The Thriveal community is now in its 7th year. We started in October of 2010 as a way to be with other entrepreneurial firm owners. We’ve tried many community ideas along the way and have met many wonderful people. But this year seems different. We have learned so much about what a community means, and how to bring value to firm owners through a community. We truly believe that people building firms in a community grow more than when they try to grow on their own. We have many stories to back this up. Why? This growth happens because a community challenges firm owners in ways they didn’t know they needed to be challenged. And as members of the Thriveal community, we see other members doing innovative things. So we tend to try new things too. But the coolest part of growing in a community is the trust and camaraderie entrepreneurs feel within their community. A community watches out for its members, and supports each other when times get tough. This brings on the bravery needed to be successful growing a firm in a community.

Thriveal’s Purpose:

Thriveal inspires countercultural firm owners to embrace their entrepreneurial creativity within the profession.

Thriveal is meant to inspire a community to bigger and better things. We want our members to think big and believe that there is something they haven’t achieved yet. We’re not pushing firm owners to be unsatisfied, but instead to believe in that bigger thing that we feel they can become. Our members are great, and they can do great things. We want to inspire them to this truth.

We don’t call Thriveal members ‘nontraditional’ because it’s difficult to define that term. But countercultural means something. This term embodies our members – those willing to do what others have not thought of, or what others are afraid to try. Being countercultural is not popular, especially among our accounting profession, but being countercultural is a core part of who are members are. Thriveal members are not afraid to try something that has never been tried before.

Embracing your entrepreneurial destiny is a big call we make to our members. We don’t want our members to wonder who they are – we want to shout it in their ear over and over again. Thriveal firm owners are exactly what their clients need! We want our members to embrace what they can do for the small business community. If Thriveal can change the accounting profession, then we can influence the outcome of millions of businesses and their owners across the globe. We have to embrace this truth!

We believe entrepreneurs are creative people, even accounting firm owners. Firm owners are no different than any other small business owner. We have the same opportunities to change the lives of those we serve, and we get to engage in the same strategies other small businesses get to employ. Running any business, including a firm, is a creative endeavor. It becomes more and more fun the longer you do it, and the more ideas you try. Thriveal fully supports the creativity required to run an accounting firm.

It’s no wonder our tag line is “Accounting for the Brave.” It’s true! Thriveal members are brave.

There are a few other aspects to the Thriveal community that set us apart.

• We are not a best practices community. This means we don’t tell creative entrepreneurs how to run their firms. There are no Thriveal manuals for ‘How to Grow a Firm 10x in the Next Year.’ Why? Because you can’t tell entrepreneurs what to do. They are creative business owners. Creative business owners need support and help, not manuals. We come alongside our members to support them in fulfilling the dreams and strategies that they need to try. This means the creative entrepreneurs need to come to Thriveal ready to grow their firms in their own way. Then they need to be humble enough to reach out to the community to listen to what other members are doing, ask questions in ways that help them learn, and accept the challenge and accountability that a community inevitably brings. We are all on our own journey building the firms we were meant to build. Thriveal makes that journey more enjoyable and much less risky.
• We are software agnostic. We’ve always been software agnostic. Technology is obviously an enormous part of our community as many of our new strategies and services are built directly on top of new software. The software being built for our profession continues to improve the outlook of how we can serve our small business clients, but Thriveal doesn’t tell people what software to use. Since we can’t tell creative entrepreneurs how to build a firm, we certainly can’t tell them which pieces of software to use. Thriveal may have sponsors that help us reach larger communities of firm owners or put on awesome events, but the intimate choice of technology is up to each firm owner. In Thriveal, we try it all and then share with each other what is working and why. We all grow because we are all trying new technologies.
• We are a diverse community. Come one, come all. As long as you are a firm owner, we want your varied thoughts and untestedideas. We want new, bold, crazy strategies that make you sound nuts. Only diversity brings these valuable gems. Whatever journey you are on, however you got to where you are, and no matter where you are headed, we want to embrace you, love you, and support you on your journey. This may mean we disagree at times, or that we won’t fully understand each other. But this doesn’t dilute the beautiful value of a varied community on different journeys to different locations. Big firm, small firm, one owner, four partners, lifestyle firm, tax only, and part-timers are all welcome! Let’s grow together!

So there’s the 2017 treatise on what Thriveal has become. I’ve learned so much in leading this beautiful community. I’ve been challenged, and I’ve grown up myself as I’ve been constantly loved on and believed in by so many community members. But I think Thriveal is just beginning. We have barelytapped into what we can do together, and what it truly means to build a firm in a community.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can become part of the Thriveal community, join us in one of our Thriveal Introductory Calls, held monthly online.

Jason is the Founder of Thriveal and the Chief Innovative Officer of his CPA firm, Blumer & Associates. He is the co-host of the Thrivecast and The Businessology Show and speaks and writes frequently for CPAs and creatives, his firm’s chosen niche. Jason loves to watch documentaries on just about anything. He lives in Greenville, SC with his wife and their three children.