Latest / Transforming: Tales of Business Evolution / TfP 014. Building Balance in a Virtual Firm

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TfP 014. Building Balance in a Virtual Firm · Transforming: Tales of Business Evolution

0:03
Erin Hartman: Welcome to Transforming Tales
0:06
of Business Evolution,
0:07
where we delve into the dynamic worlds
0:09
of business transformation.
0:11
Each episode is designed
0:13
for firms of any size and scale,
0:15
exploring both innovative long
0:16
term planning and day to day
0:18
operating practices that help
0:20
organizations adapt to a changing landscape.
0:23
Join us each month as we hear from Leaders in
0:25
the Public Accounting Profession
0:27
sharing their experiences
0:28
of reshaping their business models and inspiring
0:31
you to explore new ways to evolve your own organization.
0:35
Let's dive into this month's conversation now.
0:37
Hello, I'm here with
0:40
Kelly Rohrs who is a CPA and Firm Owner.
0:44
As we've been thinking about guests that will be
0:46
impactful and fit the
0:48
vision of the transforming podcast,
0:50
we noticed a post of Kelly's on LinkedIn that talked
0:55
about how her firm does not have
0:57
excessive overtime even during busy season.
0:59
We definitely wanted to
1:01
find out more about that very intriguing,
1:04
and we wanted to talk to her about
1:06
what her journey looks like.
1:07
Kelly, thank you for being here with us today.
1:09
Kelly Rohrs: Thank you so much for having me.
1:11
Erin Hartman: Before we get into the details of
1:14
what everybody wants to hear and learn about from you,
1:17
can you tell us a little bit about your practice,
1:20
the size, your location,
1:22
number of employees, that type of thing?
1:24
Kelly Rohrs: I have a Firm on Long Island.
1:28
Born and raised here, I started my Firm July 1, 2021,
1:35
after working about a decade for a small firm on
1:40
Long Island I have since grown to four staff members,
1:47
including two CPAs, a Bookkeeper, and Admin.
1:50
We're looking to hire somebody else right now.
1:52
We specialize in professional services.
1:55
Over half of our clients are attorneys.
1:57
We deal with medical professionals, real estate.
1:59
We do tax returns compliance
2:03
for almost all of our clients,
2:05
and then we also assist you with financial statements,
2:09
bookkeeping, and, like, CFO services.
2:13
Really excited for the next year ahead,
2:15
and I'm really excited to share my story.
2:17
Erin Hartman: Thank you. We're glad to hear it.
2:19
I can't help but notice you
2:20
started your firm during COVID.
2:22
Kelly Rohrs: I think, yes.
2:23
Erin Hartman: What inspired you to start a firm,
2:26
especially at that time?
2:28
It had to be probably more necessary for you,
2:31
but, like, also more difficult.
2:34
Kelly Rohrs: I have always wanted to run the show.
2:38
Really, for the most part,
2:40
at the other firm that I was at.
2:42
But you know how it is at some of
2:43
these legacy type firms that don't want to make changes,
2:47
and I actually was pregnant at the beginning of COVID.
2:51
I had my son, September 2020,
2:54
and I was working from home,
2:56
and then I had him.
2:58
I didn't even really take
2:59
a full maternity leave, foolish on me.
3:02
But I thought I needed to work.
3:05
I needed to continue with the clients.
3:07
They weren't going to be able to handle it without me.
3:09
Don't take that as a piece of advice.
3:12
But after I had quasi worked for a couple of months,
3:18
they wanted me back full time for tax season,
3:20
and they're like, you have to come back to the office.
3:23
I was like, I am so much
3:25
more productive in my own space.
3:30
Dealing with, like, distractions at
3:33
the office and water cooler stuff and,
3:35
like, just drama, I was really
3:38
good at working from home.
3:41
I stuck it out for another six months after that.
3:46
After going back full time, I
3:48
worked a little bit in the office.
3:50
I made a deal to come in like two days a week.
3:52
But I just knew at that point,
3:55
they're like, "You're a mom now.
3:57
Like you don't want to run the show."
4:00
I'm like nothing's changed.
4:02
I quit when my son was nine months old.
4:05
I had, like, no clients,
4:06
maybe, like, $25,000 of billing.
4:09
I was like, I think I could do
4:11
a lot of different things.
4:11
The worst case scenario,
4:12
I could go work for somebody else.
4:14
But I think I could pick up contracting work.
4:16
I think I could pick up clients, I got to try this.
4:19
Erin Hartman: You went back for a few months,
4:21
but that was your turning point
4:23
that you needed to go back to the office,
4:25
and that was not working for you.
4:27
Not only was it COVID,
4:28
you had a brand new baby,
4:29
and no sustainable,
4:31
not the level of income that you wanted.
4:34
Good for you for just doing it and taking that leap.
4:38
I would love to hear what that journey looked like.
4:41
Kelly Rohrs: Of course, I wanted to cross
4:43
my Ts and dot my Is as much as I could,
4:45
being the type A accountant that most of us are,
4:48
make sure that I have all the safety net set up.
4:51
I had been building, like,
4:52
a presence on LinkedIn for quite some time before that.
4:57
I made sure I was building my website.
5:00
I had my company already set up.
5:03
I had ideas, and I had an idea
5:06
of how much things were going to
5:07
cost me to get set up as well,
5:08
took out a home equity line of credit just in case,
5:12
let's just make sure that,
5:14
we have no problems,
5:15
I have a mortgage, I have a nine month old.
5:17
I'm paying a babysitter. My husband works too,
5:20
but we live on Long Island, let's face it,
5:22
it's one of the most expensive places in the country.
5:25
I called all of my potential referral partners
5:29
and let them know I was going out on
5:31
my own and really hit the ground running with networking
5:34
and online and let people know I was taking business,
5:38
and then it took off from there.
5:40
Erin Hartman: Sounds like you had your ducks in a row or,
5:43
much as you could from the beginning.
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That was four years ago.
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How has your vision for the firm evolved over time,
5:50
or was it that clear from the beginning?
5:53
Kelly Rohrs: I struggled a lot
5:55
at the beginning with delegating and
5:57
thinking about expansion,
5:59
which I think a lot of small firm owners do.
6:02
I left a firm, and I was like,
6:03
"I'm handling so much.
6:05
How I'm I going to continue to take on
6:08
clients and have balance in my life
6:13
without having staff members that I can lean on."
6:16
That developed over time.
6:19
I always felt the need to hire,
6:22
before we got too busy
6:24
because I never wanted to get into
6:25
a place where I was working 50, 60 hours a week.
6:29
I think there's a pretty easy
6:31
formula to balancing things,
6:35
but people are just very resistant, and it's just about,
6:38
making sure you have enough staff,
6:40
paying staff accordingly, billing
6:42
clients accordingly, and setting boundaries.
6:45
It sounds really simple,
6:46
but it's really hard to put into play.
6:49
Erin Hartman: Exactly. This is such a traditionally
6:52
deadline driven volume business,
6:55
which I don't think there's
6:58
probably I shouldn't say there's no one,
7:01
but anyone out there, for the most part,
7:03
thinks or wants to work the type of
7:07
overtime that this profession is used to,
7:09
but they see it as necessary.
7:12
I'd love to understand how you
7:14
structure your clients and your day to day operations,
7:18
you are clearly doing something differently.
7:20
Kelly Rohrs: You said it.
7:21
A lot of these firms are all built on volume.
7:24
They don't know how to handle the volume.
7:27
There's unlimited pipeline of clients,
7:31
which I think most people would agree with.
7:33
Erin Hartman: That is so true. It's interesting.
7:35
I've been at the AICPA for almost four years now,
7:38
and until the last year,
7:41
I really have not heard anyone talk about
7:44
building their business backup because it has been
7:46
just such a reaction to everything
7:49
that's happened and trying to get all the work done.
7:52
It's really interesting.
7:53
When you hear firms talk about like,
7:55
"Oh, I don't know about, you know,
7:58
the longevity of this profession
7:59
or the sustainability of it,
8:01
never has there been a better time to be
8:03
a CPA if you do it right."
8:07
Kelly Rohrs: 100%. There's no lack of clients,
8:11
but it's important to bring on the
8:15
right clients that fit
8:17
you and the lifestyle that you want to
8:20
build and that accepts
8:22
the pricing that you want to put in place.
8:25
Listen, [inaudible] pricing that we have wasn't
8:27
the pricing that I had when I
8:29
first started even just four years ago.
8:31
I think you realize that very quickly.
8:33
You want to get people in the door.
8:35
Your pricing might be a little bit lower.
8:37
You may not have as much confidence as you do
8:39
after four years to really realize,
8:42
like what goes into it and how to set boundaries on,
8:46
like, this engagement really
8:48
needs to be within this scope for this fee.
8:51
I'm not going to do unlimited amount of work
8:54
for your monthly recurring fee.
8:58
I think a lot of people get stuck in that,
9:00
like I'm going to just bring on
9:02
as many 1040s as
9:03
possible because that's
9:04
the biggest thing that's out there.
9:05
But I always started off with not a 1040 firm.
9:09
I'm not a high volume firm.
9:11
We have about 210 40s.
9:14
We probably have another 75 returns,
9:17
including businesses and trusts and some estate work.
9:22
It was always really important for me to tell
9:26
any referring partners this and be open and honest.
9:31
Like I don't want the small 1040s, the basic returns.
9:37
They can be a filler as you continue to grow,
9:41
but you need to make sure
9:42
that you have the staff for that.
9:43
Also, those types of engagements are a shot in the dark.
9:46
You could have two exact 1040s that look alike,
9:49
and one person, their behavior
9:51
is totally different from the other person.
9:54
Erin Hartman: I think what you're saying
9:56
is you wanted the type of clients that you
9:58
could offer more services to
10:00
that appreciated the value that you
10:03
were bringing them and it's not
10:05
just a transaction and you're not just a commodity.
10:08
I assume over time, it sounds like
10:10
you had it pretty figured out from the beginning,
10:12
but your confidence level of being able
10:14
to say no has probably increased over time.
10:18
Kelly Rohrs: If the clients
10:20
don't like the systems that we set
10:23
up or they put
10:26
our backs against the wall or they misbehave,
10:29
like, "Listen, we give clients shots.
10:31
Everybody has their bad days."
10:33
But we're pretty intentional
10:35
about if we really have that gut feeling.
10:38
Like, if you have that feeling
10:39
when you're talking to a client,
10:41
I do not want to take this meeting.
10:44
I really can't stand this person.
10:45
They're just giving me so much anxiety.
10:48
I think it's time to disengage.
10:51
Erin Hartman: That seems like a pretty good
10:53
indicator that it's not
10:55
a relationship you want to
10:56
have for the long run and that type of thing,
10:59
your people appreciate that too.
11:00
We talk so much about retention at firms
11:04
and making those types of decisions that may feel like,
11:08
I'm letting this business go.
11:10
I'm losing revenue.
11:11
You're keeping perhaps someone invaluable
11:15
that is so committed to you
11:17
because you're willing to do
11:18
that for them, for your people.
11:20
Kelly Rohrs: Exactly. The staff appreciates it.
11:22
As we've continued to grow,
11:24
not every interaction is with me,
11:27
but I have built my firm on quality relationships,
11:30
so I'm the main relationship manager for my firm.
11:34
But I don't want my staff to be abused by clients,
11:38
and they do. They appreciate that.
11:40
Erin Hartman: Talk a little bit
11:41
about what you just said about.
11:43
You are the main relationship,
11:44
you're not the only relationship because
11:47
we see a lot of firms, and you're shaking your head.
11:49
You know where I'm going with this,
11:51
and that still at the end of the day,
11:53
the owners like, I've got to be the face.
11:57
I've got to be the connection.
11:58
You can only do but so much as one person.
12:01
How do you work on
12:03
those relationships and help that so that your clients
12:06
are comfortable with your people and that you're
12:08
not the only person that they interact with?
12:11
They don't feel like you're
12:13
the one doing their return when you're not.
12:15
Kelly Rohrs: I'm very upfront when
12:17
I'm meeting with the clients when
12:19
they're in the lead process
12:21
and we're trying to see if
12:23
we're a good fit for each other.
12:24
I let them know like,
12:25
Hey, I'm the person who is
12:28
reviewing everything before it goes out the door.
12:31
I'm the one who's handling
12:33
any quarterly or monthly meetings that we have with
12:36
the clients to go over the end products,
12:39
but I have staff members that are fully
12:41
competent and are going to be helping me out.
12:45
Like, I think it's very clear that there's
12:47
a lot that goes into the finished product,
12:50
and they need to know that
12:52
they're supported by all of us.
12:54
Erin Hartman: You mentioned
12:56
something about reviewing everything.
12:57
I noticed something like an article that you had posted
13:00
talking about layers of
13:02
tax reviews and how that's important to you.
13:04
I think that's important to talk about as we talk about
13:07
the fact that not
13:09
having too much overtime is very important to you.
13:12
The thought could be like, we just blow through things.
13:16
That is not the case,
13:18
so I love your take on that and how you make that work.
13:21
Kelly Rohrs: Thank you for mentioning
13:25
that post that we did because
13:26
it is hard as a small firm owner to make
13:31
sure that things are accurate going out the door.
13:34
As we continue to grow and we have
13:36
more people involved in working on the product,
13:39
I still want to make sure
13:41
that everything is quality.
13:43
Not only does the tax prepare
13:47
actually review the return, but then, you know,
13:50
we have a review process going through in a tax program,
13:54
and then we also record a video walk
13:58
through of the prepared personal tax returns,
14:02
going through line by line.
14:04
Explaining it to the client
14:06
where the numbers come from,
14:07
year over year, what any changes are.
14:10
I have to tell you recording those videos has
14:14
helped me with that extra layer of review.
14:18
When sometimes things look okay in
14:20
the software and everything's flowing appropriately.
14:24
But then when you have to actually explain
14:26
where each number comes from, you're like,
14:28
"Wait, actually, you know what?"
14:30
I pause the video.
14:31
I'm like, "That doesn't make sense.
14:33
Let me go back."
14:34
Make the changes,
14:35
and then re record the video.
14:37
But that sounds like it's so much work,
14:39
but I'm recording these videos in probably 3-7 minutes.
14:44
The clients can watch it at their leisure.
14:48
They can watch it with or
14:50
without their spouse if they're married.
14:52
They can watch it three times.
14:55
When you're meeting with the client
14:57
and explaining things,
14:58
listen, half the time people don't listen,
15:01
and they still have the same questions.
15:03
I've eliminated 90% of meetings during tax season.
15:08
Erin Hartman: Great advice.
15:09
I love what you were saying, too about.
15:10
Sometimes just the process of doing it
15:13
makes you realize things
15:14
that you don't necessarily notice.
15:16
I'm sure your clients love that.
15:18
Just in the past, like,
15:19
people would meet with their claim.
15:20
Go through all these.
15:21
Take in all their documents.
15:23
That was so cumbersome.
15:25
Do you have in person meetings still?
15:28
Do you have clients that want that?
15:30
How do you deal with that?
15:31
Kelly Rohrs: No, I do work virtually.
15:33
I work from my home.
15:34
We let people know that this is our process.
15:37
We really have streamlined, efficient portal organizers.
15:43
Now, do I have some older clients
15:46
that may not be able to use the portal?
15:48
I think we all have our couple of exceptions,
15:52
and I have them mail it to me.
15:54
I mail it back to them,
15:56
and it still works.
15:57
I do know that it takes a little bit more time than
16:00
the ones that we have going through our regular system.
16:03
But as long as you're upfront with people
16:06
and communicate how you want to operate,
16:09
set the boundary, it's accepted.
16:12
Erin Hartman: How do you manage deadlines and
16:15
client expectations during high volume periods,
16:19
largely from February to April 15?
16:22
Kelly Rohrs: Number 1, I closed down our lead pipeline,
16:26
and I don't take on new business during this time.
16:29
I think, again, I've said it,
16:32
we all have an abundance of clients available to
16:36
us in order to serve
16:38
the clients that came through at the right time of year.
16:42
There might be one or two exceptions for
16:45
some really good referral partners
16:47
that we have or what have you,
16:48
but we shut that off.
16:50
We also are very clear
16:53
on our deadlines and our expectations from the clients.
16:57
All of my organizers go out on one day,
17:00
February 1, engagement letters,
17:02
we collect all of our billing upfront
17:04
before we work on any of the tax returns,
17:07
and we let people know that we need the data at
17:10
least 3-4 weeks before the deadline.
17:15
If they don't get us all of the data,
17:17
then we may have to put them on extension.
17:20
It's not our responsibility and that they may be
17:23
subject to penalties and
17:24
interest, but that's not our problem.
17:26
I give a hard deadline in multiple places, a newsletter,
17:32
our portal, our engagement letter.
17:35
Then I have a set of instructions
17:38
that shows what software we're using,
17:41
what our expectations are.
17:43
If we're going to be having to file
17:45
these business tax returns by March 15,
17:47
I need your information by February 15.
17:50
If we have to file the personal tax returns by April 15,
17:53
I usually say around March 20,
17:56
we need all of the data by.
17:57
Erin Hartman: If we get your information after this,
18:00
it will not be done by April 15.
18:02
I like it. Boundaries and communication.
18:04
It sounds like that is what helps you make this work.
18:07
What about your ability to attract and retain talent?
18:12
The culture that you're creating
18:14
sounds very positive what CPAs want,
18:17
especially as far as competition and people
18:20
going to other firms that may not have this approach.
18:23
How has that helped you.
18:25
Kelly Rohrs: I have a very hands
18:29
off approach to our staff.
18:33
I have very clear expectations and deadlines for them.
18:38
But being that we all do work virtually,
18:42
I don't care when you get it done.
18:44
I don't care what hours you work during the day.
18:47
I think it's really important
18:49
to if you have a doctor appointment in the morning,
18:51
you got to go pick up your kid or whatever the case is,
18:54
you have the flexibility to
18:55
do the work when you want to do the work.
18:57
That works for some people,
18:59
and it doesn't work for others.
19:01
Some people do need more structure.
19:03
It's important that we found
19:05
the right fit that it works for the right people,
19:07
and they we'll give
19:09
a loose schedule at the beginning of the week on
19:12
what their availability is.
19:13
But I'm not going to be asking you at
19:15
3:00 o'clock if you're going for
19:16
a walk, like, "Where are you?
19:18
I need to get the work done."
19:19
We just have very clear
19:21
workflows and management for
19:23
the types of projects or even reoccurring work,
19:26
what the expectations
19:28
for when the work needs to be done,
19:30
it's really working for us.
19:32
Erin Hartman: I like what you're saying.
19:34
you have a certain type of person that you need
19:36
that can work autonomously
19:38
and doesn't need, like hand holding.
19:41
That's the type of person you hire.
19:43
I love all this, and like I said,
19:46
it's everything that firms
19:47
want to do but are scared to do.
19:50
What advice would you give
19:52
other firm owners who want to make
19:55
these changes in their firm
19:58
or it'd be easier if they were starting from scratch,
20:00
probably that have more of a traditional firm,
20:03
but a smaller firm and want to make
20:05
these type of changes because it can seem overwhelming,
20:09
but I do think it's possible.
20:11
Kelly Rohrs: It is overwhelming
20:12
too if you have an existing practice,
20:15
make all of these changes at one time.
20:17
But if you do put a clear list together
20:22
of the changes that you want to see
20:25
happen and just do one step at a time,
20:29
one small change at a time, you can really get there,
20:32
whether it's six months from now or
20:34
a year from now or two years from now.
20:36
Listen, the work is always going to be there.
20:39
There's always an endless amount of work to do.
20:42
But we don't have to work at our desk
20:45
for 8-10 hours a day, even on the off season.
20:49
I actually just came back from
20:51
a small little conference,
20:52
a get together of just 12 colleagues.
20:55
It wasn't even a formal conference.
20:57
And each of us do things differently.
21:00
And there are a couple people that just
21:03
think that they need to be at their desk all the time.
21:06
Somebody came back from
21:07
the conference and was like, "You know what?
21:09
I left at 3:00 today,
21:10
and I went out and I spent time with my kids."
21:14
And that's what I do.
21:16
I have my kids.
21:19
They go to school, they go to the babysitter,
21:21
I pick them up at 3:00 o'clock,
21:22
and I'm with them from 3:00 o'clock to dinner,
21:24
even during tax season.
21:27
Once in a while, is there something that comes up,
21:28
yes but you have to be intentional
21:32
with your time and your boundaries.
21:34
You just can't say like, "I could sit here all
21:36
day long and do work all night long."
21:39
Erin Hartman: I love what you're saying,
21:40
hearing somebody say,
21:41
"Oh, my goodness, I left my desk at 3:00."
21:45
That is such a monumental feat.
21:49
It's what you do every day.
21:51
It's your everyday life.
21:52
It's how you've made it work for you,
21:55
so that your kids, hopefully, April 15,
21:58
will mean I don't know how old they are,
21:59
but will mean nothing to them.
22:01
Kelly Rohrs: Exactly. I don't want them to
22:03
feel like because I have a business,
22:05
I need to be working 24/7.
22:08
Listen, I'm only four years into my business,
22:11
and in the off season here,
22:12
I'm probably only working five hours a day.
22:15
Erin Hartman: Good for you, because I'll tell you,
22:17
my kids when I was in public accounting,
22:19
my kids to this day still know April 15,
22:22
and would go on a vacation afterwards.
22:25
They knew that I was so
22:27
limited in what I could do with them prior to that.
22:31
That's the mentality of
22:33
a lot of people. It's interesting.
22:35
In my role now. I was at and I
22:38
didn't even realize it for the first time last April 15.
22:41
I was like working the concession stand
22:43
at it was still like 6:00 o'clock at
22:46
night on April 15 and somebody
22:49
who knew I was a CPA said,
22:51
"How'd you get out to do this?"
22:53
I thought, "What are you talking about?"
22:54
Then I realized I was like, it's April 15,
22:57
and he knows I'm a CPA.
22:59
Even just the general public has that image of a CPA.
23:03
How do you and the community in your life,
23:06
try to dispel that image of working
23:09
thousands of hours by yourself in
23:11
a dark room on a calculator?
23:14
Kelly Rohrs: A lot of legacy firms
23:16
or a lot of people who have worked
23:18
for legacy firms for a long period
23:20
of time or big firms are like,
23:22
we've always done it this way.
23:24
We have to work all of these hours.
23:26
We have to make
23:28
all of this money and like,
23:30
"Hey, guess what?
23:31
You can make all of that money and
23:33
still work reasonable hours."
23:35
You just have to have the appropriate staff
23:38
and systems set up so you
23:39
can manage everything because if
23:41
you don't have those systems in place,
23:43
then it can become very overwhelming
23:46
and much more time consuming.
23:48
If you streamline things,
23:49
if you come up with the right software,
23:53
the right boundaries, the right deadlines,
23:56
it doesn't have to be that way.
23:58
I really want this stigma around tax season to change.
24:02
And listen, the deadlines are always going to be there.
24:05
They're never going to change.
24:06
I'm on a tax committee with the AICPA,
24:09
and we worked on that.
24:11
We threw those ideas around
24:13
for quite a bit of time, and guess what?
24:15
It's just never going to work. It's tied
24:17
to way too many things.
24:19
We have to figure out what we can do as
24:22
the upcoming firm owners
24:24
to change the stigma around these things.
24:27
Erin Hartman: Absolutely. I've heard
24:28
many people say CPAs are the worst.
24:31
You create that stigma
24:33
by talking about how much they work.
24:35
A couple of questions I'd love to pose at you.
24:38
There's a lot going on in
24:39
the profession changing as far as,
24:41
like, private equity is concerned.
24:43
I would love your thoughts,
24:45
opinion on remaining independent,
24:48
how firms can do that with capital needs
24:51
and just your thoughts on
24:53
the changes in the profession at the moment.
24:55
Kelly Rohrs: I think, it's actually a good opportunity for
24:59
us accountants to be going
25:01
out there and creating more firms,
25:04
because if you have the drive to do that,
25:06
and listen, not everybody wants to do that.
25:08
Not everybody wants to run the show.
25:10
But if you think you can,
25:11
even if you have a little desire to do so,
25:14
you might doubt yourself,
25:16
but there is nothing but opportunity here for us.
25:21
I don't think it's going to go away for
25:23
another 15, 20 years, honestly.
25:25
Erin Hartman: That's great. One last question.
25:27
With all the new tax laws and changes,
25:30
are you concerned about going into the next tax season?
25:33
What planning are you doing and education of
25:37
your clients to get them
25:39
ready so that it's not a bad tax season,
25:41
because I'm already hearing
25:42
people talk about this is going to be
25:43
a terrible tax season coming up six months from now.
25:46
Kelly Rohrs: I have been prepping
25:48
my clients for these changes.
25:50
Obviously, we've known that
25:51
they were going to be working on this for
25:53
seven months or more.
25:55
We expected change.
25:56
I have a monthly newsletter where I update
25:59
all my clients on potential changes,
26:01
what they're talking about.
26:02
In that newsletter, I've also been saying,
26:04
"Hey, we're going to host two
26:06
free webinars for our clients.
26:09
One on personal updates,
26:11
one on business updates.
26:13
Then if there's any particular questions
26:16
on your tax profile,
26:18
then we will do a special projection,
26:21
including any new provisions."
26:23
We have our regular tax planning clients
26:26
and reoccurring clients,
26:27
so we'll include that in there.
26:28
But it's really important for
26:30
you to, once again, communicate,
26:32
let people know when the bill passed,
26:35
and people started asking me questions.
26:37
Actually, before people even started,
26:39
24 hours after the bill passed, I said,
26:42
"Hey, the bill passed, " to everybody in my CRM,
26:47
please don't ask me questions because
26:49
we need time to understand everything.
26:52
I think it's okay to do that, let people
26:55
know that we're going to be taking,
26:58
I'm aware that things have changed, but guess what?
27:01
There are things that are still going to be debated and
27:03
there are things that the IRS still needs to release,
27:06
and there's going to be FAQs,
27:07
and we don't have a crystal ball.
27:09
We don't know everything, and it's going to take
27:11
time to learn and implement within our practice.
27:14
There's been changes every year in the tax landscape.
27:18
Some years they're bigger than others.
27:20
I think you have to prep yourself
27:22
for tax season and let people know,
27:24
like, "Hey, sometimes the software doesn't update.
27:27
Sometimes they don't release the forms in
27:30
a timely fashion for our tax software."
27:33
Let's not be foolish.
27:34
Let's lower our expectations
27:37
and just be happy with what we have.
27:39
Erin Hartman: That is so true. When you
27:42
lower your expectations, you're not disappointed.
27:44
But I love what you said about
27:47
just being honest and upfront
27:48
that we don't have all the answers now.
27:49
We don't have all the information yet,
27:51
and your attitude just
27:53
about, "We're gonna tackle this.
27:54
We're not gonna complain about it.
27:56
It is what it is, and we're going to go from there."
27:58
Kelly Rohrs: I think we can all make
27:59
some money off of it, to be honest.
28:01
Erin Hartman: We are.
28:03
Kelly Rohrs: This is what keeps us in business.
28:05
Erin Hartman: That's right. I love
28:06
your positive attitude and
28:08
what you're doing to change the profession.
28:11
Again, like I said, it's really
28:12
what so many firms aspire for.
28:15
I think you're doing great in
28:17
your social media influence
28:19
and just your influence in the profession,
28:21
and we really appreciate it and appreciate
28:23
you being a part of this podcast. Thank you.
28:25
Kelly Rohrs: Thank you so much.
28:26
Erin Hartman: Thank you for tuning in to
28:28
transforming Tales of Business Evolution.
28:31
We hope you found today's insights valuable.
28:33
For more details on this episode, check the description,
28:36
and don't forget to subscribe to stay
28:38
updated with our new episodes each month.
28:41
Visit our PCPS Transforming
28:43
Your Business Model Page for all of
28:44
our resources at www.aicpa.cima.com/tybm.
28:53
Keep pushing the boundaries of transformation,
28:57
and we'll see you next time.
28:58
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