Gear Up for Growth

Leesley: Your Clients Will Pay More | Gear Up For Growth

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Here’s how to label, package, and price the value you already provide.

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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

“With AI, we finally have the tools to free up time for advisory, and clients are asking for it,” says Megan Leesley, director of tax at Dark Horse CPAs, during her appearance on Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher of Capstone Marketing.

“They want more than a tax return. They want strategic guidance, and they’re willing to pay for it.” 

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Leesley, a member of the Intuit Tax Council, recently presented at DCPA25 on transitioning from compliance to advisory, sharing practical steps to transform a traditional tax practice while increasing revenue, improving client relationships, and enhancing work-life balance. 

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Baker: Transformation Economy Will Redefine Accounting | Gear Up For Growth

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Stop “playing small ball,” and reimagine client experiences.

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Is your firm truly ready for tax season—or just hoping to survive it? Join this 90-minute webinar featuring an Accounting ARC Live panel with thought leaders who know what it takes to optimize performance under pressure. 
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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

“A business model describes how you earn revenue when services are given away for free,” said Ron Baker, co-founder of THRESHOLD: A Revelation for the Transformation Economy, during his appearance on Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher of Capstone Marketing.

“That terrifies people, but it’s where the economy is going.” 

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Baker discusses the profession’s next major evolution: the transformation economy, where firms no longer compete on services, scope, or efficiency, but on their ability to change lives.

He argues that CPAs are uniquely positioned to guide clients through lasting financial and personal transformation. CPA value will shift from work performed to life and business outcomes: healthier, wealthier, wiser clients living with meaning.  

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Meihaus: The Courage to Say “Enough” at the Top | Gear Up For Growth

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Partners who cap their own comp can solve staffing, retention, and motivation in one bold move.

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Originally published Sept. 4, 2025.
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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

When public accounting firms talk about “leadership challenges,” the conversation often turns into a soft focus on communication styles or vague culture issues.

Michael Meihaus goes straight for the hard truths.

On Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Capstone Marketing president Jean Caragher, Meihaus—owner of Meihaus CPA in Escondido, California—lays out the structural leadership failings he sees across the profession: outdated ownership models, harmful work expectations, broken incentives, and leaders who resist change because the current system works for them, even as it burns everyone else out.

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Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | More CPA Trendlines videos and podcasts here

“It’s simply that we don’t change unless we have to,” he tells Caragher. In a profession that’s been “stable, profitable, successful” for decades, too many people at the top have little incentive to transform how firms actually operate.

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Majchrzak: Marketer-Turned-CEO Redesigns the Modern CPA Firm | Gear Up For Growth

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Collaboration, transparency, and independence drive BeachFleischman’s growth.

This is a preview. The complete episode is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by Tax Season Readiness: Practical Steps for a Smoother Busy Season  | See Today’s Special Offer

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Is your firm truly ready for tax season—or just hoping to survive it? Join this 90-minute webinar featuring an Accounting ARC Live panel with thought leaders who know what it takes to optimize performance under pressure. 
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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

When most people picture a CPA firm CEO, they don’t envision a former marketing director in the big chair.

That’s exactly what makes Eric Majchrzak worth listening to.

Majchrzak, CEO and Principal of BeachFleischman—Arizona’s largest locally owned CPA firm and a Top 200 firm in the U.S.—has been named multiple times to Accounting Today’s “Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting” and is an Association for Accounting Marketing Hall of Fame inductee.

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On Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Capstone Marketing president Jean Caragher, Majchrzak pulls back the curtain on how his growth-minded, marketing-first lens is reshaping BeachFleischman’s strategy, culture, and business model—and what other firms can steal from that playbook.

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Steffen: Leadership Is About Energy, Not Tenure | Gear Up For Growth

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When you’re too tired to lead, step aside.

This is a preview. The complete episode is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by Tax Season Readiness: Practical Steps for a Smoother Busy Season  | See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS
Is your firm truly ready for tax season—or just hoping to survive it? Join this 90-minute webinar featuring an Accounting ARC Live panel with thought leaders who know what it takes to optimize performance under pressure. 
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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

“Leaders who realize they’re too tired to keep managing change should recognize that it might be time to transition to somebody who has that energy,” says Carrie Steffen, CEO of the Iowa Society of CPAs, during her appearance on Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher of Capstone Marketing. “The longer you hang on when you don’t have the energy for change, the more of a disservice you’re doing, not only to your firm, but to the profession as a whole.”   

More Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | More Gear Up for Growth

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In addition to highlighting self-awareness as a key leadership skill, Steffen offered valuable insights for CPA firm leaders navigating today’s dynamic environment. 

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