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.

Rachel Dillon : All right. Welcome [00:00:30] back to another episode of Who's Really the Boss podcast.

Marcus Dillon: Hey, thanks for having me back.

Rachel Dillon : I think we need to give updates this, um, episode. So Kinley and Avery updates. We can do them quick, but let's go ahead and do those.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Um, Avery, I'll do that one, uh, senior year, kind of in April or or May. So if any, uh, listeners have had kids go through that season of life, uh, it's getting busy. Uh, you know, it's like the days are what? [00:01:00] The days are long, but the years go by fast or the years are short. However that goes. And so, uh. Yeah, coming up on a lot of stuff. Busy days, busy weekends. We've got prom coming up this weekend, so we'll have a few different kids. Uh, we're chaperoning the trip after prom right at the lake house. Um, but, yeah, hopefully everything goes well there. And then on the other side of that, it's like swimming, graduation, all that fun stuff that's already built into [00:01:30] part of our lives. So.

Rachel Dillon : Yeah. So on a previous episode, we mentioned that the lake plans after prom were just starting to form, and that was a little concerned about timing of driving late at night with a bunch of teenagers for two hours to get to the lake house so that, uh, all of those plans got worked out. They are actually not attending the, um, actual prom event. So they will take pictures, they will go to dinner and then [00:02:00] they will change clothes and head to the lake instead of going to wherever the event is being held. I can't even remember. I think it's it's not at the school, it's at a different venue.

Marcus Dillon: Which is crazy because like when we were in high school, like that was what you did. You did the event, right? The prom or the dance or whatever. Um, how much are tickets to get into that event for Avery?

Rachel Dillon : I think they're $75 each. So it's it's it's a lot for the kids who are just [00:02:30] going to go and take another picture with the actual prom backdrop. Um, so they won't have that experience of having that prom backdrop. But if they weren't going to go and eat and socialize and dance, then $75 is kind of steep, because then I think you also pay for the pictures after. So it just it feels like one extra thing that's not really necessary. They're all excited about the after, um, which will be very controlled [00:03:00] and very chaperoned. Uh, and Avery's friends, thankfully, are okay with that. So, um, no wild, crazy parties again. They're more looking at taking pictures and, um, dressing up in theme, which something about in the wild, Wild one, I don't know, something with anal print is all. I'm really privy to the information at this point.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, well, it's just a change from 20 years prior, right? Where it was. You had the dance [00:03:30] in somewhere close to the school, whether it was the school itself, like the gym or auditorium or whatever. And then you're trying to get lost afterwards. And for us, that usually meant like a pasture, uh, or somebody's house. Not these big trips out of town.

Rachel Dillon : So absolutely not so fun fact for anyone who doesn't know us personally or doesn't know us well yet, We actually went to prom together both our junior year and our senior year. So we had two proms. Um, we went [00:04:00] we did not go to the same high school. Um, so we went to each other's proms. So that's fun. And yes, we can remember exactly what that was like and remember it together, because, uh, we know all of the plans that were made and there were no, uh, yeah. We did not attend any after parties that were, like, at the beach or at a lake or at a destination that you spent the night at. The after party was like a few hours, and then you went home. Uh, my curfew was midnight, so I was home by midnight. [00:04:30] Uh, not a minute after. And so that's kind of how that worked out and ended. Um. Kinley. Update. Funny enough, she actually has a formal event. Um, tonight. So. Avery's proms tomorrow. Kinley has a formal event tonight, the day we're recording this. And so kind of funny that the nails, the hair, the dresses, all of that was happening for both of them at the same time, even though they're in two completely separate kind of lives and environments. Uh, but she [00:05:00] is looking forward to that. So that will be fun for her this weekend.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And we obviously got to talk to her on the way home from the gym and hear about her plans. We have, uh, Leslie, who's on our team. Her daughter's doing a visit at Baylor, like a campus visit, and we were trying to see what friend she could go peek into their dorm. Uh, but a lot of Kenley's friends are going to this formal event and then started talking and learning about, like, okay, you mentioned [00:05:30] nails, which I didn't know about nails. I heard hair and the cost for hair being done. And then I heard spray tan and the cost for spray tan. I'm sure there's other costs in there. Uh, dress shoes, whatever else. Um, so, uh, it'll be interesting. Like when do these expenses stop?

Rachel Dillon : She did say she's using her own money for these things. So.

Marcus Dillon: Um, but her own money when you don't have a job [00:06:00] is my money that I put in her account. Most likely.

Rachel Dillon : Yes. I think you're right on that. Um, okay, so updates with, uh, Dylan business Advisors or what is coming up. I would say this is going to be my favorite time of the year coming up. It's probably the favorite time of year for most accountants who are involved in tax, but mine's it's my favorite for a little [00:06:30] bit different of a reason. Um, and so in our firm, we like to call this season between April 15th and August 15th improvement season. And that's really why it's my favorite season, not just because we closed close the doors and take time off, or stop working on Fridays or anything like that. Um, really the improvement season, which we'll get into, what does that even mean is [00:07:00] why this time of year is my favorite.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Uh, I mean, I picked the wrong career. Um, spring has to be my favorite season. I love when, you know, things start turning green and start to bloom. I love Easter. Uh, you know, I just everything about it starting a baseball season. And, like, there's just so many things to enjoy in the spring. And, uh, obviously looking ahead, looking forward to April 15th, coming and going, uh, and [00:07:30] then having a little bit different of a pace of life in most of our businesses. Right. The listeners as well. So, you know, even like today in Texas, we're recording this on Friday, April 11th. It's 85 degrees outside, not a cloud in the sky. Just beautiful day. And a group of my friends yesterday invited me to go to the lake. Like a lake with actual water. And get behind a boat. Um, for a couple of days. Friday and Saturday to celebrate one of our friend's birthdays. And I'm [00:08:00] like, God, couldn't you just wait one week? Like, um. But yeah. So it's, uh. So maybe those invitations like, to get away or have a Friday off. Like, I hope that those are in the very near future or already happening for a lot of our friends.

Rachel Dillon : Yeah. For me, my little sister asked last night if she is expecting a baby, and she has a friend who is also expecting a baby, and they asked if they could come over today, uh, and lay out and use [00:08:30] our pool. And I'm just laughing. I'm like, why is everyone rubbing it in our face that we need to be working today? Um, instead of enjoying the beautiful weather that's coming up? So, yeah, that's that's fun. So let's talk through a little bit about improvement season. And before we start talking I'll just say collected by DBA. The team put together a resource, a free resource for anybody who would like to have it, but a resource to help maximize that time between [00:09:00] April 15th and August 15th, really for the benefit of the firm, for increasing value, for setting yourself up for growth, um, whatever those things might be, maybe just improving and having better days, uh, within the firm. But really, how to maximize this kind of three month time period that a lot of people kind of shut down or turn off or stop thinking because they're so exhausted, rightfully so from the first [00:09:30] few months of the year.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And I think you mentioned the firm. Right. So the firm, the team, the clients, but then also the owners obviously values profitability. All of that looks like looks as a part of this season, but then also just balance of life for next year, right? Like and we've talked about that a lot internally at DBA with the acquisition and all of that fun stuff that we've incurred over the last few months. Uh, what do we need to do now or on the other side of April 15th so it doesn't look [00:10:00] non-ideal, right? You know, who do we need to go hire? Who do we need to release into the wild? As far as, uh, clients, maybe team teammates that are frustrating you. What technologies do we need to get in place? So I think while the next three months could get jam packed with improvement, there's also a time to like, rest and celebrate and all of that. And I like the I like the collective knowledge that's been put into this resource that we have for listeners, because it lays it all [00:10:30] out right. Like what you could be doing, what you should be doing, and really what we've learned through the good times and bad, like when we've been really healthy and when we've been unhealthy, uh, as owners and just try to consolidate it and use the the knowledge that we have at collected by DBA.

Rachel Dillon : Yeah. So I think the immediate need and I will say it as the word need for most tax accounting professionals right after April 15th [00:11:00] is to rest. But I think for some people they need permission to rest, right. They have pushed off all of the non tax meetings or, you know, even offered to file extensions so they could consult with clients about specific questions or planning um, after the 15th. So they had time to do that. This may be even pushed off family or friend um social interactions to until after the 15th. And so [00:11:30] a lot of times even April 16th for the next two weeks is booked on people's calendars because they've pushed everyone until after the 15th of the month. So there is a need for rest. But what it really comes down to is how long. So do we go so hard that we have to crash and just do nothing? Um. How long should we be resting? You know, what is the ideal? Again, [00:12:00] in order to continue to make your business the best that it can be. And so I just remember Marcus way back, and this is a this is a while back, but when you first started working, and even in the first couple of years of Dylan CPAs or Saint Jean Dylan and Associates, it's had a few different names over the years. But as soon as April 15th would end, all of these projects at home would start. [00:12:30] Like, you would throw in a load of laundry, you would go to the grocery store, you would start doing all the home improvement projects that you could ever dream of. All of those things started happening, but not so much firm, focused or work focused. It was everything but work that you could do kind of with your time.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Um, I thought you were going to say what what I bought. Um, because that's the other, [00:13:00] uh, part of the story, right? You're, um, grinding, you're working, and all of a sudden you want to reward yourself. And I'm guilty of that as well. Over the past decade. Two decades. Right. And CPAs and accounting professionals buy some really cool stuff in April and May and then go enjoy it. And then, you know, it's one of those things where you got to go back to work to maybe pay for that or, uh, you got to go collect the, ah, depending on how your business is set up to pay for that. So, um, I love [00:13:30] this time of year because you get to see, like, people enjoying, like, the fruits of their labor. Like if they went out and bought something that they couldn't enjoy in February or March or April. But now, hey, I can enjoy that new toy or that trip with family. So love to see that. A lot of people book things on the other side of April 15th, and they may have booked that before the season even started, or at the depths of the season to have something to look forward to, [00:14:00] right? And so we see that a lot.

Marcus Dillon: We used to do that. We used to take a trip to kind of get away and clear our minds and even think about like what bonuses look like for team. Now thankfully we have like structure in place. So it's not off the hip. How we feel like sitting on a beach in Mexico and doling out, uh, you know, payroll dollars. So, um, but yeah, I think there there was a lot of that. And it was kind of, uh, grounding, anchoring back to life, [00:14:30] um, you know, trying to really disconnect from the work life to, you know, just the regular family life. So yeah. And I think whenever I've heard it said and I've done it a few times, like whenever you start to like take things for granted, mopping your own floor, washing your own car, it makes you kind of have a appreciation for those things versus like always looking for the new. So, um, yeah, maybe that was just my [00:15:00] way of not trying to buy a new house or buy a new car, or maybe a new washing machine. So.

Rachel Dillon : Well, I would like to remind you or bring up the fact that one, I think it was your first tax season where you were actually doing tax, you started an audit. So the year that you first started doing tax, um, you actually bought me a gift after tax season. I just need to understand why that was only one year that I got a gift after tax season. What happened to [00:15:30] all the rest? It was just expected after that.

Marcus Dillon: Uh.

Rachel Dillon : At that point.

Marcus Dillon: It's funny too. I remember, uh, I mean, I was probably 24 or 25. I remember, like, going to the mall at lunch to buy that purse. And it was a purse.

Rachel Dillon : It wasn't a coach purse, which shows our age, because that was definitely the trend at the time.

Marcus Dillon: And buying that and, you know, going to the store, which now all you got to do is like open up a new tab and it shows up the very next day thanks [00:16:00] to the internet. So, uh, but yeah, I remember that, you know, oh, how many years ago? 24, 25. So, uh, so that was about 17 years back. 15, 16 years back. So. Yeah. Um, I don't know, jury's still out. Maybe. Maybe, uh, I think you're very fortunate because you get Valentine's Day, your birthday. A lot of kind of, uh, hits back to back in Q1, and, uh, yeah, it's just one of those where we've always now shifted how we celebrate [00:16:30] the material things like, I just buy those throughout the year, right? Like there's no special occasion. If I want it, I buy it. Um, kind of the same for you. If you really want something or need something, you just buy it. Um, but we have placed value on experience and trips, and that you actually have to remove yourself, maybe from your office or your home office. Kind of like we're set up now to actually go do those things. So maybe that's part of the shift to why [00:17:00] those after taxes and gifts may be turned into after tax season trips, which I know a lot of friends do as well.

Rachel Dillon : Yeah, I think that that's exactly what we did. I don't value material things all that much. And so, um, but time together and traveling are definitely things that I do value and look forward to and appreciate. And so I think that that is what we did. Um, in our resource, definitely Recharge is what we call that very first step. What [00:17:30] to do immediately after and recharge just really encompasses rest and recovery and the timeline on that really. What we recommend is a week or less. Um, there is definitely context that goes with that. Uh, this is not to take away vacations or shame anyone for taking time off, but what we really found is go back and connect with people. Um, sleep. Do [00:18:00] some of those things to help you recharge. Collective. We're having an event called recharge to help with this right here. Um, soon after the deadline at the beginning of May. But really, to help rest your mind so that you can creatively think about what you want going forward. And creative and accountants may, Mate may or may not go together. Um, but definitely clearing your mind [00:18:30] and getting your energy back so that you can really focus on what you want to see and what needs to be done for the business.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, and that's the like probably these last few weeks. And most of our friends and listeners, um, you know, your mind has been filled with forms looking at screens, um, kind of research, if anything, questioning, why am I still doing this? Uh, maybe as a career. Um, so you have to kind of remove [00:19:00] and separate that. And, uh, we talk about it a lot. Change of pace, change of place and getting out of that element. Maybe even, like, if you're not fortunate enough to go, like, on a trip or a far trip, like just removing yourself, going to work from a different location to kind of give you a little bit more creativity. Uh, whether that's a coffee shop, a co-working space, somebody else's office, you know, that, you know, I think those are those are those are pieces that you could easily do to kind of one assess, like how's it going? Like [00:19:30] how did it go? And then two, you know who do. Who do I need to thank who need to go celebrate with. And then two, um, you know, go celebrate yourself. Like, you know, whether that's, you know, a trip, just dinner out with family or with your spouse or, um, maybe it is. Maybe your love language is material things, right? And maybe somebody in your life is material things. Don't take that for granted. Go show your appreciation in ways that they value it. So I don't want to downplay that at all [00:20:00] either. If you know that is part of either your love language or your people, uh, their love language, like, definitely go speak to that and celebrate that way.

Rachel Dillon : Yeah, absolutely.

Rachel Dillon : So the reason we're kind of limiting this immediate after the deadline rest the reason we want to minimize that is because we want to be able to give and receive feedback to our team. First, [00:20:30] we want to make sure that we're sending out some kind of survey or collecting feedback from them on all parts of the tax process. So it can also be all parts of the firm processes, because if there are ones that interfered with tax or that tax interfered with, like the monthly accounting processes, we need to know how all of that worked together. Are the tools and softwares we use working [00:21:00] in helpful and as designed? Are the clients we're serving? Um, you know, everything from how we do it, what we use to do it, and who we do it with. Those are all things that we want feedback on, and we don't want the feedback so far. After that, people have kind of forgotten the pain that they were in. The best time to collect that feedback is pretty immediate. Within a week to maybe 10 to [00:21:30] 14 days. You want to have that sent to your team so they can fill it out while everything is fresh, and they haven't blocked it out of their mind.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So, um, my my challenge to anybody listening to this is obviously to on the other side of this, go download that free resource and then immediately, if you haven't already done that recap with your team, go do that with your team. Go ask those questions. Whether you're using our questions that we've developed or you're using your best friend ChatGPT, to help you develop [00:22:00] those questions that are appropriate for you and your team, but definitely getting that in their hands while it's fresh. Um, what we're doing at DBA, obviously the 15th is Tuesday, we're celebrating and then uh, we're actually it's a firm holiday on Friday, Good Friday. Love the fact that that lined up this year for Easter to be on the other side of, uh, the deadline. And so Good Friday is, is a firm holiday. And then a lot of people with children in school have Friday [00:22:30] and even maybe Monday as school holidays. So that just kind of goes in line with like our values and the flexibility that we love to provide to teammates. So, you know, it's just one of those like love the fact that we were able to do that. In doing that, we need their feedback really the week of the deadline. So like to get that in by Friday or Monday at the latest so that we can start seeing what their feedback was. And then we're meeting on [00:23:00] Tuesday the 22nd as a tax team, because that's our set tax meeting time. And we meet weekly right now during tax season. So we just kept that on the books. And we're going to recap. And then we're going to continue to extract information or clarify maybe what someone said that was involved in season. And then on the other side of that, then leadership is going to kind of dissect that a little bit more, put priorities into place. Okay. Here's changes that we need to make. Here's the rollout. And then we'll share that again [00:23:30] with the team.

Rachel Dillon : Yeah absolutely. And so just the timing is important I think that that's the biggest message from the conversation today is this time is important. It is important to rest and relax. And we're going to get back to when might be a better time even to take vacation, take a few days here, maybe take a longer vacation, um, the end of June, July, August, those times of the year? Uh, it doesn't have to be. There's no [00:24:00] perfect. There's no right or wrong. Just talking about what might be better for someone. So definitely we want to recharge. Then we want to review. We want to assess the feedback from the team. We also want to celebrate our team. So during this time it's actually typically during May, we have team member reviews and then also pay out bonuses at that time. So we need to make sure that we're celebrating and sharing our appreciation that it's on the schedule to [00:24:30] do that. It's hard if you have decided to just disappear, especially as a leader in a firm. If you've just decided to disappear for weeks, that may be forgotten by the time you come back of showing that appreciation. A lot of firms, even us in the early days when we were all in person in the same city, we would do a celebration the day after or the Friday after tax season where we would go [00:25:00] to Topgolf, we would do bowling, we would do dinner either with just the team or lunch with just the team, um, or potentially invite their spouses, but definitely had a celebration. We don't do that anymore. And part of me, when I see all the other firms, especially posting on social media about their after tax celebration, I. I definitely get some FOMO and start to feel a little bit guilty about not doing that for our [00:25:30] team. Um, but do you want to share a little bit about why that's not how we celebrate anymore? Um, the tax deadline?

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Um, so I think part of it is like when we take the team, uh, on a, on a bigger trip, uh, that we've kind of reallocated resources for, right? Because we know that there's budget to be spent on team incentives and different things like that. And because we support a remote [00:26:00] team across the entire country to get together a little bit of time, you know, it's like you got to really make an effort, including travel. And we when we were shifting from like brick and mortar, everybody in Katy, Texas, even to where we're at, like we continue to have some of these in-person get togethers, but we already had remote team members, so then they couldn't participate. So then it was kind of like, okay, this feels weird, like we're leaving this person out. [00:26:30] And that's different than like, this person is local, but they just can't make it right. This was completely opposite where it was like, this person likely wants to be here, but they just can't because they live in another state and they've got family commitments that, you know, that that's why they opted into this structure that DVA supports. Right. And so I think that's partly what we learned over the years. Um, why why did your teammates like, opt in [00:27:00] to joining your dream? Uh, you know, and so part of DBA is like the remote atmosphere and like, working from where you live and all that fun stuff, regardless of where you live.

Marcus Dillon: And, um, it's just a trade off, like, you know. So those local firms that are able obviously to get together. Love to see that. Um, but then, you know, for us, it's just not an option or not an easy option. Uh, the other thing I would say is for us, like, especially [00:27:30] the people that work together so closely, you kind of you want to take a little bit of a break from each other as well. I think that's I think that's healthy. So, uh, for you to say, hey, we just we just spent all this time together and had pizza parties and worked a ton of hours and all that stuff. And then the very next day, we're going to go spend more time together. And then, uh, I don't know, you need to you need to really know your team and know how the the feel around the office is to know if that's the right call. Um, because [00:28:00] people just may need some alone time, you know?

Rachel Dillon : Yeah. I love that you said that. And I love that you even brought up the the pizza or the dinners provided because people were required to work so many hours. That was a big change, and that's where we started. In addition to having some remote team members that couldn't attend our after tax season party, we started really thinking about why did we have that in the first place? And it was really to show appreciation for all [00:28:30] of the sacrifice that the team members had done. We had done through the whole tax season, working extra days, working a ton of extra hours, and our tax seasons don't look like that anymore. So now that we've transformed our team structure into a team of three, now that we have clients on monthly recurring services and they're more balanced, we don't accept individual only annual tax projects any longer. We don't [00:29:00] have those hours. We don't have that same requirement. I won't say we don't have stress Anytime you're dealing with people's money and a deadline, there is stress. So that is still there. But the amount of hours and the a different kind of stress being away from your family, being out of your normal routine. We don't have that nearly as much or at all like we used to. And so that's why we felt okay reallocating that party. [00:29:30] That was a half day, one day or less, to a trip where we can really celebrate everyone. Some some of our team members aren't as involved in the tax process, but celebrate everyone and everyone's achievements. Versus just that. If you're in person, all of your team members are local, or majority of your team members or team members are local and you have a hard tax season. Please celebrate your team. Don't hear us say not to do that. [00:30:00] We think you should do that when we were set up in that manner, we did that. We transformed our firm, which has allowed us to transform how and when we get to celebrate the achievements of the team.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. I think the other thing to point out is you brought up a great point. Like maybe not everybody's involved with the filing and preparing of tax returns, right? Like they do other things. So sales tax isn't on the 15th, right. Like that due date is [00:30:30] the 20th. And you know there's other there's other deadlines in addition to just the April 15th or March 15th deadline that kind of gets talked about most of the time. So be aware of that. And then even any internal deadlines because yeah, you may schedule and go through and have this big celebration planned, but then your team is still stressed out because of what they have like on their plate remaining. So we even like when we plan these twice a year retreats, [00:31:00] whether it's, you know, everybody coming in to just learn and kind of be together or if it's like a destination retreat where it's really a team incentive. Uh, we've had to be very conscious of when those are booked on which days, on which days of the week they are, because we usually have to put them really the last two weeks of the month, definitely past the 20th past our sales tax like, you know, kind of deadline. And then, um, you [00:31:30] know, really before if you're if you're before the 15th because we have that internal deadline for financials, you're really placing some undue stress on, on our team as what we found. Um, because they want to enjoy, you know, the time together, but then they also want to get their financial incentive for getting the financials out by the 15th. So just be aware of like, celebration. I don't think you can go wrong celebrating as long as you [00:32:00] do a really good job and are mindful of how and when it is done.

Rachel Dillon : And we asked, we asked our team back when we were doing that, what they preferred, what type of places they would like to go, how they would like to spend that time together. I think that's helpful to where it doesn't feel like I have to give up an evening, right? If they've given up a lot of evenings and they want to spend that time with someone else, um, putting that during a work day where they would normally [00:32:30] be at the office may be better, but that can be captured so easy. You can do a little survey, um, with something like Survey Monkey, or you could even do it just within your teams, like just do a poll or ask at a team meeting what would be the best way to celebrate and let everybody go around as kind of an icebreaker. So a lot of ways that real easy to get that information. Not weird or awkward just just to just to know what they would appreciate and value. Instead [00:33:00] of spending a bunch of time and money planning something that not everybody is on board with, I guess you could say.

Marcus Dillon: And before we move on to the next part of the conversation, as regards to like the, uh, recharge and all everything that we're talking through today, DBA currently does have some of those clients. So I just want to correct like, um, not every one of our clients is an ideal client as of today. Uh, because we acquired a firm [00:33:30] earlier this year. Right. And so if you really want to hear how we're transitioning and working through that firm, pay attention to the next episode, because we're actually going to break down what's going on. There were some annual there are some annual only clients as of today and how we're going to address that moving forward. So we do have better tax seasons in the future. Um, you'll get to hear the real story of all that too, in a future episode.

Rachel Dillon : I love that preview. So next episode [00:34:00] coming up will be with our Director of Operations, Amy McCarty, and Marcus and I. So we'll be talking through what acquiring a firm in January looks like and really highlighting why this season from we call it improvement season. But again, the season from April 15th to August 15th is so critical. Uh, so we've discussed kind of for that improvement season recharge, rest, recover. And then we also talked about review [00:34:30] just collecting feedback from the team. We never want to collect feedback that we're not going to address. So you mentioned earlier you guys are going to meet as a tax team to clarify and get additional understanding from any of the feedback that they submit. Um, and then as a leadership team, we're actually going to look at that information even deeper and start putting plans in place of how we can improve. [00:35:00] It's very important. And the reason I keep saying these dates of like April 15th to August 15th and not December 31st, because we have found the hard way, right? We have found when we can do it in this time period, we can test all of our improvements during the extension deadline season where, yes, there's a little more work, but it's nothing like the March 15th and April 15th deadline.

Rachel Dillon : Those are a little less volume typically. [00:35:30] And so if we can put these plans in place, we have the opportunity to test them. Then if there are any additional refinements or changes, we can do that in November December so that when January comes around everything is ready to go. Nobody's learning new things, trying to implement new software, Where changing up their complete process, maybe how they've done something for years and trying to learn that and then finding, you know, [00:36:00] the little hiccups or problem areas. So that's why it's so important to maybe hold off on that vacation or get some of these things we're talking about today started and then go on vacation, delegate them, appoint other people to help get these things done if you've already scheduled and done that. But that's why we just keep kind of harping on this time is so important. Yes, summer's fun, [00:36:30] but we can't just stop the momentum where we are because there's so much we can do to make every future year of our firm better.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, and I would say, like, I love the fact that you're continuing to point out three months because if you, you know, apply that back to prior to the, the The 15th. That was about three months. Right. So you're giving just as much time, maybe a little bit more of true planning. Um, compared to like the [00:37:00] tax or busy season that you started in mid January. And the other thing like I'm, I'm guilty of this, we're guilty of this. So a lot of people after April 15th, you know, you just sit back and you say, man that was awful. And it's like I deserve this time off. And then you look up and it's May and you've got graduations happening. Kids are kind of busy with school year end stuff. And then there's Memorial Day, like no one's going to do work on, you know, near Memorial [00:37:30] Day, I, I deserve that vacation. And then soon you get into June and June, you know, hey, that's my birth month. So I'm going to take the whole month off and kind of be lax. Maybe I'll go to some some conferences. Right. And, uh, those are options that are really good that I could be be having fun at and kind of seeing people. And then you got July 4th. No one's working on July 4th. Like, might as well enjoy that. And then you've got July. Like, probably got a family vacation [00:38:00] in there. And like, the little work is still getting done, the projects and everything. Like maybe there's some fires that, you know, come, come, come up and you have to put out.

Marcus Dillon: But then August, right, the first couple weeks of August, then we've got, you know, getting kids back to school, going school shopping and all that fun stuff, really getting them placed well. And then mid-August, we show back up at the office on a Monday after the kids are back in school and you're like, oh man, now I've got September and October deadlines I really [00:38:30] need to work on. I can't work on this planning stuff anymore. So maybe after October 15th, and then you look up and it's like, ah, I don't yeah, it's just I've had a, I've had a, a long, busy year. I'm just going to push that off to November, December. And so and we know that those changes just are very unlikely to happen the ones that you want. And so what I would really encourage people to do is make the hard decisions sooner. If you can make some hard decisions, you know what those [00:39:00] maybe need to be in April or May and then, you know, kind of work through test things like you mentioned over the next few months, really. See, okay, this person wasn't working out. Do we need to go get another type of person, like really clear your head and start to build back as you get towards Q3, Q4. Um, those are the things that we all know we should be doing, but we fall into this trap of comfort and, um, [00:39:30] you know, lack of accountability.

Marcus Dillon: And my hope is like what we've put together, at least hold some people accountable. So yes, you deserve vacation. Yes, you deserve to take some time off. The one thing that you can do and you mentioned it Agenda. Just schedule. Just put this on your calendar. Like, people need deadlines and due dates. Especially our industry and our friends. And so I was just listening to a podcast, um, this morning, Ed Mylett, who's kind of this, bro. You know, he's out in California [00:40:00] and he lifts a lot of weights and does a lot of sales training over his career. But, um, he talked about repetitions and deadlines, and that's two things that cause people to be great. And you look at the people who are the greatest in their industry. And he kind of compared Steph Curry and Tiger Woods and Adele. And they don't stop once they've reached a certain level of success. They keep putting in the work, they keep putting in the reps. And then the other thing that they layer on [00:40:30] is due dates and deadlines, so that people can hold them accountable more easy, because these people are, you know, all stars, right? And they're in their craft and they can easily say, hey, I'm I'm the boss, right? You can't hold me accountable. But I think when you add that layer in and put those due dates on calendars, start scheduling things, you're setting your team up, your whole team, including you to be successful.

Rachel Dillon : Yeah, absolutely. And so you mentioned hard decisions [00:41:00] and you mentioned making them sooner rather than later. So part of making hard decisions is really understanding what are your values and mission and vision for your firm and making sure that the whole leadership team, the entire team still understands and remembers. Because we were super busy with tax season, we got stressed, we got frustrated, [00:41:30] we got overwhelmed potentially. And sometimes we lose focus on why are we here, what are we doing, what are we trying to build, Where are we trying to go? So the next thing after we're reviewing that feedback is really to refocus on our mission, vision and values. That is so important when you hold up a decision and say, does this align with our values and our mission? If it doesn't, you know the answer [00:42:00] for that decision. If it does, maybe it requires additional questions, but potentially you know the answer for that decision. And so really, um, do you have any examples that you want to share of where we've held something up? It did or it like clearly did or clearly did not align, and then we could just move forward?

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. I mean, I think people are the easiest thing to point to over our career. And, um, you know, the hard [00:42:30] decisions that come with people, whether it's clients or team members. Right. And so, um, you know, if you hang on to a client too long and they're let's just say toxic to your whole team environment. That's just going to continue to impact areas of your business that it doesn't need to. So making a hard decision right after a tax deadline is a great time to cut off. You know, if that's what your main engagement was and maybe you've got them on like [00:43:00] a monthly recurring engagement after a tax deadline is a great time to cut them off so that they can go find, you know, their next preparer or their next professional. And we've done that before. Like we've had people in like their situation just changed. And even though we were like under an agreement, like we just approached them and say, hey, like things have changed. Like either it's new pricing or it's like exit kind of conversations. You won't regret it on the other side of that. Like, yes, it sucks going through [00:43:30] it. Um, but your future self will thank you. And you'll feel better after. Um, you won't feel better leading up to it. And the other thing is talking about, um, you know, team members, right? So pressure, uh, during tax season is a very real thing.

Marcus Dillon: And stress stress is needed in life. I just had a conversation with somebody about this. Like great things happen in stress. Obviously, stress can also be detrimental to a lot of people, but stress and fear are definitely built into us to protect [00:44:00] us and to help us evaluate and then make changes. Right. So if there was something that was keeping you up at night, a team member, a process, just worry. Pay attention to that, because that's the challenge or problem that we need to go solve for in this season. And if it's a team member, like I know a lot of people are saying it's hard to find great team members right now, but I'd almost rather not have a team member than have a bad team member, you [00:44:30] know? And so I think those are the things that you can keep in mind where Maybe the maybe the situation has changed or evolved since when they started. Maybe there's just frustration or animosity building. Uh, it's it's better to address those. And it's there's so much proven, uh, research on that and also just experience. Um, even from our experience alone, the sooner you can address that and have very real adult [00:45:00] candid conversations, you can move forward and start executing the plan after you're through that season of hard decision.

Rachel Dillon : Yeah, it it is hard. Um, we want to save every team member we, when we hire. Our intention is that they're here forever. And we know that that's not reality, but that's our intent when we hire. Um, it's not just to put a butt in a seat. It's not [00:45:30] just because we need an extra hand. We really want that team member for the long term. However, a team member who is not meeting standards or does not hold the same values as the rest of the firm can cause clients to leave and can cause other team members to leave. And that's a much bigger challenge than having the hard conversation with the one person directly [00:46:00] when it starts trickling out to. Now I have to go replace clients or mend a client relationship or, you know, even other team members, no matter what role, more than one team member leaving because of a specific person that you didn't want to have the conversation with is not a position you want to put yourself or your firm in.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So definitely while you call it improvement, improvement season, it is also hard decision season, right. [00:46:30] And your future self will thank you for those, um, those hard decisions.

Rachel Dillon : All right. So the last part, after we refocus on our mission, vision and values, we definitely want to start refining. Um, this is not for firms who, you know, are this is not only for firms who are struggling. This is definitely for firms who are killing it and want to continue to get better. I think that's the [00:47:00] difference in like that top 1% of high achievers successful look at any industry athlete, um performer. It doesn't matter. It's the people who continue to strive to get better that are up in the what we would call like elite. And so this conversation really is for any firm, um, that is looking to get better. So refining and we do that through a leadership planning meeting it [00:47:30] will require extra time. So whether we split this, we say reserve at least two hours. We have included a meeting agenda that goes through everything that can be talked about, or should be talked about during that meeting, um, with specific points on what to do, who to include, um, but at least two hours. So we meet for an hour every week. This may be split over two weeks, or we just may reserve a special meeting for this so that we can take care of it all at one time. [00:48:00] Um, however, it works best for you, but definitely setting aside more than a 15 or 30 minute conversation. This is where we're really going to put together a roadmap. Taking all of that feedback, highlighting all of the areas that we saw as challenges, and then start aligning those or holding them up against our mission and values of do we need to exit this service, this process, this tool, [00:48:30] this person? Or do we need to put a plan in place to make it better going forward?

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And here also like the refinement, um, there's there's a lot of studies and you know, with how, uh, leaning into what you're good at and outsourcing the rest. Right? That's a sales technique for a lot of us in that outsourced accounting world. But, um, leaning into what you're best at [00:49:00] and maybe it's client relationships. Uh, maybe you have some clients that you feel you just aren't serving. Well, um, and maybe you won't be able to, uh, with how your business is evolving, and it's refining that client list, refining those service offerings. Uh, maybe you've got a service offering you're just dragging along behind the bus and not putting much effort into, uh, for us, that was our audit, our audit and review practice. We weren't looking to grow. It brought in great, [00:49:30] you know, great revenue, but it brought in a whole lot of risk and liability as well. So, um, maybe there's something like that for you. And when we talk about service lines, we really say 10% or less. We really needs to be evaluated. Like maybe it's 10% or less and you're really looking to grow it.

Marcus Dillon: That's different than 10%. And it's decreasing every year. And you're not giving focus to it or based on your outlook for your business. It's not it's not going to be something that takes you to that next chapter. So [00:50:00] um, really refining that. And then the last point is team refining team and your structure within your team. Um, I think having team members that show up every day and you can define what that looks like, whether it's at an office building or, you know, just booting up their laptop. Um, but that show up every day and know what a successful day looks like, um, is something, as leaders, that we should be trying to give to our team members every [00:50:30] day. Like, I think that's where if you're if you're cultivating a team and trying to empower a team to really lead these client relationships and your business, that's ultimately what they what they want is what is a successful day look like, and how can you structure it to where it's likely going to happen for them most of the days?

Rachel Dillon : Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So we've talked through a little bit of this improvement season guide. We are going to link it in the show [00:51:00] notes so that listeners can download that it is free. So take it. Use it. What I would say to just leave everyone with um get started today. So first download the Improvement Season Guide, send out your tax season survey. And then definitely put your improvement season planning meeting on the calendar with your leadership team. If you don't have a leadership team, if it's just you as the owner partner and you have an advisor, invite [00:51:30] your advisor to that planning meeting. Put this agenda that's included in the improvement Season guide. Put that as the topic for discussion with your advisor. If you want more accountability collected by DBA, would love to hook you up with, um, either a forum group or an advisor to help with these types of conversations.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah.

Rachel Dillon : All right, well, this has been fun. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for having this conversation.

Marcus Dillon: All right.

Rachel Dillon : Thanks for listening to this episode. [00:52:00] If you enjoyed the conversation and want to learn more, be sure to visit collective CPA. You can schedule a meeting directly with me, Rachel by clicking on the Contact Us page. Be sure to subscribe, like, and share so you don't miss any future episodes. We look forward to connecting with you soon!