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

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

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 po

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

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 thi

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

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 anci

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

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, whethe

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 consi

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 u