Business Strategy for CPA's

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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**Listener survey - help shape the podcast to what you want to hear!** 

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Today’s guest is Lisa Campbell, founder of The Marcam Group, where she guides her clients to profitability as a Profit First strategist. 

I wanted to have her on because she started out just like many of you, as a solo practitioner, fell into all the predictable traps, until finally she realized that something had to change. So we explore her journey of her business growth and what she learned along the way.

What stood out to me was her piece about mindset work and teaching herself how to focus, how to systematize the way she thinks about things. 

It reminds me of something I read in “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, where he talks about the mind being kind of like a dog chewing on a bone. The dog will chew and chew and chew on the bone and they will totally enjoy it and you give the dog a bone and it will hang out there.

And as entrepreneurs, we can kind of be similar. We see shiny objects and we go towards them. It takes special effort to train our minds to focus and give our attention to the things that are most important in our day and in our lives. Watch out for dog bones!

Previous episode mentioned:

044 CEO Day: Why You Need to Pick Your Head Up in Your Business

https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/044

Book mentioned:

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle

https://www.amazon.com/Power-Now-Guide-Spiritual-Enlightenment/dp/1577314808

Connect with Lisa:

Website: The Marcam Group

http://marcam.ca/

Facebook Group: The Successful Bookkeeper North America

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesuccessfulbookkeeper/

Download ebook “6 Easy Steps to Double Your Revenue”

https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue

Work with Geraldine:

Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/

1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/

VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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My guest today is Cyndi Thomason. Cyndi Thomason is the author of the bestselling book, Profit First for Ecommerce Sellers. She is a Mastery Level Certified Profit First Professional, and the founder and president of Bookskeep. Cyndi devotes much of her time speaking at various events such as ASD Market Week, SellerCon, ProfitCon, and other industry events. She is a regular contributor to The Private Label Insider, Inventory Lab and eComEngine blogs and newsletters. Her company consists of a virtual team located across the United States, providing bookkeeping and Profit First consulting services to e-commerce clients all over the world.

I wanted to interview Cyndi to ask her about her experience of differentiating herself in the marketplace and niching down. 

Like so many things in life that are difficult to learn or do, once you know how to do it, it seems easy, and you forget what it was like before you knew how to or did the thing. 

And it can be that way with niching down. Once you’ve done it, you forget what it was like to be in the headspace of knowing you should do it, but feeling resistant to actually putting the process in place. 

So Cyndi and I are going to talk about her process of niching to e-commerce, now that she is on the successful side of it. 

There was so much to love in that conversation, but what stood out to me was her recognition that even 7-figure business owners can have a murky understanding of their financials, and how important it is to know where your clients are when it comes to their level of business financial literacy. 

And I really appreciated the part about finding clients whose values overlap with yours, and with whom you connect. When you do, it makes your business life so much easier and more enjoyable. Tricky clients can absolutely be a thing of the past. 

Cyndi’s book:

Profit First for Ecommerce Sellers: Transform Your Ecommerce Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0960028315/

Mike Michalowicz’s book:

Surge: Time the Marketplace, Ride the Wave of Consumer Demand, and Become Your Industry's Big Kahuna by Mike Michalowicz

https://surgebymikemichalowicz.com/

Previous episode mentioned:

055 [Coaching] Mindset Blocks Around Hiring with Dr. Sabrina Starling

https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/055

Connect with Cyndi:

Email: [email protected] 

Website: http://bookskeep.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookskeep/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bookskeep/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bookskeep

Download ebook “6 Easy Steps to Double Your Revenue”

https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue

Work with Geraldine:

Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/

1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/

VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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I wanted to start the year off with top five books and reviews from 2019, but I couldn't help myself and I got to at least nine. There were so many great reads that I got through this year. 

I hope you find something to enjoy that will potentially contribute to your own inside transformation. And by proxy, contribute to the transformation of your business, and lead to you living a whole and beautiful life.

Here’s my 9 best reads from 2019:

1. This is Marketing - Seth Godin

https://www.amazon.com/This-Marketing-Cant-Until-Learn/dp/0525540830/

1. Million Dollar Consulting - Alan Weiss

https://alanweiss.com/shop/books/paperback/million-dollar-consulting/

1. How Women Rise - Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith

http://www.howwomenrise.com/

1. The Pumpkin Plan - Mike Michalowicz

https://pumpkinplanyourbiz.com/book/

1. The Soul of Money - Lynne Twist

https://soulofmoney.org/

1. Overcoming Underearning - Barbara Stanny

https://www.barbara-huson.com/books-products/

1. You are a Badass at Making Money - Jen Sincero

https://jensincero.com/shop/

1. Boundaries - Cloud & Townsend

https://www.amazon.com/Boundaries-Updated-Expanded-When-Control/dp/0310351804/

1. The Gifts of Imperfection - Brene Brown

https://brenebrown.com/books-audio/

Download ebook “6 Easy Steps to Double Your Revenue”

https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/download-double-your-revenue

Work with Geraldine:

Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/

1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/

VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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Wishing you a Happy New Year and a very prosperous 2020!

I’m closing out the year with a few more jokes from Hazel and a question.

What if you raised your prices by 10% and dropped 10% of your clients? Where would you end up? I play with these and more  numbers is this short episode.

See you in 2020.

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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It’s the holiday season, and it's time to step away from the mic so that I can spend time with my loved ones. And same for you.

In this episode, you’ll hear my four year old girl Hazel bust out some math jokes.

Merry Christmas! Happy holidays!

Work with Geraldine:

Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/

1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/

VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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Today’s guest is Sommer Poquette, Founder and CEO of Keep It Real Social. Sommer is an expert in Google Business, and I wanted to have her on today to talk about Google My Business and the Google My Business listing, how to get it if you haven't done it already, what its value is and why I think it's a good idea for you to claim your business listing on Google. 

So, are Google reviews the be all end all? No. Might they be a useful differentiator in your business? Might it be worth an hour to claim your listing? Confirm your address and phone number and put up a photo of your storefront? Might be. Plus, because this is part of Google, it's part of your overall SEO. So when you claim your business's listing on Google, it enhances the SEO of your website. 

For a SCREENSHOT of where to find Google My Business listing  visit: http://shethinksbigcoaching.com/064

Sommer’s Vision for Keep It Real Social:

“For me the biggest thing is, I want to continue to help small businesses actually make a dent online. I know it's really competitive out there, it's hard to be found… And so I would  like to create more potential for those small businesses out there using online search, and to be found.” 

Google My Business Links: 

Start here: https://www.google.com/business/

Hiding your address: https://support.google.com/business/thread/1754513?hl=en

Connect with Sommer:

Website: http://keepitrealsocial.com

Upcoming Webinars/Workshops:

DECEMBER: Adding Advisory Services

https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/

Work with Geraldine:

Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/

1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/

VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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I want to talk to you today about adding advisory services. I want to share with you my perspective of what I see from the outside looking in, what I hear from other business owners, about what business owners want from their CPA. As well as from the inside, watching my clients who want to grow their income and want to get more time back, knowing that there's this thing called advisory services that they maybe, can, and should be providing but they can't quite get to it. And organizing all these thoughts so that at the end of this episode, you have some clarity around which steps you need to take next if including advisory services in your practice is something you want to move forward on. 

So here I am in the middle, hearing the CPAs in one ear, telling me just how much expertise and knowledge they have, and a desire to guide their clients in their businesses. And on the other hand, in my other ear I have these business owners who are dying for this expertise, and this guidance. And part of me wants to sit down and be like, “You guys really need to talk to each other!”

But what I see on your behalf is an opportunity to provide something to your clients that they are desperately wanting. 

If you're ready to take some more steps forward on this advisory services topic, know that I'm doing a webinar on Wednesday, December 18th. If you want to know more, go to my website: shethinksbigcoaching.com.

Upcoming Webinar:

DECEMBER: Adding Advisory Services

https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/

Previous episode mentioned:

062 Making More Time in Your Business, with Adrienne Dorison, Co-Founder of Run Like Clockwork™

https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/making-more-time-in-your-business-adrienne-dorison-run-like-clockwork/

Work with Geraldine:

Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/

1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/

VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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My guest today is Adrienne Dorison, the co-founder of Run Like Clockwork™.

Adrienne Dorison is the Co-Founder of Run Like Clockwork™ alongside her business partner, Mike Michalowicz, where she equips CEOs to design a business and team that can run itself, like clockwork. Adrienne has helped hundreds of CEOs increase their profit margins, develop the right systems, create bulletproof teams and be able to take an unplugged vacation.

Adrienne has spent the past 10+ years in the field of operational efficiency, and has since created the most simplistic approach to making your business ultra-efficient.

I wanted to interview Adriene to go deeper into the concepts in the Clockwork and how we as  business owners can use these concepts to simplify our businesses, get more time and freedom back, while making more money. 

Thank you so much Adriene, for coming on the podcast. 

One of the things I loved in our conversation was the repeat call to do a time audit. 

As part of the onboarding process for my VIP clients, I request screenshots of my clients’ Google calendars. And just the act of asking for that is illuminating for them. For most people, what I see is only meetings blocked out, but not time to proactively work on certain parts of the business. 

A common response is, I always wondered where my time went, and now I know why I don’t know where my time goes. It’s because I don’t make or decide or choose to dedicate to a certain thing. No wonder it feels like often it just evaporates or goes to whatever feels most urgent in the moment. 

So the act of reality-checking your calendar is illuminating.  And from there we can get more intentional about planning time use, an activity that pays dividends.

There is so much more to the book Run Like Clockwork, and if you haven’t already, I urge you to go out and pick up a copy. 

You can also check out the Run Like Clockwork podcast if audio is your style. 

Book mentioned:

Clockwork: Design Your Business to Run Itself by Mike Michalowicz

https://www.amazon.com/Clockwork-Design-Your-Business-Itself/dp/0525534016/

Connect with Adrienne:

Website: https://www.runlikeclockwork.com/

Podcast: https://www.runlikeclockwork.com/podcast

Upcoming Webinars/Workshops:

DECEMBER: Adding Advisory Services

https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/

Work with Geraldine:

Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/

1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/

VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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A lot of business owners have tens of thousands of dollars hanging out in Accounts Receivable that is more than 30 days old.

Where's the opportunity for you and your business, in these owed payments?

If your clients owe you money, it’s likely that either they don't have enough cash to pay you, or they lack the systems to pay you on time.

Dig deeper into your clients’ business to find layers of opportunity. Find out about their challenges. 

If they don’t have enough money, is there an opportunity for you to offer them something like cash flow and budgeting and inventory and cost analysis services?

Or maybe they have the money but they don't have the systems in place to pay you on time. Maybe they’re super inefficient and need help to streamline and to build out more efficient work systems.

What solutions could you offer that would benefit you both?

Because you can solve problems, you might be the one and only, the very person who can help your clients think about how to solve this problem that could have been a nagging at them for years. 

Upcoming Webinars/Workshops:

DECEMBER: Adding Advisory Services

https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/

Work with Geraldine:

Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/

1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/

VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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My guest today is Donna Leyens of the Provendus Group, and Pumpkin Plan Your Business.

Donna is an entrepreneur, a Certified Professional Business Coach and has an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurial Studies. She spent the early part of her professional career on Wall St. analyzing and raising capital for public and private companies. In other words, Donna knows what makes a company tick. 

Donna and Mike Michalowicz have partnered to create Pumpkin Plan Your Biz, where business owners receive training and certification in the pumpkin plan methodology to become certified Pumpkin Plan Strategists. 

I wanted to interview Donna to go deeper into the concepts in the Pumpkin Plan and how they can be implemented to make it easier and more profitable to run your business. 

One of the things I loved in our conversation was this idea around no longer selling just an additional service. 

If you want to become an advisor in your business, you need to switch how you view your relationship with and how you communicate with your clients, from one of simply service provider to one of partner who helps solve problems. 

If you like this idea of separating yourself from the crowd, and want help with the process, know that I am soon to be a certified Pumpkin Plan Strategist, because I am already applying so many of these concepts to great success with my own clients, and decided that being even more adept with the process and tools would shorten the time it would take for my clients to double their income with a third of their client load. 

Book mentioned:

The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field

https://www.amazon.com/Pumpkin-Plan-Strategy-Remarkable-Business/dp/1591844886

Previous episode mentioned:

053 Adding Advisory Services and the Power of Niching Down with Tracy Jepson

https://SheThinksBigCoaching.com/053

Connect with Donna:

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.pumpkinplanyourbiz.com

Upcoming Webinars/Workshops: https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/webinars-workshops-schedule/

Work with Geraldine:

Strategy Session https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/strategy-session/

1:1 Coaching https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/business-coaching/

VIP Day https://shethinksbigcoaching.com/vip-day/

Announcing the *NEW* Client Success Stories podcast: 

https://business-strategy-for-cpas-success-stories.transistor.fm/

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