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.
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After an exciting first year in THRIVEal, several members recently decided to go a little deeper by joining a THRIVE Tribe. While we had all enjoyed some pretty lively discussions in the THRIVEal LinkedIn group, it became clear that we needed a better platform to be able to share files, photos, recordings of meetings, etc. We wanted to do more than just chat. We wanted more collaboration. That is where THRIVE Tribes and Yammer come in to play.
For the members that have chosen to participate at the Tribe level, access is given to our Yammer account. This is where the real magic happens. As Kevin McCoy put it, “Meeting people that are going through the same crap you are and figuring out how to deal with it – that’s worth the price of admission, in my opinion. Knowing you are not alone and having a small group supporting you in failure and celebrating successes is pretty cool.”
Now THRIVEal members can use Yammer to create events, upload recordings from their GoToMeetings, share photos, create pages that are searchable and taggable, create groups and subgroups for specific discussions topics, and really get down to the nitty gritty of helping each other become better CPAs for their clients. Joe Manzelli explains, “THRIVEal utilizing Yammer has made it easier to follow my fellow THRIVEal CPAs. Being able to share ideas in a network without any outside chatter allows for a true exchange of ideas with no judgements.The tool, Yammer, is addicting and has been a great addition to what THRIVEal has been doing.”
Each tribe has up to 10 members, including a leader, and has its own private Yammer subgroup where they can discuss the online meetings they have each month. Michael Wall is already seeing the value of being in a tribe, “Being a part of a tribe allows each of us from different regions and backgrounds to collaborate in order to enhance our professional experience and provide our clients with value to help their businesses thrive.” Carol LeBlanc agrees, “I love being able to post a question or share something on Yammer and get a quick answer or support from the group. We are so much stronger together. The generosity and knowledge in THRIVEal amazes me daily. I love having my own Tribe with a specific focus because we have our own place within Yammer where we can learn and grow together in the area we are most interested.”
THRIVEal members are free to create their own pages and interest groups for more specific discussions, and Joy Lizotte is loving it. “Members are sharing very detailed real-life information. It’s not the basic info you’d get off a website or out of a book!! I’ve read how other members are pricing, hiring, firing, what they’re reading, software and hardware to use and not use….and on and on!! It doesn’t get anymore real than this!” Magen Smith has been active in several discussions on pricing. She commented, “ I have been schooled on providing value, called out on being a wimpy pricer, and encouraged that I can do this. Yammer is my lifeline and support system for growing my firm. I could not do any of this without THRIVEal.”
One of our tribes is for those who are considering leaving employment to start their own firms. We call them Cliff Jumpers in THRIVEal because they are about to take a very scary but exciting step. Barrett Young, in the process of jumping now, said “I would not be going out on my own without such a great support net.”
Bottom line: Tribes are the heartbeat of the THRIVEal community, and Yammer is the tool we are using to achieve our why, which is to engage, empower, and encourage current or prospective CPA firm owners towards disruptive innovations, meaningful education, and deeper relationships with their customers. Wanna join us?
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
Couldn’t make it to Greenville this weekend for Firm of the Future? Bummer.
Follow our updates here on the blog, on our Facebook page, or on twitter. We’ll be using the hashtag #THRIVEalFOF. Follow us at @THRIVEalCPAS.
Wurd.
The sixth and final part of our Accountancy Revolution definition found on the first post was summarized this way:
“…paperless productions of varied financial reporting.”
Here is the full Accountancy Revolution again:
Rapid technological means of data creation and production are allowing the former manual manipulation of raw accounting data to disappear, forcing the profession of accountancy to be redefined towards enhancing and developing internal business processes which will ultimately become digital conduits of paperless productions of varied financial reporting.
The underlying implications of this final part of the Accountancy Revolution are huge. It’s all about the accountancy’s move to a paperless environment in everything they do. I mean… EVERYTHING. As a profession, there is such strategy in a ‘No Paper’ belief. Paper is the enemy to fast processes, faster digital manipulation and faster financial analysis. If we want our customers to see the benefit of timely financial analysis, then we must remove paper from their lives.
This is an uphill battle, as you well know. You still use paper don’t you? I do too. And I know it is slowing me down. But we don’t really have all the means necessary to eliminate it from our businesses, and our lives. We need intelligent systems, software and people to gives us vehicles to a ‘no paper’ world. Some do exist…
Bill.com, with a tagline of “Chase Dreams, Not Paper,” is the premier business process product that is allowing us as a profession to eliminate paper from our lives. In fact, Rene Lacerte, the CEO of Bill.com, said recently of the THRIVEal organization:
“Managing a company’s processes and digital interactions in the cloud is a strategic advantage for any company, and we’re totally pumped to support the THRIVEal community as they take small businesses into the cloud!”
And Bill.com is one of the sponsors of THRIVEal’s Firm of the Future Symposium, with Ron Baker and Ed Kless, coming to Greenville, SC October 28 through 29, 2011. Are you coming? All of the innovators will be there. Rene rocks, and the THRIVEal organization knows it. Not because he is a big bad CEO, but because his company is building software with the purpose of eliminating something that is a burden to our world: paper. It totally sucks, and you must target it’s elimination with a laser focus. You don’t think this is a big deal, because we all operate in a world full of paper. But I’ve seen the light! I’ve tasted a little bit of a world with no paper, and it is better! I’m calling you into the light!
As a warning, as with any innovation, eliminating paper will NOT be easy, it will NOT come naturally and you will HAVE to convince your customers of it’s importance. Crap, you have to convince yourself first. So get to convincing, dang it, and start seeing the opportunities before you. A world of ‘no paper’ opens up so many other strategic ways to help our customers that you won’t even see until you eliminate the burden of paper.
Now that I’ve preached the opportunity of ‘no paper’ I need to move on to the second part of this mantra: “…of varied financial reporting.” Open up your minds and consider what you can give your customers besides a sheet full of numbers. Don’t you know that most of our small business customers can’t read a sheet full of paper? Can’t you give them something else? I’m not even sure what the members of THRIVEal will create, but can it be something other than a sheet full of numbers? Yes.
Remember, your customers don’t know to ask for anything other than a sheet full of numbers. Give them some pretty graphs, some seriously condensed numbers or some narratives. Whatever you do, your financial reporting can now be varied and meet the needs of the customer. And since paper is not a hindrance to the delivery of these documents, you can potentially use the smart cloud systems we all use to deliver this data. We use an accounting system called Xero and it allows for some cool layouts within the financial reporting center of the software that greatly summarize all of the financial data. We show what the customer needs to see, and summarize everything else so they don’t look at it. And it just happens automatically! As we help the customer manage their ‘digital conduits’ of financial data, the reporting on the back end can just happen automatically. That will leave more time for us to innovate, dream and consider what our customers really need from our new profession.
I’m excited to be a part of this changing profession! As a whole, we still lag behind in major ways, but there is a movement towards the innovations that will make our profession better; and better meet the needs of our awesome customers. Are you with me?
The third part of our Accountancy Revolution definition found on the first post was summarized this way:
“…forcing the profession of accountancy to be redefined towards enhancing and developing internal business processes…”
Since it’s been a couple of months since we addressed the first two changes in the “Accountancy Revolution,” let’s summarize:
First, we are seeing very rapid technological brand new ways to actually create accounting data. Note: we as the profession are not creating the data anymore.
Second, we learned that the first point means that the manual handling of accounting data is disappearing. Paper is going away. And that is good – paper is killing our businesses. We use human capital to shuffle paper through companies, and that is the worst use of human capital I can think of. We ain’t gonna do what we did before. The manual manipulation of data is going away.
Here is the full Accountancy Revolution again:
Rapid technological means of data creation and production are allowing the former manual manipulation of raw accounting data to disappear, forcing the profession of accountancy to be redefined towards enhancing and developing internal business processes which will ultimately become digital conduits of paperless productions of varied financial reporting.
But this all leads to my third point in this awesome “Accountancy Revolution”: it is going to force us as a profession to redefine what it means to deliver our service. And, as I stated above, I believe it is going to lead us to two things (among many other things):
Enhance Internal Business Processes
We are doing some fun work taking our clients through what we call a Value Process Design Session (see our flyer above we send to clients). When you dive deep into your client’s processes, you will find your customers are delivering huge amounts of value to their customers but not getting paid for it. You can help them enhance the importance of their processes… and make sure they get paid for it! But you have to create the session, give it a name and then sell it. Your customers want to buy it! They just don’t know it yet. And they won’t know until you sell it to them. You are doing a disservice to your customer base when you don’t give them what they need (…that they don’t even know to ask for).
Develop Internal Business Processes
When we take our clients through the Value Process Design Session, we are seeking to enhance their current business processes. But we can often identify brand new business processes that will bring great value to their customers, and for which they can add revenue. So if you can’t enhance what they have, seek to develop new processes based upon the beautiful absence of paper in your customer’s processes. They’ll thank you for it.
Your customer’s internal business processes can be found in every aspect of their business – from getting paid to delivering service, from taking calls to shipping packages. And specialized indistries you might serve like manufacturing or the medical industries will have many more processes deeply embedded in their systems that you can dig through and enhance for your customers. It’s like looking for big money in the couch cushions. But this time you’ll find some big dough, not just stale Cheetos.
I love it! Things are changing and it’s allowing us to deliver brand new valuable services to our customers. I freakin’ love my job!! Do you? Leave it in the comments.
Holy Moley what a call! The latest Thriveal community call took place Tuesday, June 28th, and the topic was client selection. An amazing group of professionals shared their experience on a topic that I struggle with.Client selection to me has not meant much in the past. Based on my experience, I have drawn a line in the sand on who I will and will not work with. The “will not work with” list was developed based on some pretty crappy endings to client relationships. More specifically, they did not pay. Here are three points to consider when selecting a new client.
- Due Diligence – How well do you know you clients? Would you believe me if I told you there are CPA firms out there preforming a 30-day due diligence period before they bring on the potential client. Picture the call now, “Yes Mr. Smith, please drop off our records request and we will contact you in 30 days to let you know if you are a good fit for our firm.” While this practice may drive away most callers or even referrals, it sure would perk my interest to see what that firm has to offer.
- Education – Would your clients be willing to sit down for 6 hours, with you, to discuss expectations, goals, successes, challenges, of their organization? This practice is starting to pop up in CPA firms as we move away from fire-fighting and into the role of a trusted business advisor. A willingness to be educated was mentioned by most the speakers on the call as a key indicator for selecting a new client.
- Relationship Goals – A result of number 1 and 2 above should net goals between you and the client. These goals are mutually agreed upon and they serve as a benchmark to see if both parties are living up to what they agreed on. If the client falls behind on their obligation, “caller-id cringe” may appear. Caller-ID cringe is where no one in the firm want to take the call once they identify who it is. It may be too late at this point to try and save the relationship, but as a good friend of mine once said, “bad clients drive out good clients.”
The call for me was bitter-sweet, it shed some light on one idea that I have been trying to put to rest for many months now……Money will/can not create a relationship between me and my clients. My biggest take-away was a light-bulb moment I had the day after the call. Not once during the call did I hear someone share “Yea, I price my self out of the engagement” or “If we don’t think it is a good fit, we charge them like, 10000000 dollars and see if they bite.”
Its not about the money anymore folks!
We no longer use money as a shield to deal with unruly, uncooperative clients. Sure we all like to be paid for our knowledge and value we add to a clients situation, but not at the expense of losing a team member, or even worse; a good client.
After early retirement from an unsuccessful acting career, Chris decided to become an accountant. Growing up in a family of accountants, accounting was the center of the universe and where all business emerged from. Chris graduated from the University of Florida with a BS in Business Finance, and received his MBA from the University of North Florida. He loves his wife Razan, and son Rami. His hobbies include: swimming, running, cycling and weekend bbqs. Lets laugh together.
Image by m-c via Flickr
The second part of our Accountancy Revolution definition found on the first post was summarized this way:
“…allowing the former manual manipulation of raw accounting data to disappear…”
The “rapid technological means of data creation and production” found in the first post, is what came before this manual manipulation distinction. Technological changes are allowing all of this to happen. To boil it down, without the rapid technological changes that we see, we don’t have the makings of a profession reinventing itself. And if there is no reinvention, then we don’t get the benefit of allowing a manual profession to change into a more beautiful thing (for the profession and the client).
It’s like wishing the Industrial Revolution never happened.
This is part of the fear for those who are not embracing the change: the disintegration of our former way of providing our accounting services is going away so that we no longer need our clients to bring us their check stubs and bank statements. Really, we don’t need anything from them. The manual manipulation of raw accounting data is disappearing because technology is doing that work for us.
But that sounds like we might be losing our job. Our jobs are only changing, not going away. We don’t do the same jobs we did back before the Industrial Revolution. And we don’t do the same jobs we did when we conquered America. Let’s not hold onto the past.
I dream of digital where retail environments talk to your accounting system and enter your transactions for you… where suppliers are updated on your inventory quantity constantly and automatically make shipments to you just in time… where your bank feeds become so intuitive at making accounting entries that accountants stop checking them every month.
Possible? It’s happening right now. Our firm is targeting the elimination of every manual paper-based system that clients will allow us to destroy, knowing that the manual manipulation of raw accounting data is going to be a thing of the past very soon.
Manual accounting is on it’s way out the door and performing deep dives into our client’s businesses, processes and their futures will replace it. Doesn’t that sound better for everyone? Leave it in the comments.
Back in February a really cool South Carolinian by the name of Jason Blumer shifted the focus of his personal blog from himself to create a community for new-age CPA’s. The THRIVEal +CPA Network is what he calls it. THRIVEal you ask? What the heck is a THRIVEal? See for yourself
I describe it as group of like-minded professional, not afraid to challenge the status quo. The processes and metrics of the traditional CPA firm are stale and unsustainable; we have popped up on the scene to say, watch out #CHANGEISCOMING! While these process and metrics have withstood the test of time so far, technology, collaboration and creativity are a few of the attributes we are preaching. Frankly, I am stoked and honored to have joined the coolest group to hit the CPA arena.
The THRIVEal +CPA Network hosts six “community calls” throughout the year. During these calls, members get together (online of course) to discuss the forefront topics of our profession. Yesterday was the second call and the topic we discussed was Value Billing. It won’t take you long browsing my attractive blog to figure out I am a bit of a Value Billing fan. I trashed my timesheet on 01/01/2010 and was happy to discover that life goes on without the dreaded timesheet. I could go on and on about how the change saved my career, made my customers happy, and made me more profitable, but I will refrain from repeating what has already been posted, so please check it out. Instead I am going to focus on what I learned from the call.
We began by talking about efficiency vs effectiveness. For the longest time, I was obsessed with being “efficient.” How can I run payroll, from start to end, with 6 clicks of the mouse, I would ask myself. Funny thing is, I would get worked up if it took me 7, 8, or 9 clicks to complete. The point here is, who cares how many clicks it takes to run the damn payroll??? After absorbing the idea that effectiveness trumps efficiency, it was clear to me that the purpose of running payroll was to pay employees, submit the taxes, and DO IT CORRECTLY. If I executed the payroll in 2 flippin clicks but forgot to pay someone…#missionfail. As a young CPA, it is easy to get caught up in the technology and forget you are responsible that someone gets dinner on the table this weekend.
Another topic we discussed was business practices that add value to your customers. A member shared that customer education was mandatory for his firm accepting that new customer. I like the idea of education, when I am educated I feel a “part of” something and not just a “part.” Anyways, who wants to stop learning? not me. I embrace learning from customers. At the end of the day we both have something to contribute to what we are working on. Just the other day I was having a multi state conversation with a customer and I was explaining states are starting to crack down on nexus issues by communicating to each other. The customer shared with me how the NYC is suing a number of the travel sites for shorting them on sales tax. My point here is I embrace learning from all sources, its cool.
Wrapping it up, I felt some lightbulbs go off during the call and I am sure others felt that way too. If I had to age myself for where I am with Value Billing, I would estimate 1.5 years old. Just a baby, but growing everyday.
After early retirement from an unsuccessful acting career, Chris decided to become an accountant. Growing up in a family of accountants, accounting was the center of the universe and where all business emerged from. Chris graduated from the University of Florida with a BS in Business Finance, and received his MBA from the University of North Florida. He loves his wife Razan, and son Rami. His hobbies include: swimming, running, cycling and weekend bbqs. Lets laugh together.
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