Who's Really the BOSS?

There may be errors in spelling, grammar, and accuracy in this machine-generated transcript.

Rachel Dillon: Welcome to Who's Really the Boss podcast. I'm Rachel Dillon, and along with my husband, Marcus Dillon, we share the joys and challenges of leading a $3 million accounting firm together. From team structure to growth strategies, we share our leadership successes and failures so you can avoid the mistakes we have made and grow a valuable accounting firm. Welcome back to another [00:00:30] episode of Who's Really the Boss podcast.

Marcus Dillon: Hey, thanks for having me back.

Rachel Dillon: We are recording right before Christmas in 2025. I'm not sure when this will actually release. Um, but we do have on our winter clothes even though we're in Texas and it's probably not that cold. It's cold for us in Texas. So if you're not watching on YouTube, be sure to check us out on YouTube. Uh, so you can see our winter fits. Um, Um, but other than that, [00:01:00] if you're just listening. We just finished our team retreat, where we brought in all of our team members, and so we'd love to talk through what that looks like and how helpful that is to roll out firm goals, initiatives, but most importantly, celebrate achievements of the prior year.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So a little bit of background. We had done a couple of acquisitions this year. So this was really the first time everybody got together. And [00:01:30] so like you said, this happens twice a year. We see the team in person. Typically it's a mid-year retreat uh, which is usually a destination. We went to Mexico this year with some team members. So we had one new team member there from an acquisition and then the acquisition we did later in the year, uh, was actually, uh, this was the first time everybody was getting together. So really good. More than half of the team traveled. And so with that, [00:02:00] it was a variable that with hotel rooms, all the travel accommodations, it was a little bit new for us. So a ton of moving pieces. But we got through it just fine. And yeah, um, as far as the content itself, as a leadership team, we had met prior to that to make sure that we were rolling out, um, goals and things that we had already discussed. It wasn't going to be new to any of us. And [00:02:30] we had some other people, uh, stakeholders that we wanted to vet those goals through and make sure that they aligned with everything they knew to be true about DBA and ourselves, uh, where we were going. And, uh, so it was it was a good time. We did that in Houston. It was people flew in on a Sunday, uh, which is, you know, you don't want to take someone's weekend, especially Sunday, away from them and their family, but it was just a little bit easier to coordinate that and then send them home on a Tuesday afternoon. So Sunday [00:03:00] fly in, kind of get settled. You're in the hotel for Monday, full day and then Tuesday it's kind of a half day and you send people home. Was the logistics.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, absolutely. So that's definitely a DBA story. Because we are fully remote. We do. We'll call them travel retreats. This travel retreat happened to be in the Houston area. Our mid-year retreats happen typically at the beach. And so whether that's a [00:03:30] US based or in Mexico are the two places that we've had them previously. But most importantly, other than kind of deciding on the place and the dates and times of having the retreat is really the planning by leadership that goes into making those two days Beneficial and valuable for everyone, and that that will continue to multiply the effects [00:04:00] of taking that time and investing that time and money for those days for the retreat will continue to multiply and see fruit from that throughout the entire, you know, next year. And so let's talk through the actual planning. So we used a framework for our planning in preparation of the retreat as a leadership team. So you, Amy McCarthy, our Director of operations, and Leslie Reeves, our director of accounting and advisory, all met [00:04:30] together, used a framework that helped us to line out our initiatives and goals for the upcoming year.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So so that framework, it was initially developed by an organization that we're in called C12. It's just a lot of Christian business owners, um, looking at how to run businesses in this current environment. We in and we are in. But make sure that our values and all the things that we believe in are intact. And so we we use that as our guidepost, I guess, [00:05:00] if you will. Guidelines and kind of developed a little bit of a made it our own, if you will. Um, just to make sure that it was in line with our industry and what we know to be true. And that's what we used for a full day of planning. And we actually we were traveling, um, to do this. So we were as a leadership team, we were out of our normal element, which was great because it kind of changed the pace and place and allowed us to focus a little bit better. We were in Saint Louis for, [00:05:30] uh, the the most recent acquisition, uh, for the team meet and greet and to do some final things there. And so we just took a day, uh, and carved it out to do 2026 planning. We did that in it was the end of September. Uh, but I would assume that most people, you know, that listen to this and that are in the accounting industry. A good time to be thinking about that would also be the end of October. Um, after October 15th wraps up, you can assess how 20 [00:06:00] how the current year was going, how tax, how your tax season really did finish up, where you stand on your current year goals. So a lot of that was, uh, being done. And we assessed where we were year to date. And that helped us guide some of the decisions as far as goal setting for 2026. Um, you know, in that meeting. So.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, so let's talk through what that framework is. You and I in the past have [00:06:30] really done majority of that planning ourselves since we have expanded the firm and expanded the leadership team, this planning has really taken on kind of a different strategy and really just it comes together much differently now that there are additional people. Prior to that, our planning happened potentially like during the middle of a work day when we both had free time and something came to mind, potentially on a weekend or after [00:07:00] hours on a weeknight. So just pretty much any free time that we were together and one of us had a thought or idea like, hey, we should include this at the next retreat, or what if we do this next year? So this time it was definitely much more organized. And of course, when that happens, when there's organization and there's a strategy and a plan, uh, you just get better results from that. And so talk through a little bit of those, um, different categories in how we broke up. Wow. [00:07:30] How are we going to just pull all of these goals and initiatives out of thin air, but make sure that they're still having impact, because that is our value spell impact. And that is in our, uh, vision that, is what DBA is here for, to have positive impact on people.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Um, so there are a few different areas that we focus on, and I'm actually going to grab it real quick. Uh, [00:08:00] while we're talking, just so I don't miss anything. And this is probably something that we can share with others on the other side of this, you know, because, um, I think it is really helpful, regardless of, you know, how how you run the business just to see how others are doing. And so, you know, there's some things that we look at on an ongoing basis throughout the year and kind of make sure that are in alignment, uh, revenue generation, make sure that those goals are set out and that we're looking at that constantly throughout the year. And then, um, if we're if we're [00:08:30] monitoring it throughout the year and we've set goals around revenue generation, if it's behind target, what can we do to get back on target? If it's above target, what maybe do we need to adjust to slow down the pace of onboardings if we're not ready for that. So revenue generation operations management, which covers a lot of different things. And I know that from uh, sitting in the founder leader seat, um, you get that shiny object syndrome. So you chase a lot of things so operations management can ground you [00:09:00] and kind of keep you stable throughout the year for what your goal is. Uh, the third one, organizational development. So looking at team structure and team and hiring and roles and all that fun stuff.

Marcus Dillon: But it also includes succession and succession events like maybe 3 to 5 years out. We're only focused, you know, on this current year and this conversation. But organizational development is that third one. The fourth one is going to be financial management. So that speaks right to the heart of an accountant. And everybody [00:09:30] that's listening to this, um, you know, just making sure that you have good KPIs and you're watching those, making sure that your reporting is up to date, even though we know, um, usually, sometimes our accounting is the last to get done, but it shouldn't be. You should focus on yourself and then be able to serve others based on that. So financial management is that fourth one. And then finally for us it's ministry how we're giving back and how we're being good stewards of of what we've been entrusted with. And so those [00:10:00] are the five areas that we focus on to break it all out. Obviously, there's a host of questions that we work through and walk through and talk through, um, to make sure that we were setting the right goals for this year and also as part of our 3 to 5 year plan. Um, just to make sure that it is in alignment with what we want to happen and that we can monitor what we want to happen and what is actually happening throughout the year.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. And so one thing with that framework, not only does it break it up into categories of [00:10:30] important, uh, pieces of the business and of business health, making sure that those areas have a plan. It also puts a person who is responsible, so it puts a person of accountability, um, a leader, if you will, over each of those categories so that there is someone who is paying attention to whether or not it's on track or not, and then also helping [00:11:00] with accountability, um, if things need to be adjusted. So not something that gets forgotten, um, until the end of the year. And you look up and you go, wow, we never touched the ministry aspect of the business. We had good intentions, but nothing ever was actually done. This allows to delegate and appoint different people to be over different areas. Um also allows you to focus on areas that [00:11:30] you are naturally involved with, skilled at, or just passionate about. And so I think that that's helpful as well.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And um, as mentioned, we we've taken this and we've kind of made it our own. So we'll, we'll share this with those that are interested. Um, ultimately you want to you want to kind of get to a point where you have a one page document that can be viewed consistently throughout the year. And as part of that one page document, just like you said, um, there's a matrix that you're following. [00:12:00] So you've got those five key areas that we already discussed. Uh, you've got what the goal was. Um, so what you set out is the strategic plan for the time period. So this is the year then that next column you've got is, uh, you know, what you're tracking how you're tracking that. What are the KPIs? What does success look like? That third column which you mentioned is who's responsible. So in that, you know, it could be really easy to say, hey, Marcus is responsible for all of it, right? But that then nothing would get [00:12:30] done. So we actually, you know, have almost like first chair, second chair people in each of those areas. Um, just so they, they can have the ability to work with others and delegate. And so but there is definitely one point person, as you mentioned, from making that area a success. And then that final one is timeline. Um, so I think what how you can measure that throughout the year and how it's progressing, it is very helpful to set a timeline because, uh, if it's [00:13:00] if there's no timeline, then you can just keep kicking the can down the road. And those goals, uh, never get touched again.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, absolutely. Well, do you want to talk through more about our specific goals that we set out, or do you want to talk through what it looks like, um, to integrate those into the team retreat?

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, let's, um, let's let's actually just talk about how how you can relay this. So, um, one well, let's back up. So we determined [00:13:30] we had this framework. We had the goal that we wanted to fill out this one page document by the end of our time together, and that we wanted to have that as a guiding light for the rest of 2025 and for 2026. So that was the goal of like our leadership team get together. And then ultimately what we came away with needed to be shared with the team at the whole team retreat. So, uh, we while we were all together as a leadership [00:14:00] team, we were very transparent. We were very candid with one another and, um, just talked openly about the current year, the future, uh, 2026 and even like the future 3 to 5 years, what that could look like. Right. And so there were there were great conversations. Asked. There was a lot of listening, I think, and, uh, walking away from that, you know, everybody's on the same page as far as, hey, what does this look like for you in 3 to 5 years? What do you want to see happen next year? So those are the questions. [00:14:30] And, um, you know, as a leader, you have to kind of be prepared for whatever your, uh, fellow leaders answers may be.

Marcus Dillon: Um, you kind of have to be open to hearing that. And then just after, you know, after you're in a safe space, after you're in a very good room and things are said and agreed upon, then it's just a matter of taking action and going and doing the thing right. So that was that was kind of what we walked away from in that September time together. And then we refined that list, kind of made it, uh, more, [00:15:00] uh, just an easier document to, to manage throughout the year. And then obviously with that refined document, then that's what we share with the team. And we're not sharing too much or too little. We're sharing just the right amount for what they need to know and how they can contribute to those goals. So that all led up to, you know, our, uh, mid-year retreat mid November after November 15th. And, [00:15:30] uh, so that's about how long it took for us. It took about six weeks to start the process, to refine it as a as a leadership team of four. If you've got a larger leadership team that may take a little bit longer, it may not. You may be able to delegate and break it up and move faster. But for us.

Rachel Dillon: You may not you may not have a acquisition of another firm and an October 15th deadline in those six weeks. So maybe six weeks is an appropriate timeline. It just depends on.

Marcus Dillon: I would say six weeks is the max, so maybe you move a little bit faster. October [00:16:00] was a very good month to us. Um, as as Rachel mentioned, we had the acquisition at the very beginning of October, October 1st. We had tax the end of the extension season in there as well. Then, um, I was in California for Intuit Partner Council. Part of that time we had Intuit Connect. We had the collective event like so it was just a very full month. And then the next month had our team retreat that we had been planning on. And so this was a big part of that team retreat. It wasn't everything we covered in Team [00:16:30] Retreat, obviously, but this was this was a way to kick off team retreat and then have people focus about what would be presented over the next couple of days as well, just to make sure that they agreed with the vision and that it didn't feel any different than what we had already been talking about for years prior, which that's kind of where I'll I'll give it to you now to see, like we made it to that point, and now we're preparing for [00:17:00] this in-person team retreat of more than 20 people. And what did it look like for preparation outside of even like some of those leadership team meetings and kind of consolidating all the goals onto one page. What did preparation look like for that team retreat?

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. So for team Retreat, just the real logistical type things of coordinating hotels, coordinating meals, coordinating team building activities. If you have the opportunity to do [00:17:30] that, and then also coordinating, um, a Christmas party. And so we do our year end party, uh, in conjunction with this retreat. Now we have since we do it at the end of the year, the evolution of Dba's team retreats, we used to do them in January and taking a day and a half or two days right when you come back from the holidays is tough. Um, given the [00:18:00] the nature of work that we do of having financials out by the 15th, especially when you put that into year end financials, um, in January and to 99 work. And so then we moved it back in January to after the 20th. That also felt like there's still a crunch before January 31st to get work done. And pushing it any further than that made it. We're already a month into the year or more before we've even rolled out. [00:18:30] What are we, you know, really focusing on or working on? So a couple years back, we moved our retreat to the year end to December. Um, and then also found that December is quite the busy time. And so if you try to stack that in the middle of, um, the first through the 15th, it's, it's taxing on team members, especially when people are traveling, because then you take that day and a half and it really becomes two and a half or [00:19:00] more days, uh, that you are out of work. And so just being cognizant of what team members have, what we've promised to clients, things like that.

Rachel Dillon: On when we do the team retreat. So this year was our first time to do it, actually the week before Thanksgiving break. It still gave us plenty of time to put together the celebrations and achievements of the year. So we are 11. We have 11 months, mostly of data that we could [00:19:30] include in that ten and a half if we're being, uh, real, uh, exact on that number. Um, but we had enough data to go through on this is where we're at year to date. This is where we're on track to be at year end. So it didn't have to be perfect. That gives the team a good enough idea, and there are plenty of things to celebrate for the firm as a whole and individual team members up to like let's say, November 17th, 18th whenever [00:20:00] we had our retreat. So I think that's important too, as we think about planning a retreat for team members. If it's a in-office meeting, if it's a half day, if it's a full day, it's still important to think about the timing and what responsibilities people have, because if they are busy and have deadlines and clients waiting and asking for things they cannot be fully focused and engaged in that team retreat. To be able to listen and to give any [00:20:30] kind of, um, ideas within that. So just if you want team members to be fully focused and engaged and present during that time, it's real important that we consider all of the responsibilities that they may have going on.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, for sure. And that's obviously why we've, uh, done these after the 15th, after that window, because that's a big push for the teams of three to get the financials out. Uh, I remember back we used to do a Thanksgiving lunch and then, you know, we'd celebrate that and, um, kind of [00:21:00] give the team a little gift. Then. Then we do a Christmas dinner or event, um, do the same thing. They're kind of see spouses, all that fun stuff. And then we would also have, uh, kind of a beginning of the year or end of the year team retreat. So we took those three different opportunities, uh, and kind of consolidated them into one after going remote and just make it. Try to try to make it as special as it can be. Uh, we know that people give up their freedom and time to travel, and, uh, they [00:21:30] have to coordinate kids and pets and all that fun stuff. So we know it's a lift on the team member side. So we just want to make sure that our time spent together is focused on what is most important.

Marcus Dillon: And, uh, a lot of times it's not technical accounting and tax updates. Uh, that can be done over teams at any given point. Um, and you can not pay attention to that on teams just like you can in person. So when we're together we're talking through goals and, uh, vision and [00:22:00] roadmap. Um, and that's, that's the, the things that we want immediate discussion on immediate reaction on so we can make sure we're either in alignment and moving the right way or, uh, if there's, if there's something that is addressed, uh, as far as a challenge or something that just doesn't feel right. We want to address that in the moment, in person. And so just kind of a word of wisdom there from all of our years of doing these retreats almost a decade now or [00:22:30] a little bit over, um, you know, you're going to you're going to focus on what you want immediate feedback on and what matters most. And for us, that's the things that are weaved into everyday life, not necessarily something technical in nature.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, absolutely. One other thing that we have included in a lot of our we'll call them local. So not the beach retreats, but the ones that are in an office or conference room type setting. We have invited a photographer [00:23:00] to do headshots during that time. So I think as growing firms, which I know a lot of our listeners are also growing firms like we are um, or just updating headshots. So we invite a photographer to do headshots and then potentially some other photography that might be included for your website or marketing materials, whether that's digital or otherwise. And so having that available during that time when you have everyone together, instead of trying [00:23:30] to schedule another time for all of that, that's really important for remote firms that are taking the time and investing the resources to bring everyone together to go ahead and add that in. Typically, they can be off in a side room or somewhere that's very, very near by. And so it's not disruptive to what's happening in the retreat. And people can kind of cycle in and out with those headshots. Doing a full team picture may or may not work [00:24:00] during your retreat time. But even more importantly than that, now there are plenty of programs and things that you can kind of stack people in and out. As long as you have a good professional photo of them, you can kind of build your team around that. So that's one other thing that we like to include when we are flying everyone in or getting everyone together in a same location is to make sure that we are updating or getting headshots of anyone who doesn't have them.

Marcus Dillon: So [00:24:30] we've laid the groundwork for like, the logistics of the retreat before we're even talking about content or what the couple of days even look like. We mentioned that the leadership team got together, and we had some homework to do before the retreat, and then we had these different events, so we had a little bit of time to refine and make sure that we were good to go. And obviously we have a full slide deck presentation that has to get done for the the event, and that's being done by leadership retreat. But leadership [00:25:00] team members that were at that retreat, but it's also done by other select team members. So we would bring Aaron, our director of uh, tax and financial planning, into sessions. We bring Angel, our director of technology, Ben, who leads collective. All of them had a part in some of those two days. And then the team itself. I don't recall, um, much team homework for this retreat, but we have in the past required a little bit of [00:25:30] homework, whether that's testing or things like that. And so you want to give a little bit of insight, whether it was this retreat or the past, what we've asked people to do before they show up, because then we can use that over those couple of days as well.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, a lot of times, the things that we are focused on when we come together all in person again, because we are remote majority of the time, we focus on relationships and things that directly impact individual people. And so if it's [00:26:00] directly impacting a person and it is relationship driven, then we are going to make sure that we include it. So some things that we've done ahead of retreats in the past, and even some people did this before, this one filling out a like a personality assessment. And so we use Enneagram and we use that to learn how to work better together, but then also as leadership development. So the more you know about [00:26:30] communication and communicating with each other, the better we can help lead and elevate others within our team and even our clients businesses. So personality assessments a lot of times what homework? Um, as you said, homework looks like ahead of these is filling out some type of survey or form. So we will create and send a link of hey, we need you to do this ahead of retreat. Sometimes it's a personality related like [00:27:00] a disc assessment or Enneagram or other types of testing that are similar to those. Also, we may. This time we had them and it was actually ahead of our midyear retreat.

Rachel Dillon: And then we did it for newly acquired clients. But evaluating clients and, um, grading them not the same as a, B, C, d that we have talked about. And if you don't know what I'm talking, if you're a new listener and you haven't heard that before, [00:27:30] we have whole podcasts and webinars on the YouTube channel about evaluating your client list. But this was really looking at would they consider this a hard client or a great client. And we put some metrics around that. So we could look at is the distribution of clients, um, between teams of people equal. So we know that there are different types of clients, even within the same industry, that make them more complex or [00:28:00] more difficult to work with. And so those are some of the types of things that we have team members do ahead of time so that we can take that data and directly use it within retreat sessions. So it's always something that is going to be used that it would be better to. This can be done independently and and doesn't need time spent when we're all together, so that when we're all together, it's focused [00:28:30] on talking, team building, relationships, um, those types of things that are better done in person.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So, uh, we covered some of the basics, um, you know, the headshots, the photos. We only we only make the team dress up on one day. So if you're doing this over a couple of days, I would highly recommend a very comfortable day. That's probably the second day for us because of people actually traveling. Um, so Monday was the more, uh, headshot [00:29:00] kind of you got to get your stuff together day. Um, you got to get ready for work, if you will. Um, and that started pretty early. 8:00, uh, I think was whenever the photographer showed up and team was kind of trickling in to start taking headshots, and, uh, that always takes a little bit of time. It kind of eases people in. People are able to chat and catch up if they haven't the night before. Um, so we provide hotel rooms to anybody that needs one, including local team. Just, you know, some people took us up on that because they didn't want to wake up [00:29:30] super early commute, kind of get ready all that fun stuff that's just not their normal routine. So we had local people, uh, stay at the hotel there in the Houston area and city center and, uh, they, you know, were able to kind of get ready at their own pace and do it a little bit more comfortably without a, uh, commute factored in.

Marcus Dillon: So that's how that's how we start the day. Breakfast is always around. We always have food around us. And that's usually, uh, a little bit of a premium at a hotel. [00:30:00] But I would highly recommend it. Just makes things easy versus coordinating a lot of external catering, or trying to prepare things in advance and bring it in. So, you know, you pay for that. And there are certain minimums included in most of these meeting rooms. So I think you've always done a good job of picking out really good stuff, because we're going to spend the money anyway, so you might as well just kind of have it around and make it real easy for the team. And then throughout the day, you know, people are used to having, uh, sodas [00:30:30] and coffee and water at their desk or at their home where they work. Uh, so we want to make it very similar of a feel. And so we, we invest a little bit for those, uh, amenities and treats as well. So, um, but this this year we did a little bit different.

Marcus Dillon: We actually left the room for lunch, uh, both days, which kind of gives a good break, if you will. And then the evening of that Monday night evening, that was actually the Christmas party that was at a restaurant that was near the hotel, [00:31:00] walking distance and spouses came for that. That were, you know, in the area or that traveled with. And we've actually we've got great team members, but we've got some even better team members, spouses that travel with those team members anytime they can. And so, you know, we have Dave who comes in with Alina from California. He just loves Texas so much and he just can't wait to move here. Um, one day. But, uh, we've got other spouses that travel with, uh, with team members anytime they [00:31:30] can. We had Heather, and, uh, Lonnie actually drove in, uh, from Saint Louis, so Saint Louis to Houston. That drives not an easy one. So they did that together and, uh, just kind of cool, um, to spend some time with spouses as well. Um, and just make sure that, you know, overall, that we're still doing true to what we held out to when that team member joined DBA.

Rachel Dillon: Yes. Well, cash, our dog, may be making an appearance here in the background. Um, I think it's time for him to eat while we're recording [00:32:00] this. And so, um, but I think as you're talking about kind of those extra things that we did, we our, our Christmas party dinner was at a Brazilian steakhouse. So that is like an all you can eat type of dinner. But what's kind of fancy, if you're not familiar with that, is you stay seated for the meat portion of the dinner, and they just come around with different, uh, [00:32:30] huge skewers of meat and ask you what you want and just keep bringing it and bringing it until you tell them to stop. And so that was very entertaining, along with a gift exchange that we did. But prior to that, we went to a it's like a party place called the Great Big Game Show. It was fantastic. I, I believe that great big game show is available in a lot of Major cities. So as you're [00:33:00] considering that if you have something similar, so they have party rooms set up, they break teams up into even teams from there. And you get to play some of the other classic TV type shows.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, I think a great big game show is in different markets. So it's it was definitely a great time.

Rachel Dillon: Yes. And um, so with that really a lot of team bonding, um, [00:33:30] a lot of team work and a lot of laughs and then something that's just memorable. It's it was not expensive. Um, it was less than $40 per person. It was an hour and a half event. The dinner again, which you would think that that might be expensive, but from what we've priced out for different things, if you take someone out to a steak or something like that, um, it was Again was not any more than what they normally charge on a per person basis. So just [00:34:00] a lot of things that were fairly cost effective, um, but very memorable for the team.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And so, uh, obviously that could hopefully help somebody that's listening to this. Just as you're planning these get togethers, it doesn't have to be expensive necessarily to be memorable. Um, and you can make the most of it for what your team, you know, what your team's really used to and kind of make that event special. So, uh, we covered some logistics. We covered some highlights, for sure. So now let's talk about the actual content, [00:34:30] um, the slideshow, if you will, things that were shared. So going from, uh, that time together, uh, as a leadership team, kind of making sure that all the goals were on track, um, actually owning those goals for the next year and kind of making sure those are in alignment with where we're going. And then, um, getting that into a format where we could open up discussion, get feedback from the team, and ultimately, Make sure that we're all on the same page. So we always start these events, you know, beyond the welcome. We had the [00:35:00] pictures on day one. Uh, we always start kind of, uh, looking back, if you will. And as you mentioned, we had ten and a half months of data. Um, so we had year to date data, which we share our revenue, we share some of the financial data that accountants just love. And, um, if you don't do that with your team, I would highly recommend that if you can, if you can figure out a way to do that where you feel comfortable. Um, we have only seen good fruit on the other side of being more transparent, uh, with our team as far as revenue. And, [00:35:30] uh, they know that a lot of that revenue goes to pay for different things along the budget, and it ultimately doesn't all go into profit. At the end of the day. It's not, uh, it's not it's not something that accountants, uh, shouldn't understand. So we're, uh, where we've always seen them to come alongside us and buy into, um, overall vision and what we're doing. It helps to see the numbers, uh, as you would say.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. I think [00:36:00] to on that when it helps you set more clear goals and just the transparency helps and transparency helps build trust with your team. And when we're talking about kind of our teams right now, and we just mentioned this on a webinar that we recently recorded. But replacing team members is hard on culture, but it's also hard to find new team members. And it's expensive, not just from a salary standpoint or a recruiter standpoint, [00:36:30] but the time investment for training new team members and getting them up to speed. And so making sure that team members, uh, trust what's happening within the business. And so the more transparent that you can be, the more that you can help build that trust. And it also allows them to see areas where they can directly contribute or directly impact some of those goals and initiatives related to the firm. We are accountants, so of course financial is [00:37:00] going to be important to them and understood. So we have not found, um, in all of the years since we started sharing actual financial data with our team at team Retreats, there has never been an instance where someone has come to us and said that we are unfair based on a revenue number or something that we've shared, um, or really any, any negative. The only things that have come from us sharing more has been positive, uh, [00:37:30] response and feedback.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So that's how we, we frame we do share. Um, so for us, uh, we've been doing these retreats for almost a decade now. We've owned the business for longer, but the retreats have definitely helped us, and we started doing those along the way. I think one of our first retreats was after an acquisition in 2016, and that was really to get the whole team in the same room. So it felt like, you know, this is probably the the ten year [00:38:00] anniversary of different retreats that we've been doing at DBA. So, um, yeah, just a decade ago. Right. So the, the most recent, I guess, the we built out the, the vision and mission, uh, around COVID, um, you know, we were pivoting from legacy in office brick and mortar, uh, looking at relationships and refining our client list. We'd already adopted a CAS and monthly recurring model. So we continue [00:38:30] to reshape our client list. We introduce team of three and our team structure, which are very important to us. So all of that was happening after Covid. So I would say a lot of what we've been sharing in these team retreats has only built on top of one another over the years, and especially over the last 3 to 4 years. And so I remember we had a retreat, uh, about four years ago where, uh, we were actually going to do a virtual retreat, but we had some, um, different things happening in the business where [00:39:00] we said, no, this this definitely needs to be an in-person retreat. We need to allocate the budget. We just need to have people together to talk through the changes that are happening and just make sure that we can answer questions.

Marcus Dillon: And that was that was after we kind of pivoted and made some changes on the sales team and sales strategy. So there were some some team member exits. Uh, that felt kind of heavy. We had done some team structure realignment. We had done a, uh, a few exits on the service team side because team [00:39:30] three made us very efficient and effective. And so we were just carrying a couple of team members, uh, extra that that we really didn't have capacity to be doing that any longer. So it could have been a very heavy conversation. But what we did is we went back to the vision, the mission that we set out even a year prior, and we went over each one of those things that we were looking to achieve. And we still use that slide today because it gives people familiarity of where we're at, and that we've [00:40:00] only built upon those goals that we set so long ago as we were, you know, making this change to be remote first, to lean into our ability to share with others and really, um, you know, kind of maturing in our business owner ownership. So we share that as part of it seems like every retreat now we point back to it and it's, it's cool to see where that started about 4 or 5 years ago and where it is today. And to see people's head nods, um, to say, yeah, [00:40:30] everything that we're doing, even though it feels like a big change or a big lift, it's all in alignment with what we agreed to do 4 or 5 years ago.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. Do you mind if I share those that we put together. It was 2021, mid-year 2022, mid-year.

Marcus Dillon: Probably.

Rachel Dillon: 2020. We put together and it was just it was future direction, right? Because we always say the the world changes so rapidly that even setting something in stone [00:41:00] for what five years is going to look like feels a little unrealistic like. But here is the direction that we want to go. So these aren't Smart goals. This was just the future direction so that people could decide, are you on board or no, this doesn't align with where you see yourself going in five years. So we said we would, um, monitor and monitor, monetize or refer annual tax clients that are outside of our core ideal services operate [00:41:30] within a fully connected tech stack, share industry best practices and specific processes with our network of peers. Be the model firm and the small business accounting space attract highly qualified, highly motivated team members. Implement a travel retreat and create initiatives to give back locally and abroad as a team. And so what has been so cool is to see there have been team member [00:42:00] transitions. There have been clients who have exited, there have been acquisitions of firms. Um, there have been changes in practice management solutions and ancillary, um, apps that we use. But what has stayed the same is this direction. And we can go through and put a check mark next to every single one and point back directly to exactly how we achieved those things. And so I think that that's really [00:42:30] neat. While yes, every day something's changing and, you know, over the year of a business a lot of things will change. But the fact that we are still moving in the direction that we set out and put in writing, um, is really awesome. And again, that just gives confidence and comfort to the team when they think, oh my gosh, it feels everything feels so different. But when they look back at this, they're like, okay, it's not any different than what we said we were going to do. Maybe how we get there [00:43:00] or what we use to do it changes, but the overall direction that we're moving is definitely aligned.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And I actually I welcomed everybody and started the a couple days off with the four P's presentation, which I know we spoke on, on a podcast. Uh, you know, as far as just getting, um, doing a better job at communicating change and all of that. So that's how we started. Um, but then also we went into, hey, here's here's [00:43:30] where we're at. You. That future direction slide was used in ultimately, 2025 was a big year for us as far as growth with additional team members, additional locations, additional clients. Collective really growing and maturing as well. So, um, you can look back at that slide and, you know, any one person can just be saying, well, why did we why did we start collective? Why did we, why did we share with this network of peers, and why did we create this space? Um, and it's [00:44:00] on that future direction slide. Right. As, as sharing and nurturing relationships with our peers and doing what we can in the industry. Continuing to refine DBA as the model firm that people can, you know, review how we do things. And we're an open book, and we share so much as far as team structure and all the all the failures that we've had, but share some wins along the way as well, so people can use those as they see fit. But then also the, you know, creating a great place to work and always looking for great talent. I mean, we've added director [00:44:30] level team members, three director level team members over the last two years with Amy or director of Ops. We elevated Leslie to director of accounting and advisory.

Marcus Dillon: We brought on Angel as director of technology, and we brought on Aaron as director of tax and financial planning. So all of that is to build out the future of the team that doesn't revolve around one person or a couple of people. So, you know, in continuing to just do good with what we've been given. And so I think we hit on all of that. And then we also showed what it looks like and where [00:45:00] where we're going into 2026. So those goals that we as a leadership team committed to and are good to go with, we set those out. And that's you know, that's sales goals and client win goals. But it's also uh process improvement goals. There's different things. Team member uh additions that we're going to be looking at. So we share that for the whole year of 2026. Then we break it out of what we want to achieve by quarter. So we do that Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, and, um, [00:45:30] you know, just just like you said, hey, people can be thinking about. We've got we want to add X number of new clients. Maybe for you that's ten maybe that's 20. Um, but you can share that with your team. That way they can be thinking about it. You can even incentivize them to do so. Love those, uh, programs. But then on team members as well. So, uh, you know, we shared we're going to be looking for, uh, client controller here in the near future. Uh, just to add to the to the base of team, as we grow, we're going to be looking for a marketing [00:46:00] role to help with that side of the business as well, and take some responsibilities off of you.

Marcus Dillon: And then we're also going to be assessing do we need another CSM or a CSM assistant in Q2, Q3 after the dust settles of tax season? So all of those uh, positions, we're just kind of open about talking like, hey, this is where we're going, gets people thinking like, hey, I know so and so that would be perfect for this. And I would love to work with them because I love to work here. So but that's that's kind of how we share. It's not rocket science. Um, so if you're thinking about like what [00:46:30] you would share or why you would share it. Those are the benefits. So you don't exist in your own little bubble and not get the help of the great people you already have around you. Um, so when we started opening up more, um, transparently, not only with the financials, but with just the overall plan of the business, we could actually invite people in that are, you know, much smarter than us and even better than us in given areas. And that's why we that's why we hired them initially. Right. But now they're in charge of a little bit more. And, [00:47:00] uh, so we want to invite them in to own some of this as well and just not make it about, you know, hey, this is Marcus or Rachel's plan, because that's what it used to be, you know, prior to actually developing a leadership team 4 or 5 years ago.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. That's good. Well, as we're coming up on the end of this episode, I would like to share the four areas that we break out for team for initiatives. Also, those four areas allow [00:47:30] us to have some structure around achievements, so that we don't forget things that have happened over the year. So just as leaders, a lot happens, we're getting older. So maybe that also plays into it. But having a little bit of structure of how what we celebrate and then what initiatives we roll out to the team is helpful. If anybody listening would like exact copies of our team retreat agendas from this year or years prior, I am happy [00:48:00] to share that. Email me Rachel at collective, or you can fill out the contact form on our website. Both come directly to me. So happy to share anything that we've used at DBA as far as team retreats go, but the four areas that we typically share initiatives around and then celebrations and we put financial data in with achievements and celebrations, so that's where that goes. But the four main areas are growth process, [00:48:30] team development. And then for us we have collective by DBA as a fourth. Um, just because it is so closely connected to Dylan Business Advisors that we break that out on its own, it has its own celebrations and achievements, and it also has its own set of initiatives for the upcoming year in our growth section. That's both team members and clients that get celebrated and planned out for, um, in that place. And then, [00:49:00] of course, process would include things like processes and technology, um, and the ways that we work, uh, more effectively on a daily basis.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, yeah, there was there was a lot to celebrate in 2025. So 2025 was a big growth year. Uh, the rally cry that I inserted into everybody's life was the goal was growth, not comfort. Um, so we we did that. We achieved it. Um, so we grew by leaps and bounds both at DBA [00:49:30] and collective. So just being able to help so many more people than we started the year with, uh, being able to do this, you know, this journey with others as well, both on the team member side and just, you know, on the clients and the firm side as well. Um, so just a ton to celebrate. And, um, I don't do a great job of stopping and celebrating. So I was I was kind of, you know, made sure that it was built in, um, because I'm all about, you know, hey, we did this. Now here's what's next, right? So we definitely [00:50:00] wanted to take some time to pause, celebrate, you know, take a breath, actually, you know, like, crazy to imagine what what we did this year and then ultimately, you know, say, hey, it wasn't it wasn't that hard. Uh, we don't want to go do it again in that same way.

Marcus Dillon: But here's what we're focused on for 2026. So, uh, for 2026. The rally cry is, uh, lead change, create impact. I think that was, um, a very [00:50:30] real, um, time together that was embraced, uh, both at our gather conference and at our DBA team retreat. People had a lot of head nodding that. That felt right, because what we've seen in the cycle of our business is we've got a growth phase, we've got a refinement phase, and then we've got excellence. Um, on the other side of that. So and that's just a constant circle, um, that evolves throughout, you know, the life of DBA and collective. So, [00:51:00] uh, 2025 was that growth phase for us. So now we're entering into a season of refinement, making sure that we're serving the best people possible, um, and ultimately adding a lot of value wherever we can. And then, um, just looking, looking to move toward excellence, um, in all that we do. So I think that's that's how we wrapped up, really, our time together to make sure that we sent people home, seeing, um, that we sent people home with all the [00:51:30] gifts you could imagine. So another pro tip, um, that we will share is Rachel and I get a lot of gifts from vendors.

Marcus Dillon: Uh, you know, we go to different, uh, events, and then we go to different conferences. So there are things that come across, um, you know, our desk or sent to us that, you know, they're nice to have, but, um, one of those where we would much rather share that with others just because you can only have so many Stanley Cups and water bottles and things like that. [00:52:00] So we actually gave away quite a bit of like, high end cool stuff from our vendors. So, um, canopy Intuit QuickBooks uh, ADP uh, double, which used to be keeper, um, people that have just loaded us up with swag, uh, over the years, we shared that with our team, and those are products and vendors that they're using on a daily basis. So that was another pro tip. We had a lot of gifts. We sent people home with a lot of cool stuff. Um, and, you know, it didn't require a lot of [00:52:30] budget. So that's something. If you don't have stuff like that laying around, I'm sure you can reach out to your partners, uh, your technology partners, and they'll send you some stuff to share it with your team.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. If anyone has tracked with us this long because we are going long. Can I share our achievements from the year that directly related to the goals that we had set out for DBA, just because you said it was a really big year, but just to give some context of what that really big year was. So for Dylan Business Advisors, we have brought [00:53:00] on 12 out of, uh, the goal of 15 new organic clients. So monthly cash or tax advisory clients, two firm acquisitions. We have a new, uh, Toa team member. We actually have two new team members this year. So kind of looking at my list from our year end retreat, we also celebrated them at mid-year, the ones that started in January. Uh, Angel was officially on board this [00:53:30] year. We have a new team member who just started, Cordell. We added Aaron, our director of tax. Um, I am probably forgetting other team members, uh, that weren't with the acquisitions and then a handful of amazing people who joined with the acquisitions. Um, we started using double reports instead of the QBO management reports. And just to give a better reporting experience for clients, [00:54:00] uh, looking at automations for client onboarding is something that we are still in process but are working on directly related to those goals. Um, we elevated another subject matter expert. So we have one for tax, one for ADP and now one for QBO. And currently she's also managing double as well. Updates and trainings for the team and then monthly training by role. So trainings every month that are [00:54:30] specifically for client service managers specifically for controllers within the team. Um are are currently happening and will continue. So when we say a lot um, we grew. Do you have revenue numbers. What we grew from just in this year.

Marcus Dillon: Well, so after the acquisitions, uh, which some of those organic numbers, you know, most of you all may be saying only 12 new clients, um, you know, those those new clients are quite a lift for our team, especially when we've [00:55:00] done two acquisitions. So, uh, revenue wise, uh, after those acquisitions, we grew from a roughly a $3 million organization to a $6.5 million organization. So, um, quite a quite a big lift, um, Overall. And, you know, adding great team members, serving great people both on the DBA and collective side. And we're having fun doing it. I think it's every day brings some challenges. But, um, you know, we weren't called to do easy things either. [00:55:30] So, uh, it's been a lot of fun. And we're also, uh, entering a season, uh, where we can refine some things and make it that much better. So that's also, uh, what we're excited about in 2026.

Rachel Dillon: And team members to go along with that. Revenue growth was about 15 starting beginning, uh, last year, 2024. So with that growth, we're about 25, um, give or take, as people kind of transition in and out, move around roles [00:56:00] part time, not part time, those types of things. So about um, 25 and that's not FTEs. That's just people, uh, actual names. So that's what that growth looks like in a year. It has been amazing. We have had the opportunity to work with a lot of amazing people and have just now the talent and skills and passions of all of those people included in our team.

Marcus Dillon: So it's been a it's been a fun ride. The [00:56:30] retreats are always, you know, you build up, you want to make sure that the PowerPoints are done right. You want to make sure that every little detail is ironed out, but ultimately it's all about the people at the end of the day. So, um, I think people got sent home and, uh, you know, plenty of hugs were given and they felt like they were they were ready to celebrate some holidays, but then ultimately ready to achieve some things in 2026 that were talked about.

Rachel Dillon: All right. [00:57:00] Well, thank you so much for helping share about our team retreat and our leadership planning. Again, if anyone listening, uh, would like to see anything that we've used in our firm. Happy to share that, um, directly. Don't feel like you have to reinvent the wheel, or that you have too many things to plan a retreat. This is also something that you could, uh, appoint someone in your team to reach out to me. That would be fine as well. And then you, maybe as a leader owner, don't have time. That's okay. There's other people [00:57:30] in your team, and I'm happy to help guide them in the right direction to set something up. That would be really great. Uh, for the firm.

Marcus Dillon: All right. Thanks so much for leading it.

Rachel Dillon: Of course, we will see everybody on the next episode.

Rachel Dillon: Thanks for listening to this episode. If you enjoyed the conversation and want to learn more, be sure to visit collective. You can schedule a meeting directly with me, Rachel, by clicking on the Contact Us page. Be sure to subscribe, [00:58:00] like, and share so you don't miss any future episodes. We look forward to connecting with you soon!