Articles by thriveal

You are currently browsing thriveal’s articles.

XCM Solutions, Inc. (a robust workflow product we use in our firm) conducted a research project last year to identify the differentiating factors between high and low performing firms.  Some of the findings are amazing and support the things THRIVEal firms have been doing all along.  We’ll check them out over the next 7 posts.  Click the image to the left to download a copy of the full report.

 

Habit #1: High Performers Embrace Change

One difference between high performing and low performing firms is that they embrace change.  They are not only early adopters, but they find change to be a positive part of their lives.  These firms actually encourage innovation and put their team members in a place where they can truly innovate and embrace change without the fear of failure.

Failures will happen.  They are part of life.  Will they make you stronger as a firm or paralyze you with fear?

 

 

Listen to what went down in Chicago on February 8th and 9th:

 


 

IC Opportunities was an awesome experience. THRIVEal had a cool part to play by sponsoring the first ever Innovative Opportunities Award, which was presented to Sharra Chan of Orange Door, Inc. Orange Door is working hard to develop a true (not hosted!) online tax application. Changing a profession or any industry is hard work.  It takes commitment to a vision that you truly believe in.  It takes eyes to see opportunities that others have possibly overlooked.  It takes individuals and companies that are not scared to innovate and try new things.  This award recognizes that individual or company that has done hard things and truly made a difference in the profession of public accountancy.  With it, we say ‘Thank You’ for having the courage to blaze a trail that our profession can now follow.

 

Jody Padar, Sharra Chan, and Jason Blumer

Blow Stuff Up

 

Have you blown anything up lately?  Like your phone system, or your tax season process, or some new software you had to install?  Owners of CPA firms are risk averse business owners.  I think we often seek to avoid pain, rather than trying new things.  Because if you try enough new things, you will blow stuff up.  There is no way around it.  Avoiding risk and pain is really normal but if you want to change yourself, your firm and our profession, then you will have to go blow some stuff up.

A story: we got rid of our phone system a while back and started using our cell phones instead.  We just let an online PBX system route calls to our cell phones.  Sounds cool, but it didn’t work exactly right.  We are on Verizon and we found out later that Verizon doesn’t let us transfer calls between our team’s iPhones.  Not cool.  So if someone calls and we need to transfer the phone call, we have to tell them to call back.  Totally not cool.  That has made some people upset, understandably.

But I’m not going to stop blowing stuff up.  I won’t do it on purpose, but I will blow stuff up if it means growing my firm in the way that I feel is best for our firm, our team and our customers.  What have you blown up lately?

 

I love this video I found on Mailchimp!  The video is about jeans.  One of the most simple things in life that we wear everyday.  The owners of Raleigh Denim are disrupting how they make and sell jeans.  It’s a fascinating video about artisans – they call themselves “jean smiths”.  People who hand craft one jean at a time for the care of their customer.

Makes me think about the CPA profession, and our opportunity to become artisans for our customers.  I believe we can become more than just mass producers of tax documents, payroll transactions and paper producers.  But to do that, we have to slow down.  We have to slow down our growth and slow down who comes into our firms.  No more growth for growth sake.  We have to become problem solvers and we do that one customer at a time.  When we slow down, we will be able to serve one customer at a time, and hand craft numbers one customer at a time.

We can become number smiths.

 

It’s a good thing this is THRIVEcast #7 because Greg gives you gambling lessons in this episode! Be sure to check out the discussion on the barbell theory of risk. Best of all, hear Rafi Mohammed, author of The 1% Windfall, challenge Jason and Greg on their pricing views. Listen and let us know what you think. By the way, please go rate us on iTunes, dang it!

 

Also, we managed to trick Greg into writing for us monthly. His first article will be out on February 5th, and if you are a Greg Kyte fan, you’ll want to check back here every month on the 5th for a peek inside his head, scary as that might be!

 

 

Hey THRIVE Tribe Members, there has been a lot of chatter about how to meet the needs of our spouses as we move into firm ownership. They live with the consequences of our choices. Let’s bring them into the conversation!

The registration link can be found in the Events section of Yammer, or just let Jennifer know if you need it.

THRIVEcast 6

So the latest THRIVEcast came out just before Christmas. Did you hear it? Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte discussed the upside of customer complaints and what is means to work in a ROWE. Jason and Greg also had a fun conversation with Jay Shepherd, author of Firing at Will. Be sure to listen before the next one comes out, and don’t forget to rate us on itunes!

 

 

 

Thank you to The CloudSolutions Alliance for partnering with The THRIVEal +CPA Network to make the THRIVEcast happen each month! You rock!

I was talking with a banker friend the other day about how his bank manages people using analytics.  They produce lists of lenders periodically ranking everyone in the bank… from top to bottom.

I remember being judged by a number.  Realization rates mean everything in CPA firms.  I knew it was time to disrupt our profession.  And I remember our purposes being to make money.  Everything was centered around the bottom line.  And when the bottom line is first, customers and your staff (now called team) are second.

I challenged my banker friend not to judge his team by their “report” but to give them ultimate freedoms and then let them shine.  But the bank says no to that.  The bank has goals – and that is to make money, and they believe they can manage that growth by judging people with sterile reports.

So I told him to start a new bank, where profit is not the goal.  Huh?  Profits are a result of great businesses.  They don’t have to be your mission statement.

CPA firms need to be disrupted where profit is not part of our mission statement, but simply a result of being a great firm.  Banks need to be disrupted too.  Higher education needs to be disrupted.  Governments need to be disrupted.

Maybe your profession needs to be disrupted.  What will you disrupt in 2012?

 

Hey THRIVEal members! You’ve been hearing about the Family Meeting for a while. Wanna know what to expect? Just watch the video of Jason and then register at the link below. See you at the Family Meeting!

Register here!

We had a blast recording the THRIVEcast with an audience in Greenville, SC! Ron Baker and Ed Kless were fantastic guests, and the energy of the THRIVEal members was incredible! Listen in to the newest episode to hear about the demoralizing effects of timesheets and the billable hour. Also hear how THRIVEal has been impacting members for the past year.

Huge thanks to our CoCreators, the CloudSolutions Alliance as well as the sponsor for this episode of the THRIVEcast, Right Networks.

Listen on iTunes or on our website.

Co-hosts Jason Blumer and Greg Kyte

« Older entries