Business Strategy for CPA's

In Part 2 of this series, we find the rest of the $50K hiding in plain sight in your business. Common places include: -Opportunities flying past you unseen -Losing money to bad hires and subcontractors -Clients who are lovely people but who are energy drags as clients -Underestimating RFPs -Bonus for those who bill insurance: not staying up-to-date on billing schedules. 

I list out 10 places I look in my clients’ Profit and Losses, while I cross-reference their calendar, to find more than $200,000. Of course, most people are not leaving money on the table in all ten of these places. But it’s not uncommon for me to have clients who are leaving $75,000 on the table, every year.  Easy targets are areas around unclear or weak boundaries: friends-and-family discounts, last-minute cancellations, and scope creep.  Another place to look is pricing: many of my clients have not increased their rates in years – not just to cover inflation and cost of living increase, but to reflect their increase in value as their skills grow. Women also tend to undervalue their services by 28% compared to men who do the same work, according to a recent study by Freshbooks.  In a recent article, Natalie Eckdahl, host of the Biz Chix podcast, discussed how women entrepreneurs are creating their own glass ceiling when it comes to rates – that women themselves set.  Raising your rates to reflect the value you offer, either in services or in RFPs, is the single biggest lever for finding $50K hiding in plain sight in your business. 

If you struggle with email, if your gmail inbox is a source of distraction, stress, and overwhelm, and if you tend to your email in an order that is not based on importance or priority, then this episode will be a huge help. Inside an hour you can set up a simple system of labels that will help you right away. You will get that time back in no time. Use categories of labels: one by priority, and another by topic.  See the screen shots of my own label system and grab the PDF download of the steps - both available in the shownotes. 

Our unintentional thoughts inform our unwanted feelings.  Many of us erroneously believe our feelings and emotions are caused and attributable to outside forces and factors, like the weather, website crashes, bad drivers, and things people say.    But it is our thoughts about these things that lead to our emotions and feelings.    In this episode I want through 9 examples of phrases overheard in conversation, that I then update to reflect how this process actually works.    The benefit of updating your own scripts is that you become 100% free from being at the effect of outside forces. The bummer - and the joy! - is that you become 100% responsible for your thoughts, and your feelings.

Many of us have an undercurrent of self-doubt running inside. Perhaps it got put in place from a lifetime of others around you doubting you, doubting themselves, or even doubting others. Perhaps it came from a series of life experiences where you thought you knew what you were doing, but then... turns out you didn't.     No matter where it came from, self-doubt is likely to be showing up somewhere in your business. Here is how it shows up in my clients' businesses: Paralyzed. Knowing what needs to be done, but not doing it. Just getting the basics done, but not reaching up for the next level of growth.  Undercharging. Most of my clients are undercharging by significant amounts. Not just $5/hr. Often by 10-50% under what they could be charging, and what the market around them is charging. (I'm not advocating for price-gauging or ripping people off. I'm advocating for you charging what the value of your services is worth to people.) (2b.) Fear of raising rates. "What if people hate me? Will I lose clients? Will they be mad? Are you sure I can do this?" All those questions lead to the fear, that keeps rates stuck where they are.  Trying to do too much. As in, if you can get everything done, and make it all happen, and get your ducks in a row and poop in a scoop, that will somehow prove that you are actually ok. It looks like trying to be super-hero-amaz-a-mom, or any other cape that gets donned.  Stuck in indecision. Can't decide, can't decide, can't decide... do nothing.  Not trusting yourself... that you can handle whatever shows up. See #5, and #1 - they are interconnected. Excellent Game-Face. To cover up faltering self-esteem. Which means you hide out, limit yourself, and don't put yourself out there... so the very people who need you cannot find you or your services.    You can address your self-doubt, and loosen its grip. There are many ways; find 5 tools by downloading the PDF "How to Turn Self-Doubt into Confidence" here. 

There are only 59 female astronauts. It was a real treat to talk with Nicole Stott, who flew on missions STS-128, STS-129, and STS-133, and spent more than 3 months on the International Space Station.  We talk about the view out the window, getting to know the Earth intimately from above, and more.  There is no point talking about it here: just go listen.  Watch these Spacesuit Art Project videos: https://youtu.be/m1bSaWGN1L4 As always share your thoughts in the She Thinks Big Facebook Group. I love hearing from you.

Are you running your business on borrowed time and magic math? Do you get to the end of the day feeling overworked, exhausted, and wondering why you just can't seem to make it all work?  The culprit could be Magical Thinking: you have not done the math to determine if how much you charge, how many clients you see, how long you see each client for... fits into a 40 hour work-week and meets your income needs.  In this episode I use 3 colorful metaphors to keep it interesting, while I talk about 1) How many PBJ's do you need for a 15-mile hike? 2, or 3? Turns out, the math says you need 5. We use this metaphor to get clear about your income needs, and the number of clients you need to serve at what rate and for how much time.  2) Assume a spherical cow. We don't want guessing or eyeballing, but sometimes approximate is good enough. Don't get lost in the weeds.  3) There is a formula behind everything. Even your pressure cooker uses PV = T. Your business runs on a formula that we can figure out. And once we do, why you are overtired and underpaid suddenly becomes clear, and no longer deniable. 

In a cluttered and attention-grabbing world, it is easy to lose track of where our focus and attention is - and needs to be. Our attention becomes fragmented and our brains cannot keep up with the minutiae. Yet, our success relies on having large chunks of time to do deep, focused work, to become an expert in what we are doing.  In this episode I explore the idea of focus - where yours is and where it needs to be - from the more global view of what trajectory to stick to, down to the day-to-day of how to block one's time, down to the neuron-level of how the brain operates and how to care for it so that it supports your best thinking. 

Have you created a plan for your business, your goals, your success in 2019? If not, you are likely leaving a bunch of money (and time!) on the table. Taking the time to plan for your business allows you to look at what is and is not working, and make smarter choices about how best to run it. Here are 7 simple steps to creating a plan for your business in 2019. Block 3 hours in your calendar to plan Look at your 2018 financials - clean them up if need be! Decide where you will focus, and what you will stop doing and offering in 2019 Set Revenue, Expense, and Profit Goals in a spreadsheet Determine how much time it takes to create and deliver that quantity of services Make sure that fits in a real-life calendar Block 10% of your calendar for white space Download the extended version How to Create Your 2019 Strategic Plan in 7 Simple Steps worksheet here, so you lay out your plan in a methodical, non-magical-thinking way.  What was your takeaway from this episode? Come share in the She Thinks Big private Facebook group. It's free, and it's the best place to be if your big ideas need airtime and support to grow.

Do you struggle with sales conversations? Do you fear coming across as pushy, aggressive, or smarmy? Do you wish sales could just. be. easier? Nikki Rausch is Your Sales Maven, and in this episode she will tell you about the framework she has created called the Selling Staircase. This framework provides a structure for you to know where you are inside a sales conversation, which helps you know exactly what to say next.  Skip a step and you risk your clients banging their shins, or not wanting to move forward with you: Nikki explains each step of the Selling Staircase to help you understand the flow of conversations. We also talk about sales mindset, and how there is a decent chance that a negative sales mindset is infiltrating your sales process, dragging down your revenue, and sabotaging your potential. With myself as an example, we discuss a blind spot Nikki I had that Nikki shined a light on, that resulted in buying signals floating right past me, unobserved and uncapitalized on. I cannot recommend highly enough that you check out Nikki's website and trainings at YourSalesMaven.com.