Seven days a week. 12 – 18 hours a day.
Seldom a healthy meal with family. Not seeing daylight even when weather permits.
Burn to earn?
How taxing you want the next tax season to be for you?
Here is The One Thing (TOT) that you would want to do before next tax season…..
“If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got.” (Anon)
“What Got You Here Won’t Get You There” – Marshall Goldsmith.
Of course you know it well. You know that unless you defy and re-define, the next tax season will be the same as the last one. So lets just go beyond.
Step Back A Bit: If you yourself are the one running your business the whole day, will anything change? How about getting help in your day-to-day chores? How about delegating? How about outsourcing? You want to create the time.
Do You Really Need To Personally Do What You Do: Does what you do personally require your expertise and experience? E.g. can someone enter data for you and then you just deploy your knowledge & wisdom to make sense from it? Yes? Then you already created significant time for yourself. Just find that someone who can enter that data for you sensibly.
What Next: Decide what you need to do to move from your desk and your hands to someone else. What changes would you need to make? What actions do you need to take? What would you need to stop doing? Other than authors and movie stars, rarely people become wealthy only by their own efforts.
Take Action: You don’t need a detailed action plan. Taking action is the biggest stumbling block. If you do nothing you will stay where you are.
Get The Help and Support You Need: It’s easy to preach what is said above. But actually doing it can be very difficult and it can be challenging to decide what you need to do on your own. Hence you want to get some help and support. Mentors, coaches, consultants, and other firm owners – you can ask many.
Keep Building Before The Next Season: Step back every week and work on it. This is not a one off exercise. The “buying season” of CPAs is not just new softwares, hardware and office supplies. It’s also the “building season”.
So what’s the one thing that you want to do next tax season?
It’s actually something you don’t want to do!
Does a heart surgeon do what his nurses do?
Does a pilot do what the air-hostess does?
It’s a good idea to pay meticulous attention to detail. And someone can do it for you.
What Has Information Science Continuum to Do With CPA Firm’s Focus?
Information Science Continuum is defined as Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom. ( > = leads to)
Consider this observation made by Neil Fleming:
A collection of data is not information.
A collection of information is not knowledge.
A collection of knowledge is not wisdom.
A collection of wisdom is not truth.
The idea is that information, knowledge, and wisdom are more than simply collections. Rather, the whole represents more than the sum of its parts and has a synergy of its own.
Data is just bits of letters, numbers, words etc.
Information relates to description, definition, or perspective (what, who, when, where).
Knowledge comprises strategy, practice, method, or approach (how).
Wisdom embodies principle, insight, moral, or archetype (why).
What Do You Think Your Clients Pay You For?
Do they pay for Data or for Information?
If you are like most CPAs, you know that your clients indeed pay for your wisdom. Your wisdom makes a (or can make a bigger) difference to their finances and of course, life.
And, you need a system; you need resources to accurately create that data and information for you to be able to apply your knowledge and wisdom, so that your clients get the best possible value for their money.
The Managing Partner of a leading Tax Preparation Services CPA firm from Chicago says he has NO work during the Tax season! What he means is most of his time free for all incoming prospects, phone calls and clients while his data and information specialists do the grunt-work for him.
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are.”….. Steve Jobs
Do you think you need to decide now that next tax season you won’t do what does not need your CPA / Tax expertise / experience / wisdom?
Two months to go before the next season. Augment your resources now.
And spend some quality time with your family, get yourself that healthy meal everyday and see daylight, weather permitting!