Monthly Archives:

May 2012

Choose your favorite writer

Adrian
Greg
guestblogger
Jason
Jennifer

05/25/2012

Value Experiences

I had a great live call the other day with the Blumer CPAs Creative Coaching Course I run online. We were discussing the book Start With Why by Simon Sinek, and eventually found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a discussion about ‘Value Experiences.’

One of my clients began sharing the virtues of wine. I perked up.

If you don’t know anything about wine, then you may not be willing to pay for the $10 glass at dinner. You’ll settle for the $3 glass of wine. But, if some friend invites you out to a fun wine tasting, then you may actually learn a thing or two about tannins, bouquet and petillant.

Category:: Business, CPA firm, Pricing
Comments:: 5

05/23/2012

Journal of Accountancy Podcast Series with Blumer and Kyte

Greg Kyte, CPA and Jason M Blumer, CPA.CITP finally made it into the Journal of Accountancy. After insulting the Journal initially, they finally let Greg Kyte in a podcast. Listen to Greg Kyte and Jason Blumer in part one by clicking the image below (see if you can find the secret words Jason and Greg challenged each other to use during the podcast recording):

Category:: Business, CPA firm, Videos
Comments:: 1

05/21/2012

THRIVEal Software Week Recap

THRIVEal just wrapped up Software week and I think my brain is still hurting. We were able to see a demonstration of 8 different products in 5 days (May 14-18, 2012) and get a feel for the culture of each company. Each company has different strengths, weaknesses, target markets, and overall outlook on what accounting software should provide. I feel like I have more tools in my toolbelt to better blow my customer’s mind and match the software to their needs. It was an exciting week, to say the least!

Category:: Business, Guest Post, Software
Comments:: 3

05/18/2012

Rethinking the Resume

As I began hammering out a hiring process for our CPA firm, I realized about half way through that nowhere in the process had I even considered requesting a resume. Later, I did insert that as an optional step about halfway through the process. But why? (Always start with why!) The more I thought about it, the more I wondered what purpose the traditional resume serves in our digital world.

What has been the purpose for creating and sending resumes to potential employers? To land an interview. Our idea was to have people fill out a wufoo form online to give us some very general information and then we would go from there to see if an interview was warranted.

If our potential team members want to give us a traditional resume (a few already have), that is fine. The information is helpful. However, if that same information can be provided in a well written email, a video, or over the course of a few interviews, then a resume will certainly not be required to work with us.

Category:: Business, CPA firm, Management and Operations, Other Thoughts
Comments:: 6

05/14/2012

Help Wanted: Oh, No! What Do We Do Now?

Have you ever had to fire a team member? It is truly one of the most miserable parts of a business owner’s job. If you have never had to do it, consider yourself blessed. You may have to fire someone one day, but you can lessen that risk if you hire correctly. Don’t make the hiring mistakes we have made.

Category:: Business, Management and Operations
Comments:: 1

05/05/2012

How To Turn Smart People Stupid

I suck donk at taxes. I take too long. It’s because I try to clean everything up and tie everything out. What the hell kind of upside-down world is this where other accountants condescend to me because I’m too much of a perfectionist? It’s like fat people turning on you because you like donuts.

I thought we were all supposed to be perfectionists. The kids who grew up to be CPAs were the ones who got beat up on the playground for correcting the cool kid. He’d say, “Nice Toughskins, lamewad.” And we’d be like, “They’re not Toughskins, they’re Wranglers, husky Wranglers.” And the next day he’d be like, “Nice bruise, loser.” And we’d say, “It’s a contusion, not a bruise.” Vicious cycle. You remember.

Category:: CPA firm
Comments:: 12