Growing Your Firm | Strategies For Accountants, Cpa's, Bookkeepers , And Tax Professionals

Today we welcome Breanne Mode on the podcast. Breanne is the Director of Client Accounting and Advisory Services (CAAS) at Cbiz. After a visit to a QuickBooks Connect conference in San Jose, CA, Breanne decided that her flight back was a networking opportunity, instead of her typical relaxation time. Of course, this happened to be the plane ride where taking out her headphones led to a great opportunity for her and her business. As she sat next to Greg Landers, Managing Director of Cbiz, they built a business relationship that ultimately led Greg to ask Breanne to be his right hand person. Brennane had built a very foundational practice in the interim with 3 employees and approximately $500k in revenue. After ironing out some M&A-like details, Brenanne joined the Cbiz team as their Director of CAAS and set the table for our conversation today.

Today we sat down with a special guest, Don Emery. Don is the General Manager of Doc.It and has been with them for over 10 years. Doc.It was acquired by Iris in 2021. On our show we’ll cover:  Transition of going from a paper-based to paperless practice  Consolidation and build outs across the industry  Talent, team management, retention & much more

Brannon is the founder of Poe Group Advisors & Accounting Practice Academy. He is also a returning guest on the show! Poe Group Advisors is based out of Charleston, SC. The group is known for their processes surrounding facilitating the buying and selling of CPA firms. We enjoy an annual conversation with Brannon about M&A and his expertise in the buyers and sellers market of accounting firms. Join us for the 2023 version as we talk with Brannon on how he sees the market reacting to a post-COVID era and trends associated with the world we all live in today.

Today we talk through how to think about your own wealth. The listener should be asking themselves a simple question: How are you thinking about the wealth YOU are creating? We welcome Colleen, a Certified Financial Planner, at IG Wealth Management on today’s show. Colleen shares a wealth of knowledge (literally) about her experiences in the financial planning realm. She shares an outside approach to planning, especially for firm owners. The conversation today is less focused on partnerships, referrals, or adding wealth management to a practice, and more focused on those running the practice and how their wealth management is on a personal level. Colleen kicks us off by saying: ‘Every wealth [management] person wants to partner with them [firm owners], but no one asks how they are doing.’

Today we welcome back guest Jeff Jacobs where we talk through some interpersonal conversation that dives much deeper than the accounting business itself. Jeff and David cover momentum, self assessment, breaking chains, and much more. Jeff is a returning guest on our podcast where we previously covered client acquisition, retention, and expansion. Jeff is the Director of Development at  Wilkins Miller, where he will tell you he does everything except accounting. Jeff is active in his firm, daily life, and an exciting guest that we’re excited to have back on the show.

Shauna is a returning guest on our show. She is the owner of Tax Goddess Business Services ® and a certified tax coach. Shauna also acts as an author, speaker, and investor. Skilled in many and all things, learn more about Shauna’s career here. Today we welcome back a well thought and experienced guest, Shauna Wekherlien, CPA and founder of Tax Goddess Business Services. This is part 2 of our interview with Shauna. Check out Part 1 here. In the summary and podcast Jetpack covers Shanua’s inside look at team building and recruiting.

James has experience in all things accounting. He has 20 professional years of experience working within firms including serving as a director of Ernst & Young in Sydney, Australia. He has 5 years of senior finances roles under his belt as well.  Prior to COVID, James started his own firm, JD Scott & Co. Here, lies the interesting part of James’ story. His firm focuses on hiring part-time employees, does not utilize administrative personnel, and doesn’t own a printer.  Wait a minute, James… How does he do it? We’ll cover more in this episode.  

Join us today as we talk with Mark Stovel and his proven systems that help accountants take home $250k annually. We’ll talk through equity positions, win-wins, and much more. Simply put, Mark helps accountants take home $250k annually. After launching his firm in 2017, Gyroscope Accounting was acquired in 2021. Now, Mark helps clients through coaching. Mark’s experience began by obtaining bookkeeping clients during the early stages of his career. After leaving the corporate firm, Mark joined a manufacturing company as its controller. Three years later,, he moved across the country to start his CPA firm.

Shauna Wekherlien is the owner of Tax Goddess Business Services, a CPA firm located in Scottsdale, AZ. Tax Goddess is a firm that focuses on tax strategy and planning to help lower and minimize taxes for business owners and investors.  At the time this was written, her firm had saved their clients over $740,264,635. Talk about lowering and minimizing taxes!  Shauna earned the name ‘tax goddess’ after needing to market herself at a networking event, and 60 seconds to do it. Quickly, she decided ‘tax goddess’ was an eye catching and head spinning name, so she went for it. A marketing friend at the same event loved how it sounded, and 17 years ago, Shauna the Tax Goddess was born.

Jeff, a fan of our show, is the Director of Development at Wilkins Miller. Wilkins Miller is a top 400 Accounting firm in Mobile, AL. He started his career in IT business development and soon transferred to development, which we will cover throughout. Ultimately, Jeff is in the pursuit of new clients and new business. On today’s episode we sat down with Jeff Jacobs, and talked about retention, hiring, development, and most importantly, relationships. 

Amy is the CEO, keynote speaker, and consultant at B3 Method Institute. B3 Method Institute is an educational organization focused on providing work-life harmony. Since you’re in the learning mood, here’s a ‘math’ problem of the B3 Method: (Business + Balance = Bliss).  In our latest podcast, Amy Vetter shared her philosophy on creating harmony in life and work to help create purpose in our work. 

Dan has quite the story and journey unlike any other. After finding himself in prison twice during his teenage years, he found a second chance in life. He was able to get sober and began starting companies beginning at the age of 18. By the time he reached 24, he began to see some true success. However, because of the demand from his newly started company, Sphere Technologies, Dan still experienced issues in his personal life. On today’s podcast, we sat down with high energy and highly focused Dan Martell. Through conversations of deep intellect and the introduction of incredibly new principles, Dan and David discover the whos, whats, whens, wheres, and whys of buying back your time.

Today, we sat down with Darren Root, Chief Strategist at Rootworks & Right Networks.  Rootworks is a company of Right Networks. They focus on firm improvement and emphasize the drive of helping small to medium-size accounting firms improve every day.  Let’s jump right in.

Joe and Carla are from Long Island, NY, where they took the train into the city at the very beginning of their journey. During their commute, they discovered the Growing Your Firm Podcast, taking in as much information as possible. They started Cycle CPA at one of the most challenging times any of us have faced, Q4 of 2019 as it led into the testing time of 2020. Thankfully, due to Carla’s previous professional experience, they landed in the right niche. Because COVID-19 created much demand for home improvement projects and investments in people’s homes, this allowed for their business in the green industry to thrive and grow, both figuratively and literally.

Roger is a returning guest on the Growing Your Firm Podcast and we are excited to have him back! He is the president of Universal Accounting, a friend of our show, and tends to make our inbox light up. Universal Accounting is considered a post-secondary school for accounting professionals, and Robert and his team help countless individuals.  David and Roger discuss the abnormalities businesses were faced with during and after the COVID Pandemic.  David Cristello, founder and CEO of Jetpack Workflow, offers two questions and perspectives for Roger, and the biggest takeaway here is to study which routes accounting firms are taking, now that we are nearing 2023.

We’re back with another solocast! In this episode, David Cristello, founder and CEO of Jetpack Workflow reminds us of the importance of staying a student during the holiday season.  This time of the year is crazy. On the personal front, you’re purchasing and navigating a lot of different buying experiences. You’re also factoring in changes that may be happening in 2023 as well.  You’ll also start to think about these things for your business. During this time, it’s important to stay a student of your buying experiences by keeping in mind what’s working and what’s not.

Rob Nixon has worked in the accounting industry for 28 years. He began his journey in May of 1994 when he started a seminar company in a small Australian town: Dubbo, NSW, Australia. After getting noticed by an accountant who wanted him to present his seminar to his clients, Rob decided to fully focus on accounting firm marketing for accountants. Since then, Rob has trained about 200,000 accountants and coached around 600 firms. Rob Nixon is back again in this recent edition of the Growing Your Firm Podcast! CEO and founder of Jetpack Workflow David Cristello interviews Rob Nixon, an accounting coach. The two talk about: Benchmarking Reports What surprised Rob here? Getting stuck in a comfortable rut Why should you grow in revenue and work fewer hours?

Geraldine Carter is a business coach who aims to help CPAs get the life and business they want. She runs her own website and is the host of the Business Strategies for CPAs podcast. She has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Cornell University. Besides business coaching and working with accountants, Geraldine enjoys mountain biking, trails, and raising her family.  Through her experiences with coaching CPAs, Geraldine has a lot of information to help you move forward with your practices and your firm. In this Growing Your Firm Podcast, CEO and Founder of Jetpack Workflow David Cristello interviews Geraldine Carter. Geraldine has been on the show before and came back to talk about her experiences with business coaching and provide examples of what plagues CPAs/accountants. Many elements of life hold back firm owners—money, sense of value, where to go next, etc. Clients and the mental mind are two perfect examples of what holds back CPAs/accountants. If you don’t listen to your clients and find your int

Shanita Jones is a co-owner of a childcare business and a CPA in the childcare industry. Her main goal is to help childcare business owners overcome their struggles in the industry. Other than focusing on childcare, Shanita also loves copy. She assists others with mastering their copy and messaging styles. Besides work, Shanita is a big reader and learner. In today’s Growing Your Firm Podcast, founder and CEO of Jetpack Workflow David Cristello introduces Shanita Jones--the CEO of Jones Tax and Financial Services. She recently achieved the Two Comma Club Award (reaching seven figures in her business). Shanita talks about how she found her niche and her style in marketing. Over the years, she gathered inspiration for the practices she performs now. After reading, you will, too!

Reza Hooda runs an accounting practice on the South Coast of New Hampshire in the U.K. Reza first started as a firm owner, but now he offers to coach other accountants who are willing to positively transform their work practices. Reza’s website is rezahooda.com. In this Growing Your Firm Podcast, Jetpack CEO and founder David Cristello brought in Reza Hooda, a mentor for growing accountants. Reza discusses how he went from a struggling firm owner to only working 10 hours a week at his one million dollar firm. Reza introduces some key aspects that helped him get to where he is now.