THRIVEal Podcasts: Recent Episodes
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THRIVEal is a place where CPAs build Community, Collaborate, focus on Technology and Innovate for the future of the CPA industry. The THRIVEcast, the monthly podcast from the Network, is Jason and Greg's dysfunctional journey through the changes taking place in the public accounting space. Journey with them and their warped humor to a place of greater business enlightenment in your business and in your freakin' life!
Change is coming… (dang it!)
Joe Erwin is the founder of Erwin Penland (now EP+Co), a massive advertising agency located in Greenville, SC. He's also the owner of the Greenville Triumph, a professional soccer team, and now leads Erwin Creates, a creative agency located in the Endeavor coworking space. Though his expertise is in a different field, Joe and Jason discuss the intricacies of managing teams in a service-based industry, including the importance of hiring and some basics for successful leadership.
Greg Lafollette is a prominent consultant, speaker, and overall accounting expert, specifically in the field of technology integration to further the profession. Greg and Jason talk about how technology has led the accounting world to what it is today and what it may become tomorrow. Insights for your firm's future await!
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Join Jason and Greg in studio for a very special episode of the Thrivecast. This month marks a monumental moment for us: we’ve hit our ten year anniversary, which means you, dear listener, have heard 120 episodes of our podcast so far. And as we enter a new decade, we have some very big news. Tune in to hear what it is—and find out what exciting changes are coming in the future!
In Episode 120, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte interview coach Amber Setter on the show (but Greg missed the interview part 🤨). Amber focuses on helping her coaching clients become more self-aware in their work with their clients (and themselves!). Amber believes performance begins with consciousness. Jason and Greg discuss coaching, what it is with some real life examples from Jason. Jason's interview with Amber gets deep as she discusses how to be an adult. There are stages to adulthood (who knew?), and Jason and Greg seek to tackle these same stages, before the interview with Amber.
In Episode 119, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte welcome back Randy Greiser to the show! Randy and his team, Nathan Gerbrandt and Vicki Enns, have just released a new book called "A Little Book About Trauma-Informed Workplaces." It should be safe to say that we have all experienced some level of trauma in our lives, especially since the start the pandemic in 2020. Randy, Jason and Greg have a great discussion on how to handle workplace situations using a trauma-informed mindset.
Thank you to our sponsor Bill.com for supporting the Thrivecast! Learn more about them by visiting Bill.com
In Episode 118, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte welcome Eric Majchrzak to the show. Succession planning feels heavy and something we think we will have time to do later. However, it is never too early to start and takes a lot of strategy to think through. Eric is currently working through a succession plan at his firm BeachFleischman and shares advice based on his journey.
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the Thrivecast! Learn more about them by visiting Intuit and Bill.com
In Episode 117, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte discuss the topic of core values. This might seem like an unnecessary practice, but if you don't establish your firm values intentionally they will form unintentionally. Ethan King shares his story about how core values turned his business around and what you can do in your firm to define your core values.
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the Thrivecast! Learn more about them by visiting Intuit, Bill.com and Dext
In Episode 116, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte welcome Brad Stevens to the Thrivecast. Even though most of us have been operating virtually for years, this episode discusses the ways to track performance and improve the overall virtual experience for team and clients. Brad Stevens is an expert in virtual teams and shares his tool kit for firm owners to utilize.
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the Thrivecast! Learn more about them by visiting Intuit, Bill.com and Dext
In Episode 115, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte welcome Joe Koufman to the Thrivecast. Joe is a marketing matchmaker and expert in the subject of business development. Jason, Greg and Joe get into the gritty details about what business development actual means and why it is important to continue improving upon in your firm. This is a great goal to establish in the new year!
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the Thrivecast! Learn more about them by visiting Intuit, Bill.com and Receipt Bank
In Episode 114, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte host the annual secret stash episode. All year we have asked our guests the same question: what is one mistake that you made, but learned the most from? Thank you Carl Peterson, Ryan Lazanis, Morra Aarons-Mele, Eric Killian, Fridrik Larsen, Rob Moore, Marcus Sheridan, Donny Shimamoto, Amy Franko and Marc Champagne!
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the Thrivecast! Learn more about them by visiting Intuit, Bill.com and Receipt Bank
In Episode 113, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte welcome mental fitness expert Marc Champagne onto the Thrivecast. Entrepreneurship is challenging on your mental capacity and it so important to set up strategies to combat mental fatigue. Marc provides great insights on the best way to strengthen your mental health and easy methods to start implementing today!
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the Thrivecast! Learn more about them by visiting Intuit, Bill.com and Receipt Bank
In Episode 112, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte welcome Amy Franko to the Thrivecast. Amy Franko is sales expert and author of The Modern Seller. Amy guides Jason and Greg on where to start if you feel like you are stuck moving forward with your client list. Amy also shares her tips with keeping your firm agile during times where pivoting is a must.
In Episode 111, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte welcome Donny Shimamoto to the Thrivecast! They discuss the strategies that can help business owners maintain success during a crisis. Firm owners can use these approaches in their own firm or to advise clients on solutions to keep their businesses successful.
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the Thrivecast! Learn more about them by visiting Intuit, Bill.com and Receipt Bank
In Episode 110, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte host the annual Summertime Book Club episode and share the books they have been reading lately. Jason Blumer shares his thoughts on Stewardship: Choosing Service over Self-Interest by Peter Block and The Passion Economy by Adam Davidson. Greg Kyte presents So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport and The 1% Windfall by Rafi Mohammed.
In Episode 109, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte are excited to welcome Marcus Sheridan to the Thrivecast. If you are ready to refresh your firm's marketing strategies, then be sure to have a way to take notes when listening to this episode. Marcus shares a bundle of new philosophies that will fill up your creative pool! You will be "swimming" with ideas.
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the Thrivecast! Learn more about them by visiting Intuit, Bill.com and Receipt Bank
In Episode 108, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte welcome Rob Moore, money and investing expert, onto the Thrivecast. Ironically, the topic of money is generally a taboo topic for accountants. However, Rob has some great advice for anyone who has money fears and what you can do today, even during the current economic crisis.
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the Thrivecast! Learn more about them by visiting Intuit, Bill.com and Receipt Bank
In Episode 107, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte host Dr. Fridrik Larsen of LarsEn Energy Branding. We never really think of ourselves as a commodity service, however, during the current COVID-19 crisis accountants are a vital service provider to small business owners. Dr. Fridrik Larsen helps us define a commodity brand and how accountants can implement this even in our current global situation.
In Episode 106, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte welcome Thriveal member Eric Killian to the Thrivecast. Being a part of a community during a turbulent time, like we are all currently facing, can provide a great deal of support. It is human nature to exist on connection with others and we need that now more than ever. Jason, Greg and Eric discuss the importance of a virtual community, like Thriveal, and how you can benefit the most from finding your community.
In Episode 105, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte talk about anxiety. As we all deal with anxiety at one point or another, Jason and Greg talk through a few techniques outlined in an article by Morra Aarons-Mele to help manage your anxiety at work. Jason and Greg were then honored to welcome Morra to the show. Morra has extensive knowledge with anxiety and discusses her thoughts on how employers can create healthy working environments for all team members.
In Episode 104, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte talk about all things virtual! Sorry to disappoint you, but working for a virtual firm doesn't mean you get to sit in your jammies and play video games all day. Jason and Greg talk through several tips to help transition your firm virtually and then welcome Ryan Lazanis to the show. Ryan shares how he started his virtual firm and some of the many tools he uses to maintain virtual firm structure.
In Episode 103, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte talk about value - pricing, becoming a virtual firm, and creating a narrow focus in your firm. These are all topics that Carl Peterson is helping to educate AICPA members about. As an owner of a small accounting firm before becoming a VP at the AICPA, Carl has first hand knowledge about what it takes to run and grow a firm.
In Episode 102, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte reminisce about all the guests they talked to during 2019. This is their favorite episode of the year because we are sharing bonus content from all of our guests throughout the year including: John Warrilow, Chris Hooper, Paul Dunn, Jon Lokhorst, Ron Carucci, Jon DeFriese, Peter Block, Greg Crabtree, Bill Hubly and Randy Grieser.
In Episode 101, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte have a debate on whether you are born a leader or taught to be a leader. Randy Grieser joins in to set Jason and Greg straight and discusses the key strengths to being a leader in your firm.
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the Thrivecast! Learn more about them by visiting Intuit and Bill.com.
Celebrating our 100th Episode, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte talk about all the fun they have had over the years making the Thrivecast, but they also discuss the effects of change and transition that occur in our lives. When you walk through the woods, do you take the clear path that was made by others before you or do your make you own path? Jason and Greg then welcome Bill Hubly to the show. Bill Hubly coaches other businesses that are going through transitions and provides some helpful insights that will help us all when faced with our next transition.
Thank you to all of our listeners and here's to another 100 episodes!
In Episode 99, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte talk about how powerful Greg Crabtree's tools, for determining the strength of your business through numbers, are helpful for coaching clients in their businesses, but also helpful in our own firms. Jason and Greg then welcome Greg Crabtree to the show where they discuss several topics from Greg Crabtree's book Simple Numbers and they discover the secret sauce.
In Episode 98, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte discuss what consulting means and share real life examples of how consulting engagements have worked for them in the past. Jason and Greg then welcome the one and only Peter Block onto the show. Their natural discussion of consulting and community philosophies will challenge you to think differently about freedom and safety.
In Episode 97, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte continue their tradition of hosting their summer book club. Jason discussed The Business of Expertise by David C Baker and The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker. Greg reviewed Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield.
In Episode 96, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte discuss what it really means to be a leader. They work through what team, teamwork, and teaming mean - based on an article from our guest, Jon DeFriese. When Jon joins them, they continue the discussion and also work through the signs of burn out and disengagement in team members.
In Episode 95, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte discuss what it means to "go polar" when faced with stressful decisions. Ron Carucci joins them and shares how he helps companies and leaders transform. They discuss change fatigue, why it's risky to give your team hope, and more.
In Episode 94, Jason and Greg talk about developing a growth mindset. They talk about the difficulty of living with cognitive dissonance as an entrepreneur. Jon Lokhorst joins them to talk about his coaching experiences. He shares his 3 C's that hold people back as well as the value of showing up curious.
In Episode 93, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte share their thoughts about the huge value of starting your own business. Paul Dunn joins them and they discuss the great impacts that businesses can make in their communities and globally.
In Episode 92, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte walk us through articles they have written on the millennial generation. Are they really so different from their older colleagues? Then they are joined by Accounting Futurist (and millennial) Chris Hooper of Accodex to explore different ideas for business models in accounting.
In this episode, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte discuss the common characteristics of entrepreneurs and share the results of some polling questions from Thriveal members. Then they interview John Warrillow about how to build a company you can one day sell.
In Episode 90, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte look back over 2018 by sharing bonus clips from this year’s prior guests. They share NEW content from Bill Sheridan, Clayton Oates, Kenji Kuramoto, Melinda Guillemette, Daniel Burrus, Blair Enns, David C. Baker, Ian Vacin, and Caleb Newquist.
In this episode, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte discuss an article by Caleb Newquist on ways you can improve your firm RIGHT NOW, including offering new services. When Caleb joins them, they continue to discuss why adding new services is important and how much courage it takes. They also cover AI, what "trusted advisor" REALLY means, and proving your value to clients.
In this episode, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte discuss processes and capacity management with guest, Ian Vacin. It's sounds overwhelming at first, but find out why it's worth your time to learn these important skills.
Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte discuss an article by David C. Baker about growth and its pros and cons. Is it really about how big your company can be? They get into intentionality and the owner's role as well as the pace of growth and what to consider to stay healthy as you grow. Then David C. Baker joins them to discuss concepts from his newest book, The Business of Expertise.
In Episode 86, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte repeat a tradition by hosting their summer book club. Hear about the books they have loved (or not) and how they have implemented some of the ideas into their own lives. Jason’s 2 books were Pricing Creativity by Blair Enns and The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. Greg discussed It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be by Paul Arden and Creativity, Inc by Ed Catmull.
Thank you to our sponsor, Intuit, for supporting the Thrivecast!
In this bonus episode, Jason Blumer chats with Scott Kregel about the book Principles by Ray Dalio, the impact it has had on both of them, and what to expect at Deeper Weekend 2018.
In Episode 85, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte with Blair Enns about his newest book, Pricing Creativity. They address what seems so unfair to people when it comes to value pricing!
But first they have a conversation about gaining perspective and objectivity in your company.
In Episode 84, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte talk about what it takes to solve complex problems. Then Daniel Burrus joins them to share about his system, The Anticipatory Organization and how to predict the future! They cover hard and soft trends, what it means to pre-solve problems, and more.
Accountants, be inspired! This episode, featuring our guest Dr. Jacob Soll, will remind you that you are heroes. Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte share their accounting origin stories. Then Dr. Soll gives us a history lesson in Accounting and reminds us why accounting is a powerful profession.
Nobody likes to have hard conversations, but we all have them at some point. Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte talk about how to approach difficult conversations with team members and clients. Melinda Guillemette joins them and sheds all new light on how to prepare for hard conversations. Visit thriveal.com/podcast for show notes.
In Episode 81, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte work through a couple of major hindrances to firm growth. They are then joined by Kenji Kuramoto who shares his story of successful growth (Although he has experienced hindrances too at times!). Kenji also shares how his team decides which niches to pursue and how his day to day work has changed as his company has grown.
Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the Thrivecast! Learn more about them by visiting Intuit, Bill.com, and Canopy Tax.
Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte discuss managing client expectations, leading to a discussion about scope creep vs. scope seep. Clayton Oates of QA Business in Australia joins them with further insights.
In Episode 79, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte look at the trends for 2018 that have the Accounting Profession excited and sometimes nervous. They discuss pricing, blockchain, artificial intelligence, cyber security, and finding talent. Then Bill Sheridan joins them to continue the discussion on finding talent. They also have an interesting discussion on what it’s like to now have 5 generations in the workplace at the same time.
In Episode 77, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte are live with Jeff Phillips and the Deeper Weekend 2017 attendees in Greenville, SC! They bring a little bit of the first day's content to our listeners by discussing why making decisions takes courage, the difference between a growth ceiling and the doldrums, why your customers want you to be a pain reliever and not a vitamin, and so much more. They also take questions from the live audience.
In Episode 76, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte discuss the emotional side of growing a firm beyond yourself (via The Emyth). How should an entrepreneur handle the business having needs of its own? Jeff Phillips then joins them to talk about the place where passion and objectivity meet for entrepreneurs. He also shares his own personal journey of finding a pain point and solving it in the marketplace, including the two emotions (and there are only 2) that he has experienced as an entrepreneur.
In Episode 75, Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte review a blog post from early 2017 about trends for accountants to watch out for. As always, they share their thoughts about how these ideas apply to the more entrepreneurial leaning CPAs. Geni Whitehouse joins them to discuss what clients REALLY need and why it's so difficult for accountants to deliver.