It’s Going to be Good: Building Your Accounting Firm

We're taking Q4 off from recording new episodes! So, let's unpack what planning + taking this (or any) break actually looks like: Where would one of us, Anna as a CEO and Jill as a COO, even start with planning our out-of-office time? TIP: What do you know that no one else knows? What does it look like to trust our team while one (or the both) of us is out on that well-deserved break?  Can we give...

How can you create a culture where people do their work, do it well, and do it on time?  In this episode, we dive into setting high expectations! High expectations go beyond just telling people what to do; they create a culture of accountability, excellence, and purpose.  As a firm owner, you set the tone for your team; what you permit, you promote. If you’re not holding yourself to high standards...

"Either we're both thrilled to work together or we shouldn't." We believe that sales is designed to establish long-term partnerships rather than just making the sale. It's about partnership over promises.  Let’s be real - overpromising only leads to trouble down the line. It’s crucial to be clear about what you can deliver and, just as importantly, what you can’t. Clients will respect honesty, and...

The goal of sales is not simply to get to the "yes." The goal of sales is to get to the right "yes." Finding and keeping the right fit clients is a game-changer for any company. It means that you get to streamline your processes, because you're only working within your specialty, your clients are well-served, and your team gets to work in their sweet spot - win, win, win! Getting wise about how yo...

Listen to the last 15 minutes of this episode to hear about an exciting project we've been working on! Learn more HERE The tools that helped you build your company at the beginning aren't the skills you'll continue needing as you grow and scale. There is a learning curve when you move away from startup mode into a more sophisticated form of leadership. As the leader of an organization, the skills...

It's not enough to aim at having a satisfied customer; what you should be aiming at is a customer who is so overwhelmed by the service they've received that they have to tell everyone about it. Our conversation continues around this idea, which comes from Ken Blanchard's book Raving Fans .   Prioritizing creating a great client experience is a long game. It's not just about the immediate benefit o...

It's not enough to aim at having a satisfied customer; what you should be aiming at is a customer who is so overwhelmed by the service they've received that they have to tell everyone about it. For us, that's been a key element to our growth through referrals from both client & referral partners.   This idea comes from Ken Blanchard's book Raving Fans . We think this starts with understanding...

Anna and Jill continue their conversation around networking, referrals and doing business in a way that builds trust. Giving and receiving referrals is a huge part of a service-based business. But knowing how to do this isn't necessarily intuitive.  Building a referral network is all about relationships, so how you establish interest, build rapport and being able to effectively refer to other busi...

We genuinely believe that the way you show up in one thing is typically how you show up in most things. This is also what people assume when you run a referral-based business. When it comes to business, your professional reputation matters. This is even more relevant when you're networking with other business owners and leaders. Where you network and with whom is a great starting point! Are you ho...

Anna and Jill continue their discussion on Patrick Lencioni's The Ideal Team Player. Humility can look different than we think. Being confident AND knowing there is more to learn is our definition of true humility. It's easy to spot a superiority complex, but harder to see the other end of that spectrum. Being self-deprecating looks like humility, but it can be a very subtle sign of pride or an un...

What does it look like to be an Ideal Team Player? We all bring different strengths and skills to an organization, but how can you build a team that works in alignment AND complements each other?  Patrick Lencioni at The Table Group built a tool that helps you evaluate where you fall on the Venn diagram of Humble + Hungry + Smart. We define "humility" a bit differently: It's not thinking less of y...

It's so easy to silo information or for you or your team to intentionally or unintentionally gatekeep information about systems, tools, or even clients. So how do you democratize information, so you've got access to the things your team knows, even and especially when they're on vacation or no longer work with your company? Sharing information across team members and across time is essential to ru...

Most companies know it's good to do training and development. But how can you actually build a culture around continuous growth, where your team is empowered to upskill? You have to understand and believe in the actual benefits before you decide to integrate training & development into your organization. It won't appear to affect your bottom line in a direct way, but it has ancillary benefits...

It's so easy to assume that we must solve the problems that come up in business. Whether it's because you are a technician turned business owner and actually are the most expert person on your team or because you've trained your team to come to you with problems, at a certain point, you being the sole problem-solver becomes unsustainable. It's much harder in the short term to equip and empower oth...

Effective client relationships always start with effective communication. From the way we approach sales to how we're going to work together ongoing all the way to ending services, working with clients should feel collaborative . And for it to be a true partnership, we need to be on the same team! That starts in the sales process - we should be looking for a win-win solution, whether or not that m...

Whether it's saying "yes" to more than we should or shifting our priorities to make something "work," it's so easy to act in a way that makes other people like us. But when we don't have a clear North Star, we prioritize making the person in front of us happy, and usually end up letting others and ourselves down. Michael Scott from The Office is the prime example of this! He's consistently swayed...

When we get to the point where we're overworked, becoming too essential or handling too many problems, it's really appealing to throw a person at the work or at the problem. But how often does that actually work?  So, if delegation through abdication doesn't work, it can feel like the alternative is that you must do everything yourself in order for it to be done right. And that is unsustainable. I...

January, and busy season in general, can make us feel like we just need to survive. We know it will always be more, but what if it was possible to set ourselves up well for a full, but truly sustainable busy season? When busy season feels like it's happening to us, we like to focus on what we can actually do to make it work. From pacing the work to setting clear expectations with clients; working...

We're looking back on this year and looking ahead to next year. Listen in as Jill and Anna talk about this year, what they've learned and what they're looking forward to in the year to come!    Podcast Sponsors + Advertisers: Accrew Follow the Going to Be Good Podcast on Social Media: twitter.com/goinggoodpod/ linkedin.com/company/goinggoodpodcast/ facebook.com/people/goinggoodpodcast/ instagram.c...

The goal of time off is to rest, find balance, and "sharpen the saw," so we return to our work refreshed.  How can you encourage employees to take time, model taking time off yourself, and build a culture around time off well, so there is no felt change in services, regardless of who's on the beach sipping mai tais!  We start by identifying what is the responsibility of the employee and what is th...

Do you answer the same question over and over again? Where does your team go for answers? And how can you make that functional when you're in the midst of busy season? Answering questions in a way that encourages people to continue asking questions is hard work! It takes time, effort and energy to practice patience at work, especially when you're the expert! By creating a place for crew members to...

Making our busy season easier is a top priority at Accrew! It comes every single year, and yet, we are constantly surprised by the intensity of busy season! There will always be more to do - more questions, more back and forth with clients and CPAs, etc. How can we prepare not just ourselves, but our team and our clients, for busy season? And can we do it in a way that makes it easier and more man...

A zero-sum game is the idea that one person's gain is equivalent to another's loss. But is that how it is? Or how it  has to be? One of our core values is "Be excited to learn and generous with your knowledge," so sharing what we know is built into the way we work. But can you engage with people typically perceived as "competitors" - other bookkeepers, accountants, tax preparers, and even owners &...

Clients tend to work with people they like first, then think they can trust, and lastly, people they think are competent. For a client, they tend to start with "Do I like them?" That then progresses to "Do I think I can trust them?" and then, last, "Do I think they're competent?"  So why do we focus so much on sounding smart rather than being an approachable expert.   The goal of communicating an...

Emotions aren't actions. But they are really good "dashboard lights" that can show us a lot about what's happening under the surface. Experiencing negative and positive feelings at work is inevitable, but it's how we respond that really matters. Engaging emotions with curiosity, focusing on responding rather than reacting, and showing up as the people we want to be are a few of the ways we encoura...