Two and a half years ago I was sitting where you are.

Working for someone else.

Trying to reach 2,000 billable hours for the year. (And finding pride in that)

A desperate hope for the opportunity at partner.

Not really digging the amount of hours required from my job – I specifically remember someone using the term “9 to 5 job” and I just chuckled uncontrollably for a couple minutes at the sheer notion of that job existing in the accounting industry.

Since then – I created my accounting firm that is currently generating around $30,000 month in recurring monthly fees.

I have a remote office, one full time staff member and a couple part-time staffers.

I can work when I want to (typically 9-5), where I want to (sometimes coffee shops, the lake, or the beach), and how and who I want to work with. (only the most amazing clients in the world)

This blog intends to help others create what I’ve created.

If you know me – I’m nothing special.  I’m sure you can create what I’ve created, too.

This is hopefully going to be the blog I wanted to have read before starting my firm but didn’t exist.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way but from those mistakes I’ve learned some lessons that have helped me double my business’s revenue in the past few months.  I want to help others avoid that two year long learning curve with this blog.

Two and a half years ago I left my manager position with a local CPA firm that just wasn’t fulfilling what I needed from my career on a personal level.

I had a wife, a month old daughter, and quite a bit of trepid anticipation on where the next steps in my life would take myself and my family.

I felt about 50% crazy and about 50% confident but I wasn’t sure which half would overtake the other in either the near or long term.

I set out to create a business that would give me a work-life balance – something most traditional firms haven’t quite yet figured out how to offer their employees or owners. (Regardless of what they claim)

I thought I could figure out a way to build a practice where I could:

• Feel more satisfaction in helping my clients.
• Work when I want to.
• Work where I want to.
• Provide for my family.
• Provide for others.

I’m proud to say that I’ve created that business. You’re never really “finished” building a business per say, but I’ve built out what I theorized could be accomplished.

The best part is that you can too.

I believe there is a lot of opportunity out there for CPAs to do what I did, I’m definitely not anything special in terms of my CPA skills.

Now, I have an incredible amount of respect for all CPAs as well as the profession in general so don’t take the following personally.

We as CPAs have a lot of knowledge tucked away inside of our heads that isn’t just tax, accounting, and attest related.

There is an old saying that accounting is the language of business.  As CPAs we are fluent in this language and can utilize our abilities to assist businesses in starting, growing, and succeeding. (Beyond just preparing a tax return or a compilation)

I’m not saying if all you do is a tax return and compilation for a client you are under-serving your client, I’m simply stating what most of us know – we have the ability to do more.  The traditional business model of small-medium sized accounting firms doesn’t lend itself to offering these types of services. (At least at a mix where it serves as profitable to the practice and valuable to the client)

According to the Washington Post, 50 percent of businesses survive four or five years before failing.  Overall Forbes says that 80 percent of all businesses fail.

I wonder how many of those businesses had someone with as much business acumen as a CPA helping them with understanding their numbers? Have you ever sat down with a client and explained what those financial statements really mean to them? How about helping them understand their revenue cycle and cashflow? What about their KPIs and where there focus should be? (You’d be surprised how few do this)

I’ve always been a fan of the Robert Frost poem, “The Road Not Taken” – so much so that of all the pictures on my wall I find myself looking at this one the most:

I find myself reciting, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” whenever I look at the picture. (I bought it to remind myself of this when the times got tough)

The path I took isn’t the same many will take, but the lessons I’ve learned can be used by others (you) when starting their own practice as well as highlight how I was able to do something different in the industry.

My aim is to share what I can about what I’ve experienced over the past two and a half years; both successes and failures – I hope you’ll join me in recalling my journey down the road less traveled.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of failure in that time-frame when I was learning what not to do.

It took me two years to get to my moment of “ah-ha” that literally doubled my business in less than six months.  A lot of my experience will show you what not to do.

In my next post I’ll talk more about the doubts I had when starting my firm, as well as how you can push yourself past the breaking point to leaving your position and starting your own practice:

In the meantime, if you want to know the three books that helped me come up with my business idea, here’s a quick video: