Business Strategy for CPA's

I’m kicking off a new series of episodes, Lies of the Accounting Industry.  What I want to do in this series of episodes is bring up these mindset challenges, pieces of dogma, myths and so on, that I think are problematic and that have infiltrated the industry and the thinking.  So let's start with number one, charge what you are worth.    The MAIN problem: Your prices are (almost entirely) not about you Your prices are about the buyer Your prices are about the value you help the buyer create when working together   Instead, ask these questions to establish and increase value: What are your objectives with this project? Why use outside help, vs doing it internally? Why now? - Why change accountants now? Why are cashflow forecasts important now, relative to a year ago when you did not have them? Why me?   If you would like help beginning the transition to value-based fees, reach out! Book a 15-minute session with me.  Just like you’re helping your clients, I am here to serve and support you.    Connect with me through my website, http://shethinksbigcoaching.com and click the CONTACT  tab or SCHEDULE TIME WITH ME button to get started.    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 Heather Zeitzwolfe, a CPA certified with the State of Oregon’s Board of Accountancy and a member of the AICPA.  Heather was excited for the opportunity to do an on air coaching call to come on the podcast and talk about some of the challenges she faces in her business, and to look for direction and clarity around how best to grow.  Here are Heather’s key takeaways: No more working for free! It’s possible to help people with limited means, but in smaller doses Positioning rates and people who purchase them helps them and isn’t sleazy, in facts it’s helpful and what they want Connect with Heather: Website: https://zeitzwolfeaccounting.com/ Apply for on-air coaching: https://geraldinecarter.typeform.com/to/Ygoz2w 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 David Cristello, Founder & CEO of Jetpack Workflow, which empowers thousands of accounting firm owners to build a better firm through managing all their client work in a single, easy to use application.   He's also the host of the "Growing Your Firm" podcast, an interview series that highlights best practices and trends in team management, metrics, M&A, marketing and more. David is also the co-author of the best selling book "Double Your Accounting Firm". His work has been featured in Forbes, AccountingToday, and AccountingWeb.  I put a question out to my audience last week about - without downplaying the seriousness of this crisis - what are the gifts to you in this time.  And without a doubt, the single biggest gift people mentioned was time.  More time with family + kiddos,  More time to take a step back and reevaluate priorities Take care of projects around the house Take care of projects in your business.  So I thought now would be a good time to share this episode with David Cristello, and talk about how to design better workflows in your business.    Designing better workflows can help you Save time and reduce redundancy Create a better quality product More consistent product - when everyone in the office does it the same way Scale more easily Be more profitable.    These are my key takeaways from our conversation:  Document all versions of the existing process as it currently exists, by all people What can we remove What needs editing or updating What needs adding   Remember: That designing workflows is not one-and-done. You can revisit and improve workflows over time.  To keep it simple, and To include your client’s experience in the process.  Software:  https://jetpackworkflow.com/   Podcast:  Jetpack Workflow Blog: Strategies for Growing Your Firm https://jetpackworkflow.com/blog/   Book:  Double Your Accounting FIrm: Lessons Learned on How Top Firms Grow Faster, Build Stronger Teams, and Increase Profit https://www.amazon.com/Double-Your-Accounting-FIrm-Stronger/dp/1521814139/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= 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 we are interrupting common narratives heard out there and wanted to provide you with a counter-narrative, to the assumption that people must be or should be anxious and stressed. Coronavirus is spreading through our communities. We have options for how we want to be, with that reality. Options include panic, stress, avoidance, ignoring, rebelling, and my favorite: staying present.  Here are five tips for staying present in these uncertain times: Watch out for phrases and beliefs that might not be true, like, “Coronavirus is making everyone anxious.” Minds without chaperones tend to find trouble. Give your mind a chaperone.   You can feel something twice – once when it happens and again before it happens; or you can just feel it once, the time it happens.  Fear itself does not change things. Choices and actions (or inactions!) change things.  Look where you want to go, not where you don't want to go.   It’s normal and human to experience this in the way you experience other parts of your life. If you find value in returning to the present, the above steps may help.  Another take is to accept the challenge this offers to up your game when it comes to keeping a handle on a mind that wants to create scenarios.  Remember, calm waters do not a mariner make.  If you've been practicing getting on top of your own thoughts, you have been issued a new challenge, to stay focused and present in the face of so much unknown.  I too am with you in this challenge - here we are!   I too am with you in this challenge - here we are!   Schedule time with me: http://Calendly.com/GeraldineCarter/25min/ 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/

This week, we're talking about value-based fees and pricing. I want to share with you some different perspectives that may loosen the tangle of logic emotion, guilt, fear, and obligation we have around money and pricing.  What I hear my clients getting stuck with, and other people that I'm in conversation getting stuck with is, “How much do I price?” and “What do I charge?” Are you selling to people who like to buy things at a discount for whatever reason? Or are you selling to people who like to buy things at full price for whatever reason? I see countless business owners who are undercutting themselves who really can't afford to be undercutting themselves because they're already struggling. I want you to be able to take a step back and simply ask yourself, “Oh, what am I doing? Does this really make sense? And is this what I want to be doing, now that I have the awareness that I might be doing it?”  Book mentioned: Value-Based Fees: How to Charge - and Get - What You're Worth by Alan Weiss https://www.amazon.com/Value-Based-Fees-Charge-Youre-Worth/dp/0470275847   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/

I wanted to talk with Jenn to tap her expertise about boundaries. So many of the challenges business owners face come back to clear and strong boundaries. Things like scope creep, meetings going long, staying late at the office, giving away your workout, choosing to not sleep as much as your body needs, to giving away services at a discount or even free.  It all comes back to clear and strong boundaries.  It’s been a long time that I have known that boundaries are an issue that I wanted to talk about on this show, because they crop up everywhere in my client’s businesses.  What I didn’t know was JUST HOW MUCH work I see myself still getting to do in this area.  And what I loved most is that Jenn showed and reminded me that in fact it IS SAFE to step into my best self, and not the purple scary monster I have it set up to be.  Of course, the questions underlying these challenges will no doubt prove to be incredibly valuable as I continue to coach my own clients in these areas.  Connect with Jenn: Email: jenn@kickstartyouredge.com Website: http://kickstartyouredge.com   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 Christine Lustik, PhD, owner of Mindfulness in Organizations. After spending 14 years in leadership and the arena of online higher education, Christine transitioned to a role of helping teams, and the individuals in them, to thrive.  Christine works with leaders and teams who find themselves in a culture of stress, disconnection, overwhelm, and chaos. And uses the practices of mindfulness and proactive resilience to change the culture to one of connection, productivity, focus, and resiliency.  I wanted to talk with Christine to tap her expertise about nourishing our bodies and our mind at the time of the year when caring for ourselves might be falling off our calendar.  Being able to find and maintain focus when there are lots of moving parts in front of us is a skill that requires constant attention and maintenance. The result of caring for our bodies, hearts and minds most often leads to increased effectiveness and productivity and getting the same amount of work done in less time.  It’s like Buddha said, sit for 30 minutes daily. When busy, sit for one hour.  My two takeaways from this episode are: Reminding myself to use “just like me,” for when I'm frustrated with someone else who is doing something that I don't like, or being a way that I don't like. It's so helpful to remind myself that, oh, just like me, this person might be having a moment of frustration. It reminds me of our common humanity.    The other one is the idea of establishing relaxed and focused as the baseline. The default to return to, rather than imagining that in overdrive is the default, and relaxed and focused is something to aspire to. Guided Meditation: Purposeful Pause on Soundcloud:  https://soundcloud.com/user-180052466/purposeful-pause    Kristin Neff on Self-Compassion: https://self-compassion.org/the-three-elements-of-self-compassion-2/   Connect with Christine: Email: christine@mindfulnessinorganizations.com Website: http://www.mindfulnessinorganizations.com Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mindfulnessinorganizations   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 I'm returning to the topic of sending mixed signals to money, resenting money and learning to love money. First, let’s go back to Episode 34 - Are You Sending Mixed Signals To Money?  The basic idea in that episode is that in our lives and in our businesses, a lot of us send mixed signals to money. We say we want more money, we want to make more money. And then we also find ways of communicating the exact opposite. So we have these competing signals that we send to money.  We develop these beliefs around money and a lot of it comes from our family of origin, and we also get other messages from society. We want to be looking at the stories that we have around money. We need to get some insight into the ways that we might be resenting money.  What I want for you is nothing short of a complete shift in your energy when it comes to how you relate to and how you think about money. And you get to decide what you believe about money. And I ask you to do this work for you and for your clients. Because when you shift how you relate to money, what will the impact be to your clients?  In the work that we do, we can only help our clients go as far as we ourselves have gone.    Top Client Assessment Session: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/top-client-assessment/   Previous episode mentioned:  034 [Mindset] Are You Sending Mixed Signals to Money? https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/034   Download ebook “6 Easy 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, I have a few stories to tell. About driving in the snow, hockey, ice skating, skiing, and sports in general. Then I relate all these stories to things that we can do to move our business forward: Steer towards what you fear Commit Trust You will wipe out in your business Get back up and get back in the game   When was the last time you totally wiped out in your business? Wiping out is a part of the process of learning and the more beginner we are at the thing we're doing, the more we're going to wipe out. And as we get better, we wipe out with less frequency.  Even experts wipe out, screw up, miss, and they're okay. They keep playing. There is no such thing as perfect. Nobody plays a perfect game. So when you wipe out, get back up and get back in the game. Podcast mentioned:  The Sigrun Show https://www.sigrun.com/podcast   Download ebook “6 Easy 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 officially the world’s most highly rated advisor to accountants. Steve Pipe is a best-selling author, dynamic speaker and founder of Accountants Changing the World and the AVN Association of Proactive UK Accountants. I wanted to interview Steve to talk with him about where he sees CPAs and accountants getting stuck in growing their own businesses, as well as to talk about his current path being a force for good in the world, and inspiring and showing business owners and accountants how to do the same in their own businesses.   Two things stood out to me in this conversation: The role of CPAs as Steve views it Restore rationality to decision making in business  Distill data: make it simple, clear, and manageable Properly understand profitability models based on clear and simple data  Differentiate yourself in the marketplace and make your business a Force for Good.  Remember the value you provide to clients. Go through your own top clients and quantify it for each client, in order to remind you of just how valuable you are.    Book mentioned: The World’s Most Inspiring Accountants https://stevepipe.kartra.com/page/HighImpactFreeStuff Connect with Steve: Website: http://www.stevepipe.com  B1G1 Business for Good: https://www.b1g1.com/businessforgood/how-it-works/ Free Giving Plan report tailored to your business from B1G1:  https://www.b1g1.com/businessforgood/givingplan/ Download ebook “6 Easy 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/