Business Strategy for CPA's

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: 1. 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.  2. 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/