For awhile now, I've told you the same thing: “do the boundary work first, get comfortable with the hard conversations, and stop being afraid of your clients!” My thesis was that if you raise your prices, let go of the bad-fit clients, and hold your boundaries before you ever touch your tech stack or your ops, most of the other problems start to resolve themselves.
I still believe every word of it, but I was wrong about where to start.
A few months ago, two colleagues and I launched a 12-month program, Fix Your Firm, for six firm owners ready to make BIG changes, and I started everyone the same way, with my Client Analyzer. You plug in every client and what you charge them, run the what-if scenarios, and the answers get clear. A few of them got it partway done, and a few never started at all.
And in every meeting, I found myself talking about AI instead, because these people are TIRED. They're still recovering from tax season, they're buried, and they just want to come up for air. You can't ask someone who's drowning to sit down and make a big pricing decision!
So I met them where they were, using AI as the vehicle for change. I can't tell you these firms have already transformed, because we're just getting started. But for the first time they're excited, they're open, and they actually want to do the work. The same owners who left the Client Analyzer untouched are showing up eager to learn how AI can help them catch up on a year of bookkeeping, create solid workpapers, and review a tax return. My hunch, the thing I now believe in my gut, is that THIS is the way in. Once AI clears enough of the noise and hands them back a little room to breathe, the hard conversations can stop feeling like survival and start feeling like a choice.
The boundary work is still here, it's just chapter two now, where it probably always belonged. We get the firm running smooth first, then we deal with the pricing and the people. And if you're ever sitting on a price increase you can't bring yourself to send, reach out to me. I'll cheer you on, help you find the words, and reframe it until you've got the confidence to hit send. That’ll never change.
So, The Reframe as its own weekly email… this is the last one. My voice and everything I believe about this work aren't going anywhere. Helping accounting firm owners be happier and healthier will continue to be my mission, but going forward I'll be focused on the AI Lab for Accountants, along with The Collaboration Room and Fix Your Firm. Because I think 3 projects is enough for someone who is supposed to be retired since selling my firm!
If you don’t already get my weekly email over at the AI Lab, join our free group! You’ll meet the coolest accountants, including my two partners:
Charlie Barmore is a CPA (and CFE, CVA!) who actually understands how a firm runs, and he's the person I send people to when they want AI built into their practice for real, done for them or built with them. He starts with a call to figure out what's worth doing and what isn't. If you want in on this AI stuff but don't want to figure it out alone, go talk to Charlie!
Michael Cutajar is a CPA in Malta who is passionate about AI and gives us a global perspective. He's building something called OpenAccountants that's worth a look if you care where AI is headed for our industry. Become a part of his project!
When you're not excited anymore, you need a reframe. Or a rebrand. This goes for you too!
Still figuring it out in real time, out in the open, same as always.
I hope to see you in the AI Lab.
— Rebecca