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Steve's Blog... Blogging
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| Captain's Blog, 12th January 2010... HAPPY NEW YEAR! January & February are often an odd months in my office. Many firms don’t want to do much at all as tax season heats up, while others are struggling with a last-minute panic and need something desperately. Either way, I welcome February. As the snow builds up and the work slows down for a few weeks, it gives me a chance to ski, and I often take some time out in the month to reflect and do some strategic planning for my own business. As I started doing some strategic thinking this year, a story from Christmas occurred to me that I thought you might like me to share with you. It was around 22nd of December, and I was lining up at the grocery store with a cart full of groceries and seasonal goodies, when I noticed the people in front of me in the line. They were all young, about twenty years old, and the four of them moved their cart up to unload it on to the conveyor belt to transport it towards the cashier. As they unloaded I couldn’t help but notice the contents of their cart. Dried noodles, packet after packet after packet, followed by soup packets and cans, one after the other again. Then, of course, it was a pile of Kraft Dinner boxes, by the dozen. That gave it away for me. ‘Students!’ I thought to myself, obviously stocking up on Daddy’s credit card before going back to University. But boy was I wrong. As I passed my cornflakes, milk and some seasonal treats onto the cashier’s conveyor belt, I saw these four young men going through their wallets and pockets to come up with the $103.26 they had spent. They realized that they had two dollars spare, so one of them went and grabbed more soup to top up their spending. With three cents change they all smiled at each other and I watched them as they pushed their cart – they got the one with the squeaky wheel that never goes in the same direction as the other three – and they emptied the contents of their cart into the food bank box behind the cashiers. These guys had obviously spent their own cash and had been as careful to make sure that they bought the right stuff, and spent their entire budget, to make sure that those needier than themselves got to eat something this Christmas. It may not have been turkey and bread sauce, but damn it, these kids had heart. I am not ashamed to tell you that it brought a lump to my throat. Then I started thinking that this was a great example of the type of planning, budgeting and execution that we all need in our own businesses, but more often than not we are simply too busy to stop what we’re doing right now, that seems to be so important, to give some time and effort to the bigger picture. Where is your practice right now? Where was it last year? Has it grown? Has it gone in a different direction? Where do you want your firm to be this time next year, in five years time, in ten? These are often the issues we never talk about, even with ourselves. But we should. When tax season is over and you have the 30th June filing deadlines behind you, please, take some time to plan where you want to take your firm in the future, and do the equivalent of what those kids at the grocery store did. They got their team together, decided what they wanted to achieve, put a budget together, pooled their resources, set a deadline and worked together to gather the supplies. They achieved their goal and then they went to the bar together to celebrate!
What a great example from four young men. Surely we, as a profession
can do at least as well as them? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Captain's Blog, 22nd March 2009... Liberation or tears before bedtime? So, it's tax season here in Canada. It's a time when most of those in public accounting seem pretty stressed-out, or even miserable. Yet, I still know several practitioners who work a 35 hour week, serve only clients that they actually enjoy working with, and make more money than most practitioners. As a result they're mostly deliriously happy too! Wanna know their secret? Client Selection. Yep, it's as simple, yet as complicated as that! Many practitioners believe that they simply cannot turn down work, no matter who it's from. Many practitioners believe that dealing with rude and obnoxious people is just a part of the job. Many practitioners feel they cannot charge what they'd like to, for fear of losing the client. Not these guys (and gals). The type of practitioner I am referring to in my opening paragraph believe that they have the right to choose which clients they work for, and, more importantly, which ones they don't! If they don't feel that there's a good fit, they won't take on the client. If they cannot reach agreement on the levels of fees that will be charged, they will decline the client. If they feel the potential client doesn't value what they can do for them, again, they'll politely say 'thanks, but no thanks', and move on, and if they simply don't like the prospect, as an individual, again, they will decide not to take them on as a client. Pretty simple stuff, eh? Then why is it such a rare approach? I think it's because many of those in public accounting are too damn nice. And being nice, we don't want to say 'no' to anyone. Many of us have had very bad teachers - partners in firms where we grew up would turn in their graves if they thought you were turning work, any type of work, away. But who's running the show? You or your clients? We have to remember that while we are operating a professional office, we're also running a business. That means we sometimes have to make hard decisions for the benefit of the business. And that, in turn, will mean saying 'no' to some people who may desperately need our help, but if it's not a good fit for you, please, don't try to force a round peg into a square hole and take on the client as a 'favour' to them. You'll regret it if you do. A growing aspect of my consulting work with Accounting firms is focused on deciding several key aspects:
Learning how to say no to prospects you don't want, and firing exisiting PITA (Pain In The Ass) clients can make a huge difference to your self-esteem, your staff retention, the general atmosphere at the office AND the bottom line! Try saying 'no' occasionally when you feel there could be tears before bedtime with a pottential client. It's a truly liberating feeling! Until next time. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Captain's Blog, 5th March 2009... Everyone seems to have one. Being in business means you're expected to have one. Now, even I have one! I resisted going for it seriously for the longest time, but, after I dabbled at it on one of those free blogger sites, inspired by my fiancée, a rampant blogger in her own business (see it by clicking here), I have been 'shamed' into doing it myself! So, twice a month (that's as big as commitment that I can make right now - if there's sufficient demand, I may up the ante to weekly) I will use this page to rant and rave on 'things public accounting'! In A World Of Instant Gratification, some things still take time. Look at our kids today - iPods, iPhones, CrackBerries, Cell Phones, et al, it seems to me that the next generation are going to be somewhat dissappointed in how long some things will still take. For example, many a teenager who uses their iPod doesn't even listen to the whole song, before long, they're seemingly bored of it, and they skip forward to the next tune, often not even midway through the last one. They don't want to wait for you to pick up the phone, so they SMS you instead. (I'm actually quite proud that they decided to name this mode of communication after yours truly!) They use FaceBook, Twitter and other social networking tools so much that it becomes second nature - something is going on in their lives and two minutes later, there it is for all the world to see. (As long as you're on their friends list!) For the more exhibitionally-inclined, of course, there's YouTube, a brilliant creation for the twentyfirst century voyer. It seems one is just two mouse clicks away form anything you want to see, and many things you probably don't! The more business-minded of us are doing it too, and, yes, I'm guilty as charged, it's become an accepted business practice to let people into a semi-private part of your life by sharing FaceBook pages. For more 'purely business' connections, many choose LinkedIn. But most of us are on at least FaceBook AND LinkedIn, are we not? I have also leveraged the power of You Tube, and have put up several 'teaser' clips from my first DVD release "Best Practices For Running Your Practice" (see promotional blurb below this posting if you're interested). One clip has approaching 1,000 viewings, and some kind people gave it a five-star rating! Indeed, you can see for yourself by clicking here. Thanks to other promotional activities, such as being available through the great accounting portal, AccountingWEB.com and through resellers such as Amazon.com, the DVD has been quite successful. Indeed, as I do a quick check as I am writing this, we're number 119,240 on the Movies & TV bestsellers list! So, now I can officially claim to be on The Amazon.com Best Sellers List! The same list as many an oscar-winning movie. Not bad, eh? But we've only just begun as far as DVD production goes. Yep, two more will be out pretty darn soon - one for those who have recently gained their accounting designation and want some advice on where they can take their career, and one of a seminar I did recently with Mort Shapiro that we had filmed. I expect that clips will soon be posted to You Tube again, to give people a taste of what they could have for just $39.95! So, where am I going with this first blog? I'll tell you. I think many workforce members in the next few years are going to be somewhat frustrated by how long some things will take, in a world of instant gratification. As a result, employers are going to have to recognise the 'apparent ADD' is not actually fully-fledged Attention Deficit Disorder, but a modern phenomenon created by today's culture and society, and cater accordingly for these quirks. Developing business contacts, growing the relationship, and getting to the point where referrals are made, or clients acquired will NEVER be the subject of instant gratification. It takes time to build that personal rapport, to build trust and confidence, and to establish the 'ground rules' so to speak, before any real business is transacted. I wonder how many CAs in 2019 will have the patience. It will still take 30 months to become a CA, even if you do sit the CKE, SOA and UFE back-to-back and pass them all! And I say thank goodness for that. I was somewhere with Salima, my fiancée recently, I forget where, and we came across a coffee mug that said, "Instant Lawyer - Just Add Coffee"! As Salima is a Lawyer, it was amusing to us at the time, but just think of the consequences if it were true! Some things, thank God, will always take time. But they're usually the very things that make life worth living, are they not? Your comments are always welcome at steve@mfagroup.com.
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So,
here's the shameless promotional stuff
I promised you...
© MFA Group Inc, 2009. Email us at steve@mfagroup.com |
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