Daily Archives: October 6, 2012

3 Steps to Start Running on Millionaire Time

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Stop “non-profit” tasks and start making more money in your practice.

By Sandi Smith, CPA / Exclusive to CPA Trendlines
Accountant’s Accelerator

Let’s do the math. To earn a million dollars in a year, you have to bring in $83,333 per month. Assuming you bill hourly and work for the standard 1,000 billable hours per year, you need to charge $1,000 per hour. If you want to make five million in one year, you will need to charge $5,000 per hour.

Here’s some breaking news: You won’t get there doing tasks that are worth $10 per hour. Even if we drop a zero and aim for six figures in a year, you won’t get there doing $10 per hour tasks either. At six figures, you’re worth $100 per hour.

Sandi Smith

More for soloists and small firms from Sandi Smith at CPA Trendlines:  5 Mistakes to Avoid When Seeking New Clients  • The Top 12 Business Card Blunders Accountants Make •  Seven Tips to Keep the Clients You Have • How to Attract Clients Like a Magnet • Eleven Easy Ways to Deliver More Value to Clients • Five Things Accountants Take for Granted That Costs Them Revenue• What’s in Your New Client Funnel? • What’s In Your Welcome Kit for New Prospects? • Five Fun and Easy Ways to Wow Your Clients • Six Ways to Give Yourself a Raise • Strategies to Stop Losing Business to Competitors • Five Tips to Manage Your ‘Overwhelm’ Level • Easy Ideas for a Quick Business Boost • Four New Mega-Trend Marketing Strategies • How to Stop Leaving Money on the Table

The difference between poor people and rich people is simple: one values the scarcity of their time and uses every minute wisely, and the other doesn’t.

Here are some tips to help you start thinking like a millionaire, which is the first step to becoming one: READ MORE →

Profitability and The Value of Strategic Thinking

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“To succeed, we have to disturb the present.”

by Marc Rosenberg, CPA / Exclusive to CPA Trendlines 
Author of What Really Makes CPA Firms Profitable 

Roberto Goizueta, the late Chairman of Coca-Cola, and certainly one of the top two or three CEOs of the last 20 years, said it best: “Challenging the status quo when you have been successful is difficult. If you think you will be successful running your business in the next 10 years the way you did the last 10 years, you’re out of your mind. To succeed, we have to disturb the present.”

More accounting firm management strategies: The Five Essential Building Blocks for Creating a Strong Accounting Firm  | The Seven Signs of Great Leadership in a CPA Firm | The 10 Biggest Mistakes CPA Firms Make in Reading MAP Statistics | New Rosenberg MAP Survey Says CPA Firm Revenue Growth Re-Accelerating | Five Skills that Separate Winners from Losers in the Accounting Business | Don’t Ask a CPA What Profitability Means | The Essence of CPA Firm Profitability | Compensation Issues for the New Managing Partner | 20 Decisions for Your Firm’s New Partner Compensation Committee | Three Ways to Break Partner Gridlock in an Accounting Firm | What Partners Are Entitled To, and What They’re NOT Entitled To | How to Make Partner? | Why Accounting Firm Partners Are “Popping Prozac like M&M’s” |

Compared to most vocations, CPA partners make a pretty good living. Their success has been attributable primarily to a combination of the following: READ MORE →

Asking an Attorney for a Referral Fee

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How to capitalize on your “business currency” with better referral strategies.

Here at CPA Trendlines, Ed Mendlowitz answers some of the toughest questions practitioners can throw at him. He’s the right one to ask. After more than 40 years in the business – building his own practice, running the firm, and eventually selling it to a major regional firm, WithumSmith+Brown, where he remains a senior partner and consultant to professional services clients – he has the answers. We’re happy to have him at CPA Trendlines. Send your questions for Ed here, or chime in with Comments below.

Browse more from Ed here:   Are Partner Retreats Really Worth the Cost?   |   Audit Reports Without Doing the Work?  | Should I Really Spend the Time Making Checklists?   |  What’s a Tax Practice Worth Today? |  Preparing to Sell Your Practice in a Few Years? 13 Things You Need to Know Today     |    10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Decide to Add Financial Services to Your Practice   |  Why Selling Your Practice Is Not a Retirement Strategy | Congratulations! You Bought a Tax Practice. Now What? | How Accountants Can Keep the Business When a Client Wants to Sell Theirs | 10 Reasons Clients Don’t Pay, and What To Do about It | 13 Reasons Timesheets Will Never Die

QUESTION: I referred a large amount of business to an attorney friend and she hasn’t reciprocated.  I asked her for a referral fee and she declined.  I’d like to keep referring her because she does a great job for my clients and that makes me look good too.  What should I do?

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