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06/17/2013

Are You Changeable?

It’s conference season for CPAs. You have many opportunities to gather with groups of colleagues to learn and improve yourselves. There are a few reasons people go to these events; for the required CPE, to see friends, and to learn. If one of the reasons you are going to an event is to learn or to better yourself, then this post is for you.

I’m interested in what makes a person changeable. What makes you take what you hear at a conference and turn it into something you DO? What makes a person stop doing one thing and begin doing it another way? I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit lately as I try to change the way I care for myself. I’m in the process of changing several (bad) habits that have kept me from being as healthy as I could be. In thinking through what makes a person change, here are my observations. Read more

Category:: Other Thoughts, Personal Growth
Comments:: 1

06/14/2013

How the Internet Works

The Thriveal CPAs had such a good time in Las Vegas this week. We learned stuff, and hung out together. But what was really cool was how a dude named Lance Walley hit me up on twitter on the way to Las Vegas with a message: “Hey dude, I need to meet you!” I didn’t know who he was, but I always say “sure” when strange people want to meet me when I’m out of town. : )

He said he owned a company that did online recurring billing for clients of CPA firms. I told him to take a bunch of us Thrivealists to dinner if he wanted to meet innovative CPAs, and HE DID! Sweet!

This is a story about how the internet works. Read more

Category:: Community, Computer and Technology
Comments:: 5

06/10/2013

You’re Probably Going To Commit Fraud

I’m not a big fan of the fraud triangle. It’s like ITT Tech. Both make people think they’re smart, but they’re not.

You know this stuff. Pressure, opportunity, and rationalization must be present at the same time in order for an ordinary person to commit fraud. Like how bacon, lettuce, and tomato must be present at the same time in order to have a BLT. And just to make it perfectly clear to any ITT grads out there, opportunity is the bacon of the fraud triangle. There’s absolutely no way you could have fraud if there’s no opportunity to commit fraud, just like there’s absolutely no way a BLT could qualify as a real sandwich if you say, “Hold the bacon.” Sorry vegans. Read more

Category:: Fraud
Comments:: 2

06/03/2013

Be Open To Randomness, But Not Random

This past year our team undertook the effort to re-design our customer on-boarding process. We met and started brainstorming over some basic questions: What does the customer care about? What should they care about? Any and all items were noted up on our whiteboard wall. Read more

Category:: Management and Operations, Other Thoughts
Comments:: 0

05/27/2013

Veiled Value

Entrepreneurs are so busy, so excited about serving their customers, that they often overlook value deeply embedded in their services. Value is embedded in the processes by which they service customers, price customers, collect money from customers, communicate with customers and practically every other interaction. As a coach, it’s fun to “unearth” that value. But when on your own, you often can’t see it, or don’t even know it’s there.

I call this Veiled Value. And it’s dangerous, because veiled value is no value at all if you can’t request a price for it. One of the greatest strategies firm owners or business owners can do is unearth the value they are delivering, display it before their customers, and effectively communicate that value with an adequate price. Read more