Latest / The Accounting Leads Now Podcast / Why You're Quietly Losing Clients (And What Top Firms Do Instead) | with Roger Knecht

Transcript

Why You're Quietly Losing Clients (And What Top Firms Do Instead) | with Roger Knecht · The Accounting Leads Now Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to CFO Chronicles the secrets behind success the go-to podcast for fractional CFOs and accounting firm owners who want to attract more high-paying clients and increase their revenue.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Hosted by James Donovan from Nine Two Media, this podcast dives into marketing strategies specifically designed for lead generation and client acquisition.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: In each episode, you'll hear from industry leaders sharing their success stories and expert tactics to help you sign more lucrative clients and grow your business.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Tune in and discover actionable insights to transform your marketing efforts and boost your bottom line to your bottom line.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Today's guest is someone who's been helping accounting professionals not just run their firms, but truly built them into premier, high value businesses.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Roger Connect is the president of Universal Accounting Center, where he equips accounting professionals with the strategies, tools and confidence to offer value-added services that go beyond compliance work.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: He's also the driving force behind Universal Business Builder, helping business owners increase sales, improve profits and, ultimately, build value to their business.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Roger, I'm so excited to have you on the show.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: We've had the chance to work together a couple times.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: We personally met last year at your event, growcon in Jacksonville that's right and we're going to be meeting up again in Utah in the spring for GrowCon 2025, which I'm really looking forward to.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: But welcome to the show.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I'm so excited for everyone else to hear a little bit about your story and how you help accounting firms.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: Well, James, first of all, it's a pleasure and thank you.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: And yes, it's always exciting to speak with you.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: So, roger, tell me, how did you get in into this space?
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Like, take me back to before universal accounting began.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: What does that look?
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: like yeah, the evolution is very simple.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: I was actually working as a headhunter, a recruiter, so I was placing individuals that had some accounting background experience in various positions so it was mid-management, entry-level management type positions.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: And as I was needing my resource which were the people I found Universal Accounting Center, and it basically happened out that the graduates were great people for me to place on assignments.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: So as I was taking these individuals and putting them into the clients that I was working with, I got wonderful feedback.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: They were very pleased with the skills, the quality, and so I would go back again and again and get graduates from the classes and place them on assignment, and I found that that was not only very productive and helpful, but in the same time I began basically familiarizing myself more and more with the school, the admin and who's running the program, and it was through that acquaintance that I actually began doing some consulting work for Universal Accounting Center, and so that was basically in 1999.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: We're going on nearly three decades now, and so here I am, back in 1999 doing consultative work, and they offered me a position to come on full-time and, through a little bit of finagling, made that transition and started working with them full-time at the turn of the century that's so cool.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: I have so many different questions I would ask in so many different directions to go into.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Um, let's start with I.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: I guess where, where do you guys come in, you and your team?
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: I know you work with a ton of firms, I think outside the US as well, but primarily in the US.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: Yes, mostly the US.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: We have some in Canada, but the principal is the United States.
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: But we do have them around the world.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, everything that we're talking about here can easily be applied around the world, but the lion's share of our graduates, the students, happen to be from the United States.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Okay, perfect.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Well, and you always say accounting is universal.
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: There you go.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: So tell me a little bit about where universal accounting comes in, or, I guess, when prospects are coming through the door, looking to speak with your team.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: What is it you guys are helping them complete?
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: What can they expect to accomplish after working with you and your team?
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: Perfect, yeah, what we're basically doing is we're a post-secondary school for accounting professionals, so as a school we're offering trainings, programs, certifications to help individuals in their career.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: In essence, we can put them into three groups.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: We've got those that are trying to improve their career from an employment point of view, so they want skills for career advancement.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: The second happens to be individuals that are in the process of starting a bookkeeping, accounting or tax business.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: As they're in that startup phase, there's a number of things that they're struggling with that might be marketing, selling, pricing.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: Just how do they actually go through that process of now moving beyond just those handful of clients that they might've gotten originally to now actually having a business where they're intentionally going out and marketing and selling their services and onboarding these clients?
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: But then there's a third group.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: There's an individual that is basically established.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: They're already running a business, they perhaps have employees, but how do they now transition that business to what I refer to as becoming the premier accounting firm in their area?
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: And that's where we focus on the three core services of accounting services, ranging from bookkeeping all the way up to CFO and advisory services, and then, with that, we're training their staff, we're helping them actually grow their business from a more intentional perspective, and what we're hopefully helping them do is build an asset that they can later exit from, sell and really experience some thriving success with.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: There's so much happening there.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: It sounds like there's such a heavy lift and so much value being added to the firms and the clients you're working with.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: What stands out as some of the most exciting wins, either since you've been with Universal Accounting or even just as of late?
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: What are those ones that keep you excited about doing this every single day?
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: Great question.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, one of the things that really gets me excited is I feel that we're bringing to the accounting community what I refer to as a voice.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: My whole legacy, if you will, is to actually empower the accounting professional to realize that it's more than just the skills, the abilities to, let's say, prepare financial reports, file tax returns.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: It's actually going to the point now where you actually have information that is impactful, valuable to the business owners.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: And if we can actually communicate to them what the business is trying to communicate through the language of accounting, so that they can be empowered to make more informed business decisions, I think we're playing a proper role then, as an accounting profession, to help the small business community.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: So if we're in a situation where, as accountants, we just see we're doing the compliance work yes, we can check off that the financials have been done, the tax returns have been filed, I mean that's great that we actually can look at this from a task perspective, but at the end of the day, what did we do to further enable the business to be successful, to be profitable?
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: And so that's where I think we get more proactive in our abilities, that's where, as an accounting profession, we become more engaged with our clients, and then that's ultimately where we make the most money anyway.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: So that's what we can ultimately do to further retain our clients and get paid what we're worth.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: That's so cool.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: It's really making that shift from the person you speak to.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: At the end of the year file the taxes.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: It's kind of a business expense versus.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: This is a strategic investment over the course of the year and we're going to see massive gains on it.
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you described it very well.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: It's the mind shift of the business owner to realize this isn't this necessary evil to be in business, that it's an expense, like you said, that I have to endure simply because I'm in business.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: No, it's really to say this is an asset, this is a relationship that I can have with an accounting professional that can enable me to be more successful, more profitable, and so they start to see you as someone that's essential or integral to their success.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: That's the different type of relationship and it's one that you want to have with your clients.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: What are some of the most common pains you see, or struggles or bottlenecks you see of firms who are coming in?
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: So we'll put aside maybe the, the employees who are maybe looking to get into their own position, but the firms kind of in that third group you're speaking about.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Are there common bottlenecks or struggles or pains that you see come through that you're like yep, we've, we've solved this before.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: We can certainly do it again.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: You guys are in the right spot.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: And what are those?
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: pains and bottlenecks.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: Well, there's actually a few, and I'll just mention a few here and you can see which ones you maybe want to delve into One's self-doubt.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: I don't think we really appreciate what our worth is and what we really can do for our clients.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: I think we go in and we underprice ourselves.
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: We don't really service our clients effectively.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: We just kind of go into that task, mindset of it's a commodity and therefore I'm just going to go through it.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: So there's some limiting beliefs, I believe, as to the value of what our services are and how it can impact our clients.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: The other that I would also add to it is the fact that, with regards to our services, I think we do a poor job of explaining exactly what it is we offer.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: I think that, as a profession, we struggle to define the defining difference between bookkeeping services, accounting services, tax preparation services, tax planning services, cfo services, advisory services.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: This is what I refer to as the core that really, as a profession, we need to be offering.
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: It's where I speak of becoming the premier accounting firm.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: If you're offering these core services, you're able to actually meet all the needs that your client has as it relates to the accounting profession.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: You can obviously decide of those six that I've just mentioned, which of those you would like to ideally focus on and perhaps only offer?
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: You can be a very profitable bookkeeping business and that's all you're offering.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: But you can also be a thriving accounting firm where you have on staff bookkeeping experts, accounting experts, cfo experts, tax planning experts, and if you've got those, clearly you can charge for each of them individually.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: But the point is, does your client understand what they're paying for and do they understand what they should expect to get from you as you're providing these services?
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: How long do you find it takes the firms who are coming in to work with your team to break that mold of really understanding I am worth more and this is how we're going to communicate the value, because that I mean that can be.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: That sounds like that could be a very challenging piece to get through and I know you have mindset coaches on your team to assist with your clients, which I think is so powerful, but generally, like that's not going to be a Roger I haven't broken through the mindset yet in two weeks.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Like this isn't for me.
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, great question, very true.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: So let me kind of outline this, and I'm going to start with what I refer to as the key principles.
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: To be success, there's two characteristics confidence and competence.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: It's the confidence to look a business owner in the eye and say that I can do this for you, I can take care of your needs, I can service you where you're needing the help.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: The competence is then the ability to go back to the office, perform the work as expected, quickly, efficiently and profitably.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: If you're able to competently do the work, it's worth your while.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: There's a win there.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: So the point is, is we're going to focus on those two things?
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: Well, as it relates to confidence, that varies from person to person.
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: Some individuals it takes just going through the training, getting a certification, that validation that a third-party entity has actually tested me and proven that I do know what I'm talking about, that's reassuring to the individual.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: And so when they're able to put behind their name a professional bookkeeper designation, a PB, a professional tax preparer designation, that of a professional PTP, those things there give individuals, certain people, confidence to say I know what I'm doing because somebody else has tested me and proven that I in fact am competent in this ability, but other people.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: They need a little bit more, and you brought up the success coaching that we provide.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: It's not just the academic coach to help you understand the concepts and principles.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: It's the life coach to actually help you take some of those mind shifts that you're needing to make in your mind and help you understand.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: You are deserving of this.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: There isn't an imposter syndrome that you need to experience.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: You are capable of doing this work and can offer it.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: These things that you go through as you're an entrepreneur can be very lonely and as a success coach works with you to ensure that you actually have a healthy mindset as it relates to money and financial success.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: All of those things are breakthroughs that individuals have in days, weeks and months, but at the end of the day, it's the connection of skills, your ability to do this and confidence.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: So if I could simplify it, I would say it's generally accelerating the process, taking what might take months into weeks, and at that same time, it's enabling you to then follow a turnkey process, just trusting the process, going through a system that we've developed since 1979 to help individuals successfully go out there and offer these services.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: That's so good.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: I think I asked you a little bit earlier, but we may have not completely got to it and don't feel like you need to share names if you don't want to.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: But with all of the things you guys are offering your clients, can you tell us about a story of someone who came in?
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: I'm guessing they were struggling and you know the up and to the right story they've had and where they're at now and what their business looks like and how they can attribute a lot of that success back to working with you and your team.
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: I can.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: So I'm going to mention one that just the other day I got permission to share this.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: So it's kind of interesting.
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: I'll just give it some context.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: Her name is Tina Chandler.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: Tina is someone that I've worked with for a number of years now and coincidentally I was speaking with her and I had the same question asked and so in a similar recording, I shared her story and I had the recording and I went back to her and I said hey, tina, your name came up and I shared your story and I just wanted to get your permission.
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: So she just literally the other day, said yeah, you're okay sharing the story.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: So I'm going to do it again.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: And what Tina's story is is she came first of all the universal accounting only from a skills point of view.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: She had a position with a company working as a bookkeeper, and she was struggling.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: She felt like she wasn't as competent as she needed to be from an employment point of view.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: She didn't want to disappoint her employer and so she was going to self-invest come, get some skills and go through our program.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: Well, as she went through the training and got the skills, she was exposed to some of this concept of starting a bookkeeping business supplementing your income, just getting a few clients on the side.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: Now you've got to understand, she's from a very rural community, she's from a small farming city town, if I am more specific, and she just didn't realize that she had the means to really have a business.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: But she thought, well, why not just take on a client or two and see where that might go?
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: So she opened up this idea of I'm going to start a business.
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: Well, that's a big step from somebody that was just from the employment mindset.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: This is you've got to get a business name, you've got to get a business license, you've got to figure out what your pricing is, you've got to figure out some marketing.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: I mean, to what level did she want to take this?
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: Well, we were prodding her along, not because we were intentionally singling her out and pushing her along, but through the things that we communicate.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: She was like, well, I could do that.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Oh, I'll try that next and I'll do this.
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: Well, she started her business.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: And then, with her business, she needed to reach back out to Universal Accounting through the coaching that we offer and say, hey, can you help me set up my client or work with me on this situation that my client's experiencing.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: I'm not as experienced with it myself.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: Am I doing it right.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: So as she was getting the support from Universal Accounting, her confidence went up, and so she.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: So she started to take on one more client, one more client.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: Well, it eventually led to her leaving her position, starting her business, growing her business.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: She now has staff.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: She's now making a six-figure income herself.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: Personally, she has done so much more than she ever expected only because of the fact that she was open-minded, willing to basically put herself out there and try what it was that we were providing to her as a turnkey process.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: And so she's gone from I've just got a bookkeeping job just making an average income to now I've got a six-figure income with a thriving business offering quality services.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: She's now not just doing bookkeeping, but she's in the accounting space.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: She's doing CFO and advisory work.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: For her this has been just a life-changing experience.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: She's had the support of her family.
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: Her husband's been very supportive.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, this wasn't what she initially planned when she initially enrolled.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: She was intending to actually just get the skills to keep her job, maybe get a promotion, perhaps a pay increase, and today she's just giddy over where she's now grown her business.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: That's so cool.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: That is a massive testimonial and a massive win.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: I'm really hoping that the audio kept going through in a couple pieces there and it was just my internet that was cutting out, so we'll see when we play it back.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: But I got majority of that, roger, and that is so cool that your team was able to assist with that and bring Tina to that win.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: I'm still here, there you go.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: Okay, all right.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: So, roger, tell us a little bit about GrowCon and what's coming up at GrowCon 2025.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: I had the pleasure of being there last year and meeting you and some of the team members and your clientele who was there and different students.
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: It was great success and I've been told GrowCon 2025 is going to be bigger, better.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: I'm really looking forward to it in Utah as well.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: So what can people expect who maybe don't know about GrowCon, and why should they go?
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: I'm kind of throwing a lot of different questions at you.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: I'm very excited about it.
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, growcon phenomenal experience.
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: It's basically what we do to celebrate the accounting profession.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: So we bring on stage those experts that help us run our businesses.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: So we're talking about topics ranging from marketing, selling, pricing, what accounting services we need to be providing to our clients, how to best service our clients as it relates to onboarding them, retaining them.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: We're talking about workflow tech stacks, we're talking about AI, obviously, and it's in that process that we also interweave conversations about mental health, because the conference is for the owners of bookkeeping, accounting and tax businesses.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: So as the owners come together, they're getting what I feel is needed for them to work on their business, but at the same time, they're also meeting a number of other peers who are like them in the same process of working on growing their businesses, and it's through these peers that they find new friendships, they network, they do some collaborations, they may find opportunities to service their clients and maybe offer additional services that they weren't currently offering.
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: So through this, I think it's a big thing from a mental point of view, an emotional point of view, because you make those connections, but then you also get to meet our staff at Universal Accounting, those people who are literally committed to helping you be in business for yourself, but not by yourself.
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: So this is an industry-wide conference.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: It's small in nature in the sense that it's meant to be something that's from the main stage, where you're able to meet and mingle with individuals, but it is literally for the owners of bookkeeping, accounting and tax businesses.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: I invite all of your listeners to come join us.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: It's an event you will not want to miss.
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: As you come, you're going to find that it's time well spent and, most importantly, I believe that you're going to get the energy you need to go back to the office and really make this the best year that you can, so that you can, in fact, look back on whether it's 2025 or any other year, and say that was the best place I could have been to get what I needed to be successful, I hope.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: I hope people listening get tickets.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: We'll put a link in the show notes so people can read a little bit more about GrowCon.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: But personally, being there as well, I would highly encourage everyone to attend.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: It's a great, it's a great event that your team puts on.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: Please join us.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: Love to have you there.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Roger, what gets you the most excited about?
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Your role with Universal Accounting or your role in this industry?
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: Well, it's two things.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: One, I feel that we are making a difference.
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: There's a lot of people that look at the profession as, let's say, a job.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: It's just something that they do as a career, and I really feel that we've helped individuals realize that they can make a difference.
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: They can have an impact on the clients that they work with, and I really feel that by giving them that voice, they've gone out there and started to make a difference, and so the conversations I have where people feel like they are making that difference is very rewarding.
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: But the second thing I would say is, as it relates to just the work itself, it's the personal interactions that I have with individuals like Tina, who literally didn't see what they were capable of doing.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: They didn't realize their potential, and it's helping understand there is something that you can do.
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: It's living the American dream, and what I find is, as a school since we've been doing this since 1979, it's so many individuals that are coming in with a hope Can you just help me learn a skill, learn a thing that I can maybe go out and do something a little bit better in my career, and then it changes their lives.
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: They get the confidence they didn't realize that it was there for them to have.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: They get that skill that they didn't realize existed as it related to accounting and it took them to a new level.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: So all of those personal experiences where people were able to come up to me and say thank you have been amazing.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: You have to realize again I've been doing this for nearly 30 years now and over those years I've got people that not only had that transition but have since started and sold their businesses.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: They're coming to me now out of retirement saying you changed my life.
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: I was able to start a business, run a business for 10, 15, 20 years and then retire, and that's where they're at in their lives is.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: They're coming to me saying this is the entire journey that I had, simply because of what I did back in the 1990s, the early 2000s, with Universal Accounting Center.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: So because I've seen this evolution for now more than two decades has been incredible.
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: So it's not just some pie in the sky opportunity that I think can work out.
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: I've seen it all the way to its end.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: What's next for Universal Accounting?
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: Good question.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: So a lot's going on.
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: We annually update all of our curriculum, so we're currently updating all of our courses.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: Now, with regards to that, we've got some things as it relates to GrowCon that we're excited about, that we'll be announcing.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: But I think, more than anything for Universal Accounting Center, it's what more can we do as it relates to helping the accounting profession realize its role as it works with small business owners, and so we've got some things that I've been excited about in the last 12 months that we've rolled out.
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: I've written two books.
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: With the books, I've gone on some social media type campaigns where we've actually been pushing a number of things.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: Those things have been, I think, kind of leaps forward as to Universal's role in the accounting profession.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: I'm excited to see what's next to come.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: You guys are doing awesome stuff.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: What's your?
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: It's probably tough to say one piece of advice, but if you can narrow down to one or a couple pieces of advice to the firm has been at it for, call it, three, five years.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: They're doing well, but it's just.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: You know, it feels like they're on a hamster wheel.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: They're not breaking through that glass ceiling.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: There's the thought of, oh, maybe do I go back and like this is a lot, Am I really getting ahead?
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: They're not really thinking about quitting, but they're kind of stuck.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: What would be your advice to those firms?
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: I'm going to give you three pieces of advice.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: The first is one that I was given when I became president of Universal Accounting Center.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: I'm the third president.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: One of the advice that I received was go to conferences and get out there in the industry, expose yourself to your peers, hear what's going on, see what the movers and shakers are talking about, and so my point is is you just need to get out of your own bubble, and I think too often what we do is we work very hard, put our heads down, we do that grindstone of work, work, work and, at the same time, basically focus on the clients.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: Well, I think we need to focus on ourselves, and so getting out there, stepping outside of the business, finding time to work on the business ourselves, is very important.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: The second thing I would point out is there are what I refer to as the keys to success.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: It's passion, quality, commitment, knowledge of the numbers, and then personal time, and I'm going to talk about personal time.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: I think we don't actually recharge ourselves enough, and so there's a lot of studies out there.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: I talk a lot about this, so we can go into detail if we had time, but the point is is I think we fail to live and enjoy life.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: We work.
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: We need to do more work to live life, and I think your life is an example of that.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: There's so much to enjoy in this world, so much to experience in life, and we need to actually make sure our priorities are right.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: There's relationships that matter.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: Are we giving those people that matter most in our lives the time they deserve?
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: What I'm just talking about here is oftentimes, as entrepreneurs, we get into this mindset of we've got to sacrifice and, yes, sacrifice is necessary for success.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: But every so often you need to step back and recharge, recommit with the people that matter most in your life.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Find those things that allow you to have that energy you need.
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: That's contagious for your customers to be drawn to and your employees to be drawn to as well.
• 24:56
  Speaker 3: The third thing I would point out is this mindset of becoming an accountrepreneur.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: An accountrepreneur is recognizing the fact that you're marrying the accounting skills services that you offer with the entrepreneur mindset, and if you can get those two to mesh well, you're going to thrive, because when you realize you are running a business and you treat it like a business, just like all of your clients, you actually do business differently simply because of your attitude shifts, and so those are the three things that I'd share.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: That's so.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: That's so impactful.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: Up until the the accountrepreneur.
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: As I'm not an accountant but working in the space, I really was latching on to the first two you were speaking about, and I'm a part of a couple masterminds as well, and I have an event coming up next week which I'm very excited about Because, like you said, said it's just, it is recharging to get back in to that space.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: You get out of your bubble of okay, these are the four walls I'm in, here's what other people are doing and like it.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: It is rejuvenating.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: And and going to industry events.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: I'm super excited about GrowCon coming up and the piece that that really hit was I'm probably gonna get the wording wrong but building your business, building your life around your business, not your business around your life, because unless you're being intentional, it's not going to change magically when you wake up one day.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: You really need to have that cutoff time and be purposeful of what you want to do.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: So I really love those three pieces you just shared.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: Well, one thing to add about the conferences and I think everyone can identify with this, especially if you have attended one in the past.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: When you go, generally speaking, as you interact with people, you're going to find those people that are doing better than you and you're inspired.
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: You're like you know what?
• 26:39
  Speaker 3: I need to step up my game.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: They're clearly doing better than I am and I'm as good as they are.
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: They're no different than I am, and so you're inspired by the fact that, yeah, there are people that are actually raising the bar and you're going to go back to the office and now up your game, and that's important.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: The second is is in that meeting, you're also going to meet people that you're inspirational to.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: They're going to look to you and go oh, my heavens, I love what you're accomplishing.
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: Well, it's nice to get a few of those pats on the back and people that actually recognize your success, because I think too often we do so much, sacrifice so much, and no one actually acknowledges that.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: Well, these people do, and these are your peers, and they're going to pat you on the back and say you know what?
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: I really appreciate what you're doing.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: You've inspired me, and that's just simply because of the conversations you're having with peers who, like you, are trying to be successful, and they find success in what you've already accomplished.
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: So those are big things.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: But the third thing I would actually point out is when you go, typically at these events, you have vendors.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: Vendors that are there who, yes, are intending to actually offer you services.
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: But I want you to understand something about the vendor area.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: It is an absolute must that you need to go there and actually see what they have to offer, because too often what it is is we're old school.
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: I'm doing what I'm doing because of how I've always done it.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: These vendors come and they offer you tools, resources, solutions to address problems you're facing that you didn't realize you had.
• 27:53
  Speaker 3: And all of a sudden, what you can do is invest in your business, invest in yourself and oftentimes resolve things for yourself or your clients.
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: That takes your business to a whole new level because of a new technology, a new process, a new system.
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: Those vendors are there to actually help you take your business to a whole new level.
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: Tap into that.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: Don't be one of those that kind of rushes through the vendor area or skips through and doesn't pay attention.
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: Talk to every one of them.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: If anything, you're going to come away more educated as to what's moving and happening in the profession, which you should be aware of.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: Again, just more great advice over and over again.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Roger, this is a great episode.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for coming on and taking the time to share all this insight, share a little bit about your story.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: I really hope everyone reaches out and continues the conversation with you and your team.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: I hope everyone comes to GrowCon in Utah in early in, early, early mid May, early May.
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the fifth through the seventh.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Roger.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: First of all, my pleasure.
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: I enjoyed the conversation.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: I appreciate the opportunity.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Thanks for tuning into this episode of CFO Chronicles the secrets behind success.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: I hope you found value in today's conversation.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things.
• 29:05
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• 29:09
  Speaker 2: If you enjoyed today's discussion, please rate and review the show.
• 29:12
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• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Second, if you're ready to take your business to the next level and attract the high end clients you deserve, head over to accountingleadsnowcom or click the link in the show notes to book your strategy.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: Call it's time to position yourself as the advisor your clients need.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: And don't forget you can connect with me on LinkedIn to stay up to date on what's happening in the world of accounting and financial growth.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: We've got more exciting topics coming up, so stay tuned for the next episode of CFO Chronicles.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Until then, keep pushing forward.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: Your growth is just one strategic move away.
• 30:00
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• 30:06
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• 30:10
  Speaker 1: Until next time, keep striving for success and unlocking your business's potential.