll know what you need to expand your practice.”
Connect with SHAAN:
Website: http://orangecountytaxplanning.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaan-afridi-cpa-aca-627a8342/
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
With countless new millionaires being minted every year, and the stock market posting consistent gains, there are plenty of folks who need more support managing their assets.
But without a framework for helping these people, it can be difficult to know where to start.
Here today to talk with me about building Family Office Services into your CPA firm is my guest, Anthony Glomski.
Anthony is also the founder of AG Asset Advisory, an SEC-registered Family Office. He and his team work extensively with entrepreneurs and CPAs to build family offices and optimize their financial world.
Highlights:
— “In the simplest form, the family office helps the family operate more effectively and helps them function better.”
— “CPAs are especially well-suited for this type of work because they tend to be the most trusted advisor to high net-worth individuals.”
— “Many of the successful CPAs don't want to be cranking 1040s. What they want to be doing is functioning in a consultative role.”
— “If you're the person driving the outcome that clients want and you’re quantifying the outcome for them, they will pay you for that.”
Connect with Anthony:
Website: https://agassetadvisory.com/
Anthony’s Books:
Liquidity and You (available on Amazon)
https://www.liquidityandyou.com/
Your $5 Million High-Net-Worth Practice (available at CPA Trendlines)
https://cpatrendlines.com/shop/ag21hnw/
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Finding good staff to work for you is always a challenge, but that has gotten even harder in COVID times.
Demand for accountants is high, and seats are hard to fill.
Here today to talk with me about hiring and staffing challenges is Mark Goldman.
Mark is the owner of MGR Accounting Recruiters, which helps employers hire accounting personnel in San Antonio, Texas. There is no one better positioned to talk with us about what’s going on, and how to navigate the current environment.
Highlights:
— “We are seeing people in the accounting industry opting out because they can.”
— “Smart firms are always in hiring mode and are always open to talking to candidates.”
— “Some of the firms that have the least trouble hiring are the ones that realize that you can only work so many hours in a week and that flexibility is needed.”
— “The firms that are most successful in their hiring know and understand their culture, and understand what works well for them.”
— “From an employer standpoint, these days you still have to pay the prevailing market wage in order to get the talent. And then the flexibility needs to be on top of that.”
Connect with MARK:
Website: https://mgrar.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-goldman-cpa-8bb1101/
Email: mgoldman@mgrar.com
Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
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Even though you might not have selling your firm on your mind, building it AS IF you were going to sell it, even if you’re not, is a good business strategy, and will improve the value of what you build.
Here today to talk with me about what he sees improving the value of CPA firms is my guest, Brannon Poe, owner of Poe Group Advisors.
Brannon began facilitating successful accounting practice transitions in 2003. He pioneered a consulting-based approach to transitioning accounting firms, which has culminated in Poe Group Advisors’ unique process – The Seamless Succession™.
Highlights:
— “COVID has accelerated things that were already happening in the accounting profession. You have a trend that began a while ago to go towards more virtual offerings and more specialization in the cloud.”
— “When you have a more specialist firm, you tend to have a more profitable firm.”
— “If you're building something that people want, then you're going to build something that you would want as well.
— “Generally, client retention is a function of service and price. If the clients feel like they're getting value and they're getting good service, they're not going to go anywhere.”
— “Planning is not a waste of time. You make more money in the time that you spend planning your own business than executing. Planning changes everything.”
Connect with Brannon:
Website: https://poegroupadvisors.com/
E-book:
The Unplugged Vacation: How Accounting Firm Owners Can Take A Proper Holiday Without Checking Emails
https://poegroupadvisors.com/unplugged/
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Today we are talking about how to create a different future for yourself, even if you believe strongly in reality. Here today to talk with me about this problem is my guest, Kara Gaisie.
Kara Gaisie is an ex-CPA turned coach, who works with women who want to leave their 6 figure job without sacrificing their lifestyle.
Kara talks about the obstacles and fears faced by her clients who are part-time life coaches wanting to transition to become full-time coaches. She shares some strategies to get over those fears, and how entrepreneurs can improve their self-confidence. These strategies can be used by CPAs wanting to make a transition to bigger things.
Highlights:
— “Often we can move so much quicker when we take ourselves out of the business and really focus on delivering a quality product or service to our customers and our clients.”
— “Do whatever you need to do until you are at a place where you feel confident and you have the demand to continue to offer that service over and over and over again.”
— “All pricing is made up. Everybody's value is subjective. Everybody gets to decide what they would be willing to pay for a certain thing.“
— “What builds self-confidence is being willing to be rejected, being willing to fail, and learning from that without making it mean anything about you. And then doing it over and over and over again.”
— “Your worth has nothing to do with your service. As a person, you are wholly worthy, just as you are.”
Connect with KARA:
Website: https://karagaisie.com/
Want more on pricing and other business topics for CPAs?
Join me for “Ten Essentials for Working Less” – a free training series on Crowdcast thru OCT 25th. More info here.
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Today we’re talking about How to Price Advisory Services.
If you don’t know how to price or how to think about pricing, you may run into some common potholes, like underpricing your services, overworking in order to compensate, clients who are less emotionally invested in your business relationship and therefore get less valuable results, and so on.
In this episode, in order to make it easier to improve prices, we break out what might be a common CPAs client roster into 5 possible buckets. And once we have the buckets separated, then we can get into what is an appropriate price range for not just the services - or even better - the outcomes.
Hopefully by giving you some ranges and some examples, you will have a sense of what is "reasonable" and what is in the ballpark.
But your prices will be tied to the value that you can provide. And that value will always be subjective and based on what the buyer perceives the value to be.
Want more on pricing and other business topics for CPAs?
Join me for “Ten Essentials for Working Less” – a free training series on Crowdcast thru OCT 25th. More info here.
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Link for FREE training series:
SheThinksBigCoaching.com/webinars/
Ready to get your life back after two hellish tax seasons?
Join me for the FREE October Training Series: “10 Essentials for Working Less Without Losing a Dime in Revenue.”
Ten great topics over 10 days, like:
- How to Build Advisory Services Without Getting Killed on Scope Creep
- How to Improve Profits Through Pricing Without Being an Expert in Pricing Theory
- How to Niche Without Risk
And a bunch more. Check out the full list and save your spot at
SheThinksBigCoaching.com/webinars/
Attend LIVE, for FREE, starting October 18, going through Oct 25th.
One more time :)
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Today we’re talking about How to Package Advisory Services.
If you don’t know how to package and price CPA services, you’re likely to be forced into the unenviable position of billing by the hour after the fact for work you thought you should do.
This will result in, among other things, getting under-compensated relative to the value you could or do provide.
Where a lot of CPAs are is, “Tell me what you need and I’ll do it for you at this hourly rate.”
And what I want you to have instead today are 4 examples of packaged up services so you can see what the end result looks like, but more importantly, what questions to ask yourself and in what order, so you can build out your own packages that suit your firm and your clientele in a way that meets both of your needs.
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
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CPAs put all this time and effort into writing a good proposal. They package it up, send it off and it just goes into the abyss. Never to hear from the prospect again. Another problem is that you send out the proposal, the client or prospect comes back, you have a conversation with them, but they end up declining to work with you.
Then sometimes if value isn't fully captured, it can result in reduced fees and potentially leaving money on the table.
So, if you can have a system for writing really solid proposals, without burning a bunch of time doing it, you can reduce the time that it spends, you can increase your conversion rate and you can potentially increase your fees without lowering your conversion rate.
And what I want you to have in this episode are the pieces that make up a good proposal.
Highlights:
— “You do not have to be a Pulitzer prize winning writer to write a good proposal. Plain English is where it's at.”
— “What forms the backbone of your proposal are the situation appraisal, the objectives, the service options, and the payment terms.”
— “Everything that you need for your proposal can and should come out of a great discovery meeting.”
— “In discovery meetings, make sure you're asking open-ended questions to find out what it is your clients are trying to achieve, what it is they really want, and understand if you're the person that can help them get there.”
— “If you can, best to present your proposal live, either in person or on screen. So that you can walk them through it and you can answer questions on the spot.”
Download the PDF for this episode:
https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/sample-proposal
Episode mentions:
106 Better Pricing Strategies for Accountants: Stop Billing by the Hour
https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/106
111 Better Pricing Methodologies For CPA Firms
https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/111
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
This week we welcome back Jonathan Stark, a former software developer who is on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He is the author of Hourly Billing Is Nuts, the host of Ditching Hourly, and writes a daily newsletter on pricing for independent professionals.
Often CPAs don't know how to price for expertise and strategy, and they just lump the advice into the delivery. But the advice and the expertise and the planning is so much more valuable than the delivery, then the setup and implementation.
In this episode, Jonathan talks about altitudes of involvement, where listeners will get an appreciation of how to separate out the advice and the strategy from the delivery and price it accordingly.
Highlights:
— “Strategy is not a plan. A plan comes out of a strategy. Once you have a strategy to achieve the objective, now you can start planning.”
— “If you're perceived as an execution person, you are not the kind of person that people are going to go to for a blueprint. It's much easier for people to pigeonhole you as a builder and not a strategic thinker.”
— “If you are used to saying I'm a CPA, and you want to shift up an altitude, you need to stop saying that.”
— “Courage is much more important than confidence. Courage is knowing the risks, but doing it anyway, or feeling the fear and doing it anyway.”
— “The first step: find your top five clients and go out and ask them if they want to have a meeting to talk about the direction of their business and the strategy to get them there.”
Connect with Jonathan:
Website: https://jonathanstark.com/
Episode mentions:
106 Better Pricing Strategies for Accountants: Stop Billing by the Hour
https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/106
111 Better Pricing Methodologies For CPA Firms
https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/111
A More Useful Definition Of Strategy
https://jonathanstark.com/daily/20200809-0152-a-more-useful-definition-of-strategy-
Book mention:
Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Strategy-Bad-Difference-Matters/dp/0307886239
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Many CPAs are frustrated because they feel invisible in a crowded marketplace. They know they are better than their competitors, but when they focus on that fact, they get little in return. That's because, to customers, better is not actually better. Different is better. And those who market differently, win.
In his new marketing book, Mike Michalowicz offers a proven, no-bullsh*t method to position your business to get noticed, attract the best prospects, and convert those opportunities into sales.
Today I speak with Mike Michalowicz, author of 7 books, now including Get Different.
Highlights:
- If the bulk of your business comes from customer referrals, you have limited control over your growth, putting you in a precarious position
- We need a way to throttle the flow of leads: to be able to turn the spigot up when we want more clients, or turn it down when necessary, but not be at the whims of referrals.
- The smart marketing money is on testing: run small experiments. No results? Fine. Good results? Invest more.
- Sadly, many business owners take the random pot-shot approach, and that’s a mistake.
- Being different doesn’t necessarily mean outrageous. Being different helps you stand out, cut through the noise, get noticed, and attract the right people to you.
Connect with Mike Michalowicz:
Website: https://www.gogetdifferent.com/
Purchase Get Different: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593330633/ref=as_li_ss_tl?&linkCode=ll1&tag=obsidian-20&linkId=eca96009472be51113c717d00aa6ca08&language=en_US
Episode mentions:
https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/083
Fix This Next In Your Accounting Practice
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JOIN or WATCH REPLAY – Pricing in a Nutshell
https://www.crowdcast.io/e/pricing-in-a-nutshell
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SheThinksBigCoaching.com Hourly billing is like radioactive waste:
invisible, and given enough time and quantity, it'll kill you.
Make the shift to pricing your services and reap the benefits, like 3x'ing profitability.
But you need to know which pricing tools to use, and in which situations.
If you're a CPA, these are your most important pricing tools:
- Value-based
- Flat/Fixed Fee
- Segmented
- Curves
Using these even onlyreasonably well will guarantee that you will be more profitable on all your engagements.
As more and more CPAs make the shift to Advisory services, one question that comes up is how do I run meetings, what’s the agenda, what am I showing my clients, what are we talking about?
Meetings of course are great opportunities to add value for your clients and increase their clarity and help them better understand what’s happening and what decisions to make.
Here today to talk with me about how to hold great CFO meetings is my guest, Mark Gandy.
Mark has been working as a part-time CFO for more than 20 years, and he's made every mistake in the book and he knows exactly how to run a fractional CFO meeting.
HIGHLIGHTS:
— “How do we hold effective meetings when we make this shift to advisory? It depends on where you are in the relationship.”
— “During meetings, we don't always hit the financials head on that much because usually, the issues are either marketing-related, sales-related, or operations-related.”
— “The 10-30-60 rule is essentially 10% of any change is going to be all about the data or the numbers, the 30% is all about the new process, and the 60% is all about behavior.”
— “Most of the issues I deal with CEOs are behavioral issues — getting people engaged, getting people excited.”
— “Great CFOs should be able to run a business. That means they need to understand marketing, sales, and operations.”
— “What's keeping businesses from moving the needle? It's usually people issues, not necessarily process or data.”
Connect with Mark:
Website: https://g3cfo.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markagandy/
Software mentions:
Tableau https://www.tableau.com/
Qualtrics https://www.qualtrics.com/
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
For business owners to make more money, it helps if they can make better informed decisions.
And though a P/L and Balance Sheet are very useful tools, for many every day business owners those two documents require a lot mental extrapolation to be able to forecast from.
And they hire accountants and CPAs to help them understand where their money went… what they get is a P/L, but a P/L is really tough tool to use to understand how to make more money.
What many business owners want is a simple tool that can help them understand and forecast the impact of decisions, before they make them.
Here today to talk with me about this tool is Rowan Eister, US Head of Business Development for the financial reporting and forecasting tool, Fathom.
HIGHLIGHTS:
— “For CPAs looking to build more advisory relationships with clients or deepen those relationships, Fathom serves as your all around toolkit. It opens up that revenue stream of advisory and improves your relationships with clients.”
— “Fathom was created with the idea to make clients understand their performance in a way that really resonates with them and that they can get involved with.”
— “Fathom is focused around design so the visuals are really at the core of how unique it is.”
— “Fathom takes those financial results and brings them to life in a way that is more meaningful than just that income statement or just that kind of spreadsheet of numbers that you may be giving to clients.”
— “Fathom's forecasting tool is going to evolve with your business and allows you to continue making strategic movements based on how things happen.”
Connect with Rowan:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rowan-eister/
Software mentions:
Fathom 14-day free trial: https://www.fathomhq.com/signup
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Accountants have a hard time getting their head around assigning a price to squishy stuff like peace of mind, quick response time, and ease of access. While they understand that these things are valuable, it’s not widely understood how they can be converted to dollar prices.
Today I speak with Mark Stiving, a pricing educator and advisor. He's the host of the Impact Pricing podcast and is the owner of Impact Pricing, where he teaches clients how to win, keep and grow customers to drive higher revenue.
Mark talks about perceived versus real value, and the concept of the value table to come up with quantifiable results that can then be used for pricing.
Highlights:
— “Understanding how our customers perceive our value is not only how we set our prices or how we should be setting our prices. It also should be how we communicate through our marketing messages or our sales efforts. It also should be how we choose what products to build or services to offer.”
— “Nobody cares about your product. What they care about is the problem they have that you're going to solve for them. They care about the result they might get after they buy and use your product or service.”
— “Buyers are using perceived value when they make a decision to purchase something.”
— “A value metric is how your customers measure the value you deliver to them.”
— “The key to a really good pricing metric is understanding our customer’s value metrics.”
Connect with Mark:
Website: https://impactpricing.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
Previous episode with Mark:
Value and Segmented Pricing for CPAs https://smartstrategyforcpas.com/125
Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs
Get here
Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
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More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
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Many of you are familiar with the overwhelm that comes with a mountain of tax work. It is so easy to get bogged down with the countless details and its never ending so-called quick questions from clients. But before you know it, you're working 70 hours a week with no end in sight. And the money might be good, but at some point it stops being worth it. The desire is to tighten your workload by doing higher level work for just a fraction of the clients so you can get your weekends back, but that just seems like a pipe dream.
Here today to talk with me about this pipe dream is Prithi Daswani who owns Prithi Daswani CPA, a firm based in Orlando, Florida specializing in Medical Practices, and those with Real Estate Portfolios.
She started her own firm 6 years ago after 10 years with the big four.
She has doubled her business year over and learned a lot in the meantime. Her favorite activity is finding money, and her goal is to get more people talking openly about money and stop treating it as taboo.
We talk about her journey, about what has changed and what she’s learned along the way, so that you can get a sense of what's possible in your accounting practice.
Highlights:
- “Understanding the client base, the client mix, allowed me to take a step back and get a bigger picture of what I've been doing and what I should not be doing. And who do you say no to and why to say no to it.”
- “When a client calls me who does not fit that niche, it makes it a bit easier for me to tell the client, this is not what I'm specializing in. You do not want me to help you. I know how to set up your business, but I would rather you call somebody who knows what they're talking about, so you're set up for success in the future.”
- “I started with very basic pricing that included everything, sometimes even for million dollar clients. Because I didn't know how to necessarily price it out or what value I was providing.”
- “As we get started through the process of offering different prices to different clients and different services, part of it is just doing it so that you have the experience. We need to test the marketplace to find out how people are going to respond.”
- “The only way I sometimes get things done, especially the stuff that I don't want to do is by saying I'm being accountable to someone.”
Connect with Prithi:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prithi-daswani-1a12277b/
Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs
Get here
Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Most CPAs struggle with pricing - some have moved to flat-rate or subscription pricing, and some still bill by the hour.
What they often struggle to understand is the full depth of the value they offer to their clients, and because they don’t fully understand value, they are leaving Everest Sized Mountains of Money on the table, which means they have to work a lot harder to compensate for the missed opportunity.
Here today to talk with me about this problem is My guest, Jose Mirabal .
Jose is the Author of the Value-Based pricing framework and the founder and Director of the Pricing Institute, where he has advised more than 1,500 companies in 42 industries on their pricing strategies.
HIGHLIGHTS:
PART 2:
-
“What is need based segmentation? It's actually uncovering your market and figuring out and brainstorming the possible needs behind a client possibly buying your products.“
-
“When you start seeing the problem from a value standpoint, not from a price standpoint, then things start making sense. That's why need-based segmentation is so helpful. Every single time you uncover needs, it gives you a lot of information.”
-
“Needs-based segmentation figures out the who and the transactional analysis tells you exactly how they are consuming.”
-
“Sometimes the need has nothing to do with your service, but it has to do with all the other items or attributes that are orbiting around your services.”
-
“The secret to pricing is options. It's like a menu at a restaurant.”
-
“Uncover your value, but figure your value based on two things. One, what are the needs that the clients have? And two, what are the current options out there that best satisfy those needs?”
PART 1: https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/150
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“Everybody's concerned about their costs. Nobody really worries about the price ceiling. The idea is to figure out and uncover value perception to see which specific services that you offer actually might have a higher willingness to pay from clients.”
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“Everybody worries about value but they go down into figuring out costs. And there's no relationship between cost and value.”
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“To monetize value, the first thing you need to do is uncover value. How do you quantify value? You monetize based on differences. When people buy, they buy based on differences. People compare items.”
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“When clients are telling you that your prices are similar or too expensive in comparison to other companies, that's a sign that you probably need to work more on your differences. And that's a sign that you need to better assess how your product and services differ from the next best alternatives.”
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“If you want to do value based pricing, all value based prices are supported by the price of the next best alternative. Every price based on value should be in reference to the next best alternative.”
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“If you want to start with the pricing, don't look for what others are charging as much as what others are offering.”
Podcast Mentioned: [in Part 2]
Impact Pricing Ep125: Can We Really Price Value? with Jose Mirabal
https://impactpricing.com/podcast/ep125-can-we-really-price-value-with-jose-mirabal/
Connect with Jose Mirabal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrmirabal/
Website: https://pricing.institute
Most CPAs struggle with pricing - some have moved to flat-rate or subscription pricing, and some still bill by the hour.
What they often struggle to understand is the full depth of the value they offer to their clients, and because they don’t fully understand value, they are leaving Everest Sized Mountains of Money on the table, which means they have to work a lot harder to compensate for the missed opportunity.
Here today to talk with me about this problem is My guest, Jose Mirabal .
Jose is the Author of the Value-Based pricing framework and the founder and Director of the Pricing Institute, where he has advised more than 1,500 companies in 42 industries on their pricing strategies.
HIGHLIGHTS:
PART 1:
-
“Everybody's concerned about their costs. Nobody really worries about the price ceiling. The idea is to figure out and uncover value perception to see which specific services that you offer actually might have a higher willingness to pay from clients.”
-
“Everybody worries about value but they go down into figuring out costs. And there's no relationship between cost and value.”
-
“To monetize value, the first thing you need to do is uncover value. How do you quantify value? You monetize based on differences. When people buy, they buy based on differences. People compare items.”
-
“When clients are telling you that your prices are similar or too expensive in comparison to other companies, that's a sign that you probably need to work more on your differences. And that's a sign that you need to better assess how your product and services differ from the next best alternatives.”
-
“If you want to do value based pricing, all value based prices are supported by the price of the next best alternative. Every price based on value should be in reference to the next best alternative.”
-
“If you want to start with the pricing, don't look for what others are charging as much as what others are offering.”
Connect with Jose Mirabal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jrmirabal/
Website: https://pricing.institute
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
There is endless conversation about technology, software, and automation disrupting the accounting space.
Do you feel like your systems are pretty much automated, where you can just show up and mouse click one button, and it spits out all the reports and dashboards you need for your hundreds of clients?
If that sounds like the dream, but you’re a ways off, stay with us, because today I am talking with Ryan Lazanis, founder of FUTURE FIRM, and we are talking about what to do right when it comes to tech and automation.
Ryan founded Zen Accounting that he grew to the point of being acquired in just 5 short years, thanks to the tech-oriented, scalable model he put in place.
HIGHLIGHTS:
– “The overemphasis on using technology and automation is not what's really going to move the needle the most.”
– “The big reason why people want to use more technology and more automation is because they just want to make their life easier.”
– “Once we can have standard processes for everything that we do in the firm, that's when we can really reap the rewards of technology and automation.”
– “I would recommend a person in your firm when you're ready to really leverage automation. Especially those modern firms that probably know about all those latest tools, they need a person to help put it all together.”
– “Why not have all the routine tasks automated so that you can get freed up to do more of what's valuable to your clients?”
Connect with Ryan Lazanis:
Website: https://futurefirm.co/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlazanis/
Podcast mentions:
Future Firm Accounting Podcast: My 6 Favorite Accounting Communities to Learn From
Software mentions:
Zapier - https://zapier.com/
Karbon - https://karbonhq.com/
Teamwork - https://www.teamwork.com/
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Here are 5 apps, extensions, and plugins that can make your life easier. 1. Text Expander - Available on Android and Mac - I use it on my iPhone but for short things I just use the built in keyboard shortcuts, especially for all the forms that need filling in. Other options: aText and Gorgias, which is a Chrome extension 2. Video Speed Controller - Speed up, slowdown, skip ahead, and rewind, all with keyboard shortcuts. 3. Screen Resizer - stop being a masterful mouser, and use a Screen Resizer to make your screens snap to specific guidelines. Try MaxSnap, Divvy, SizeUp 4. Email Tracker - Streak or Hunter 5. Screen Recorder - Loom - For screen recording or any window, tab, or screen. Send the URL of your video with a URL.
Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Subscription pricing is all the rage right now.
Most CPAs are stuck when it comes to pricing - some have moved to flat-rate or subscription pricing, but many - if not most - still bill by the hour.
What they often struggle to understand is the full depth of the value they offer to their clients, and because they don’t fully understand value, they are leaving Everest Sized Mountains of Money on the table, which means they have to work a lot harder to compensate for the missed opportunity.
Here today to talk with me about this problem is my guest, Ron Baker.
Ron Baker is the author of numerous books including Implementing value pricing, and Mind over Matter, why intellectual capital is the chief source of wealth, he has received countless awards for his contributions to the accounting profession, and he is the founder of the VeraSage Institute, a think tank dedicated to teaching value pricing.
HIGHLIGHTS:
The subscription business model puts the client relationship at the center of the business and Customer Lifetime Value at the center of the dashboard.
Innovation is baked into the model.
You’re taking responsibility for creating a result, not delivering tasks.
The subscription model forces you to articulate and communicate and market and position and have a strategy built around that end purpose.
if you're interested in building wealth beyond the transactional math of the moment, then you've got to consider subscription.
Connect with Ron:
Website: https://www.verasage.com/
Episode mentions:
https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/081
Other pricing episodes:
Jonathan Stark:
https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/111
https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/106
Mark Stiving:
https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/125
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
There’s an industry-wide gravitational force toward regular hour-long meetings.
Somewhere along the way it was decided that hourly meetings held weekly, monthly or quarterly are the way to deliver services.
It may be true that regular meetings are the best way to deliver services, but what’s the best way to deliver RESULTS?
Here today to talk with me about this question is Ben Manly, owner of Knapsack Creative.
Knapsack creative is known for delivering gorgeous, effective websites, in ONE DAY.
I wanted to have Ben on to talk about how to make the shift from the old-school way of doing things, to a new way of designing something to provide an outstanding product, and excellent service, so that you might look at your own services through a different lens, and perhaps find ways to deliver more value more easily.
HIGHLIGHTS:
– When I realized just how fast it was to design something live, that’s when the lightbulb went off that I could try to build websites this same way.
– It turned out that the smaller projects were more valuable than the larger ones, so at some point it became clear it was time to just go all in on the small ones. And that made all the difference.
– Initially I thought there was no way you could build a great website in just a day, and no one would pay for that. But then I realized just how much value you can add in a short amount of time, if you systematize things.
Connect with Ben:
Website: https://www.knapsackcreative.com/
Episode mentions:
Mike Michalowicz on Get Different:
https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/156
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
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VALUE-PRICING
Value pricing is best for discreet projects with a beginning, middle and end, whose value is greater than $100K to the client, and therefore priced starting at $10K.
If less than the above, consider simply flat-rating the service.
MENU PRICING
Menu pricing is well-suited for shifting to Advisory Services. You can offer bronze, silver, and gold level options, with varying price-spreads. See Pricing Curves, below.
FLAT RATE AND FIXED FEE
Perfect for services and deliverables to do all the time, so you have a handle on approximate scope. Assess how long a certain service takes on average, then double that amount of time and place your fee there. Get used to the feel of divorcing time and money, and you will most certainly get faster at what you do.
SEGMENTED
If there is wide variation in services you offer and the types of clients you offer them for, then group your clients and those services into segments. Then price each different segment as needed.
ADVISORY RETAINER
Not your old-school lawyer-style retainer, advisory retainer is well-suited once a value-priced project is complete. Unforeseen challenges and questions are likely to pop up, and having access to your smarts can be immensely valuable. Good for a predetermined but finite amount of time.
CONTINGENCY
Proceed with caution, as the risk with contingency is perverse incentives. However, when done properly, both parties can benefit from the low risk on the buyer's side at the time of purchase, with the reward for the seller at the time of success.
PRICING CURVES:
Might as Well pricing drives the buyer to the most expensive option, because with the curve at 1x, 1.5x, and 1.75x, the buyer “Might as Well” buy the most expensive option.
Goldilocks pricing drives the buyer to the middle option, because the curve of 1x, 2.2x, and 5x drives the buyer to the middle option, because just like Goldilocks, it’s “just right, in the middle.”
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
These questions often comes up: “How to I raise my rates?” and “How much should I charge?” and “How do I price this service?”
The answer appears to be quite simple: Apply logic. Logic says raise your rates. Therefore, raise your rates.
The problem is, that’s not how it works. And we know that’s not how it works, because we see countless logical CPAs continue to underprice their services.
If in fact it were as simple as Apply Logic > Logic says Raise Your Rates if it’s true that CPAs are logical people, (they are), then we would see CPAs having no problem raising their rates.
The reason we see so many CPAs underpriced is because…. Only applying logic isn’t how it works.
Today I outline how it actually works to raise your raise in real reality, having helped dozens of CPAs actually raise their rates.
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Intangibles have value. And value is the precursor to price.
If you’re not great at measuring so called intangibles, you won’t appreciate their value, and if you don’t appreciate their value, you’ll underprice, and when you underprice, you’re going to leave a lot of money on the table.
Then you’re going to have to work really hard to compensate for not understanding how to measure, value, and price intangibles.
3 sections today:
- Why CPAs can get stuck here
- Debunk intangibility
- Steps to get you closer to measuring, valuing, and pricing the intangible
SECTION 1
CPAs especially get so caught in this question, moreso than in some other professions, because of a few factors:
- Few thought-leaders in the industry know the answer. Many leaders in the industry do not appear to have cracked this nut. So there are few people to get the answer from.
- Industry standard. You get your license, you wonder how to price, you look around, other CPAs are billing by the hour so you think ok, this is how it’s done
- We can all agree on the length of an hour, so it appears to shorten pricing conversations, and there are so many other things to get to in business, so, rather than grapple with this difficult questions that who knows if it even has an answer, how about getting some work done. … so the question gets left unanswered.
- Because CPAs deal primarily in dollars and numbers, they haven’t been required in quite the same way to learn the value of subjective things. (By contrast, a professional commissioned artist is required to grapple with subjective value of art. But if you’re in the business of art, you’re likely to have a better appreciation and acceptance of the concept OF the subjective nature of intangibles, and their value.)
- And, GAAP accounting doesn’t help. The idea that only financial transactions get accounted for, and therefore only things financial in nature appear on the Balance Sheet, doesn’t help a person appreciate the value of assets that are intangible.
Next up what we need to do is debunk 3 intangible myths.
SECTION 2 1. That they’re intangible. Some of the things you think are intangible, are actually quite tangible.
Where people get stuck is the idea that it has to be a physical object to be measurable. More things are tangible than you might have realized if you go inside your body and ask if you can perceive it with your senses.
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Things you cannot see as a material, or physical thing, cannot be measured.
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We tend to use time, weight, length, dollars, to measure things. But just because you can’t use one of these common tools doesn’t mean you can’t measure it.
- You can measure by comparison. A lot of a thing, or a little of a thing, crap ton of work to do, increase your peace of mind.
- You can measure by rough percentages. Like cutting client fires in half, increase employee engagement by 40%
- They are relative, they are measurements, and they could be useful.
Scales and tape measures aren’t the only way to measure things.
- You have to measure directly.
If I want to measure stress, one way is to draw a vial of blood and test for cortisol. But if a person reaches for the video game console to destress, then we can measure how much time they spend playing games to destress.
Once you start doing this, you may find that you use indirect measures more often than direct ones
- Needs to be exact
It doesn’t need to be exact to be useful.
As long as it’s precise enough to be useful, you’re allowed to use it.
SECTION 3 The actual steps to get you closer to measuring, valuing, and pricing the intangible
Learn to listen for the intangibles that are important to your buyer.
“Save me from snapping a box of #2 pencils in half because I never would have figured this out.” That’s frustration. Tune your ears to these things.
Find out what they use to measure that intangible - how often they play video games or golf to destress or unplug, to how many games of golf they play a week if business is running smooth - Find out what their indirect measures are.
And ask what that would be worth to them to have those things.
And you can get at the value of improving their condition through the backdoor, with a question like,
“Let’s just say, hypothetically, we WERE able to create that outcome. Would that be worth a million bucks? Or $500K or $250? Or Just $10,000?
They’ll GIVE you a range.
Now you have an answer of what the intangible thing, is worth to them.
And WHAT they tell YOU, is how you price intangibles.
CONCLUSION Perhaps that’s Myth #5 that needs debunking, is the very nature of the question is flawed, when framed as “How do I price intangibles.”
How can I understand, appreciate, and translate into a dollar figure what intangibles are worth to my buyer?
YOU don’t determine the price of intangibles, your buyers do.
Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Today I speak with Catherine Ozment, CPA, who I asked to return after last week’s episode.
Last week on the podcast I have Catherine Ozment, CPA. She and I have been working together for just shy of a year, and she’s making huge strides in pivoting her business. If you haven’t heard it, it’s 141, go back and listen to that first if you want this conversation to make more sense in context.
But if you’re driving or running and might not be able to, the quick and dirty is that
toward the end of the episode, after talking about technical stuff, money, strategy, and all things logic, she basically says: “At the end of the day, the most important thing is to believe it’s possible.”
And it made me think, “If simply believing it’s possible, is the most important thing, then listeners need to have an episode on that.”
And I could not agree more, that the head space your thoughts occupy is the SINGLE BIGGEST DRIVER of your progress.
So that you can hear perspective from Catherine, I asked her to have another conversation, which we tacked on to the end of one of our regular meetings.
Buckle up, because we’re talking at 75 miles an hour for Part 2 with Catherine Ozment.
Highlights
“If I had believed then, that the sky is the limit, I would probably be 3x farther along.”
“Seeing that the value really does exist, and that I really could deliver what I was telling them I could deliver, is going to increase my business by exponential amounts.”
“This industry has a gaping hole, and creating a service with the numbers, benchmarks, and budgets in a way that’s uniquely designed for my farming clients – is incredibly valuable and is a complete game changer for them.”
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Connect with Catherine:
Website: http://www.catherineozment.com/
Episode mentions:
https://www.smartstrategyforcpas.com/142
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Many of you know how difficult and time consuming it can be to run a tax factory:
It’s all too easy to get buried under a mountain of tax, underprice services, and be in what feels like a near steady state of chaos.
The desire is often to work 25 hours a week and take home compensation that’s respectable, and representative of all the work you have put in to attain the knowledge that can be so valuable, and to stop grinding it out.
My guest today is Catherine Ozment.
Catherine Is a CPA in south Texas, who called last year, wanting to get off the hamster wheel and get intentional about creating a thriving practice that is designed and built to sell at a high multiple. We’ve been working together on that vision. For just shy of a year.
We’re talking about what has changed and what she’s learned along the way, so that you can have a window into what shifting your accounting practice is actually like.
Highlights
“I’m finally making a transition from running a tax factory to having a niche, building relationships with the right clients, and providing real value.”
“I was ready to stop putting numbers in boxes and really help my clients do a lot better financially: budget, plan for growth, be CFO.”
“I have 7 grandbabies. I didn’t want to be working 60-80 hours a week anymore. But I needed somebody else to help me make things change.”
“The hardest part about niching is that the clients in your roster are real people whose lives you are a part of. But we found a way to keep those clients and still be profitable, so I feel like I have the best of both worlds.”
“At first it was hard to quote these prices that were so much higher than I was used to, but then, once I saw that I was able to save them 6 digits year after year, I really started to appreciate the value I brought to the table. At that made pricing a lot easier.”
“The biggest thing has been the mindset shift: getting out of minutiae and putting myself in the CEO chair.”
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Connect with Catherine:
Website: http://www.catherineozment.com/
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Today we’re playing BS CPA LINGO BINGO.
Lingo in the accounting space that makes some of us kind of crazy.
There are five terms that are especially problematic for CPAs and accountants that slow business growth.
In this First Edition of BS CPA LINGO BINGO, I’ll call out for
B! Advisory Services; I! Future-Proof; N! Trusted Advisor; G! Wait for it…; O! The 3% Rule of Thumb.
B! Advisory Services;
- The buyer asks, “Is there service without advice?”
- Buyers want the whole experience, not just the service
I! Future-Proof;
- Anything -proof connotes something you don’t want, or are trying to protect yourself from
- The future will be here tomorrow, like it or not
- You’re best off embracing the future with wide-open arms
N! Trusted Advisor;
- It makes no sense - why take advice from someone you don’t trust?
- It’s like Honest Banking - it’s not convincing
- Trust is built and generated, not granted
G! Big Firm Capability, Small Firm Personality:
- It’s not believable
- Why differentiate on personality when you can differentiate on wealth generation
O! The 3% Rule of Thumb:
- Collective business decision with no business strategy behind it
- Caps your income at 3% of your clients’ revenue - why would you do that to yourself?
Want to get your accounting practice to the next level?
Focus on creating value, selling outcomes, and pricing those outcomes. You’ll set yourself apart as a CPA who provides great service.
Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Being a CPA is challenging, there’s no doubt.
When I reflect on CPAs’ challenges, and try to simplify the situation as much as possible, I can distill a few key problems: being a generalist, billing instead of pricing, and focusing on the past instead of desired client outcomes.
If you can figure out your niche, learn to price, and begin to forecast and focus directly on improving the future, many problems will go away.
My guest today is Geni Whitehouse, CPA, Countess of Communication at BD Co, and author: How to Make a Boring Subject Interesting.
And I invited Geni to come on because she’s on the other side of these challenges and I wanted to tap into her expertise and insights.
Frustrated by her inability to drive outcomes for her clients, she landed in the Napa Valley, where she focusing on helping wineries understand their financials.
Benefits of working in a niche:
- Knows what her winery folks need right away anytime there’s a law change
- Clients have similar issues
- Education is focused
- Get more efficient faster
Competitors can’t be an expert across all dimensions.
“Where are the edges of your niche? What’s the smallest or largest winery you might take on?”
It’s measured by case size rather than revenue, and then we stay inside Napa Valley. Clients are from start-up to family wineries that have teams, but not as big as publicly traded companies.
We spend a lot of time on the interview meeting to determine if they are a fit.
Work with supporting organizations and ancillary products to make sure their clients are being well-served.
If you are scared to niche, decide what you most enjoy, and draw the line around that. Carve out a niche anywhere there are opportunities. You want to be the most valuable to your clients, and focusing allows you to create more value more easily.
You don’t have to know it all, you just have to know what to ask.
Worthwhile quotes from Geni:
“Fathom gives a high-level overview that the CEO loves, while keeping all the details clear.”
“Until clients have a good forecast, they are often shooting blind, pouring money down a black hole without any sense of when it stops.”
“Forecasting enables me to show clients where they could go if they changed factors.”
“Reports from Fathom facilitate the conversation, and gave me the confidence to have a conversation that takes rows and columns and turn it into a visual that the client understands.”
“I don’t care what you need, I can help you figure out how to find you own answer.”
“CPAs need 3 things: Mindset, Skillset, Toolset: find the right tool and use it!”
Connect with Geni Whitehouse:
Website: https://www.evenanerd.com/
Software mentions:
fathomhq.com
Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Waiting until you’re cooked to decide it’s time to sell your practice is a guaranteed way to fetch a low price for what you’ve spent a lifetime building.
If you want to optimize the sale price of your business, it takes years of advance planning.
Too many CPAs miss out on money they could have earned, had they known what steps to take and what to implement in order to fetch an attractive sale price.
Here to talk with me today about how to set your CPA firm up to be highly attractive when you’re ready to sell it, is Allan Koltin.
Allan is the CEO of Koltin Consulting Group. In addition to receiving countless awards, accolades, and recognition for his thought-leadership in the accounting profession, Allan has facilitated more than 150 M&A deals in the accounting profession over the past decade, including more than 50% of the largest M&A deals in the profession.
We cover a lot of ground in the sales and acquisition of CPA firms:
THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF DEALS: 1.Owners who are ready to off-ramp.
They are wondering: Can they buy us out? Can they afford to? Do they want to buy us out? These are the types of deals where the owner is looking at winding down and wants to sell their asset, because they no longer want to own the business.
- Strategic, due to technology.
I think we’d be better off being acquired
The best kind of M&A deal: 50 staff, no clients.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE IN PLACE: 1. Leadership - having the right people in place 2. Rainmaking - you need to grow enough to provide a 5% wage increase 3. Owning the client - being the trusted advisor 4. Technical - do the work with quality
Clients they can get. The buyer wants people.
The buyer is wondering
When it comes time to monetize the business, the acquirer is wondering, without the owner in place, can we keep everything going? Can we deliver that kind of service?
You should be thinking about succession planning from the day you start.
Plan 3 - 5 year before you are done, and use their talent to transition.
Six months is not a long enough time to transition your firm.
So busy being busy that they can sometimes avoid planning for the future.
Bigger firms are looking to find more value in the firm that the seller is providing, in the form of untapped revenue in services the existing firm may not be offering:
Type 1 Services - what clients don’t want but need - tax returns, audited financial statements
Type 2 Services - what clients want and need - how to grow your business
Type 3 Services - what clients want and need but you don’t provide it, so you partner with others who do
FACTORS THAT IMPROVE SALE PRICE * Market / location * High EBITDA: $750 - $1M+ * 7x - 7.5x the EBITDA, 10x would be off the charts * 1 - 1.5x revenue, 2x would require a lot of things going your way * “Good luck with that” if you have a low-margin firm
SAFEST PATH * Dollar amount at closing * Stay on for 3 years is a great insurance policy for the buyer
WHAT IF YOUR FIRM IS OFF HOURLY BILLING AND IS VALUE BILLING * In the tech space with maintenance contracts are great * Annuity work can be 3x greater, because you don’t have to find new clients all the time
What would it take to go over 10x EBITDA?
“You would have to have something so perfected in an industry or service line and you figured it out in your market and it was leaps and bounds ahead of anything anyone else was doing, and your buyer could take it national with their resources and capital, you could command in excess of 10x.
It would have to be something pretty special.”
Connect with Allan:
Website: https://koltin.com/
akoltin@koltin.com
#allankoltin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/allan-koltin-24a8181/
Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Should you use rolling forecasts for your clients? Do you hear all this talk of including forecasting for your client, but when it comes to implementing, you’re a bit deer in the headlights?
Shifting into forecasting and scenario planning for your clients is a significant shift - in terms of process, what you feel confident in, and your own mindset.
My guest today is Laura Landmark, (CEO) & Co-Founder of Mantle Analytics, which provides custom financial reporting for companies whose needs have outgrown the abilities of the software platforms whose names you would recognize.
Mantle Analytics uses technology to dig down into the data and uncover insights that are critical in steering the business towards its goals.
This episode is all about rolling forecasts and what you need to know to optimize their use in your business on your clients’ behalf.
What a rolling forecast is: * big picture * a version of the future designed to provoke conversation * A tool that helps clients make better informed decisions * Data organized in a way that can help the business owner build toward that very reality * A picture that helps the client visualize what might happen in their business, or what potential reality they may want to avoid * As fresh as possible, and “real-time” should be clearly defined
What a rolling forecast is not: * A promise * A target that the business owner needs to deliver on * A prediction guaranteed to happen
How do I start implementing rolling forecasts for my clients? Start with a revenue and gross profit forecast, by profit line or by customer segment
Then build into the next level of sophistication.
Get good at asking questions! * What could be done to improve net profit * What if you stopped doing X * What if you doubled-down on Y
Connect with NAME:
Website: https://mantleanalytics.com/en/
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-landmark/
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Would you just as soon rub your hand against the grain of a sheet of plywood than have a sales conversation?
Avoiding sales leads directly to avoiding revenue, and the cost to your firm in the way of business left ungenerated could be enormous.
My guest today is Liston Witherill, founder of Serve Don't Sell and creator of the Serve Don't Sell Method. He works with expert service providers like designers, accountants, agency owners, consultants, and coaches because their services don’t sell themselves.
Today’s episode is all about changing how you think about and approach sales conversations to optimize your business and AND the results you get for your clients – so that you don’t have to be in every sales meeting.
Connect with Liston:
Website: https://servedontsell.com/
Sign up for my Daily Drip of Value for CPAs at
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There are loads of questions out there about Employee Retention Credit, and with all the guidance on top of PPP and all the rest, it can be hard to know everything and stay-up-to-date.
My guest today is Randy Crabtree, co-founder and owner of Tri-Merit, which is a specialty tax firm supporting CPA and their clients.
Randy and I were talking recently, and the topic came up that, due to the complexity, shifting nature of guidance, it’s easy to miss out on ERC for your clients.
Randy has been studying ERC day in and day out, delivering trainings and webinars on the topic, and is going to highlight what he sees as the 3 most common areas of opportunity that are not getting captured.
I also solicited questions from the #Slack channel I host for my clients, from my Daily email list, and a few other locations, so we’ll do a lightning round at the end.
There are 3 common areas that Randy sees needing clarification.
280C Adjustment
Do owners and spouses qualify?
How to get PPP and ERC to play nicely together
We also discuss how valuable this can be for your clients and for you and your business. We conclude the conversation with suggestions on how to price, and where you can find out more about Randy and Tri-Merit.
Connect with Randy Crabtree:
Website: https://www.tri-merit.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randy-crabtree-1945a67/
///////
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** BEFORE we JUMP IN ****
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Website
** NOW onto the SHOW ****
Is your website a scatterplot of ideas, random phrases, and services? Does it suggest that you can do anything and everything for anyone, so long as they’re human? Do you look at it and cringe, but you feel overwhelmed or lost as to how to make it look right and do what you want it to?
Take heart - making a website that captures your value and tells the right story to your best prospects is a tricky thing.
My guest today is Tina Smith, owner of Creative. Creative makes complicated website stuff easy so that clients can solve the right problems, grow good businesses, and live the life they’ve always wanted.
5 Keys to Improve Your CPA Firm’s Website
-
- Show up in search. Be sure to use the right terms in your headline, inside the tags. Put what you do in that headline. If you serve a geographic location, use it.
- Prioritize faces over places. Avoid mountains and beaches and city skylines. Point your face to the camera. Eyeballs or body language points to headline or CTA you want the visitor to take.
- Put your own face on your website, and if you have a team, be sure to include them. If you don’t want to show yourself big, you can use a photo of you working with a client.
- Look open and inviting
- -Look like your audience - when you mirror your audience, they will like and trust you more
- Get your jargon at the right level - be technical enough to be believable for your audience, but not over their head. Use regular speak that everyone can understand. Run your copy by a few clients to see what they get caught up on.
- Use powerful emotional words. You can find great emotional words using google or emoji lists.
- Testimonials need to be short - 1 - 2 sentences
- Sprinkled and scattered, as well as a dedicated page
- Social proof is the fastest way to earn people’s trust
- Headline at the top: 1 sentence “This CPA grew my business”
- Niching makes your marketing more powerful.
- If they have a conference and a trade journal, it could be worth checking out
- Women, ambitious, passionate… not niche-y enough.
To download the PDF for this episode, subscribe at the top of the shownotes, and receive all the free resources created from the podcast (and get on my Daily List).
Get a free website review by Tina at her website: https://www.connecttocreative.com
Connect with Tina on Facebook at Connect to Creative
Episode mentions:
054 - How Narrowing Your Niche Can Help You Grow Faster
060 - Stand out from the crowd
091 - Is your accounting niche niche-y enough
110 - 15 Phrases to Scrub from your CPA Firm's Website
112 - Does Your CPA Firm Sell Outcomes or Deliverables?
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Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
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Do you ever wonder if your tech security is tight enough? Not sure if it’s your firewalls are like swiss cheese, or if you’re a sitting duck, just waiting for a stealthy hacker to pick off your IP address and exploit your data?
Having holes in your security is high risk. Get unlucky and your whole system could be down for a day, or cost you tens of thousands of dollars in ransom fees or you can unknowingly be directing payments to fraudulent accounts.
My guest today is Darren Strong, owner of Focus Technology Solutions, which provides IT services dedicated to the accounting industry.
Today we are digging in to your biggest security risks, especially because with the advent of you and your staff working from home, there is a lot to pay attention to.
What we cover:
Cyber Criminals Are More Sophisticated than You Realize They mine the data you have sprinkled across social media to create a persona so they know how to look and sound like you.
If you get hacked, it used to be that you would know right away. Now, if you get hacked, they’ll stick around and study your behavior. They’ll learn how you talk, how you ask for thing, how you instruct staff in your business to perform certain tasks.
From the outside looking in, all they see is an IP address.
It’s only once they get inside, they understand how big your business is.
They will imitate the CEO instructing the CFO to pay a certain bill.
Steps you can take to protect your CPA Firm from Cyber Fraud There are many steps you can take to reduce your risk of attack:
- Have an internal process to double-check new payments to new accountants.
- If your employees are using their home machines, their are additional risk openings.
- Set up your software systems for “least privileges” - restrict their role
Your biggest threat is your internal employees
- Accidental deletion or exposure of data
- Malicious exposure of data
Cyber Fraud insurance can protect you.
When it comes to Cyber Security for CPA firms, where should I start? You can list the risk profile of certain types of data you have, and list the cost if that data was lost. When cost and risk are high:
- Reduce number of people who have access to that data
- Two-factor authentication
- Stop anything being printed
- How they can access: corporate or home machine
Start with what software do you have and what data does it have so you can break it into different levels.
Connect with Darren Strong:
Website: https://www.focustechs.co.uk/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/darren-strong/
Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs
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Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
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Many CPAs avoid the topic of selling - they associate sales with the gross, pushy, slimy sales conversations they have had in the past, and believe that anything to do with sales is a necessary evil, best avoided at all costs.
They build their business on a false premise: that sales conversations are bad.
This does a disservice to their prospects and their clients, who may be looking for solutions the CPA offers.
Today I speak with Debra Angilleta.
Debra is a founder and creator of "Sales Mastery" – A personal (and proven!) online e-course that shows business owners how to become more consultative so that they can become the go-to-expert and get the right clients to easily say "YES" to offers.
Debra has spent 30 years in the sales trenches and has made more than 20,000 sales calls. She knows EXACTLY what works (and what doesn't!) when it comes to showcasing value rather than simply talking about it.
Debra routinely helps her clients sign more engagement letters with ease.
Top Take-Aways from our conversation:
Becoming better at sales gets you out of the day-to-day
You will serve your clients better and at a higher level when you master sales conversations. It allows you to give the maximum service that your clients are seeking, thereby improving your clients’ results. It keeps you focused on outcomes for your clients, rather than what can be the minutiae of tax and accounting. In short, it helps you become a Trusted Advisor Business Advisor.
Relax into your expertise.
You know tax and accounting like the back of your hand. Your clients likely don’t. Forget the notion that you have to have all the answers – your clients are coming to you because you are the person who can help them figure out the answers. Do don’t put on a dog and pony show, there is no need to perform. Instead, listen to what your clients need and serve from there.
Listen to your gut.
When your intuition wants to speak something, let it. This may sound woo, but the more you can trust yourself, the more value you will provide. Don’t stifle the wisdom that arises from within.
Be proactive.
Rather than wait for your clients to pick up the phone, go to them first. Don’t lull yourself into believing “they’ll call me if they need something.” They might not. Especially if you bill hourly, then almost for sure they will only call if it’s absolutely necessary. Most people will avoid calling at all costs when they are concerned the meter could be running.
Pull out pain points.
You can uncover opportunities to help your clients by exploring what their plans are, and what their roadblocks are.
Connect with Debra:
Website: https://www.mastermysales.com/
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Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
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Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
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Today I speak with Jack Sweeney, host of the CFO Thought Leader Podcast where he has interviewed almost 700 CFOs about their roles.
Jack is also the winner of the 2018 Excellence in Financial Journalism Award by the NYSSCPAs.
A career business journalist, Jack is the former editor-in-chief of Business Finance Magazine and the founding editor (and former editor-in-chief ) of Consulting Magazine .
In this episode, we discuss:
The bridge from CPA to CFO What do CFO’s learn along the way that they cite as important for their career growth trajectory?
Many of Jack’s guests cite the acquisition and improvement of communication skills as a key skillset in their growth. CFOs need to be able to articulate themselves clearly, and tell a story about the numbers to different audiences. Getting specific and dedicated training around communication is invaluable.
Many of Jack’s guests also mentioned they have coaches - executive coaches who can facilitate their personal growth and development.
Also important is how you introduce yourself and greet yourself. You may have only a few moments of someone’s attention, or an instant to make an impression. CPAs looking to step into CFO-type opportunities would do well to give consideration to how they come across in small moments, and what impression they want to leave behind.
Storytelling Finance people can be conservative by nature. It’s logical in a world where information you hold must be closely guarded. You can however tell interesting stories about your experiences in business that will be of interest, without revealing unnecessary details.
Part of the role of a CFO is to understand the vision and direction of the company, and put forth ideas about how they can help this company grow.
CPAs are great listeners, and are thoughtful and disciplined. Knowing when to listen, and when to speak is a skill acquired over time.
Articulating Value You need to be able to articulate the value you bring as an individual and a professional in more clearly and in more interesting ways. Think about what you are going to share when you sit around a table: you need to tailor your stories and your narrative to a time sequence and an audience. Learn how to synthesize a story for different people at different altitudes.
There’s a tight-rope walk from being reactive to being proactive, and in time your instincts will teach you which way to lean.
Emotional Intelligence The difference between the CPA and the CFO is not more technical information. It’s:
- Reading the room correctly
- Knowing who the stake-holders are
- Timing
- Finesse
- Smarts, and political smarts
We also have a conversation about the low representation of women and diversity; you will have to listen to hear his take. :)
Connect with Jack:
Website: https://www.cfothoughtleader.com/
Resilience for CPAs and Accountants How many days do you feel like you’re running ragged, and just getting to 9pm without a nuclear meltdown is a win? Once in a while, allowing your tank to run all the way down to the Empty line is ok. But do it too often, or run it too far down, and you risk running your business out of gas altogether.
My guest today is Catherine Morissett - experienced facilitator, speaker, and coach with 30 years experience training around personal and organizational resilience. Catherine is going to share with us how to better maintain your own stores of personal resilience so that you can get your time and energy back.
On managing yourself: There is much discussion on managing time, but what often gets left out are two other important concepts: managing your energy, and managing your Inner Space.
Managing Your Energy
Your body has a finite amount of energy that it creates for you. (You can help it create more, but that’s a topic for another time.) Given the amount of energy you have for your day, where and how do you want to allocate it? The temptation is simply to go about your day at full-tilt, and then hang on through dinner and bedtime, hoping you make it.
An alternative is to consider the amount of energy you have, and ask yourself how much you want to allocate to the various segments of your day. You might allocate a third to your work, a third to your family, and a third to yourself. Or you may allocate it differently. The point is to make a decision about what you want to have energy reserves for, rather than simply hope that more energy will magically produce itself at the end of the day.
Managing Your Inner Space
The same goes for your Inner Space. We live in an age of information overload, and the brain will process whatever you put in front of it. Overtime, it does learn what it can tune out, but it still takes effort to filter. You can also help your brain by giving it intentional breaks:
- Take a 5 minute break every hour
- Take a 30 minute break at lunch
- Decide what time you will shut down for the day
- Decide if you will or will not check your phone in the evenings
- Take a 15 minute walk or quiet break before starting work, and at ending work, to replace the forced-quite-time of the commute that has gone away in the WFH era.
Rewire Your Brain: Learn to Focus
If you have been in the habit of task-spinning, from one to the next to the next without fully digging into and completing one at a time, it will take time to retrain your brain to focus on serial tasks. You can begin with the practice of setting a timer for 10 minutes and focusing for that amount of time.
Juiced on Distractions
If you love distracting yourself with email and social media, begin with the small step of setting a timer for 15 minutes and quitting when the timer dings. Social media and technology has been shown to be addictive. Be patient with yourself and be good with incremental progress.
Connect with Catherine:
Website: https://www.imagineplus.ca/
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GET YOUR TIME BACK BY BEING MORE EFFECTIVE WITH EMAIL Do you ever get sucked into your email Inbox, wander around in there for hours, only to resurface wondering where the time went and why you went in there in the first place?
Having a disorderly system to process your email - or worse - no system at all - can cost you hours a day of lost efficacy. Losing just ONE hour a day all year long is the equivalent of SIX and a HALF weeks of work time.
My guest today is Marcey Rader, a productivity expert and the President of Rader Co - Her training company specializes in helping accountants and CPAs to get on top of their email, tasks, and their calendar.
Today it’s all about getting your time back by learning the secrets of email processing, so that you stay out of the Inbox vortex.
6 Steps to get your process organized: 1. Have a strategy for processing email: be intentional and thoughtful about checking it, rather than willy-nilly or “all day every day. Email strategy comes from the top down, so make sure your staff is clear about email best practices and proper etiquette. 2. Process it like a task – do it, and be done. Don’t context switch: it leads to decision fatigue and feeling busy but not productive 3. Know what times of day to send. Have it land when people are most likely to read it - do not send at the end of the day or at night when your reader is likely to read it. Otherwise they make worse choices. Use Delay Send (Outlook) or Send Later (Gmail) to manage send times. When you email at night, you might be interrupting your recipients’ evening or weekend. 4. Use the OHIO Method - Only Handle It Once. See the 5 Steps for Processing email so that you can handle your email one time, rather than open-close-open-close-open-close. 5. Turn off notifications. Your body gets used to the dopamine drip. Your default setting is designed to get you to use the product more. 6. Create rules and filters: Emails that you don’t want to see right now have filters to go to a folder. Certain domain names or email addresses bypass the Inbox altogether.
Use features and extensions to be more efficient: * Inbox Pause – Allows you to pause new emails from landing in your Inbox * Boomerang – Allows you to tell emails to come back to you if it hasn’t been opened. * Streak – Allows you to track email opens. It’s a powerful CRM; if you only want email tracking, then download the Chrome extension, relaunch Chrome, and select “only email tracking” when logging back in * Use Promotions and Updates tabs to train emails to land in the right places - Or Focus and Clutter if Outlook * Delay Send or Send Later – so emails land during appropriate work hours
How to process email with 5 choices: 1. Delete - the ones you don’t need 2. Delegate - if you’re the bottleneck, send them along 3. Archive - the emails you need to read and file away 4. Reply - if less than 2 minutes 5. Create a Task - move to Tasks if in Gmail or assign to task in calendar
Symptoms of email addiction or lack of process: * If your family is on your case about it * If you can’t take a 15-second elevator ride without taking out your phone * If you’re not present when you are with people
Link to the webinar that got me down to Inbox Zero and freed up my time:
https://www.cpaacademy.org/archived_show/a0D2S00000ng1gsUAA
Get the free gift from Marcey:
Listeners receive the first 21 pages and all the Novice habits for Month One of Marcey's latest book, Work Well. Play More! Productive, Clutter-Free, Healthy Living - One Step at a Time. You can get that here: workwellplaymore.com/gift
Connect with Marcey:
Website: https://helloraderco.com/
………
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Many accountants over-service and under charge their clients. This creates a lose-lose situation, where clients don't value what the accountant does, and the accountant doesn’t isn’t charging enough to be able to provide the level of service the client actually wants.
Not only does this undercharging result in the accountant leaving piles of cash on the table, but more importantly, the client is left wanting.
The thing is that it’s not a lack of expertise and information that is causing accountants to stay stuck on the hamster wheel - it’s something else.
Today’s guest is James Ashford.
Sales misconceptions
Many accountants carry misconceptions about sales. What are accountants missing out on when they hold false beliefs about selling, like it is and must be pushy?
Adopt a sales mindset
You need to be in a sales frame of mind - that you are always selling your ideas. It’s not simply limited to acquisition. You need to sell your clients on proper client behavior. You need to sell your staff on the direction of the company, and the culture. Sales is the most important skill, you’re selling all the time.
Be clear with your clients about expectations
Think about the skills required to get your clients to do the things you want them to do
You need to be kind to your clients by being clear about what is expected.
Kind and nice are not the same. By being clear about expectations, you are being kind to them because they understand what is expected of them. It’s not at all the same as being nice, which can be a falsely placed substitute for being liked.
How do you get your clients to shift from being passive to proactive?
You’re helping your client to get one step closer to their stated goals.
You’re helping them make the best decisions for themselves.
Avoid inadvertently giving away your control out of the gates that then leads to getting walked all over and needs to be corrected, for example:
- Meetings to overrun
- Discounted services
- Threw in goodies for free
- Allows the client to control the relationship
You need to set precedents at the outset to establish your role as expert and leader in the relationship.
Intimidating conversations
So often it’s the fear of rejection or disapproval that keeps accountants from moving forward. It’s not until the pain of staying still (not enough time with family, health effect, etc) exceeds the pain of the difficult conversation does the account move.
How can you make intimidating conversations come more easily, so that one does not need a health scare to discover previously unfound motivation?
When something is a “should” you won’t do it. When it becomes a must, you will do it.
What had been a should, became a must in these two stories.
“If you were to acquire your own business today, what decisions would you make today?”
You’re not getting out of here alive, and you only have so many laps around the sun.
Time to establish what you want in your business and in your life, and build it.
Connect with James:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesashford/
Website: https://goproposal.com/professional-proposals/
Book: Selling to Serve
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Today I speak with Hannah Smolinksi, CEO of Clara CFO Group, on her meteoric YouTube rise.
Less than 1 year ago, Hannah had less than 100 subscribers on YouTube and a few dozen on her email list. Today, she has more than 16,000 YouTube subscribers and more than 8000 people on her email list. Hannah talks with us about her success and how it has impacted her business growth.
What has been the impact on her business?
- Because the lifetime value of clients is really high, there is years of value from producing videos
- Opened up different opportunities - Hannah is now the Senior Advisor to Upside Financial, where she educates CFOs on PPP-related legislation
- Creates truly passive income once created - like webinars that are paid afterwards
CPAs can struggle with content marketing - it can be too shallow and doesn’t “grab”.
Hannah suggests listening to what people ask you the most, then responding to what people are asking. If they are asking the same question over and over again, accumulate the most common questions you get asked and then create videos from there.
There are a wealth of KPIs and metrics to pay attention to, but most important to watch are:
- Total Views
- Duration - keep it around 5 minutes
Look at the videos that get the most views, and do more around the topics that get the most views. Hannah found that videos for Sole Proprietor videos get high viewership.
Digital Products
There is an opportunity to do a CFO service in a 1:many model by breaking it down into something much smaller. For example, you can hone in on budgeting or cashflow, and building targeted, micro courses directed at a narrow audience.
Hannah is building out a product ladder that includes paid webinars, advisory retainer, and more.
If you want to start a YouTube channel, decide to do it and:
- be consistent
- learn from what other CPAs who have lots of views - what are their videos about
- find out what people are watching
SEO tools
You can use these SEO tools to find out what people are searching for:
- Tube buddy
- VidIQ
If you need relief on the PPP front and are bogged down with work, check out
Upside Financial. They have a PPP forgiveness service where the client meets with a PPP Advisor to get things done.
Here is Hannah explaining the program: https://youtu.be/_GjJojYBCtE
If you want to get signed up for the Upside Financial referral program: https://upsidefinancial.com/referral
Connect with Hannah:
https://www.claracfo.com
Episode mentions:
The Traveling CPA: Around the world in 14 minutes
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Schedule a free discovery call with me:
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Twyla Verhelst is the co-founder of Eighty Twenty, an Advisory Accounting Firm. We discuss her journey of implementing Advisory Services, long before it was known as Advisory Services. We discuss the difference between what the client needs, and what the business owner needs, what questions to ask that lead to deeper insights to support Advisory Services, and how to get started simply and without overwhelm.
What we cover:
How to get started building your Advisory Services
Rather than make assumptions about what your clients need, ask questions up front:
- Why did you start this business? A passion-project, or because you quit your job and you need this to feed your family?
- What keeps you up at night?
- Where is your business headed? Where do you want to see your business headed, in 6 months, 12 months, 5 years? But even now in Covid-times, how about 90 days?
What patterns emerge from asking those questions of your clients?
Cashflow cashflow cashflow.
While 5 and 10 year scenario planning is incredibly useful, short-term cashflow planning is the most important thing. If not done well, it makes the 5-year plan moot.
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What Twyla learned along the way:
- Don’t provide metrics they see no value in
- They may not pay you for information they don’t see value in or that matters to them
- Present information that is digestible to them
- How you see and understand information is not the same as how they see it
- Understand what matters to them - and what helps them make better business decisions
- Avoid accounting jargon and don’t be intimidating with tossing around fancy terms
Twyla’s advice for those wanting to get started
Start with one:
- One client - don’t do it for everyone out of the gates
- One service - don’t offer everything all at once
Come back to :
- what it is that you are trying to do for your client
- what happens if you don’t tell them
- what impact will it have if I can help them
Connect with Twyla:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/twylav/
Other Relevant Episodes:
053, Adding Advisory Services and the Power of Niching Down
121, Switching to Advisory Services using Profit First, with Rob Foncannon, CPA
Software mentions:
https://www.freshbooks.com
Do you want your own Roadmap to Advisory Services?
If you want to implement Advisory Services in your accounting practice, but you need something of a Roadmap so you know what path to travel, and don’t want to waste time and energy wandering in the dark, Check out my roadmap to Advisory Services.
In this 30-day intensive1:1 program, we will work together hand-in-glove to get you from wanting Advisory Services, to actually Doing Advisory Services.
The end result is you have your first 2 advisory service clients, engagement letter signed.
We work together until you have that result, and you can have it inside 30 days.
If you’re curious, check out the Coaching Options tab on my website, SheThinksBigCoaching.com
Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs
Get here
Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Most CPAs struggle with pricing - some have moved to flat-rate or subscription pricing, and some still bill by the hour.
What they often struggle to understand is the full depth of the value they offer to their clients, and because they don’t fully understand value, they are leaving Everest Sized Mountains of Money on the table,
which means they have to work a lot harder to compensate for the missed opportunity.
Today’s guest is Mark Stiving the pricing expert behind impactpricing.com.
What we cover:
How to shift to flat-rate pricing when you have had a client whom you have billed by the hour:
Give them Menu Pricing with 3 packages: Good, Better, Best.
Put last year’s average monthly bill between the Good and Better package
How do you have a value conversation with your clients?
You can’t simply ask, what is the value? Instead you must work together with your client to discover the value of your work together. You might ask...
- If we can get you this result, what would result from that?
- If we can move from a 7 to an 8, what would happen?
- What’s it worth if you had that result, of ?
The quantitative value takes some digging to get to, but if you ask the right questions, you can get there.
Discovering value is a two-way street:
It’s about trying to discover how much value we are delivering to that client
- You as a vendor have no idea how much value your customer is going to get from your product
- The customer doesn’t know your product and has no idea how much value they are going to get from it
- Both of you work together to understand the value it will provide, and the client will receive.
Remember:
Before customers buy, they are buying based on perceived value.
After working together, they continue to buy based on actual value.
Once we have a customer, our job is to make sure they get real value, and KNOW they got real value.
To communicate hidden value, consider having a one-page write up
- “Let me tell you what I did yesterday”
- People with these problems often face these issues
- I solved this for you
- If you want to look more into it, here is more information
How to price by segment:
“I charge people in this industry this amount”
Start with what you price now, and examine your client roster to see if there is an industry that gets significan value from that service, compared to the others, and then price that segment above your basic rate.
Stay away from complexity!
Keep price segmentation simple by charging businesses in a certain industry XX% more than the basic service.
Think about where the low hanging fruit it, gain from that, and then go on to the next segment
If a CPA has the ability to act as a Trusted Advisor, they can have an initial conversation to get the ball rolling.
Understanding how to do pricing well is involved, so start with industries that are not in a super-competitive market and use cost+ pricing.
The Will I, Won’t I, or Which One? Questions:
Will I buy, won’t I buy? – think about popcorn in a theatre. You ask yourself first, will I or won’t I buy? You are not asking “Which theatre will I buy popcorn from?”
When people make a Will I decision, they are not as price sensitive, because options are often limited.
Start small. Start with value-pricing for your own company, and make it work first in your own business. Then learn to have value conversations with your clients, and then learn to coach your clients on having value conversations with their clients.
There’s a phenomenal opportunity for CPAs to help their clients become more profitable, you will reduce turnover, your work becomes more impactful and fulfilling, and your work becomes easier.
Connect with Mark:
Website: https://www.impactpricing.com/
Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs
Get here
Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Erin Longmoon, Owner of Zephyr Recruiting shares the 4 most common hiring mistakes business owners make, and what to do instead. There is a reason that so many business owners have hiring PTSD and staff that are challenging: hiring correctly is not as easy as it looks. Erin is on a mission to eradicate toxic workplaces by helping clients find the RIGHT FIT (™) employee.
Today Erin shares the 4 most common hiring mistakes business owners make, and what to do instead.
The 4 most common mistakes made when hiring:
-
Hiring someone you know or someone who was referred to you by someone you know. This actually does not have to be a hiring mistake if done correctly. In fact, using your network to grow your team is a great tactic, the problem is that it often leads to having unconscious bias that this person must be a great fit if they are being endorsed by a trusted source, especially when it is someone you are close to. We are therefore no longer able to see this candidate objectively or clearly.
-
Hiring primarily for skills, education, and experience.
You know the drill, you see that really impressive resume in your inbox and think “wow, if I can get this person on my team, we will be light years ahead of our competitors”, or “we can finally elevate our service offerings”, or some version of that. You interview the person, are totally impressed with their knowledge and expertise, and you pull out all the stops to get them, and they start with you – you scored!!! But... at some point, usually within a few months of hiring them, something is not right and BAM! It backfires! Why? Because culture fit was ignored. It is imperative, I repeat, i-m-p-e-r-a-t-i-v-e that culture fit is taken as seriously as skills, education, certifications, and experience. -
Not having a recruiting strategy. Think of recruiting as a project, with a beginning, middle and end, and with a measurable goal to let you know you have succeeded, (in this case, finding your BEST FIT™ employee). And just like all projects you need to identify objectives and goals, allocate resources ($ and people), create an action plan- basically you need strategy for the project to succeed. Many small business employers just identify the need to hire and jump right to posting a job and hoping it works- but hope is NOT a strategy! Recruiting is a whole industry for a reason, it takes methodology, expertise, experience, strategy, and more to be consistently successful.
-
Not doing your full due diligence when vetting a candidate. You created a strategy, now you have to use it, consistently. Often, we end up fast-tracking a candidate because they seem great during the first interview, and you need someone NOW! So, you jump to the offer, skipping all the steps you identified in your Recruiting Strategy. This is a huge mistake because:
-
- You could miss big red flags and critical information that can come back to bite you after you made the hire.
- You could make a quick decision to not hire someone and they could end up having been your BEST FIT™, but because you did not follow your strategy, you missed out. This often happens with unconscious bias as well.
- It could get you into compliance trouble. Every candidate MUST go through the same process per hiring cycle. By having a well outlined process, that is followed with each candidate, you mitigate your risk for discrimination lawsuits, and if you do get sued, it will help you defend your case, by being able to prove you have a process that every candidate goes through equally.
If you want the solutions – what to do instead, email me at shethinksbigcoaching.com> Subject = 4 Mistakes Hiring PDF, and I will send you the PDF.
Bonus tips:
- Anticipate 2-3 months from deciding to hire, to having the spot filled.
- Anticipate 4 - 6 weeks of training.
That means you will want to start thinking about the hiring process 4 - 6 months before you actually need the person to be up and running.
Connect with Erin and get “20 Questions to Determine Culture Fit”:
Website: https://www.zephyrrecruiting.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/longmoon/
Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs
Get here
Want some help in your CPA firm, but not sure where to start?
Schedule a free discovery call with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Want to find out what options you might have for working together?
More about 1:1 coaching, roadmaps, and DIY courses here:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Today I speak with Author Barbara Huson (previously known as Barbara Stanny) Overcoming Under-earning and her new book, Rewire for Wealth.
Barbara Huson is the leading authority on women, wealth and power. As a bestselling author, financial therapist, teacher & wealth coach, Barbara has helped millions take charge of their finances and their lives. We discuss overcoming under-earning and how your mind must Rewire for Wealth.
Barbara is the author of 6 books:
- Prince Charming Isn’t Coming: How Women Get Smart About Money
- Secrets of Six-Figure Women: Surprising Strategies to up Your Earnings and
Change Your Life
- Overcoming Underearning: A Five-Step Plan to a Richer Life
- Finding a Financial Advisor You Can Trust: A Guide for Investors and Those Who
Want To Be
- Breaking Through: Getting Past the Stuck Points in Your Life
- Sacred Success: A Course in Financial Miracles
- Her 7th book, Rewire for Wealth
In her new book, Rewire for Wealth, we discuss the 3 steps any woman can take at any time to rewire:
- Recognize - your thoughts and the lines you repeat to yourself as if they are true
- Reframe - how else you can think about things through different lenses
- Respond - what new choices you will make now that you know something different to be true
We also discuss:
- How you can recognize whether or not you are under-earning. It’s relative to your potential and your desire to earn more
- The element of co-dependency in the accounting profession
- How growing your income requires changing your self-image
- The goal of 7-figure earning women is not more profit, but greatness
Connect with Barbara:
www.Barbara-Huson.com
Rewire for Wealth: https://www.amazon.com/Rewire-Wealth-Program-Financial-Success/dp/1260464237/ref=sr_1_1?crid=BOB4NO2P1SW1&dchild=1&keywords=rewire+for+wealth&qid=1611707302&sprefix=rewire+for+we%2Caps%2C191&sr=8-1
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Upcoming Events:
How to Deliver Rolling Forecasts to Your Clients with Laura Landmark
Tues Feb 9th noon ET
Email geraldine@shethinksbigcoaching.com with “Rolling Forecast” in the subject line and I will send you the calendar invite.
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If you suspect you are under-earning and you are ready to do something about it,
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Today I speak with Alan Weiss, owner of Summit Consulting and author of more than 60 business books, including Value-Based Fees, Million Dollar Consulting, Fearless leadership, and more.
What we cover:
Value-pricing requires a wholesale shift in thinking.
You have to do a 180 - from starting with your costs and building to some form of cost+,
to starting with the client’s objectives, what they are coming to you to help them accomplish, determining what that is worth to them, and pricing back from there.
Once you can do that, then… the really the first sale is always to yourself. You need to be able to say these numbers to yourself in front of a mirror without turning red.
No doubt there will be a big swing in your actual prices. In many cases, my clients are charging 4 - 10 times what they would have had they set their prices based off hourly rates. You will need to get used to this shift, on the inside.
Other shifts in thinking include how you frame what you do. The value to your client isn’t in the doing. The value to your client is what your doing creates.
Cranking out numbers isn’t it. But cranking out numbers that are scenario plans that help a client make a better informed decision that doubles her margins – that has real value.
Reframe all that CPA terminology.
Your clients don’t understand activities you perform, like:
- monitor activity for any fixed asset/ intangible capitalization items
- maintain fixed asset reports
- maintain proper accumulated depreciation records
What does the above DO, for your clients? Keep them out of hot water? Help them save tens of thousands of dollars? Reframe, reframe, reframe.
There are limits to the value of compliance.
Become an expert in the finance and business side of things for your clients. When you look at your client’s prices, the cost of creating products and services, what the market will bear, and ensuring margins are in the right zone, suddenly the value you provide can skyrocket.
Consider: who else in your clients’ network of vendors they work with, can provide this level of expertise?
No one.
You are uniquely positioned to help them grow their business.
Behind every corporate objective is a personal objective.
Clients want to create financial value, but there are often deeper reasons that motivate them.
Those might include:
- Saving time, getting time back, going from a 50-hr work week to a 40-hr work week (get home for dinner, happy marriage!)
- Stop wasting money to free it up to use elsewhere in the budget (look good for the boss, get promotion)
- Stop stressing and fretting about business (my kids tell me I’m always distracted, and I feel like I’m losing them/missing their lives)
Focus on results.
Always think and act in your client’s best interest. Focus on outcomes and results. Consider how you will improve their condition, and how they will be better once you’re gone. When you orient your business around getting results for your clients, everything gets easier.
Connect with Alan:
Website: https://www.alanweisss.com/
Episode mentions:
111 - Better Pricing Methodologies For CPA Firms, with Jonathan Stark
106 - Better Pricing Strategies for Accountants: Stop Billing by the Hour, with Jonathan Stark
081 - Time To Rethink Your Pricing Strategy?
Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs
Get here
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Today I speak with Rob Foncannon, owner of Foncannon Tax & Financial Services about how Profit First has impacted his business and his clients’ businesses.
Rob talks about
- What Profit First is and what it’s not
- How it helps business owners become better stewards of their cash
- The effect it has on the business owner’s profitability
Misconceptions and Objections
Some CPAs will raise objections, asking if you can’t accomplish the same thing with a spreadsheet and percentages. Rob explains that it’s more than that: intentionally moving your cash and directing it to where you want to spend it changes the mindset of the business owner and puts them in charge of their money.
Rob’s Foncannon’s Niches
Rob focuses on chiropractors and Financial Advisors. The chiropractors because they are open-minded and accept guidance, and the Financial Advisors because they too need cash flow advice and see it as a useful tool for their clients as well.
If you are curious about Profit First, Rob suggests starting with the book, Profit First, and implementing it in your own business to appreciate the effect it can have.
Connect with Rob:
Website: https://foncannontax.com/
Website Mentions:
https://profitfirstprofessionals.com/
Get the Book:
https://www.amazon.com/Profit-First-Transform-Cash-Eating-Money-Making-ebook/dp/B01HCGYTH4
Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs
Get here
Upcoming training:
Value in Pricing: How to assess it, increase it, and get your clients to see it
Thursday, February 18th, 12pm ET
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/free-stuff/
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Today I speak with Blake Oliver, co-host of the Cloud Accounting Podcast and Marketing Director at Jirav.
What we cover:
Where is accounting technology going? And what are the implications that you think accountants and CPAs are not seeing?
How should CPAs and accountants differentiate themselves?
What advice do you have for CPAs in e-commerce, given the need for software to manage inventory and transactions?
Discussion around owning the tech stack as a business strategy.
What keeps CPAs from making better strategic use of technology in the accounting practices?
You wrote somewhere that when you started back in your bookkeeping days and developing cloud accounting software, that you wanted to disrupt the business model. What is the business model specifically that you want to disrupt? And what is it you want to shift it into?
If you were to build your own accounting practice, around your own software stack, what do you think you'd build? And who do you think you'd have as clients?
You have held a number of marketing positions inside software companies that provide applications for accounting related applications. What do you think CPAs need to know about marketing?
Connect with Blake:
Website: https://www.blakeoliver.com/
Episode mentions:
078 - How To Design Better Workflows In Your Business with David Cristello
Software mentions:
Melio
https://www.meliopayments.com/
OneNote
https://www.onenote.com/signin?wdorigin=ondc
Jirav
https://www.jirav.com/
Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs
Get here
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
CPAs and accountants worked crazy hours in 2020. The start of 2021 may be no different.
Many CPAs, out of concern for their clients, logged extra hours for those clients, to understand PPP, EIDL, and other loan programs to help keep their clients’ businesses afloat.
Many CPAs are exhausted. Some are excited. Most are in need of a break, and need to recharge from a tax season with no end.
Usually on this podcast I talk about business strategy for your accounting practice so that you can deliver more value to your clients, be better compensated, and take back your time, so that you can enjoy more of your life. Because True Wealth is discretionary time.
In this episode, I take you on a journey of a different sort.
A journey of favorite places to travel.
Because the time to think about your break - the break you get to take to recharge - is now.
It’s now, before you get swept away by another tax season, that you don’t resurface from until May, if you’re lucky.
The window for you to think about how, when, and where, you’re going to recharge is right. Now.
And to facilitate your dreams… in this episode I share with you some of my personal favorite places, to get you thinking, dreaming, and making plans.
If you want to know what my favorite places are, you’ll have to listen to the episode :)
Want to earn more and work less, so you can travel more?
It all starts with pricing.
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Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs
Get here
Upcoming training:
How Should I Price __X__ ?
Thursday, January 14th, 12pm ET
Free, register here: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/free-stuff/
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
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Today I share with you a way of looking at 2021 on your clients’ behalf.
While exactly predicting the future is difficult, the year can be broken down into 3 main phases: hunkered-down, re-opening, and post-Covid. We are likely to be hunkered down through April, then May - September we will see continued business growth as things reopen, then September and beyond as we reach herd immunity, we will find our new post-Covid-normal.
Helping your clients consider these 3 phases and anticipate demand in their businesses can set them up to avoid a crash, or take advantage of a wave of interest.
Four main groups of businesses
There also exist 4 main groups of businesses.
Those who:
- experienced significant growth in 2021 (plexiglass and cleaning suppliers, funeral homes, software that facilitated work-from-home)
- had steady or minimally impacted (professional services, construction, and businesses that were essential or could operate in a Covid-safe way)
- suffered, but are managing to hang on, if only barely (physical therapists, chiropractors, salons, commercial real estate)
- Got walloped (local restaurants, gyms, travel related, anything conference related)
Putting your clients into these different groupings can help them think about how they might be affected in each phase.
Help Your Clients Anticipate Demand
For example:
What should the plexiglass supplier be anticipating for demand in 2021? How about the funeral home - at what point will demand dial down? How should one staff appropriately through each phase?
What should the physical therapist anticipate in terms of demand - if they laid off staff, when should they think about ramping back up? Given that hiring takes time (up to 8 weeks!) when should they begin the hiring process so as not to miss the wave of pent-up demand? If they wait for demand to ramp up to begin hiring, they will be unable to take full advantage of business demand.
For the salon owner: when will demand peak, and how to be best prepared?
Does the restaurant owner need to restock wine inventory?
When should the yoga studio owner begin adding more classes to the calendar?
If you cannot be an expert, at least be a guide
You don’t have to have the answer to all of these questions. Give these questions a few minutes of your attention before your next meeting with them, and address them together with your client, to add significant value.
This is where you earn the title Trusted Advisor.
Want structure for conversations with clients?
Download the 4x3 grid tool here, Anticipate 2021 for Your Clients
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Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs
Get here
Upcoming training:
How Should I Price __X__ ?
Thursday, January 14th, 12pm ET
Free, register here: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/free-stuff/
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options
Create a different 2021.
It was a hard year.
I suspect you don't want 2021 to be a recreation of 2020.
But it's easy to get sucked under, and run on autopilot.
It's easy to let your business run you, and dictate your day-to-day.
It's ok (sort of), it happens to most of us.
But if you want 2021 to be really different from 2020, now is the time to think about what you want it to look like, and what choices you will make to create that different reality.
Taking a wild guess that you like spreadsheets, I put some together to get you started, and to actually get you putting pen-to-paper (ha) on your numbers, money, math, and time.
- How many clients will you have?
- And at what prices?
- What work will you decline?
These are choices you may want to make now, before the next wave of busy washes in.
Are my spreadsheets perfect? Could they be more sophisticated? (No, Yes.)
Are they better than starting from scratch? (Yes.)
Set aside an hour or two, and build out Your. Amazing. 2021.
Would love to hear how it goes, and what your "Holy Heck Yeah" goals are.
HOW TO CREATE YOUR 2021 PLAN & STRATEGY
- Watch Video – TEMPLATE - 2021 Financial Goals & Strategy
https://www.loom.com/share/276a996dce144cb08661766c4987cc70
-
Here is a link to the G. Spreadsheet: https://shethinksbigcoaching.us18.list-manage.com/track/click?u=ebb61d37ca514f74be23c7b03&id=3f3767cff0&e=a60340bd48
-
MAKE A COPY - and customize to your heart's content.
BONUS: consider creating something similarly useful for your top clients. :)
Free 5 day email course:
Better Pricing Strategy for CPAs
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-get-your-pricing-right/
Upcoming training:
HOW DO I PRICE ______ ?
January 14th, 12pm ET
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/free-stuff
(scroll down)
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options/
My guest today is Erica Goode.
Erica is a freelance finance professional, working with a small handful of clients, focusing on financial forecasts while staying out of tax as much as possible.
Many CPAs choose hourly billing when they don’t know how long it will take.
This pricing methodology - if it can be called that - leaves your client without a clear price.
While it may seem like the safest option, if the project takes much longer than you anticipated, either your client is left with the high cost of your unanticipated work, or you eat the hours. If you split the difference, you are likely both left with a sour taste.
By simply setting the price at the maximum length of time you might take, you
- Provide a clear price to your client, so they can make an informed buying decision
- Force yourself to actually think through how long it might take, to ensure it’s worth it to you
- Are motivated to be expedient in your work.
Pricing new and one-time projects is difficult. Consider these strategies when setting your price:
- Set it at the maximum amount of time you think it might realistically take - Scope Creep always happens, and setting the price at the top end of your window gives you margin for the extra follow up communications.
- Set it just shy of the maximum, knowing you will work more quickly once the price is set, and give your client a “good deal”
- Set the price 15% above the maximum, and give your client the best possible service. You could argue this last strategy is also an excellent deal.
When you share your price, pay attention to their reaction.
If it was an immediate Yes, you know there may have been room to go up. If there is a pause, you are likely in the right range. If they say no, recognize they just saved you from either sending a higher-than-desired bill, or eating your hours. In this case, no is not a bad thing.
Getting your pricing right is the single most important change you can make in your business.
If you still bill by the hour, head on over to SheThinksBigCoaching.com and take my free 5 day email course: Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs.
Episodes mentioned:
082 Cashflow Forecasting, Niching, and Raising Your Rates with Emily Sandberg
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/082
Upcoming training:
TRANSLATE YOUR EXPERTISE INTO CASH
Thursday, December 17th, 12pm ET
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/accountants-anonymous-12-17
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options/
If you have ever had to fire a client, you know how hard it can be. In the end, you know it will be better for you both (or at least, for you), but when it comes time to have the conversation or hit the Send button, it’s easy to talk yourself out of doing it today.
Letting go of, or getting your clients in the right service at the right price, can be difficult, but it’s necessary to maintain the health and growth of your business.
Most CPAs have more work than they can handle.
If you’re going to maintain and grow a healthy business, creating space is a must for YOU, it’s a MUST for your best clients, and it’s an absolute necessity if you’re going to take on better business.
This step of creating space is challenging for each of my clients who goes through it.
But you need to be selective, you have to be more selective, so it’s time to select.
So I’ve pulled together a script for you - that you can download below - to get you started.
Before I give you the script, let’s go over a few key points. These points will help you stay on track as you navigate the conversation.
- Give plenty of notice if possible. Either get your letters out now - before the 21st of December - or get them out in the first two weeks of January.
- So START NOW.
- If you have a contract, meet the terms of the contract, or find someone who can take them over.
- Complete all your outstanding tasks, unless you and the client negotiate a hand-off to another CPA.
- I am a big fan of treating people with respect and kindness, and maintaining good relationships. So, operate in good faith to help them make a successful transition.
In terms of the message itself,
- Keep your message positive, and keep the focus on you – it’s about you, not about them.
- Don’t over-explain your reasons – you don’t have to elaborate.
- Keep your message short, simple, and to-the-point.
- If you’re finding a new home for a good client, recommend a colleague or two who can take over their account. Make sure you’ve spoken with those colleagues first and that they are truly happy to accept your clients.
- Your clients might beg you to stay. If they do, be firm. Have a plan with milestones for moving them along, while still being helpful – so that you can maintain a healthy relationship and a clear conscience.
- If they try to add last minute tasks, set a clear deadlines and scope that will mark completion.
The script I’m about to share is for clients you’ve outgrown.
We’re not talking about problem clients. And by problem clients I mean the ones who are chronic late-payers, difficult to deal with, and chew up your time, THOSE, we have to handle a bit differently.
I’ll handle that script in a future episode.
Remember, this is for clients you have outgrown, but who aren’t bad clients.
Finding a new home for your clients is hard. You have relationships with these folks - some, that last decades.
Finding the right words can be tough, so hopefully this script will make it a bit easier.
But remember that change is part of life, and that you are responsible for your life and your business only. And your best clients deserve the best of your attention. Doing this is in the best interest of your best clients.
If anything, you owe it to your best clients to find a new home for your decent clients.
And as long as you make good on your end of the bargain, AND do what’s right that might not necessarily be spelled out, you will set them and you up for an amicable transition. Wish them well, they will do the same, and carry on growing your business.
Download PDF: Script for clients you’ve outgrown
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/115-pdf-download
Free 5 day email course:
Better Pricing Strategy for CPAs
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-get-your-pricing-right/
Upcoming training:
TRANSLATE YOUR EXPERTISE INTO CASH
Thursday, December 17th, 12pm ET
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/accountants-anonymous-12-17
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options/
Trap money is money that looks like good money, but in reality, it’s a trap.
Trap Money is important to be able to recognize because it’s one of the factors keeping CPAs under the glass income ceiling and working long hours.
If you can learn to recognize Trap Money for what it is, you’ll be better equipped to say No Thank You at the gates, and then, eventually move your Trap Money income out of your revenue streams.
If you can stop accepting Trap Money, it will make your transition to a high-margin CPA firm that much faster, and that much easier.
So what is Trap Money? It’s money that appears to take only 20 minutes to make, and you make 3 or 4 hundred dollars. Typically it’s in the form of individual returns.
It looks like good money, because the thinking goes that if it takes 20 minutes to make $300, that’s an hourly rate of $900, and that’s not shabby.
The problem is, that math doesn’t account for the whole picture.
The math on 20 minutes for a personal return is 18 weeks working 40 hours a week. 18 weeks is 4.5 months. Tax season is only 2.5 months, or 10 weeks.
Now, if you have 3 staff you can push the work to, that’s another situation. That’s 6 weeks per staff member. So that’s doable. If it’s truly 20 minutes per return, which we have established that it’s more like 2 - 3 times that.
But would you rather that your business have:
- 10 CFO-Advisory clients at $75K
- 30 clients where you are a Concierge CPA at $25K
- 50 simple Advisory clients at $15K
- 250 business returns at $3K
- or 2,000 Individual returns at $350 apiece?
A reason that so many CPAs are stuck on the hamster wheel is Trap Money.
Recognize it for what it is, decide WHO you want to have as clients and where you want to focus your talents, and get rid of anything that risks getting you caught in trap money.
If you don’t believe me, let me give you an update from Minnie, my client from last week’s episode. Last April, she was drowning in Trap Money. She was making enough Trap Money - she was making GOOD Trap Money - but the earning of that money had taken control over her life and crowded out time to spend with her new little one.
Once we got into her business, set up consulting packages at $2500, $5K, and $7500, she was able to start buying her time back, and that enabled her to find a new home for about 30 clients.
So watch out for these offerings you have that look like easy money….
If you’re not convinced, Do the math… and add up all the increments of time.
Your next steps to getting to the bigger ticket items is to stop accepting this type of work, take it off your services list, and if people ask for it, recommend some other CPAs who would be happy to have that type of work.
If you think you might have Trap Money you can’t see, and you want me to help you find it, a single 1:1 coaching session with me will surface it.
Getting rid of Trap Money is just one way to get your business to the next level.
Changing how you price is the single fastest change you can make with the largest impact.
Episode mentioned:
113 Out of Compliance and into Tax-savvy Stock Option Consulting, with Minnie Lau, CPA
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/113
Free 5 day email course:
Better Pricing Strategy for CPAs
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-get-your-pricing-right/
Upcoming training:
TRANSLATE YOUR EXPERTISE INTO CASH
Thursday, December 17th, 12pm ET
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/accountants-anonymous-12-17
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options/
My guest today is Minnie Lau. Minnie provides tech professionals working in late-stage start-up companies that are about to IPO, guidance on stock option vesting and selling strategies.
These tech professionals who work at top levels inside start-ups about to IPO are going to receive stock options worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes more.
Without guidance, not only will they get hit with a giant surprise tax bill, they will lack a strategy for how to optimize those options based on varying stock prices and other factors.
Minnie helps them understand their CHOICES.
I wanted to have Minnie on the podcast to showcase what’s possible in the Advisory space. What she has created in terms of consulting packages is well outside the box, it’s completely different from the more common forms of Advisory services that CPAs often offer business owners.
You will hear what it’s been like for her to transition from a compliance-heavy practice to offering high-margin consulting packages.
What stands out to me is that when it comes to transitioning your practice to high-margin work, there is no bible, no single playbook for everyone to follow.
I am working with 9 CPAs and accountants right now on this transition, and yes, while there are shared fundamentals, no two clients have created the same advisory services. Everyone is creating something different that uniquely suits their talents and interests, overlapped with what their clients need and value.
If you want to do high-value, impactful work that comes easily to you, and for clients you enjoy, it requires writing your own playbook.
If you want to create and offer high-value advisory or consulting services, so you can earn more and get your life back, I offer a variety of ways to help you do just that. Check out shethinksbigcoaching.com/ for solutions that fit inside your time available and what you are comfortable investing.
YOU CAN change the nature of your business and the quality of your life.
Episodes mentioned:
103 Cashflow Forecasting, Niching, and Raising Your Rates with Emily Sandberg
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/103
053 Adding Advisory Services and the Power of Niching Down with Tracy Jepson
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/053
Connect with Minnie:
Website: https://minnielau.com/
Upcoming training:
TRANSLATE YOUR EXPERTISE INTO CASH
Thursday, December 17th, 12pm ET
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/accountants-anonymous-12-17
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/coaching-options/
Today I'm going to dig into what deliverables are and what they sound like in the CPA world, so that you can get better at recognizing them and understand why it's such a problem to sell deliverables. We'll talk about what outcomes you might consider selling so that you know what it sounds like. And finally, when you're stuck in deliverables, how to convert them into outcomes.
CPA deliverables sound like this: P&L, balance sheet, accounting services, financial service, individual, and business tax prep, state and trust tax, print, nonprofit tax prep, tax planning, tax presentation, bookkeeping and write-up, business valuation, cashflow and budget analysis, payroll, accounting software selection and setup, elder care, monthly meetings, spreadsheet of your most important KPIs, plans and projections, tax returns, a secure password-protected portal, and succession planning.
Why is it a problem to sell deliverables?
-
It's not what your clients want.
-
Not only is it not what they want, it's that they might not even know that that's what they need. Who really wants an analysis of their budget? If, on the other hand, we take care of your financial health and wellness, that's a different conversation.
-
Deliverables unto themselves are of limited value. And because value must exceed price for your prospect to buy, deliverables will suppress your prices, because deliverables will always be less valuable than outcomes. So take for example, a P&L. A P&L is valuable, but by comparison to outcomes, like stop having a bank account that's always empty, start filling up your emergency funds and saving for retirement. That's much more valuable.
Deliverables are of limited value. Outcomes and results and transformations are limitless in value. So sell those instead.
Now you're wondering what outcomes do I sell instead? It depends on what your niche or vertical wants.
So here's where the meat is in this burger. When you are stuck in deliverables, how do you get your head into outcomes? Use this little phrase: SO THAT.
It works like this:
- Get your P&L every month on time so that you know where your money went.
- Get your balance sheet so that you know what your business is worth.
- Take care of your estate planning so that your loved ones get your assets, not the government.
- Get on top of your cash flow so that you are never late on paying your employees.
- Get on top of your cash flow so that you are not up at night wondering if that check will clear.
- Get a spreadsheet full of KPIs so that you know what numbers to focus on and can stop guessing about what drives profitability in your business.
- Use our password-protected portal so that you can send us your documents easily and securely.
- Let's do a business valuation so that you know how much you can get for your business when you put it up for sale.
So that. This is the phrase that gets you out of deliverables so that you can get into results, so that you can provide more value to your clients, so that you can increase your prices, so that you can work less and earn more because that's the ultimate outcome, right?
Stop selling deliverables and start selling outcomes.
If you want help transitioning your accounting practice from selling lower value deliverables to selling high value outcomes put 15 minutes on my calendar. Just head over to shethinksbigcoaching.com and click on the big fat red schedule time with me button and the interwebs will take it from there.
Episode mentioned:
110 15 Phrases to Scrub from your CPA Firm’s Website
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/110
Upcoming training:
15 PHRASES TO SCRUB FROM YOUR WEBSITE AND WHAT TO SAY INSTEAD
Thursday, November 19th, 12pm ET
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/work-with-me/
We're back today with Jonathan Stark. In case you missed it we did a recording with Jonathan a couple of weeks ago. It’s episode 106 - Better Pricing Strategies for Accountants. There was so much more to talk about that I invited him to come back on to continue the conversation about pricing.
One of the problems that CPAs run into in their practices is that they tend to fall back on two methodologies for pricing: billing by the hour, and flat rate, which tends to be a cost-plus version of billing by the hour.
These two methodologies limit them in terms of how they price in their firm. Coupled with the problem that hourly billing is problematic in that the client doesn't have a price until after the work is done. And if the bill exceeds the value to the client, that's a big problem.
So what we want to talk about today are different pricing methodologies for CPAs.
Before we started recording, I laid out a couple of options, namely retainer, value-based, contingency and subscription. Jonathan walks us through what those different pricing methodologies look like, what's good to use and what kind of circumstances and why you don't want to use them in certain circumstances and what the risks are.
Download the PDF below for the notes on the different pricing strategies.
Download the PDF: Different Pricing Methodologies for CPAs
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/111-pdf-download/
Connect with Jonathan:
Website: https://jonathanstark.com/
Episodes mentioned:
081 Time to Rethink Your Pricing Strategy? with Ron Baker, Founder of VeraSage Institute
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/081
104 How Much Would a CPA Pay for a Kid’s Bike?
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/104
106 Better Pricing Strategies for Accountants: Stop Billing by the Hour
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/106
Geraldine Carter on the Ditching Hourly Podcast - The Forensic Bounty Hunter
https://podcast.ditchinghourly.com/episodes/coaching-call-with-geraldine-carter
Book recommendations:
How To Measure Anything: Finding The Value of Intangibles in Business, by Douglas Hubbard
https://hubbardresearch.com/publications/how-to-measure-anything-book/
Implementing Value Pricing: A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms, by Ron Baker
https://www.amazon.com/Implementing-Value-Pricing-Business-Professional/dp/0470584610
Hourly Billing Is Nuts by Jonathan Stark
https://jonathanstark.com/hbin
Upcoming training:
15 PHRASES TO SCRUB FROM YOUR WEBSITE AND WHAT TO SAY INSTEAD
Thursday, November 19th, 12pm ET
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/work-with-me/
Today we’re talking about the copy on your website. Because you might be either alienating prospects who visit your website, or not attracting them to begin with. And because of that, you could be missing out on really good revenue.
What am I talking about? All kinds of words and phrases that are meaningless at best - and are potentially harmful - and are taking up valuable real estate on your website, and doing nothing to rank in search results when your ideal clients are googling around for someone like you. And when prospects DO make it to your website, they go, mmmm, not THIS CPA. and they bounce.
And you might be thinking to yourself, well, I don’t get most of my business from my website. I get it from word of mouth and referral. So, why bother with my website?
You might be right that website traffic is not a source of leads for you, so why bother… but the other way to think about it is… a lackluster website that doesn’t speak to your prospects is exactly why you get few to no leads from it.
So let’s take a spin through a bunch of words and phrases I see in use, see what is problematic about these words, and what to say instead:
- Affordable
- Experienced, Accurate, Integrity, Trustworthy, Honesty
- Talking about things that are expected, the bare minimum
- Full-service, broad range of services, wide range of expertise
- Small Firm Personality, BIG FIRM CAPABILITY
-
Bizarro Aspirational phrases that mean nothing:
-
THE SKY'S THE LIMIT, Achieve Your Goals
- committed to your success, ensuring success
- We dream big with you
-
achieve more than you thought possible
-
Serving our community since the stone age
- We have established a reputation for excellence, teamwork, community involvement, and a certain alternative character.
Here is what prospects want to see on your website:
You know who they are - specifically - martial art studio owners. Landscapers. Creative agencies. Architects. Etsy shop owners. Women in the stages of divorce, who need to get a handle on their finances.
And an indication you know what those people want:
- Martial art studio owners: what do the numbers need to look like for them to buy the building, or open a second location?
- Landscapers - stop getting paid 60 days after they’ve mowed the lawn, and instead get paid up front, so they can stop chasing cash and instead have enough reserve to make it through the winter months.
- Contractors - want to stay on top of project costs and know week to week how estimate to actuals are doing.
- Women in the stages of divorce who need to get a handle on their finances after years of not being in charge of the money.
You need to be able to identify the pain points that are specific to the type of business owner you want to attract, so that they know you understand them. Doing this will not only separate you from the CPA around the corner, but it will get you much farther along the value curve.
Scrub your website of accurate and honest and we reply to your questions, and instead give your prospects an indication you know who they are, what their struggles are, and what they want.
If you want my eyeballs on your website to see what kind of verbiage needs to be scrubbed and what you can replace it with, sign up for Accountants Anonymous - it’s Nov 19th at 12 ET - and walk away knowing exactly what to say to attract your ideal clients.
Register at https://shethinksbigcoaching.com
Episode mentioned:
106 Better Pricing Strategies for Accountants: Stop Billing by the Hour
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/106
Upcoming training:
15 PHRASES TO SCRUB FROM YOUR WEBSITE AND WHAT TO SAY INSTEAD
Thursday, November 19th, 12pm ET
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/work-with-me/
Are you stuck thinking about Advisory Services in the commonly accepted tiers of transactional, controller, vCFO?
These 3 tiers are great way to begin to think about Advisory Services for CPAs. But why these 3, and only these 3?
Here are some other questions I ask, when it comes to CPAs transitioning to advisory:
Why stop at vCFO?
Why do the tiers stop at being strategic? (Helping business owners adopt smarter strategies is where it's just starting to get good.)
What is being missed when service stops at strategic?
What is beyond vCFO?
It seems to me like two tiers are missing.
Why not add beyond vCFO, a service column for anticipatory? Anticipating, and not just taxes, but also in your client's businesses. And you help your clients think through how changes, be they economic or seasonal or technological, or even social changes, how these changes that are coming down the pipeline are going to impact your client's businesses.
What else could be beyond vCFO?
What about being innovative? Innovation creates significant new value that didn't exist before. And when you innovate, for a while, you will be the only one offering that new value to your clients. Now, you might be thinking, “I am a CPA. CPA's don't innovate.” I beg to differ. I work with CPAs just like you. I watch them innovating. It's just that they don't frame it like that to themselves. They think of it as “solving an obvious problem.”
There are services beyond vCFO. All you have to do is listen to what your clients are, to date, unable to accomplish when it comes to money, numbers, math, and data.
And I guarantee you, you can find innovative, powerful ways to help them.
I give you permission to anticipate and innovate. Because when you do these things, you can maximize your prices. And when you maximize your prices, you will be able to work with fewer clients. And when you can work with fewer clients, your business gets simpler. And when your business gets simpler, you don't have to work as many hours. And when you don't have to work as many hours, you can get your life and your health back. And you get to read Dr. Seuss books to your grandkids. And when you read Dr. Seuss books to your grandkids, you get more joy back. And goodness knows we could all use a bit more joy in 2020.
Remember, anticipate and innovate new additions to the tiers of CPA services.
If you have innovative ideas that you want help flushing out and piloting to your clients, I can help you do just that. The best place to start is by putting 15 minutes on my calendar at http://shethinksbigcoaching.com.
Upcoming training:
10 PHRASES TO SCRUB FROM YOUR WEBSITE AND WHAT TO REPLACE IT WITH
Thursday, November 19th, 12pm ET
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/work-with-me/
Guidance and wisdom in the accounting industry tend to be provided by accountants and CPAs.
There's a notable absence of expertise and wisdom from thought leaders outside the accounting industry.
In order for any profession to advance, it needs to have conventional thinking be challenged. And the best people to challenge conventional thinking are those who have never been taught to believe conventional thinking in the first place.
Why do we cling to our views so tenaciously after they're formed? Psychologists attribute this to at least two phenomena: self-affirmation and cultural cognition. Both of these concepts suggest that we cling to our views because the walls of our opinions are like battlements that keep the good guys on the inside safe from the enemy on the outside - all those dopes with different opinions.
The problem is that when you have these walls set up, you don't allow in new information that would actually be good for you. Knowing this makes it extra important to be in about listening to people outside the profession, and to welcome them as observers and commentators so that you on the inside the profession can benefit from fresh thinking.
The danger in listening only to accountants for wisdom is that regardless of what they're thinking about, they're still thinking about it in accountant type ways. So whether they're thinking about numbers or thinking about concepts, their way of thinking reverts to reporting on what has happened in the past, rather than what can be created in the future.
Instead, think beyond the perspectives that the industry typically shares with you.
I want you listening to voices outside the accounting space so that you can rise above the din of the same-same, and expose yourself to completely different viewpoints and ways of thinking.
And if you're looking for inspiration for some other fresh thinking and voices, here are some of my favorites:
- Seth Godin https://seths.blog/
- Jonathan Stark https://jonathanstark.com/
- Elizabeth Gilbert https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/
When you listen to leading voices outside the accounting profession, you're exposed to fresh perspectives. And when you apply fresh perspectives to your work, you advance your business. And when you advance your business, your clients get more value. And when the value you provide to your clients increases, your rates increase. And when your rates increase, you don't have to work as much. And that is how you get your time back.
Now, I want to hear from you. What fresh perspectives have recently shifted your business?
Episode mentioned:
106 Better Pricing Strategies for Accountants: Stop Billing by the Hour, with Jonathan Stark
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/106
Upcoming training:
GIVE UP CALCULATING $ PER HOUR
Break free of this arbitrary metric: there is a better way
Thursday, October 22, 12pm ET
10 PHRASES TO SCRUB FROM YOUR WEBSITE AND WHAT TO REPLACE IT WITH
Thursday, November 19th, 12pm ET
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/work-with-me/
Have you ever heard of a tool called the wheel of life? It's a really simple but powerful tool to help you take stock of the most important areas of your life and visualize which ones are going best and which areas you want to devote more of your attention to, to improve. The wheel of life gives you a bird's eye view of the different aspects of your life.
I want to share this tool with you because I want you to have it not just for your life, but also for your business, so that you can get your life where you want it and your business where you want it.
With everything that’s been going on this year it can be really hard to focus. And when you do focus, what do you focus on?
With all of the problems that you could address, how do you know where to allocate your attention? After all your attention is limited. And just like you allocate cash for certain priorities in your business, you allocate your attention.
The problem is that sometimes we allocate our attention indiscriminately. And when your attention gets allocated indiscriminately day after day, year after year, you might inadvertently end up with a business you no longer like owning.
The problem with that is that life is too short to own a business you don't like owning.
So back to the life wheel, back to the business wheel. How can these two things help you? This really simple tool will help you move in the direction of building the business you love to own that fits right inside a life you love.
It's a really simple tool to help you see what is actually happening in your life that often otherwise just gets lost in the day to day.
This simple exercise can really help you understand where you need to focus in your business and where to allocate your attention. And when you know where to focus your attention, you improve the right things. And when you improve the right things, you make progress in the right direction in your business. And that is how over time you build a business that you love to own.
Now, it would be really easy to do with the life wheel and to do the business wheel and then tuck it away in some file folder. But I want you to pin it on the wall so that you can check in with it and remind yourself where your focus most needs to be.
DOWNLOAD PDF: Life Wheel and Business Wheel
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/107-pdf-download/
Upcoming training:
GIVE UP CALCULATING $ PER HOUR
Break free of this arbitrary metric: there is a better way
Thursday, October 22, 12pm ET
10 Phrases To Scrub From Your Website And What To Replace It With
Thursday, November 19th, 12pm ET
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/work-with-me/
My guest today is Jonathan Stark. Jonathan is a former software developer who is on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He is the author of Hourly Billing Is Nuts, the host of TWO podcasts: Ditching Hourly and The Business of Authority, and writes a daily newsletter on pricing for independent professionals.
We’re talking today about better ways for CPAs to price their services so that they can get out of the accounting rut.
We will get into different pricing strategies, the differences between value, price, and cost, selling outcomes instead of deliverables, and more.
“If you can find clients that will get more and more value out of the services that you provide, the prices that you can put in your project proposals just magically go up... In other words, without much more work, you can charge a client a hundred thousand dollars for basically the same thing if the value to them is a million. So your growth comes from finding clients who value the stuff that you do more.”
- Jonathan Stark
Value is not just about increasing prices. It's a way for you to provide a range of possible solutions for your clients so that they can choose what makes sense to them given the context they're in and which solution they want, in a way that is always profitable for both parties.
What I see as most immediately implementable when it comes to moving out of hourly billing is to take one thing that you already do all the time anyways, and turn that into a flat-fee service, and give yourself the experience of getting faster and better at it, so you know what it feels like to divorce your profit margins from your time. Once you get a taste for that feeling, you’ll be thirsty for more.
Episodes mentioned:
105 Mathematical Proof Different is Better
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/105
104 How Much Would a CPA Pay for a Kid’s Bike?
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/104
Upcoming training:
GIVE UP CALCULATING $ PER HOUR
Break free of this arbitrary metric: there is a better way
Thursday, October 22, 12pm ET
10 Phrases To Scrub From Your Website And What To Replace It With
Thursday, November 19th, 12pm ET
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/work-with-me/
I am here to offer you mathematical proof that different is more profitable.
The best possible strategy to becoming more profitable without having to work so hard includes specializing.
A few weeks back, a well-known software developer turned consultant named Jonathan Stark invited me to be on his podcast, Ditching Hourly, so we could discuss other ways to bill forensic accounting. And it was in our conversation that he dropped this equation that I want to share with you.
Here is the max price formula that proves that specializing will make you more profitable.
Desire x Buying Power / Availability of Options = Max Price
Let me give you some good news and some bad news.
The bad news is that making yourself different is among the hardest and most necessary gates to pass through on your path to becoming a highly compensated CPA.
Now, the good news. Because this gate is one of the hardest ones to get through, very few people actually get through it. Many people try, but they either get lost or they run out of steam, or they don't see it through.
If you are willing to come in and see it through to the other side, you will find that you are in small, great company.
So if you have the courage to commit to the process of specializing, which really only takes about six months, you will cut the number of options your prospects have down to such a small number that you will be able to bump up your max price by a factor of three or five or even eight or more.
If you want to work on upping your max price, here are some initial steps you can take:
- Run through your client roster, and note which clients are in a lot of pain.
- Then look at their buying power. Which of your clients are best positioned to invest with you more deeply? Conversely, which ones do you know will never have the buying power to work with you in a way that lines up with what you want your business to be doing?
- Finally, look at how many CPAs around you look just like you in a white press button-down shirt who do all things for all people.
Look inside your client roster and leverage the types of businesses you already have as clients to begin the process of specializing. So that you can look different from the white shirt CPA next to you, who specializes in serving everyone and no one at the same time.
Remember, specializing is a process. It takes three months just to see if you're getting traction. It takes six months to know for sure if your specialty is working. But if you commit to an industry that is specialized enough, and you give it time, you will get there and you will reap the rewards of being able to maximize your price.
And when you maximize your price, you will be able to work with fewer clients. And when you can work with fewer clients, your business gets simpler. And when your business gets simpler, you don't have to work as many hours.
There you have it - mathematical proof that different is more profitable.
Podcast mentioned:
Ditching Hourly Episode 193: The Forensic Bounty Hunter with guest Geraldine Carter
https://podcast.ditchinghourly.com/episodes/coaching-call-with-geraldine-carter
Upcoming training:
GIVE UP CALCULATING $ PER HOUR
Break free of this arbitrary metric: there is a better way
Thursday, October 22, 12pm ET
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/work-with-me/
Today I want to talk to you today about how to price a bicycle.
Now you might be wondering, what has this got to do with being a CPA? What does the price of a bike have to do with payroll, cashflow, or tax strategy?
I'll tell you what the connection is.
And I'm going to tell you through a recent experience I had buying a bike for my five-year-old daughter, Hazel.
It was an expensive, but worth it bike. Here are five ways I never thought to justify the price:
- Component parts: rubber, aluminum, plastic.
- Time for the machine to stamp out the bike.
- Margins of the bike company.
- Goal earnings of the bike company owner.
- Comparing to prices of other bikes.
Instead, I made the purchase based on the value to me. And that value is being able to watch my daughter have a blast in the pump track with her friends, to feel more confident riding, and to be able to keep up with the boys.
Check her out, getting the hang of the pump track! Here’s the YouTube link:
https://youtu.be/6reW8zJivmM
The price of the bike had nothing to do with the cost.
How this connects back to CPAs: they price their services all wrong, all the time.
Here are five examples of how CPAs price their services incorrectly:
- Hourly. Not so much a price, but more an expression of your confidence.
- Breaking it down into its component parts like their time, staff time, court time, bookkeeping is this much, payroll is that much.
- Destination margins. Shooting for the industry average of 14.9% or above.
- Goal earnings. “I need to make $400K so I can cover my desired expenses.”
- Comparing. They say they are not the most expensive, nor the least expensive CPA in town.
Each of these is something that I've heard a CPA say, and sometimes it's how my own clients can think about pricing when we're starting out.
And I get the value of these ways of thinking about pricing. You have to start somewhere.
The problem is the amount of money that CPAs are leaving on the table when they use incorrect pricing strategies.
In none of these examples did we talk about value. Nowhere did we talk about the value to me, the buyer.
Value and price are not one and the same.
And the fundamental problem with pricing any other way than on value is the amount of money left on the table.
So how do you get from pricing your time to assessing the value of the outcomes you help create and putting a price on that instead? You start by listening more to your clients. You listen to what they really care about.
When you spend more time with your clients and listen to why it is they want what they want, you will be able to uncover untold value. And then you can start value pricing. And when you start value pricing, your income increases while your workload decreases. And that is how you work less and make more.
When your service is amazing and the value is priceless, there will be clients who are happy to pay you for it.
If seeing the five ways not to price listed out would be helpful to you, zip on over to my website, shethinksbigcoaching.com where you can download the free PDF I made that lists the examples that I mentioned.
DOWNLOAD PDF: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/104-pdf-download/
Upcoming training:
PLAYING SUPERHERO
Stop being all things to all people: How to narrow your niche the easy way
Thursday, September 24, 12pm ET
GIVE UP CALCULATING $ PER HOUR
Break free of this arbitrary metric: there is a better way
Thursday, October 22, 12pm ET
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/work-with-me/
Today’s guest is Emily Sandberg. Emily provides cashflow and forecasting services to online coaches and course creators.
While many accountants focus primarily on making sense of the past, Emily works with her clients to know the future of money in their business, so they can make strategic decisions with their cash. Her work has helped dozens of clients go from running a money-hungry business to a predictably profitable enterprise, by simply following her profit-centered framework.
When she’s not running scenarios for her clients’ Facebook Ad Spends, she can be found playing pickleball or hiking in the gorgeous red rocks of southern Utah with her family.
I wanted to have Emily on the podcast because her business model is unique in that she did not pass GO, she did not collect $200, she went directly to Advisory Services.
Her perspective on what her clients need when it comes to money is well outside the box, and I think it will be interesting for you to hear from someone who was never tethered to traditional accounting.
So many things stuck out to me, it’s hard to pick just one. The top 3 are:
- How niching down takes the pressure off
- What her clients need most from her is advising and forecasting
- That charging more is actually good for my clients.
Each of these is counter-intuitive and can be a difficult mental transition for people to make.
If you want help establishing the value of and shifting the services you offer to increase their value, and you're looking for the courage to raise your rates, I can help you make these changes in your accounting practice.
Episode mentioned:
053 Adding Advisory Services and the Power of Niching Down with Tracy Jepson
Connect with Emily:
Website: http://emilysandberg.net
Upcoming training:
PLAYING SUPERHERO
Stop being all things to all people: How to narrow your niche the easy way
Thursday, September 24, 12pm ET
GIVE UP CALCULATING $ PER HOUR
Break free of this arbitrary metric: there is a better way
Thursday, October 22, 12pm ET
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/work-with-me/
Today we're talking about your business. Is it a lot of work? Do you spend it too many hours or more hours than you want in front of a screen toiling away?
At the end of a long work week, do you ever wonder if there was an easier way? Many CPAs work really hard. And when I say hard, I mean, lots of hours, lots of clients, endless fires. And it can seem like hard is the path, and it can be the only path that you see.
But what I want you to know is that there are easier paths available to you. And I will tell you what keys you need to unlock these easier paths.
But first, I want you to listen to my story about inner tubes and me and some friends, a few years back.
So how is this misadventure relevant to you?
You got started as a CPA. And you knew it might not be easy-peasy. You may have thought that there was some risk, but little did you know that you would end up in the position of having 250 or 1400 returns to process in a 10-week timeframe.
And there were probably moments that you felt desperate. And when you have that desperate or piled on or overwhelmed or sucked under feeling, it can be difficult to see the path out.
What I want you to know is that if you're feeling swamped in your accounting practice, that you are only in knee-deep water, because you have a skill set that no one else has.
As a CPA, you are able to understand a business's finances in ways that other professionals simply cannot. As a CPA, you are uniquely positioned to provide immeasurable value to your clients. You are standing in two feet of water. It's just a matter of harnessing your talent and your ability to provide insights and get it pointed in the right direction.
So remember at the top of this episode, when I said, I would tell you how to find an easier path? Here are five pieces that you need to get on the easier path:
- Learn to value price.
- Continue to narrow your niche or specialize.
- Develop a framework for consistent high-quality results.
- Make yourself visible.
- Be open to the idea that it can be easy. And that it's all right for it to be easy.
If you believe that it's supposed to be hard or that making money isn't supposed to be easy, your subconscious will seek out ways to make you right. And you will continue to make it hard.
If you believe that it can and that it should be easy, your subconscious will look for the easy path. And when you're looking for the easy path, the answer will appear.
Episodes mentioned:
081 Time To Rethink Your Pricing Strategy? With Ron Baker, Founder Of Verasage Institute https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/081
091 Is Your Accounting Niche Niche-y Enough?
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/091
054 How Narrowing Your Niche Can Help You Grow Faster
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/054
098 A Framework is Essential to CPAs Working Less and Earning More
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/098
Upcoming training:
PLAYING SUPERHERO
Stop being all things to all people: How to narrow your niche the easy way
Thursday, September 24, 12pm ET
GIVE UP CALCULATING $ PER HOUR
Break free of this arbitrary metric: there is a better way
Thursday, October 22, 12pm ET
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today I want to talk with you about why checking in a few times a year on your best clients’ results and how you as a CPA contributed to their success can help you feel more confident in your pricing.
When CPAs take the time to stop and observe, what some of them find is that their best clients are getting amazing results. And that they had a hand in the creation of those results. But because those results had been invisible to them or because they had been dismissing their role in the creation of those results, they were undervaluing their services.
And when they were undervaluing, they were underpricing. And when they were underpricing, they were overworking to compensate. And when they were overworking to compensate, they're spending more time at work than they need to be in order to make the same amount of money.
In addition to the quantifiable, like increased profitability and tax savings, there is also a value you might be adding to your clients’ lives that is simply not quantifiable, like:
- sleeping better,
- peace of mind,
- finally understanding their financials,
- trusting that they are getting the right information from their accountant,
- being more at ease in their business.
Not quantifiable, but have enormous value.
So if you ever have a sneaking suspicion you are not getting compensated for the value you contribute to creating, take yourself through this exercise. All you have to do is list out your top clients and rough in the outcomes and results that they have gotten since they started working with you.
Get it down on paper or in a spreadsheet and give yourself credit where it's due so that you can see the part you play in contributing to the growth of your client's businesses. By gathering this kind of evidence, it can be an enormous help in growing your confidence around raising your prices.
When you quantify the results you help your clients get, it helps you see more clearly the value you provide. It helps you stop diminishing your role, and it helps you own your talent. When those things happen, your confidence increases. And when your confidence increases, you can raise your rates. When you raise your rates, you can earn more while working less.
So I would love to know what kinds of big results have you helped your clients get over the last few years? If money is not your motive, maybe it's time. I want to hear the success you are helping create in the world.
Upcoming training:
PLAYING SUPERHERO
Stop being all things to all people: How to narrow your niche the easy way
Thursday, September 24, 12pm ET
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
It’s just too easy to assume that your clients want only what they come to you for, and then, simply, serve them up the usual menu of accounting and tax.
The problem is that your best clients likely want so much more than accounting and tax. Chances are good they are asking you for more but the questions aren’t getting through to you, because they lack the language to articulate it, or because you’re buried under a pile of compliance and back-office accounting
When you’re in the hole and you want to get out, it makes sense to dig if the tool you have is a shovel. But what you need is a ladder.
And the ladder comes in the form of client interviews.
Client interviews are a key step on the path out of accounting rut. Client interviews are the differentiator that you need, to put your accounting practice on the trajectory of working less, without sacrificing income.
When you ask your clients what they want and then you turn right around and give it to them - it’s one of the most powerful things you can do to transform the quality of the service you provide.
Here are some Don’ts and Do’s when it comes to interviewing your clients:
DON’T follow guidance in Accounting Today that cites: 5 tips that are WAY TOO GENERIC LIKE
- Being a trusted advisor;
- Responding quickly;
- Understanding the client’s business or industry;
- Being affordable; and
- Communicating clearly with non-accountants.
That’s all helpful, but it’s also way (waaaaay) too generic.
When my clients interview their clients, what comes out of it are insights wanting very specific things, like:
- data mining
- tax planning in August rather than November for more time for large purchases when prices are lower
- margins on specific projects
- Estimated vs Actual
- increased clarity on crop yield
- getting ecommerce data to match
- insight on cash available for Facebook ad-spends
Here are the dos:
Tip/ how to solve:
- Don’t ask them what you are doing right or wrong. You’re not looking for feedback on your service. Instead frame the conversation around wanting to serve them better.
- Ask what they like about other service-based businesses. This will give you insight into what’s important to them when it comes to service-based businesses like your own.
- Ask about the challenges in their business, and if they could solve the problem, what would that give them?
- Ask them if they had time to make their business more profitable, what would they do?
These questions will help you understand the problems they have, solutions they are looking for, and the kind of service they want to get. AND THAT could be gold for you.
When you know exactly what your client wants - because you have heard it directly from them, you
- know exactly what to give them
- start giving them what they want
- your life gets easier, and you can stop guessing
- stop giving them things they don’t care about or are less important to them
- start giving them huge value
- and you now have a secret weapon that will not only keep your clients coming back to you, but will also have your clients sending you other clients with the same problems.
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Anjali Jariwala, CPA and CFP®, is the founder of FIT Advisors — a financial planning firm serving physicians and business owners virtually across the US. She utilizes her expertise in tax and finance to empower her clients to discover and reach their life goals while building a stable financial future.
Anjali hosts Money Checkup podcast - a semi-monthly checkup that discusses the many facets of financial well-being.
When Anjali started her practice 5 years ago, baked right into the plan was how to build a highly profitable business while working only 30 hours a week, so that she can spend time with her young daughter.
I wanted YOU to be able to hear exactly what Anjali has figured in order to work less and make more, so that you can see that it’s real, and do the same in your accounting practice.
What stood out to me in this episode was the level of intentionality with which she designed and built her practice to align with her values. And that by choosing to stay small, she could cap the number of clients she takes, be selective, charge a premium for limited seats for a specific service, and provide value that most people cannot.
All of that was intentional. She set out to do it that way, and it works.
Previous episodes mentioned:
91 Is Your Accounting Niche Niche-y Enough?
86 Secrets of Shifting to vCFO Services
Connect with Anjali:
Website: www.fitadvisors.com
Podcast: Money Checkup Podcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anjalifit/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnjaliFIT
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anjalijayakumar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FITadvisors
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com
Today we're talking about how creating your own signature framework can be a gamechanger in your accounting practice.
A framework is your process or methodology, your approach of how you work with your clients. It's the process you walk your clients through to get the consistent, impressive results you help them get.
A framework helps both you and your clients know how to think about things.
Most CPAs I work with have a framework. They just don't realize it. What they tend to do is give away all kinds of advice and guidance for free, and then they get upset when their client does nothing with it.
So how do you come up with your own framework?
Imagine one of your clients who you know is leaking money.
Imagine being able to have your way with that person's business:
- What would you do?
- Where would you go to look for and find money?
- What would you change about their business, their structure, or the way it's run?
- What are the opportunities for profit that are being left all over the table?
- What would you do that's different from others in your field?
When you can list out answers to those questions, you have the beginnings of a framework.
Just like a framework helps me help my clients, you having a framework helps your clients understand what order to do things in. It increases their clarity and it reduces their overwhelm. Not only will it increase clarity for them and reduce overwhelm for them, it will do the same for you.
Most importantly, it will improve your ability to create consistent, amazing results for your clients. When you help your clients get better results, you can raise your prices. And when you can raise your prices, you can work less. –
Previous episodes mentioned:
91 Is Your Accounting Niche Niche-y Enough?
54 How Narrowing Your Niche Can Help You Grow Faster
Upcoming training:
Stop Underpricing: It Does A Disservice To Your Clients
August 21st at 12pm Eastern
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
What’s on your summer reading list?
Now that the July 15th deadline is behind us, hopefully you have a bit more discretionary time to read the latest releases on finances. Now, I don't need to tell you why to read books, but I will anyways: because you want to work smarter. You want to set yourself apart and you want to find forward-thinking ways of adding high value to your clients so that you can start working less and earning more.
In my reading, I learned that double-entry accounting dates from 14th-century Italy. Who knew. And that’s really cool, but here’s the thing - your clients don’t give a hoot about double-entry accounting. What they care about is how you can help them grow their earnings while protecting more of what they make.
And YOU learning more about double-entry accounting won’t help you get them there. But HERE are 5 books that will:
- Subscribed by Tien Tzuo
Read Subscribed if you want your mind expanded - it’s full of forward-thinking ways you need to be accounting for clients with subscription revenue.
- Fix This Next by Mike Michalowicz
Read Fix This Next if you want to add value to your practice by helping your clients know what they need to fix next in their business. Plus, it provides a simple framework to apply again and again.
- How Finance Works by Mihir Desai
Read How Finance Works if you're wanting to get into more vCFO - type work, and if you need to bone up on finance terms and concepts.
- Million Dollar Consulting Proposals by Alan Weiss
Read Million Dollar Consulting Proposals if you want to get more yesses on high-value proposals. Creating great proposals is a key to a high-margin practice.
- The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss
Read The 4-Hour Workweek if you want to live a rich life while working less.
If you enjoyed one of these books, please comment or shoot me an email! Happy summer reading outside the accountant box!
Episodes mentioned:
081 Time To Rethink Your Pricing Strategy? with Ron Baker, Founder of Verasage Institute
032 On A Mission To Transform Healthcare, with Lesley Von Eschen, PA-C And Carol Bridges, MD, co-CEOs of Costcare
088 The Case of The $475k Proposal: Did They Accept?
Upcoming training:
Stop Underpricing: It Does A Disservice To Your Clients
August 21st at 12pm Eastern
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today’s guest is Hugh Duffy, CEO and Co-Founder of Build Your Firm (BYF), Inc.
Hugh is the leading marketing coach for accountants and takes pride in the impact that it has on their practice, and lives. With more than thirty years of marketing experience, Hugh has been teaching accountants how to improve their marketing so they can make more money in their accounting practice.
I wanted to have Hugh on so that you can better understand the role marketing can and should be playing in your business, so that:
- you can get better leads for your business, and get the most from your marketing dollars.
- your marketing time, dollars, and energy bring the right number of high quality leads into your business.
What stood out to me in this episode was just how much Hugh is on the same page about choosing a vertical or niche to become an expert in - and the impact it has to quality leads being able to find you, and you being able to command and defend much higher rates.
If you want to know if your niche is niche-y enough, go back and listen to episode, #91.
Figuring out your niche so that you can make your marketing more effective and command higher rates is one of the hardest parts of shifting your business from traditional accounting to highly paid advisor.
It’s a process I move almost every single one of my clients through - even the ones who thought they were sufficiently niched.
If you know your business’s growth is being held back because you can’t figure out your niche, I CAN HELP YOU find it.
Past Episode Mentioned:
091 Is Your Accounting Niche Niche-y Enough?
Connect with Hugh:
Website: https://www.buildyourfirm.com/
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
In this episode, you get a different way of thinking about the proposal and it's called a choice of yeses.
A yes or no choice pits you and your buyer against each other. But when you give your prospect options, you change the very nature of the conversation:
- You set your clients up to answer an entirely different question: What's the best way for me to work with this person? Now they're viewing your relationship as a partnership, a collaboration whereby you are offering them options to best help them solve their problems.
- Your conversion rate goes up. The value you provide goes up and your margins go up.
If you're a traditional accountant, prospects often come to you for transactional services. It's what they think they need. But when you take the time to listen more deeply to your prospect's challenges, you might hear that there are other pain points you may be able to help them with and new ways that you can add significant value.
Here are six guidelines for you to follow when creating your proposals:
- Start with your bread and butter service.
- Spread out other ways you can solve numbers and money based problems for your clients.
- keep a healthy spread between your prices.
- If your buyer wants vCFO, but can only afford controller: If they want the price reduced, they need to take out value.
- Keep it simple. Don't make this rocket science and definitely don't make it accounting-y.
- Make clear the value to your client because ultimately that is what matters in the buying decision.
When you offer a choice of yeses, it makes the conversation about the prospect and them getting their problem solved.
By providing value that your clients seek, that is how you can start working less and making more.
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Register for Free Livestream for CPAs: How to Become A High-Priced Advisor
http://shethinksbigcoaching.com/livestream
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
If COVID has taken your accounting practice on a long, unexpected detour, it's time to pause and ask yourself where you are relative to your goals.
And given where you are, what is the best path to get you to your goals?
You might tell yourself that you don't have the time. But the truth is that if you don't take the time now it'll cost you far more time and far more energy in the long run to get to wherever it is you want to go.
Now's the time to pick your head up: if you don't pick it up now you might stay on your trajectory and finish the year way off course. Or, if you do pick your head up, but you take a little while to do it, the longer it takes to recover and the more energy it takes to get back on track.
So how do you do this? The first thing to do is to look at your calendar. And before the end of July, or if you're listening asynchronously, before the end of the month, block half a day where you can check in with your business and assess it.
Ask yourself:
- What is my income year-to-date relative to where I thought it would be?
- What percent of my clients does it take to create 80% of my income?
- What actions am I not taking to grow my accounting practice?
- What's holding your current system in place?
- What would it look like if my business were easy?
- If I knew I couldn't screw up, or if my decisions wouldn't upset anyone, what would I do?
When you take a moment to pick your head up, to see where you are, you suddenly see where you need to be heading. Pausing your work for a day to ask yourself these questions is how you get yourself on the path to working less while making more.
Download this PDF for more questions to assess your accounting practice:
PDF 094 - Questions to assess your accounting practice
Previous episode mentioned:
044: CEO DAY: Why you need to pick your head up in your business
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Register for Free Livestream for CPAs: How to Become A High-Priced Advisor
http://shethinksbigcoaching.com/livestream
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Business owners across the country are wondering, more like, dying to know, what the impacts of COVID might be to their business, their revenue, and their cash flow.
They want to know the best case, worst case and likely case scenarios. And they want to know the UH-OH case of how long do I have before I run out of cash. By providing simple scenarios, you can help your business-owning clients, make wiser decisions sooner.
As a CPA, you can run scenarios and be clear about the variables you use and be frank about the assumptions you've made and see what results each scenario spits out. Doing this for your clients now can be the difference between them weathering the COVID storm with some bruises or their ship totally sinking.
Even if you can't tell them exactly how things will play out, showing them what happens in these different scenarios gives them a greater sense of control over their future.
And when you provide your clients with a greater sense of control and an ability to make better informed decisions, now the value you add as a CPA goes way up.
But it’s YOUR accounting practice that has the most to gain. When you add more value, it allows you to:
- command much higher fees
- let go of low-margin compliance work
- free up time for higher impact work.
Start by picking one client for whom you could easily run scenarios. Walk them through your thinking and be sure to include the variables they know to be important.
Start there and you will be well on your way to offering this service more broadly to you best clients and transforming your CPA firm.
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Register for Free Livestream for CPAs: How to Become A High-Priced Advisor
http://shethinksbigcoaching.com/livestream
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today’s guest is Germeen Guillaume (GEE-YOME), Founder of Visionary Accounting Group.
Germeen founded Visionary Accounting Group in 2015 and has been helping nonprofits leverage technology as a means to gain deeper financial insight and real time data.
To date, Germeen has led the Company in recouping over $2.8M in receivables, through workflow automation and accounting system conversions.
I wanted to have Germeen on to better understand the experience that people of color have when it comes to being an accountant and business owner, so that you can be on the lookout for opportunities to level the playing field.
What stood out to me long before I recorded this episode is just how much leadership in the accounting space is predominantly white and mostly male.
And as a woman, frankly, I’m not down with that.
What this conversation helped me see is how pervasive and systemic biases and prejudices are in accounting, banking, and funding , and how much work there is to be done. It’s shifted how I view my role as someone who values a level playing field.
Rather than a call to action that supports my business, which is what I would usually put here, instead I pass along Germeen’s request:
- Speak up when you see bias, prejudice, or racism in play
- Take the time to educate yourself about challenges that people of color uniquely face
- And if you’re in the VC space, consider who you’re funding
- Start with your inner circle - the people with whom you have contact on the regular.
Connect with Germeen:
Website: https://www.visionaryag.com/
Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today, we're talking about how niching can bring you one step closer to earning more while working less.
Having a clear niche as a CPA is the single biggest thing you can do to get you off the hamster wheel of working like crazy, and makes it easy for great clients to find you because you're a go-to expert in their field.
When you go through the process of making your niche niche-y enough, your business will become more simple for you to run.
You'll deliver more value, more easily, and in less time. And you'll become known as a go to person to be serving that type of client. And then once all that happens and given some time, then you can take things to the next level where many more opportunities that you may not be able to see right now, including additional revenue streams will begin to appear.
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today’s guest is Adam Hale, Co-Founder and COO of Summit CPA Group.
Summit CPA Group is the leading provider of Virtual CFO Services in North America.
Summit CPA offers virtual CFO, Controller, and transaction-level services remotely and at scale. And Adam works with his team to deliver the best possible vCFO services to their clients.
I wanted to have Adam on to dig into the art and science of pricing and delivery of these services, so that you can learn his hard-earned secrets so you serve your clients better and at a higher level.
What stood out to me in this episode was the idea that they decidedly want clients in Controller and vCFO, and don’t want clients at the transaction level.
After all, transaction is labor and time-intensive, while excellent guidance can happen in a short amount of time and add far more value to the client.
Listeners, if you want help building Controller and vCFO level services to your practice but haven’t been able to figure out how on your own, so that you can get your practice to the next level, from 150 clients down to 15, with $60K or $100K annual engagements, I can help you make that transformation.
Put 15 minutes on my calendar - just go to shethinksbigcoaching.com and click on the big fat red Schedule Time with Me button.
Connect with Adam:
Website: https://www.summitcpa.net/
Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Schedule time with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today’s guest is Annette Bevers, a solo CPA based in northern California.
I wanted to have Annette on because she has many of the classic challenges that CPAs face when they say yes to most types of work that arrive at their door.
She has a mish-mash of clients, whose needs vary, which makes it hard to have consistent processes, which means work takes up a lot of time, leaving little to think about growing strategically. She’s bogged down in work and not using her full potential.
What stood out to me in this episode is just how easy it is to stay caught in the tangle of questions you ask yourself when trying to break free of the traditional model.
Fortunately, the path out is straight-forward, and it works. Interviewing top clients, shedding 20% of your client base and committing to using that time to grow, and raising your prices are 3 key pieces.
But it’s hard to walk through this fog alone.
If you want to know what the simple steps are to grow your business, go grab a copy of my e-book, where I walk you through the 6 steps.
Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Connect with Annette:
Website: https://beverscpa.com/
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
I have a story for you today about what is possible in your business.
So often the thing I hear from my clients is that one of the reasons they wanted help working together was that they knew that bigger was possible in their businesses. But they didn't necessarily know how to get there. They knew that other CPAs were making this transition from billing by the hour to shifting into delivering high value. They knew that others were doing it, but they didn't really know that they themselves could do it.
In telling this story I want you to know what is possible and what is potentially not that far away from you with some key changes in your business and that without any shenanigans, you can be earning two or three or four times what you're currently making right now.
By getting away from hourly billing, if you haven't already, by deeply understanding what your prospects and clients really want and what is worth to them, and putting together powerful proposals where you serve your clients at a high level in this way with far less effort than some of the compliance and or accounting or transactional work than you may be doing right now.
Schedule time with Geraldine:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today’s guest is Amy Vetter. Amy is the CEO of the B3 Method® Institute, a keynote speaker, corporate board member, author, and contributor to Inc.com and Entrepreneur.com. Amy authored the book: Business, Balance & Bliss: How the B3 Method Can Transform Your Career and Life. She is the host of the Breaking Beliefs Podcast.
I wanted to have Amy on to talk about how to manage yourself and your time in your business and in your life so that you find better balance.
My take-aways on the notifications and self-discipline is that no one can do it for you.
Just like no one can eat for you, and no one can sleep for you, NO ONE can turn off your notifications for you and no one is going to focus for you.
The other turn of phrase I appreciated was Handle Your Relationships with Care. I do see my own clients getting stuck here, especially as updating your business model often requires finding new accountants for your current clients. If you position it in your mind as doing this with grace, kindness, and care, it can make the process easier to take.
I also want to add my own take on the phrase “I don’t want to disappoint people.” You may have noticed that this phrase got called a feeling, and I want to clarify that this is in fact a thought and not a feeling.
This clarification is important because, in the vernacular, we say that feelings are true and real, and that’s right. However, “I don’t want to disappoint people” is a thought, and shouldn’t be taken as true because it’s accidentally believed to be a feeling when it’s not.
The other piece of this is people will say, “You can’t please everyone” to which I say, “You can’t please anyone, it’s not in your power.” And if you have done something before and another person has been happy, remember that correlation does not imply causation.
Connect with Amy:
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyvettercpa/
Instagram www.instagram.com/amyvettercpa
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AmyVetterCPA/
Twitter https://twitter.com/AmyVetterCPA
Schedule time with me:
https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Download the ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
My guest today is Jody Grunden, Co-Founder and CEO of Summit CPA Group, the leading provider of Virtual CFO Services in North America.
Jody is passionate about changing the way people think about accounting.
As the author of Digital Dollars and Cents, Jody literally wrote the book on helping digital companies create a financial roadmap to success.
Summit CPA offers virtual CFO, Controller, and transaction-level services remotely and at scale.
I wanted to have Jody on to talk about everything that he has learned in nearly 20 years of growing this business.
There were many gems including the simple but important reminder: “Your clients are hiring you to help them get to the next level.”
It’s your job to help build the financial roadmap that gets them there.
The rest is just deliverables. What your client wants is transformation.
If you want help getting your practice to the next level, getting from 150 clients down to 15, with $60 or $100K annual engagements, I can help you make that transformation.
Put 15 minutes on my calendar - just go to shethinksbigcoaching.com and click on the big fat red Schedule Time with Me button. You’d be surprised how much ground we can cover in that time, so I hope you will take me up on the offer.
Connect with Jody:
Website: https://www.summitcpa.net/
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jodygrunden
Twitter: @jgrunden and @SummitCPAGroup
Schedule Time with Me: https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today’s guest is Claire Stewart, the Founder of Cartmill Stewart.
Claire and her partner have totally dialed in their systems to run an efficient practice, including having gone paperless.
Systems and workflows are a common pain point for accounting practice owners so I wanted to dig in.
The highlights were:
- Creating issues that didn’t need to be there. And that sometimes clients who “behave badly” do so because they were set up that way.
So they make themselves go back to the drawing board and make systems better from the client’s point of view.
This tied in nicely with: Look at businesses that do customer service really well and see what elements you can replicate.
- Fix one thing at a time. If there’s too much, you won’t do anything. So many accountants complain of feeling like they are chasing their tail when it comes to making improvements, and it’s because they are either trying to do too many things at once, or fixing things out of order. And yes, there is a RIGHT order to fix things in.
Software mentioned:
GoProposal https://goproposal.com/
Senta https://www.senta.co/
Connect with Claire:
Email claire@cartmillstewart.co.uk
Website https://www.cartmillstewart.co.uk/
LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/in/clairestewartfca/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/clairestewartfca/
Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today’s guest is Carol Cox. Carol is the founder of Speaking Your Brand®, a coaching and training company that helps women entrepreneurs and leaders around the world create their signature talks, whether it’s for a keynote, TED talk, conference session or business presentation, and position themselves to get better (and paid) speaking engagements.
Carol is host of the weekly Speaking Your Brand® podcast and during election seasons serves as a Democratic political analyst on TV news in Orlando, Florida.
With an extensive background in business, tech, politics, media, and history, Carol’s mission is to help women develop their content and confidence, to raise their voices and visibility, to challenge the status quo and change existing systems.
Carol and I have known each other for 3 years, and I have worked with her in a variety of capacities over that time. She even gets credit for helping me coin the name, She Thinks Big Coaching.
Carol is here to help us understand what is keeping women from getting in front of the microphone.
Here are my top takeaways:
#1. Get over perfectionism. You have to start where you are, you will get better as you go, and there is no such thing as perfect, so stop chasing it.
#2. You’re doing your audience a disservice if you don’t share your expertise and tell people how they can work with you.
Remember that milllllions of Americans and business owners have challenges with their money and need guidance.
Speaking Your Brand Challenge: Choosing Women’s Voices
https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/challenge/
Speaking Your Brand Podcast episodes mentioned:
Creating a Business for Change with Geraldine Carter
https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/podcast-36-business-growth-geraldine-carter/
Thinking Bigger – I Get Coached On-Air by Geraldine Carter
https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/thinking-bigger-getting-coached-by-geraldine-carter/
Connect with Carol:
Website: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/
Podcast: https://www.speakingyourbrand.com/podcast/
Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Mike mi-KAL-o-wits is the author of Profit First, Clockwork, Surge, The Pumpkin Plan, and his newest release Fix This Next.
By his 35th birthday, Mike had founded and sold two companies - one to private equity and another to a Fortune 500. Today he is running his third multi-million dollar venture, Profit First Professionals.
Mike is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal and the former business makeover specialist on MSNBC. Over the years, Mike has traveled the globe speaking with thousands of entrepreneurs, and is here today to share the best of what he has learned.
Being a certified Pumpkin Plan Strategist is incredibly useful to my clients, so when he offered the opportunity to become a certified Fix This Next Advisor, I jumped at the chance.
I wanted to have him on the show today to talk about his new book, Fix This Next, so that you could find it useful to know what to fix next in your accounting practice.
Mike is so brilliant at taking the challenges of running a business, and turning them into simple tools we can use to grow.
If you want to take the Fix This Next assessment, head on over to shethinksbig.fixthisnext.com where you can go through the 25-question assessment that will help you isolate your most important problem to fix next.
If you want a quick review of your results, put 15 minutes on my calendar. Go to shethinksbigcoaching.com and click on Schedule Time with Me.
You’ll walk away with a clear understanding of what to fix next, and what can wait, so you can start working on the right thing in the right way, at the right time. Get out of the swirl, and get yourself on a linear path to growth.
Take the assessment:
https://shethinksbig.fixthisnext.com/
Book:
Fix This Next https://fixthisnext.com/
Connect with Mike:
Website: http://www.mikemichalowicz.com/
Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/MikeMichalowiczFanPage/
Twitter https://twitter.com/MikeMichalowicz
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mikemichalowicz/
Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today’s guest is Erica Goode, a Certified Public Accountant with 12+ years of experience in Big 4 public accounting, Fortune 50 finance, and small business accounting. She has a passion for creating cashflow forecasts and long-range plans that enable small business owners to think more strategically given solid financials.
I wanted to have Erica on the podcast to do an on-air coaching call because I know that she struggles with a lot of the same struggles as so many other listeners.
Today we're going to talk about low value and high value work, and where fulfillment fits in.
The story that Erica told about not having anybody to look to, that there are no role models around her, and the idea that her boss said to her, “You need to be the one to light the way for the others behind you” really struck a chord for me.
Many of you, many of us have very few, if any, people to look to for how to do it. We don't see women who look like us who have done it before us. There have been though, women who have been lighting the path in their own way before us. And I hope this conversation helps you build your own path and light the way for the younger woman who follows behind you.
Connect with Erica:
Email: Erica.A.Goode@gmail.com
Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Apply for on-air coaching call : https://geraldinecarter.typeform.com/to/Ygoz2w
Schedule time with me : https://calendly.com/geraldinecarter/15min
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today’s guest is Ron Baker. Ron is the founder of VeraSage Institute—the leading think tank dedicated to educating professionals internationally. He is the author of seven best-selling books, including Professional’s Guide to Value Pricing and his latest book The Soul of Enterprise: Dialogues on Business in the Knowledge Economy, co-authored with Ed Kless.
Ron is also the host of the show The Soul of Enterprise: Business in the Knowledge Economy, which you can find both as a podcast and on VoiceAmerica.com.
As a leading thinker in value-pricing, I wanted you to hear from Ron on his latest thinking around your business model when it comes to pricing.
Ron and I talk about subscription and value-based pricing, and dig into a few ways that this is playing out in accounting practices and how they can learn from this conversation and start to knock down some of the hurdles that are in their way when it comes to implementing and shifting to value-based pricing if they haven't already, and how subscription-based pricing might benefit their businesses as well.
Here are my top 3 take-aways:
#1. 3x-5x your price and cut 80% of your clients.
Yes. And I realize you have relationships with your clients that you will want to handle well. This is not easy work, but this is a Much More Sane model for your business.
#2. You cannot be all things to all people.
I know you want to help. You will be more helpful, when you are better help to fewer clients.
#3. This scares the hell out of people.
YES these are big changes to your business model! Of COURSE it’s intimidating!
If you want someone to guide and support you through these changes, I am here to support you.
Remember that you can join my Strategic Action Group Coaching Program, which starts April 21st and is a VERITABLE STEAL at $300/mo for 4 months.
Head on over to shethinksbigcoaching.com and click on the Work With Me tab to find out more.
Book mentioned:
Subscribed: Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company's Future - and What to Do About It, by Tien Tzuo
https://www.amazon.com/Subscribed-Subscription-Model-Companys-Future/dp/0525536469
Connect with Ron:
E-mail: Ron@verasage.com
Website/Blog: www.verasage.com
Podcast: www.thesoulofenterprise.com
Twitter: @ronaldbaker http://twitter.com/ronaldbaker
Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
I’m kicking off a new series of episodes, Lies of the Accounting Industry.
What I want to do in this series of episodes is bring up these mindset challenges, pieces of dogma, myths and so on, that I think are problematic and that have infiltrated the industry and the thinking.
So let's start with number one, charge what you are worth.
The MAIN problem:
- Your prices are (almost entirely) not about you
- Your prices are about the buyer
- Your prices are about the value you help the buyer create when working together
Instead, ask these questions to establish and increase value:
- What are your objectives with this project?
- Why use outside help, vs doing it internally?
- Why now? - Why change accountants now? Why are cashflow forecasts important now, relative to a year ago when you did not have them?
- Why me?
If you would like help beginning the transition to value-based fees, reach out! Book a 15-minute session with me.
Just like you’re helping your clients, I am here to serve and support you.
Connect with me through my website, http://shethinksbigcoaching.com and click the CONTACT tab or SCHEDULE TIME WITH ME button to get started.
Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today’s guest is Heather Zeitzwolfe, a CPA certified with the State of Oregon’s Board of Accountancy and a member of the AICPA.
Heather was excited for the opportunity to do an on air coaching call to come on the podcast and talk about some of the challenges she faces in her business, and to look for direction and clarity around how best to grow.
Here are Heather’s key takeaways:
- No more working for free!
- It’s possible to help people with limited means, but in smaller doses
- Positioning rates and people who purchase them helps them and isn’t sleazy, in facts it’s helpful and what they want
Connect with Heather:
Website: https://zeitzwolfeaccounting.com/
Apply for on-air coaching: https://geraldinecarter.typeform.com/to/Ygoz2w
Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
Today’s guest is David Cristello, Founder & CEO of Jetpack Workflow, which empowers thousands of accounting firm owners to build a better firm through managing all their client work in a single, easy to use application.
He's also the host of the "Growing Your Firm" podcast, an interview series that highlights best practices and trends in team management, metrics, M&A, marketing and more. David is also the co-author of the best selling book "Double Your Accounting Firm". His work has been featured in Forbes, AccountingToday, and AccountingWeb.
I put a question out to my audience last week about - without downplaying the seriousness of this crisis - what are the gifts to you in this time.
And without a doubt, the single biggest gift people mentioned was time.
More time with family + kiddos,
More time to take a step back and reevaluate priorities
Take care of projects around the house
Take care of projects in your business.
So I thought now would be a good time to share this episode with David Cristello, and talk about how to design better workflows in your business.
Designing better workflows can help you
- Save time and reduce redundancy
- Create a better quality product
- More consistent product - when everyone in the office does it the same way
- Scale more easily
- Be more profitable.
These are my key takeaways from our conversation:
- Document all versions of the existing process as it currently exists, by all people
- What can we remove
- What needs editing or updating
- What needs adding
Remember:
- That designing workflows is not one-and-done. You can revisit and improve workflows over time.
- To keep it simple, and
- To include your client’s experience in the process.
Software:
https://jetpackworkflow.com/
Podcast:
Jetpack Workflow Blog: Strategies for Growing Your Firm
https://jetpackworkflow.com/blog/
Book:
Double Your Accounting FIrm: Lessons Learned on How Top Firms Grow Faster, Build Stronger Teams, and Increase Profit
https://www.amazon.com/Double-Your-Accounting-FIrm-Stronger/dp/1521814139/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Download ebook “6 Simple Steps to Double Your Revenue”
https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue
Work with Geraldine:
Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/
1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/
VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/
