With the 2023 tax season upon us… do you find yourself appreciating working in accounting & tax services or is it more like the onset of dread as you’re faced with the possibility of 12+ hour work days?

Somewhere over the years, tax and accounting pros fell into this bad habit of discussing our work like it was those horrible fraternity or sorority hazings back in college: “If I have to suffer every tax season, so will you!”

But wait — aren’t a lot of us our own bosses? Small business owners operating our own practices? 

Surely there’s a better way to structure our accounting and tax services — one that involves giving superior care and attention to amazing clients WITHOUT the headache of being stretched thin serving clients who complain all the time…?

In this episode, Nate Hagerty interviews Andrea MacDonald, CPA: a mom, wife, and accounting nerd who founded Pro Tax & Accounting LLC. Through accounting services, tax planning, and tax return preparation, Andrea and her team help small business owners resolve cash flow issues, A/R issues, A/P issues, and a whole lot more. Andrea specializes in supporting other small business owners during their entrepreneurial journey.

If you’re unhappy with your current workflow (or you’re building your own practice), you’ll want to hear how Andrea has gone from being overworked and underpaid to doing meaningful work with fewer clients AND — get this — being paid what she’s worth.

You can find Andrea here: 

www.protaxllcva.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-macdonald-cpa-4704042b/

Twitter: @andreamacdcpa

Spend a lot of money on a beautiful website but still can’t seem to get leads? 

Struggling to get on page 1 of the search results? 

If you have a great looking website and some type of follow-up system, but no one can find you on Google, that’s a problem. Looks don’t equal performance. Getting on the first page of the results comes from building an organic foundation from the beginning. And building a good website isn’t hard. All it takes is a little optimization – filling in that metadata on the back end. 

And optimization doesn’t stop at your website. It also means filling in every form of your Google Business Profile, posting regular content, and not neglecting your backyard. 

Beyond optimization, you need to consider that Google focuses on local results. Even if you serve clients nationwide, Google will view your practice as a local business. 

Listen in as TaxProMarketer Vice-President Christian Jones talks best SEO practices and local listings strategies to get you ranked in the search results.

Episode highlights:

- Google wants to see that you’re optimizing the experience of the user.

- Uniqueness is something Google factors in –  60% of the internet is duplicate content.

- Google measures clicks, scrolls, and time on site...  so optimize for engagement.

- Google Business Profile is all about frequency, recency, star rating, and content. 

- 99 times out of 100, if marketing tactics aren’t working to get leads, it’s because you don’t have Google reviews.

Are you ready for 2023?

Ooh nelly, what we all thought would be a pretty "easy" tax season (in relative terms to the nightmarish last three busy seasons) is going to be much more ... interesting, in light of the economic disruptions now and to come.

Not only that, but the fact of the matter is: The traditional website is dead.

So ... if you want to grow your practice, you need more than a "nice website." You need a full marketing plan that includes an optimized Google business profile, email strategy, social strategy, traffic strategy, and more.

Yes, you can do the "funnel" thing ... but until you have these other components well and truly nailed, you're chasing from behind instead of working ahead. The most ideal online marketing plan naturally brings quality leads through the marketing journey — without you having to become a carnival barker in the process.

In this episode, CEO Nate Hagerty and Vice President Christian Jones take you through a crash course on marketing your practice in 2023 — covering all the essentials plus addressing what has changed this year in the world of online marketing. 

If you want continued growth, this episode is for you.

In the accounting and tax world, it’s easy to trudge through the daily workflow without building relationship with clients and marketing your services. The reason: You can be an expert in your field – the best accounting and tax pro – without doing all of that.

But will all of your expertise amount to anything if clients don’t like you and new leads can’t find you?

Today’s guest, Carlos Samaniego, is an author and speaker who got into tax resolution work after experiencing first-hand the terror of owing the IRS. (He spent over eight years not filing taxes – imagine the penalties and interest due!) He has since turned his life around and now helps others do the same. Carlos’s firm has saved tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes by negotiating settlements with the IRS instead of letting them bombard his clients’ lives with aggressive collection tactics (like levies or wage garnishments). His book, How to Make the IRS an Offer They Can’t Refuse, has been featured on Fox News, CBS, and NBC TV and on radio stations throughout the U.S.

Listen in as Carlos shares with Nate Hagerty (TaxProMarketer CEO) not only how he fell into doing tax resolution work, but the power he’s discovering in being authentic with his clients and how to practically implement this in accounting and tax firms. 

CarlosSamaniego.com

TaxDebtConsultant.com

Carlos’s free book: TaxDebtBook.com

When we speak with accounting and tax pros one on one about their marketing, this is what we often hear:

• I have an outdated website. 
• My local SEO is flopping.
• How do I prevent dead-on-arrival paid ads?
• Traffic to my website is slumping.

There are plenty more, obviously. These are merely the most common — all of which lead to the wrong leads and not enough of the right kinds of clients being attracted to your accounting and tax practice.

To stand out from others in YOUR market area, you need a clear, informed marketing plan for 2023.

In today’s episode, TaxProMarketer VP Christian Jones and CEO Nate Hagerty cover how to reach the goals you need for busy season (and beyond). They’ll help you sharpen a simple plan for all of your marketing (online and offline) and bring you through a brief exercise to help you build that plan.

As you’re probably aware, the tax and accounting world isn’t known for being the most cutting edge industry. Some practices still operate the exact same as they did decades ago, because… these approaches have stood the test of time – right?

Not necessarily. 

In 2013, Ryan Lazanis, CPA founded Xen Accounting, one of the first 100% cloud-based accounting firms. Following its acquisition in 2018, he pooled together his experience and entrepreneurial skill to birth Future Firm. Through Future Firm, Ryan provides education, community, and coaching to help accountants develop a strong business model and create a scalable, systematic firm – all while improving their lifestyle. 

Listen in to hear Ryan talk with Nate Hagerty (TaxProMarketer CEO) about pricing your services, preparing for a successful acquisition, the future of accounting, and building your firm so it is set for success today instead of stuck in autopilot.

Ryan currently educates over 7,000 firm leaders globally via his free weekly newsletter and coaches hundreds of successful accounting firms through his Future Firm Accelerate online coaching membership. Click here to learn more about the future of accounting:

https://futurefirm.co/

https://futurefirm.co/newsletter/

https://futurefirmaccelerate.com/

There are stages to a business, and very soon you realize that once you've hit six figures in revenue, you can stay in that desert for a LONG time… unless you build with a team.

But hiring great people for tax and accounting practices is a monstrous pain in the you-know-what.

Some market areas are flooded with overpriced talent, poor work ethic, and a me-first mentality. Other markets for talent are full of people with a strong work ethic but little of the education or ceiling for knowledge work or handling higher-end clientele. 

With the ever-increasing complexity of the tax code (hello K2, K3) and the demographic changes within the profession, CPAs and tax professionals find themselves fighting over scraps when it comes to getting great staff… and then wondering how to retain those employees over time.

But what if it were much simpler?

In this ProMarketer Podcast episode, host Nate Hagerty (CEO of TaxProMarketer, an Inc. 5000 company with 5-star ratings on GlassDoor) and TPM client and friend Argel Sabillo, CPA (HeyApril CEO) bring to you an exciting new methodology for building a team of experts who can care for your existing clients ... and free you up to go out and get higher-paying new ones. 

Find more about Argel’s work here: www.taxprohiring.com

Podcast bullet points (for TPM post)

• Attract talent by being clear on your company goals, spreading your natural net wide, and implementing an employee referral program.
• When hiring, focus on culture fit and work ethic – and train the rest. Experience and character (NOT resumes) is ALL.
• The biggest key to retaining employees with talent in your practice? CULTURE.
• Retain employees by creating a safe zone for them to critique their experience (and yes, even you).
• Offshore employees are an incredibly untapped resource that can bring warmth, skill, and professionalism to your team at a significantly lower cost.

Nowadays, anyone can create a social media page and broadcast opinions on how to structure your tax and accounting business (and believe us, we’ve seen plenty of that).

But how many of them have actually walked the walk and seen success? And are they skilled in a niche market, or are they just a jack of all trades and master of none?

Meet Brandon Hall, founder and managing partner at Hall CPA PLLC – a modern, seven-figure accounting firm servicing real estate owners with a growth rate of 40-50% per year. In this episode, Brandon shares with Nate Hagerty (TaxProMarketer CEO) how he built his way to success by discovering his niche market and sticking with it. You’ll also hear Brandon’s groundbreaking (and proven) approach to pricing his services and hiring employees. 

More places you can find Brandon:

https://twitter.com/bhallcpa

https://mailchi.mp/439971dedec2/bmf

You might have someone on your team with an incredible knack for tax and accounting services. 

They love engaging with clients, are a whiz with numbers, and pick up new projects faster than you can lay them down. (If a name came to mind, read on…)

How can you make space for them to fly?

In this episode, Caleb Jenkins from RLJ Financial Services and Nate Hagerty (TaxProMarketer CEO) share how to give your employees the freedom to grow. At age 16, Caleb became the youngest certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. He has been listed as Top 100 ProAdvisor and 40 Under 40 in the Accounting Profession for several consecutive years. Caleb also serves on the Intuit ProConnect Customer Tax Council, on the ADP Accountants Advisory Board, and as an Educator and QuickBooks Consultant with the SALT Microfinance Program, which works with those in chronic poverty in developing countries. 

Caleb’s passion is championing what we are really doing in the industry – which is not only providing trustworthy accounting services that help people overcome financial obstacles but also doing that better every day.

Places you’ll find Caleb:

https://www.rljfinancial.com/who-we-are/caleb-jenkins

https://twitter.com/CalebLJenkins

https://www.linkedin.com/in/calebjenkins1994/

We hate to break it to you, but… 

The internet is not special. It’s just one of many marketing principles to lay hold of (albeit - a necessary one in this time).

At least, that’s what our guest Jassen Bowman, EA, asserts in this episode of the ProMarketer Podcast. He says it’s no different from any other offline marketing medium. 

Of course, tax and accounting firms still need a strong online presence and a plan for marketing to new and existing clientele. 

But despite all the fancy tips and tricks for how to market online, a lot of the tried-and-true marketing principles still apply to the internet. After all, why reinvent the wheel when it’s rolling just fine?

In this episode, Jassen Bowman joins TaxProMarketer CEO Nate Hagerty to discuss how fundamental marketing principles are more applicable than ever for both your online and offline marketing. As an Enrolled Agent, Jassen has presented over 500 live seminars and webinars to CPAs, EAs, and attorneys on the subjects of tax firm marketing, practice management, ethics, real estate, and taxpayer representation. He has authored over a dozen books for tax professionals and written for NSA's Main Street Practitioner, NAEA's EA Journal, AccountingWeb, and CPA Trendlines. 

Check out Jassen’s latest book, Profit Optimizers: 12 Big Ideas for a More Profitable Tax Firm, here: https://jassenbowman.com/books/