Business Strategy for CPA's

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/

I want to talk to you today about what I see as one of the most important or biggest levers that you can pull in your business to help you grow. And that is specializing and narrowing down who you serve.  Narrowing your niche is an incredibly important thing to do to help you grow your accounting practice. What I want to talk about is why it's harder to be a generalist, what the benefits are of specializing and nIching down. I want to address the fears and the myths about niching down. I want to give you some examples of what it might look like to choose a specialty, what you do, and who you do it for, plus some sample messaging and where to start. Niching down includes two things: what you do and who you do it for. Some of the fears that I hear when I talked to my own clients and other people about niching down: What if I lose potential clients? I don't want to have to say no or turn away other people who come to me who aren't in my niche: afterall, I can help just about anyone! If you want the list of 20 possible initiatives and specialties to reference to give you some ideas to get started, download the free PDF: Possible Specialties and Niches. Listeners, I want to hear from you. What was your key takeaway from this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. Download PDF: Possible Specialties and Niches: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/054-pdf-download 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 Tracy Jepson, founder and owner of TLJ Bookkeeping and Consulting.  Tracy started her bookkeeping practice as a side hustle in an effort to get out of debt. Four years later, her practice now includes small business strategy, consulting and advisory services, to work in partnership with businesses to create permanent profitability.  In this episode, Tracy talks about her journey from charging by the hour to moving to retainer, how she listened to really understand what her clients were asking her for, how that informed the addition of advisory services, and then how in time she niche down and niche down again, to make her own life easier, and watched her business grow as a result.  Thank you so much, Tracy, for coming on the Epic Business Growth for CPAs Podcast.    From our conversation, here are some nuggets that stick with me:  Be really careful to attempt to out-earn your spending as a business strategy. Better to get your spending underneath your current earnings and grow from there. And be really careful to make sure that you have a viable business, rather than using your hard earned savings to prop up a passion project. What your clients want from you is in your email. If you go back and not just read your email, but truly listen to what is inside emails from your clients, you will have everything you need to begin offering advisory services.  Your clients are often less than forthcoming about what they don't know. Do not make assumptions about what they know and what they don't know.    Tracy’s Vision: I want to reach as many people as possible to help them get out of debt, connect their personal and business finances and really get them on the road to profit.  Listeners, I want to hear from you. What was your key takeaway from this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big Facebook group. Past episode mentioned: 042 Decoding CPA-Speak: Clarifying 9 Common Terms: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/042   Connect with Tracy: Website: https://tracyjepson.com/ Group coaching site: http://thebottomlineacademy.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/  

Today’s guest is Danielle Hayden of Kickstart Accounting.  Danielle left her corporate job in 2014 to help small business owners with their numbers and finances. Five years later she runs an accounting practice with six people on staff serving more than 275 clients all around the country.  In interviewing Danielle, I wanted to showcase what's possible to create in five short years, especially when you're willing to lift yourself up and out of the task-doing in your practice and build a team of people who you trained well and who have solid systems for delivering a consistent and high-quality client experience.  What I see happening in so many entrepreneurs businesses is lax payment policies. It's one thing to be flexible but It's a different thing to be lax. And it costs business owners and accountants a lot of money to not have firm and clear policies in place. Danielle also said that clients say to her that her staff are “just really nice.” I hear from a lot of regular business owners that they feel intimidated by their CPA, and they don't want to ask questions. If you're known as nice, and approachable, and someone who answers all your clients’ questions on a reasonably quick turnaround time, your clients are more successful, because of it. It will also differentiate you in the marketplace, which will increase referrals in your favor. Download the Profit Planner: https://profitplannerbookkeeping.com/ Enter the code SHETHINKSBIG to get 15% off.    Danielle’s Big Goal: “I want to continue to serve as many entrepreneurs as possible. My big, hairy, audacious goal is to serve one million business owners. And that is through helping them with bookkeeping, and helping them get the profit planner in their hands. And so we want to just continue to help businesses succeed.”   Danielle’s Big Ask: “If you could think of one business owner in your in your circle, or that you've come into contact with that you know who needs help, whether that be they’re in accounting overwhelm, and they need someone to help them with their bookkeeping, or if they're overwhelmed because they cannot figure out how to create a profit in their business. I would love an introduction to that one business owner who's struggling.”   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 Danielle: Website: Kickstartaccountinginc.com   Past episodes mentioned: Find the $50k Hiding in Plain Sight in Your Business - Part 1 http://shethinksbigcoaching.com/024 Find the $50k Hiding in Plain Sight in Your Business - Part 2 http://shethinksbigcoaching.com/025   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/

I have something to share with you.  As my own business and coaching practice grows, it's becoming clear to me that my sweet spot is working with CPAs to help them grow their accounting practice.  The results that all of my clients have been getting have been fantastic. Some of them are doubling their monthly income, if not more, inside of six months. Even though I see it right there on their Profit and Losses, I still think, “Wow, that's so awesome!” And what I love is that it changes their lives. It gives them more freedom, more sanity and more peace of mind.  Going forward, my focus is going to be on you CPAs to help you grow your practice, grow your numbers, grow your business. So you can lead a life that you're psyched about, which includes sanity even during tax season.    A lot of the topics I'm going to be covering will still apply and still be valuable to you entrepreneurs. So I hope you'll stick around as listeners. And I want to thank all of my listeners, all of you for being fans for sharing and being on this journey with me.  Here's a sneak peek at some upcoming topics:  Understanding what your clients desperately want from you that you're not giving them.  Where to start when considering adding advisory services Niching and specializing  Interviews with CPAs who niched down and tripled their income in 18 months  Plus tactical stuff with some experts on using SEO, Google Maps, and LinkedIn to get found by ideal clients faster.    If you know a CPA who you think might benefit I would love if you would pass this along to them.  And for my CPAs, in the future, What would you like from this podcast? What are your struggles? What do you want help with? How can I serve you? I really want to know so that I can be putting out content that you find valuable and are psyched to get on your phone every week.  So the shift is on.  Have a great couple of days and I will see you next time.   Work with Geraldine: Strategy Session 1:1 Coaching VIP Day