Knowing your purpose, educating, and building communities with Jason Blumer

Few encapsulate the title of accounting leader more than this episode’s guest, Jason Blumer. Together, Jason and Stuart discuss the background and success of Thriveal, the network Jason founded to help other entrepreneurial CPA firm owners connect, learn and grow. They also discuss the trend of larger firms acquiring smaller firms, the challenges of growth, why you need to know your strengths and weaknesses, and how you can use that knowledge to define your purpose, lean into it, and help your own firm thrive.

Together they discuss

• The origin of Thriveal (3:40)
• The importance of resilience and perseverance (5:50)
• “Whistleblower” podcast, basketball and referees (6:40)
• The biggest changes in accounting in the last decade (9:00)
• The evolution of accounting conferences and education (11:00)
• Why large firms acquire smaller firms (13:30)
• The advantages for smaller firms of selling to larger firms (16:00)
• Challenges scaling your firm (16:50)
• Building culture when your team is virtual (19:00)
• Equity, staff compensation and partnerships (22:30)
• Success stories from Thriveal Deeper Weekend (27:20)
• Teaching accounting firm growth in different ways (30:30)
• The firm that went through turmoil and then thrived (31:45)
• Quality over quantity (36:00)
• Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is a pretty cool place to be (37:50)
• Why every accounting firm needs a purpose (40:40)
• The impact of the global pandemic on the accounting industry (42:10)
• The value of experience (45:00)