If you’re like a lot of others that we talk with, you hate marketing. Often seen as time-consuming, confusing, expensive and often, difficult to quantify—it really struggles to rank a spot on your top ten list of “favorite things to do.” The problem is, marketing is an essential component of your business success story. You really cannot build a thriving business without it. After all, if you don’t control the way your business shows up in the marketplace, someone else will. And considering … [Read more...]
How To Turn Email Subscribers Into Paying Clients
The million dollar question is, if a conversion for you is getting people to sign up for your email list, what do you do once you acquire all of those email addresses? We’re going to share some tips that will help you stay softly in front of your prospects without a lot of pressure and eventually, turn some into paying clients. If you think email marketing is all about pitching what you sell, think again. Email marketing helps people get to know, like and trust you. This happens because, over … [Read more...]
5 Things To Consider Before You Offer Financial Services
As a tax professional, you may have thought about how you can expand your business to include additional revenue streams such as payroll and bookkeeping. And if you’re like a lot of my clients, the opportunity to provide financial services has seemed like an idea worth considering as well. The good news? You have lots of potential revenue-generating opportunities on the table. The not so good news? Some of them can do more harm than good to the practice you’ve worked so hard to build. … [Read more...]
Top 7 Value Added Tax Business Services
One of the basic truths about running a tax business is that you’re going to be busiest during tax season. The rest of the year, things can be slow, and if you’re planning on having a steady income you need to find other ways to bring in money. While some tax professionals can live off what they make during tax season, most of us like the comfort of a regular revenue stream. Creating that revenue stream means adding service offerings to your tax business. Here are some ideas for … [Read more...]
Should We Tax The Robots?
In 1900, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, life for everyday Americans was not much different than it was in 1700. Then, gasoline-powered automobiles replaced horse-drawn carriages, and everything changed. Fast forward a little over a century. In 2030, when driverless cars arrive, the revolution may be even bigger. The same technology that replaces automobile drivers may also replace truck drivers, waitresses, fast food cooks, and a host of other workers, at least according to … [Read more...]
How to Get Back to Work After Vacation
With summer quickly approaching, you may be planning for a much-needed vacation. Anywhere other than your office sounds good, right? We’re big fans of taking vacation time around here because we’ve learned the hard way that all work and no play leads to burnout, fast. Well-rested CPA’s are the best CPA’s because their stress level is lower and their energy is higher. This leads to enhanced productivity, better decisions and a keen eye for detail—all important things if you’re running your own … [Read more...]
Leveraging Current Clients For Business Referral
I've done hundreds of new member consultations. One question I always ask is "what's your best source of new clients?" The answer is almost always, "business referral." But lately, I've been pulling a bit of a Columbo and asking "just one more thing." Specifically, I'll ask "what systems do you have in place to generate those all-important referrals?" And then there's an uncomfortable silence on the other end of the phone. After all, they don’t teach this kind of stuff in accountant … [Read more...]
3 Ways to Heighten Your Visibility And Grow Your Tax Business
Would you like to generate more revenue in your tax business? Who wouldn’t? Just like many other businesses, the tax business is a numbers game. You gather leads and eventually, some go from cold to HOT and new clients walk through your front door. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, there’s a little more to it than that. But if you’re willing to do what it takes to heighten your visibility, you can garner a fair amount of leads—not only to sustain your business but also to thrive. Here … [Read more...]
Top 6 Tax Business Mistakes
Running a tax business is like running any other business: one misstep and you can find yourself closing your doors for good. It’s not enough to be smart, to understand your trade, and to work hard; you’ve also got to make good business decisions, as well. One of the best ways to stay in business is to understand what pitfalls you might face and prepare for them. Here are some of the most common mistakes tax professionals make in business, and a little bit about what you can do to avoid … [Read more...]
How To Answer The Not-So-Quick Entity Question
When it comes to entity selection, there really isn’t a general “rule of thumb”. Most business owners consult their attorney to determine which entity is appropriate, but in many cases, they’re making a big mistake if they don’t seek counsel from their tax team before choosing their entity. But you know that. Let’s talk about something you may not know. And that’s how to answer the entity question when it’s posed by small business owners. Often laden with misconceptions and advice they’ve … [Read more...]
