Business Strategy for CPA's

Today’s guest is Sommer Poquette, Founder and CEO of Keep It Real Social. Sommer is an expert in Google Business, and I wanted to have her on today to talk about Google My Business and the Google My Business listing, how to get it if you haven't done it already, what its value is and why I think it's a good idea for you to claim your business listing on Google.  So, are Google reviews the be all end all? No. Might they be a useful differentiator in your business? Might it be worth an hour to claim your listing? Confirm your address and phone number and put up a photo of your storefront? Might be. Plus, because this is part of Google, it's part of your overall SEO. So when you claim your business's listing on Google, it enhances the SEO of your website.  For a SCREENSHOT of where to find Google My Business listing  visit: http://shethinksbigcoaching.com/064 Sommer’s Vision for Keep It Real Social: “For me the biggest thing is, I want to continue to help small businesses actually make a dent online. I know it's really competitive out there, it's hard to be found… And so I would  like to create more potential for those small businesses out there using online search, and to be found.”      Google My Business Links:  Start here: https://www.google.com/business/ Hiding your address: https://support.google.com/business/thread/1754513?hl=en   Connect with Sommer: Website: http://keepitrealsocial.com   Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: DECEMBER: Adding Advisory Services https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ 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 want to talk to you today about adding advisory services. I want to share with you my perspective of what I see from the outside looking in, what I hear from other business owners, about what business owners want from their CPA. As well as from the inside, watching my clients who want to grow their income and want to get more time back, knowing that there's this thing called advisory services that they maybe, can, and should be providing but they can't quite get to it. And organizing all these thoughts so that at the end of this episode, you have some clarity around which steps you need to take next if including advisory services in your practice is something you want to move forward on.  So here I am in the middle, hearing the CPAs in one ear, telling me just how much expertise and knowledge they have, and a desire to guide their clients in their businesses. And on the other hand, in my other ear I have these business owners who are dying for this expertise, and this guidance. And part of me wants to sit down and be like, “You guys really need to talk to each other!” But what I see on your behalf is an opportunity to provide something to your clients that they are desperately wanting.  If you're ready to take some more steps forward on this advisory services topic, know that I'm doing a webinar on Wednesday, December 18th. If you want to know more, go to my website: shethinksbigcoaching.com. Upcoming Webinar: DECEMBER: Adding Advisory Services https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ Previous episode mentioned: 062 Making More Time in Your Business, with Adrienne Dorison, Co-Founder of Run Like Clockwork™ https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/making-more-time-in-your-business-adrienne-dorison-run-like-clockwork/ 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 Adrienne Dorison, the co-founder of Run Like Clockwork™. Adrienne Dorison is the Co-Founder of Run Like Clockwork™ alongside her business partner, Mike Michalowicz, where she equips CEOs to design a business and team that can run itself, like clockwork. Adrienne has helped hundreds of CEOs increase their profit margins, develop the right systems, create bulletproof teams and be able to take an unplugged vacation. Adrienne has spent the past 10+ years in the field of operational efficiency, and has since created the most simplistic approach to making your business ultra-efficient. I wanted to interview Adriene to go deeper into the concepts in the Clockwork and how we as  business owners can use these concepts to simplify our businesses, get more time and freedom back, while making more money.  Thank you so much Adriene, for coming on the podcast.    One of the things I loved in our conversation was the repeat call to do a time audit.  As part of the onboarding process for my VIP clients, I request screenshots of my clients’ Google calendars. And just the act of asking for that is illuminating for them. For most people, what I see is only meetings blocked out, but not time to proactively work on certain parts of the business.  A common response is, I always wondered where my time went, and now I know why I don’t know where my time goes. It’s because I don’t make or decide or choose to dedicate to a certain thing. No wonder it feels like often it just evaporates or goes to whatever feels most urgent in the moment.  So the act of reality-checking your calendar is illuminating.  And from there we can get more intentional about planning time use, an activity that pays dividends. There is so much more to the book Run Like Clockwork, and if you haven’t already, I urge you to go out and pick up a copy.  You can also check out the Run Like Clockwork podcast if audio is your style.  Book mentioned: Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself by Mike Michalowicz https://www.amazon.com/Clockwork-Design-Your-Business-Itself/dp/0525534016/ Connect with Adrienne: Website: https://www.runlikeclockwork.com/ Podcast: https://www.runlikeclockwork.com/podcast Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: DECEMBER: Adding Advisory Services https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ 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/  

A lot of business owners have tens of thousands of dollars hanging out in Accounts Receivable that is more than 30 days old. Where's the opportunity for you and your business, in these owed payments? If your clients owe you money, it’s likely that either they don't have enough cash to pay you, or they lack the systems to pay you on time. Dig deeper into your clients’ business to find layers of opportunity. Find out about their challenges.  If they don’t have enough money, is there an opportunity for you to offer them something like cash flow and budgeting and inventory and cost analysis services? Or maybe they have the money but they don't have the systems in place to pay you on time. Maybe they’re super inefficient and need help to streamline and to build out more efficient work systems. What solutions could you offer that would benefit you both? Because you can solve problems, you might be the one and only, the very person who can help your clients think about how to solve this problem that could have been a nagging at them for years.    Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: DECEMBER: Adding Advisory Services https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ 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 Donna Leyens of the Provendus Group, and Pumpkin Plan Your Business. Donna is an entrepreneur, a Certified Professional Business Coach and has an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurial Studies. She spent the early part of her professional career on Wall St. analyzing and raising capital for public and private companies. In other words, Donna knows what makes a company tick.  Donna and Mike Michalowicz have partnered to create Pumpkin Plan Your Biz, where business owners receive training and certification in the pumpkin plan methodology to become certified Pumpkin Plan Strategists.  I wanted to interview Donna to go deeper into the concepts in the Pumpkin Plan and how they can be implemented to make it easier and more profitable to run your business.  One of the things I loved in our conversation was this idea around no longer selling just an additional service.  If you want to become an advisor in your business, you need to switch how you view your relationship with and how you communicate with your clients, from one of simply service provider to one of partner who helps solve problems.  If you like this idea of separating yourself from the crowd, and want help with the process, know that I am soon to be a certified Pumpkin Plan Strategist, because I am already applying so many of these concepts to great success with my own clients, and decided that being even more adept with the process and tools would shorten the time it would take for my clients to double their income with a third of their client load.  Book mentioned: The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field https://www.amazon.com/Pumpkin-Plan-Strategy-Remarkable-Business/dp/1591844886   Previous episode mentioned: 053 Adding Advisory Services and the Power of Niching Down with Tracy Jepson https://SheThinksBigCoaching.com/053   Connect with Donna: Email: donna@pumpkinplanyourbiz.com Website: www.pumpkinplanyourbiz.com   Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ 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/

In this episode, what I want for you is to start thinking about 2020, because my friends, it is upon us. Since you get sucked away by the vortex of taxes from January to April, if you don't do business planning for 2020 now, then you're likely to not do it until May of 2020. What I see a lot of CPAs, and other types of business owners doing is just having their heads so buried in product delivery, that they don't pick up their heads, not just look at their business but to also do some high level planning for the next year or even the next three to five years or even your exit plan. Do you want to get ahead of the game and figure out where you're trying to go, figure out where you want things to end up and see if you can steer your business there as best as possible?  CPA dogma is you have to make hay while the sun shines. I'm just going to be working until eight o'clock every night, most Saturdays and Sundays, until April 15 and that's just the way it is.  I don't believe it has to be that way. It doesn't have to be the default design. What I want for you is to be thinking about how you can maximize profit, maintain your sanity, and reduce the number of weekends you work from January to April.  So here's some of the conversations that I'm having right now with my clients, as we head into 2020, making our assessments for the year:  Who are their top 20% clients and their top 10% clients. In what ways are those clients similar?  What's the income range of those business owners (assuming they’re business owners)? Where's the line that represents the bottom 15% of your clients?  What are my income goals for 2020. Gross, net and take home pay? How many clients does that mean, at what rate.  What's the revenue range of those business owners who will happily pay you the rates that you're looking for?  Who are the clients that you are ready to say no to and refer out?  What would amazing service look like for your top 10% or 20% clients?  Do my results happen because of the work that I do, or do my results happen because of the belief and the mindset that I have?  And in order to start thinking about the big things that could be possible that you could be creating in 2020, what I want you to think about is: What are 10 ways that I could double my income in 2020? What are 10 different paths to building a million dollar firm, and then exit it?  Who are 10 people I could talk to you about those realities? Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ 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 Billie Anne Grigg, the Lead Technical Guide of Profit First Professionals, where she helps accountants, bookkeepers, and financial coaches learn how to leverage the Profit First brand and principles to stand out from their competitors, become more profitable, and transition to a more consultative role with their clients. She is also the founder of Pocket Protector Bookkeeping and a frequent contributor to financial and industry blogs, including Fundera Ledger and AccountingWeb. I wanted to interview Billie Anne because she is a master at time-blocking her calendar. And what I have noticed in my interactions with her is that every time we talk, she arrives a few minutes early, is settled and prepared, and ready to get started on time.  Managing my own time has always been a struggle for me.  My hubs, who is really good at being on time, once said to me, in the most honest and compassionate way, “Sweetie, time management is just one of those things that most people learn to do as they become adults.” Many of us have this challenge. So why not learn from somebody who really has it dialled in. And see what we can take from what she does and implement it in our own lives.  When doing time blocking, we should focus on: business delivery business development personal stuff    There were a number of take-aways that I will be thinking about for my own calendar. The main thing that time blocking helps me with is being realistic about time. Because I can operate in Wishful Thinking when it comes to how long things take in Real Reality, as opposed to  my Wishful Reality.  And when I time block, it shows me where my thinking is flawed.  It also helps me let go of “getting it all done”  because when I have planned my time thoughtfully in advance, then I know that I am doing the right activities. I have already thought it through, made the choices, and blocked it out.  So when things I want to get done don’t get gotten to, like that LinkedIn article I wanted to write last week, I know it’s ok to let it go. Another opportunity will come around and I can try again. And on behalf of my own clients, the key takeaways were around: Having a rush fee to protect your time  Having an engagement letter that clearly spells out how this relationship is going to roll  Not being open to taking calls all the time.  Connect with Billie Anne and Profit First Professionals: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billie-anne-grigg-79919067/ Profit First Professionals: http://profitfirstprofessionals.com Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ 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/

Last week I did a training for Profit First Professionals. If you've read the book Profit First by Mike Michalowicz, you may or may not know that he has a membership group associated with a book for accountants, bookkeepers, CPAs and business coaches who want to use these tools and implement them in their own practice for their own clients.  They asked me to come and do a training called Recapture Your Money, which is a lot of the same ideas that I talked about in my episodes Where to Find the $50,000 Hiding in Plain Sight in Your Business.  They asked me to come and present six places to look to recapture money that already exists in your business. A lot of the places that I mentioned, apply across many different types of businesses. But there's one that stands out that's unique to CPAs, and this is the one that the attendees cited as the most useful takeaway for them. And that is proactively scheduling end-of-year meetings. In these end-of-year meetings, remember that you're the trusted advisor. You're one of the few people in their life that they go to, to ask questions that they wouldn't ask of most other people. This doesn't mean though that you need to have all the answers, but if you can help them find their way to the right answers, to other resources, other people who may be able to help them. That sets you apart.  So being a CPA who looks out for his or her clients by proactively scheduling end-of-year meetings is priceless. And just one more thing you can do to separate yourself from the flock.  Book mentioned: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz https://profitfirstbook.com/ Previous Episodes mentioned: 024 Find the $50k Hiding in Plain Sight in Your Business – Part 1 025 Find the $50k Hiding in Plain Sight in Your Business – Part 2 Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ 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 Michelle Cooper, owner of Alchemy Accounting in Chilliwack, British Columbia in Canada. Alchemy Accounting works with coaches and consultants around the world who are seeking clarity in their numbers and profitability in their business. Michelle is out to design a non-traditional accounting practice. And today we talk about what that might look like as technology enables more of us to be nomads at work. We also talk about the opportunity that presents for accountants to do taxes across international borders, and about how niching down saved her time and made her life easier. And finally, we talk about how discovering what’s called the Queen Bee Role in her business made operations clearer for everyone on her staff.  There was so much in Michelle’s story that I appreciated, and that I think listeners will appreciate too.  Some nuggets that stick with me are: As always, how helpful it is to focus on in a profession, industry, or niche. EVERYTHING gets easier, and more of the right clients find their way to you. Remember that if you say you serve a broad range of clients, or you say you work with small business owners, families, and individuals - then you are talking to no one, and your signal is getting lost in the noise.  How uncovering the Queen Bee Role in her firm simplified not just her decision-making, but made it easier for her staff to make decisions without having to check with Michelle.  Opportunities are everywhere. There absolutely is more than enough work for every last accountant who wants to be profitable while helping their clients with financial literacy and being more profitable, and reducing tax exposure.  What you choose to focus on, is what you create. In short, your Reticular Activating System (RAS) takes what you focus on and creates a filter for it. So if you don’t think something is possible, you will find evidence to confirm that belief, and if you do think something is possible, your RAS will allow evidence to pass through its filter.    Michelle’s Vision for Alchemy Accounting: I’d love to see for my business to grow and my team to rise into more coaching and consulting roles. The Queen Bee Role (QBR) is in the book: Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself by Mike Michalowicz https://www.amazon.com/Clockwork-Design-Your-Business-Itself-ebook/dp/B078GDX7BP   Reticular Activating System explained: https://medium.com/desk-of-van-schneider/if-you-want-it-you-might-get-it-the-reticular-activating-system-explained-761b6ac14e53   Previous Episodes on Niching Down: 053 Adding Advisory Services and the Power of Niching Down, with Tracy Jepson 054 How Narrowing Your Niche Can Help You Grow Faster Connect with Michelle: Website: http://MichelleBCooper.com Website: http://AlchemyAccounting.ca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michelle.h.cooper.9   Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/   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 Dr. Sabrina Starling, the business psychologist, author of "How to Hire the Best," and the founder of Tap the Potential.  I invited Dr. Sabrina to be on the show today to talk about hiring, because I know how many of my own clients find it challenging to hire the right person. And oftentimes, they have resistance to hiring, and wait too long to make that next hire. Oftentimes, at their own detriment. And I'm aware that the resistance to hiring can often be mindset blocks.  I know so many business owners who struggle with similar challenges. So the thinking around this episode was to serve up some real life coaching, to bring awareness and understanding to you on some of the things that might be hiding out in your own mind that might result in shifting the choices that you're making around hiring. Dr. Sabrina’s Four-Week Vacation Mindset Tool The Four-Week Vacation Mindset Tool is based on the idea that others are whole, capable, confident and complete. When we think to ourselves, “I can't take a 4-week vacation,” we ask, “How can I?” Instead of “I don't know how to set up my business to be successful with teams so that I could be gone,” we ask “Who can I learn from?” Instead of “My clients will be upset that I’m gone, that they're dealing with someone who's not me, (or whatever our Gremlins are), “How do we, as a team, continue to provide an exceptional service in a team member’s absence?”  So we're taking all those Gremlin beliefs that run through our heads that limit us, and we're turning them into powerful questions.   Key Takeaways Dr. Sabrina has no doubt given me a lot to think about and new perspectives to look through when I think about what I want for my business, and how I might grow it in a way that works for me, works for staff employees, subcontractors, and increases my impact while getting more of my time back.  Other key takeaways for me were on shifting my perspective: believing that people are whole, competent and complete versus I have to teach them everything. the idea that I have to teach you everything  having to shoulder the workload  Some questions/learnings from our conversation:   What am I NOT doing because I hadn’t wanted to hire?  Any time that I’m doing something that’s not my gift, I’m depriving somebody of my gift. How could you have a greater impact while working less? What would my life be like if accolades weren't related to my identity and my self esteem?   Listeners, I want to hear from you. What was your key takeaway from this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. Connect with Dr. Sabrina: Podcast: Profit by Design https://www.profitbydesignpodcast.com/ Book: How to Hire the Best https://www.amazon.com/How-Hire-Best-Attracting-Performing/dp/0998006203 Website: Tap the Potential https://www.tapthepotential.com/ Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/ 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/