Business Strategy for CPA's

Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7When 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.” ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list 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 Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7

Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7Sometimes 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. ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list   Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7

Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7One 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. ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7

Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7Knowing 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   ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/sub Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7

Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7I 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.  ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list 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   Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7

Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7I 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.  ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list Episode mentions: 180 How CPAs Can Create More Time During Busy Season https://www.businessstrategyforcpas.com/180 Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7

Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7Shifting 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.” ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list Connect with DIGBY: Law firm: https://leighco.ca/ AltFee: http://altfeeco.com/ Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7

Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7Many 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.” ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list 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/ Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7

Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7Some 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?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list 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 Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7

Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7I 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.   ***Want one piece of business strategy delivered daily to your inbox?*** Subscribe here: https://www.shethinksbigcoaching.com/subscribe-main-list   Get your FREE 7 Pricing Essentials for CPAs and EAs here:https://geraldinecarter.com/7