The Fulfilled Accountant

What does it take to be successful in accounting? What is a successful career path and what is it like on the way and when you get there? Whatever you answered is likely what is making you miserable at work right now and causing you to avoid things that might actually be great for your career and your life. That's why I'm talking about the three biggest misconceptions I see in how we def...

Are you always looking for a better morning routine while also feeling like you just can't (or don't want to) deal with it? This is your episode. I'm sharing 3 simple steps to create an easy morning routine that actually makes your life easier, and that you can follow. I don't believe there is a perfect, best, or right way to start your day. But there are things you can do that...

Working too many hours, never having enough time for it all.  It's the story of almost every person working in accounting and finance at least part of the year. And sadly, it's a story most people don't believe they can change. It's just the way it is, right? Wrong.  Today I'm helping you see when overworking is actually a problem for you, deciding if you want to solve it,...

One of the top complaints I hear from the accountants I coach (and my accounting friends)  is that there is never enough time.  You want to get all the things done, and feel like a successful, skilled professional who always achieves and follows through for your clients and team, but you also would love to have a life, see your family, sleep, and maybe even workout sometimes. There are so many way...

Ditch the pressure and negative basis of New Year's Resolutions and set yourself up for a year you actually want. And get some tips from my 12 year old son who sometimes is wise way beyond his years.  Find out why we don't play the New Year's resolutions game and what we do instead.  It involves feeling good about yourself, having fun, and actually achieving the things you want each...

Everyone judges their clients at some point, in some way. It’s just human nature.  What you do with that judgment, how it guides your work, and how you feel at work and after work is what matters. Today I’m going into detail on why judgments are normal, how you can use them to make your client relationships and solutions even better, and how you can stop feeling guilty or embarrassed for having th...

Do you have a reliable process for making decisions? It sounds so logical and simple, but most of us are flying blind and hoping for the best when we make decisions.  We think our process is great, especially if it is slow and deliberate.  In this episode, I'm challenging what you think you know about good decision making, and proposing a simpler, more effective approach to decisions.  One th...

Today I’ve invited my client, Laura Roeder, onto the podcast to talk about business, entrepreneurship, mindset coaching, and using tools that make your business easier. Laura is a successful serial entrepreneur, having started, grown, and successfully exited multiple companies that are still operating successfully today. And, she grew each business by doing things her way and challenging conventio...

Recently I’ve been covering several aspects of setting goals, planning for the next year, and setting yourself up for the future you want.  I've  shared several strategies and actions you can take to set yourself and your business up to achieve the success you want next year.  However, even the most well thought out strategies and plans can fail if you don’t also look into your mindset as you...

Today we’re talking about how to use specific metrics in setting goals for yourself and your firm so that you steer yourself to the success and fulfillment you actually want. Instead of going through the motions of work every day only to end up in the same place again next year, with the same frustration and stress as usual. I'm sharing the type of detailed metrics that can completely change...

While you probably would never consciously expect your employees to read your mind, almost every manager and business owner is actually expecting exactly that at some point every day.   It confuses the heck out of your team and it keeps you feeling frustrated and wondering why you can get them to do what you want, how you want it, and when you want it.  Luckily, there's a very simple solution...

Growing your accounting or financial services firm can be incredibly challenging, frustrating, and downright painful some days.  You've managed to get this far, but what  does it actually take grow to the next level? Unfortunately, a lot of small firms reach a certain point and then struggle to manage their growth past that point.  Today I'm talking about common reasons firms struggle to...

You know how every year you make these great plans to do better next year? Not just to exercise more or drink more water. I'm talking about plans to improve and grow your firm.  To change your pricing. To hire new or better employees. To niche down to a client base you actually want to work with and have really great expertise at serving. And even better, to work fewer hours and take home a b...

Today we’re talking about marketing your small financial services firm or practice.  Marketing isn't usually on my financial clients' list of favorite topics, but it really is one of the most important parts of running your own firm or practice.  Without marketing, no one knows you exist!  And if no one knows that you exist or how you can help them, they can’t hire you.  So, today I’ve i...

How do you get motivated to do all the things you need to do every day? I'm talking big projects, small mundane tasks, working out, even just getting out of bed some mornings. Motivation is not automatic.  And it doesn't magically happen when the time is right. It's actually something you can create for yourself. And I'm sharing exactly how to do it and why it works today. Even...

Today I'm talking about a question that I think a lot of smart financial pros struggle with, but that isn’t addressed publicly or constructively very often. That question is this: How do I reconcile working for incompetent people? Or how should I handle working for a less than stellar boss? No boss is perfect.  But sometimes all you can do is focus on their shortcomings to the point where it&...

The question of whether you’re doing enough at work seems to weigh heavily on many financial pro’s minds.  And it is closely aligned with a general feeling of being behind most of the time.  Your to do list pretty much never ends, and seems to just grow every day. You can work 14 hours a day (and more) and still leave your desk feeling like you didn’t accomplish enough that day. So, today we’re ta...

Why are you always so busy? That's just how it is in accounting and finance right?  Is that true?  Being busy is like a badge of honor in the accounting and financial world.  But the long term impact of busy-ness on you, your business, your team, and your clients is not good.  And it isn't just at work. The habit of being busy has crept into the other parts of your life, too. In this epi...

You may think that all your value comes from knowing the rules, crunching the numbers, and being an expert with all the analytical skills.  Those are great, but if you can't communicate what you know in a way that others understand and respond to, your other skills fall kind of flat in today's world.  To stay competitive, effective, and valuable today, good communication skills are criti...

In the world of finance and accounting, there’s a so much pressure for perfection in your work. There is not a lot of room for error.  You expect yourself to know the answer to anything and everything a client might pose to you. And you expect yourself to never be wrong, misunderstand, or make the wrong decision on behalf of your client.  But inevitably, mistakes and errors happen. It doesn't...

What if every single accountant had access to a coach?  Imagine how much more you might enjoy your life.   And how amazingly well firms and accounting/finance departments would perform every year. Coaching has been the way top executives and business leaders have created their results for several decades now.  It’s proven to be a highly effective way to improve individual, team, and firm performan...

One of the biggest ways we hold ourselves back in life is by avoiding uncomfortable and difficult things.  Avoiding our problems, whether it’s something big, or just a small annoying task that you hate, is a very normal thing to do.  It's actually what your brain is designed to do - seek pleasure and avoid pain. While it’s more comfortable in the short term to avoid things, it actually leads...

What does it actually mean to be a fulfilled accountant?  Today I'm answering that because when you understand how I define it, it's easier to determine how that fits with what you want from your own work in the finance & accounting industries. I want you to get the full benefit of listening to these episodes and also to know what you are getting into when you work with me.  The more...

One of the biggest complaints among financial professionals like you is that you are just so busy all the time.  You’re slammed at work. Your family needs a million different things from you at home. You have social demands. Volunteer work. Networking. Client demands. Kids.  Aging parents.  There's barely enough time to get your work done, let alone find time to take care of yourself, plan yo...

If you’ve ever struggled to increase sales, close deals, or make more money in your accounting and financial services business, it's probably because you're selling toilet paper to your clients. Of course I don't mean literal toilet paper.   But if you think you’re selling accounting and financial services to your clients and that is how you describe your work and what you pitch to...