Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
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THE CHANGE AGENT I Comfortable No More: 3 Things You Must Do Now I can't help but preach the message that change is coming in our profession. T at is my end goal in every profes- sional thing I do. T is type of con- fabulation may off end you or it may encourage you. But my goal is to take away your comfort as you lead your professional practice into the future. Avert your eyes! Look away from that tax return or audit, and seek to deci- pher the future that is taking us all over. For sure, the future will involve the traditional services you off er now, but it will involve so much more. Are you ready? Change is coming. I want to (1) bring clarity to the future of our profession, and then (2) lead the way towards change that will ultimately help us grow and become bet er change agents for our clients. To be sure, there are things you are doing wrong … and it's time you heard about it. I have multiple coaches in my life that constantly tell me what is wrong with my practice manage- ment theories, and then seek to help me understand how to change. We all need this counsel. T at is the kind of information you'll fi nd in my monthly articles here at CPA Practice Advisor. And that is the kind of discussion you'll fi nd in the professional network for accountants I formed, called the THRIVEal +CPA Network (more info at www.THRIVEal.com). So far, more than 100 accountants from around the world have joined the Network to learn, grow and change. Comfortable No More People, groups and countries begin a gradual and oſt en unnoticed descent into decline when they become comfortable. As human beings, we always driſt towards comfort. In fact, we need rest and comfort to recharge so we can begin again with renewed eff orts to do our jobs, meet the needs of our families and serve mankind. But there comes a time when comfort damage to the profession. T e leaders of our professional fi rms are comfort- able for the most part. T ey may be ready to retire, ready to sell their fi rms or just ready to merge and end the pain of tax season. But what about the future of our profession? What are we doing for those who work in our fi rms, or those who are in university pre- paring for a life in public accounting? T ey need to hear this message: T e public practice of accounting can change the lives of the practitioner and those we serve. Here are three things we can do now to fi ght the perils of our cur- rent professional opulence: Get a freakin' coach. When you welcome the outside scrutiny that a coach can bring, you step into a world of discomfort. You can't keep people accountable. People choose to be held accountable. Until you become one who chooses to be held accountable, 1. THE PUBLIC PRACTICE OF ACCOUNTING CAN CHANGE THE LIVES OF THE PRACTITIONER AND THOSE WE SERVE. Jason Blumer, CPA.CITP Jason M. Blumer, CPA.CITP, CFE, is manag- ing shareholder of Blumer & Associates, CPAs, PC. He wears fl ip fl ops and jeans, says "dude" a lot, and often works in coffee shops with headphones blaring the latest Bloomberg podcasts (though he doesn't understand most of it). Jason loves new game-changing cloud technology and plays rock and roll too loud. His daily duties include consulting, process design, blogging, marketing and business development, innovative thinking, coaching, practice management, and acting as a change agent. Jason founded the THRIVEal +CPA Network to enhance and change the tax and accounting profession based on the foundational tenets of Community, Collaboration, Technology and Innovation. 18 18 APra can overtake us and take our eyes off of our ultimate goals. We've become too comfortable in the professional tax and accounting space. In fact, our profession is in a dangerous state of becoming irrelevant. I believe we are in decline, and that sucks. T is comfortable decline will hurt us as professionals, it will hurt our practices and it will hurt our clients. Treble damage. T at really sucks. I believe comfort is now doing September 2011 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com you won't be able to see the dysfunc- tion in your fi rm. When you do a lot of lit le wrong things for a long time, you end up at the end of your career burned out, mediocre (at best) and with no fi rm valuable enough to sell. You have to have people looking inward to identify the problems you can't see. T e problems are there ... you just can't see them. Invest in a coach. Join a community of change agents. This is what the THRIVEal com- munity is all about. We don't off er CPE for our time together, and we don't take tests. We get together to talk about our issues — how others have tackled these problems and help each other grow as professionals. As a Network, we are focused on four foundational tenets: Community, Collaboration, Technology and Innovation — ideas we need help with to grow as entrepreneurs. Hang out with change agents, and you'll become a change agent yourself. 2. Set goals. Set ing goals is all about overcoming fears. We don't set goals because of our fear of failing to achieve those goals. I have the same fears. But when you make goals, it intentionally averts your eyes from your present to your future. T ose who look ahead are the ones who achieve great things. T ey fail to meet all of their goals, but they achieve a lot more than they could have had they not set those goals. Become paperless in 2011, stop accepting the wrong clients, serve one niche, get rid of your servers and stop off ering non-valuable services. It will take years to achieve these goals, but you bet er hurry. Some fi rms have a jump on you. T ey are moving ahead and welcoming the changes in our profession. Change is coming. Where will you be one year from now? T ree years? Five years? It bet er not be where you are now. Change is a constant now. You've got two choices: Grow or leave the profession. What will you do? 3.