Business Strategy for CPA's

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 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

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/ 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 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/ Free 5-day email course - Better Pricing Strategies for CPAs Get here   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

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:   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. 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 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. 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. Turn off notifications. Your body gets used to the dopamine drip. Your default setting is designed to get you to use the product more. 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: Delete - the ones you don’t need Delegate - if you’re the bottleneck, send them along Archive - the emails you need to read and file away Reply - if less than 2 minutes 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/ ……… 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

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 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  

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 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  

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.  IbXVV43MIPLfyzBxx7vb 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: 1. 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.  2. 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. 3. 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. 4. 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 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