Loners Don't Get Too Far

I'm coming off of a three week run of as many conferences, an experience I both excited about and exhausted for coming into it. And of all of the things that I took away, the most clear by far is this: Community is everything.

All of the conferences had their own way about them:

• AICPA Engage was huge, so I was around a diverse group of firms in terms of size and specialty. I also go to have in-depth conversation with software vendors.
• Maryland Society of Accounting & Tax Professionals, Inc. was much smaller and intimate, and felt like a great exchange of information between older and newer firm owners.
• Scaling New Heights ( Woodard ) was more technical, in that I walked away with real takeaways that I could pretty much immediately implement at Little Fish Accounting

But what they all had in common was the people. So many talks, so many hugs, so many stories. I had an amazing time with the interaction - sharing the highs and the lows of running a firm, and also just giving each other tips and support about how we can make it easier for ourselves.

Which leads me to my next reminder: There is room for all of us.

We're all tired. The good firms are being inundated with client work that they may not even be able to take because of staffing shortages. Tax law changes are constant, and software changes even more so. But that means that we are taking time to figure out exactly what we want to do and how, then making strides to do only that.

Focus.

Which gives space for amazing referral opportunities when we're not the right fit. Expertise runs both deep and wide, and everything ain't for everybody. Appreciating that and realizing that owning what's yours doesn't mean you're missing out is a nice expression of collaboration over competition. There is enough for everyone ??

This Week's Updates

???On the Pod

Managing money and making money are not the same thing - they are both different kinds of hard that require different skills to be successful. And as entrepreneurs, we need to be constantly mindful of both. This week, we're talking about finding the right balance between income generation and financial management, so that we can build resilient and sustainable businesses that are prepared for both short-term challenges and long-term growth.

LISTEN HERE

?? In the Firm

In continuing our focus on foundations, this week I spent a lot of time building out the basics more thoroughly. Specifically:

• Updating client roadmaps for our monthly team
• Creating procedure documents for our new bookkeeping team
• Outlining more robust tax planning processes for clients

What's cool is that I'm taking the time to recognize how good it already was. It can be easy to look back and think "why didn't I do this this way the first time?" But now I have new ways of creating internal content to help the team, and I have an even better idea of what needs to get out of my head so that I can delegate better.

?? On My Mind

The title of this edition comes from a conversation that I watched between Ryan Coogler and Maverick Carter where he was talking about how important it is to bring your family - blood and chosen - with you as you make your way into new spaces. I have loved so many of his movies so it was cool to hear him speak on his background and journey.

WATCH HERE