A Time to Reflect: Are You Mirroring the Habits of Successful Practitioners?

Shifting seasons seem to invite life shifts, making this a great time to reflect on our behaviors.

Ask yourself: am I living the habits of the world’s most successful CPA practitioners?

Here are five places to redirect your energy for maximum impact:

The fact is, business owners who measure what matters do better. Rather than barreling blindly ahead in your practice, make sure you’re tracking your efforts. It’s the only way to know what’s working and what isn’t, and it can point to reasons why.

- A few examples of what can be measured in your practice:
- Marketing: cost per lead, cost per sale, lead captures
- Error rates
- Turnaround times: personal tax returns, business tax returns, financial statements, etc.
- Client satisfaction
- Labor as a percentage of gross revenues (monthly labor cost / monthly revenues)
- Average fees paid by the client per year

Successful practitioners are the masterminds behind their firms.

They’re drawing the big picture and staying focused on it.

That means strategizing, marketing, goal-setting, and vision-keeping – all together, positioning the firm for growth.

But if you’re still mired in doing technical work, you’re not available to lead, and that ends up looking more like running in place. 

Speaking of freeing up time to lead, one highly effective way of doing this is to give more responsibility to others, whether it’s an employee or an independent contractor.

Of course, you’ll want to give responsibility where you think it can best be handled, leaning on an individual’s particular strengths.

Simultaneously, you’re giving the individual the compliment of trusting them, and they’ll be more willing to work hard to prove you made the right decision.

Your passion for your practice is a wonderful thing, but without a good quality of life, what does it matter?

Can you really call yourself a success if you’re unhappy?

Balance and happiness go hand-in-hand.

Certainly, you have loved ones and interests outside of entrepreneurship.

Make time for a rich personal life.

It will enhance your performance on the professional side because you’ll be relaxed, content, and inspired. 

Time is a limited resource, and it’s all too easily wasted.

High performing people get a grip on their time and keep it from slipping away.

There are many time management techniques out there, but before any of them can work, you need to know what your priorities are.

Think it through. Using paper and pen or a tablet and stylus can help you organize your thoughts. Then, examine your day.

Are you allotting time to what matters most?

Where is the time going astray?

Simple time management techniques include blocking time to power through specific tasks and daily, monthly, and yearly to-do lists.

Take an honest look at how you operate, both personally and professionally.

I’m willing to bet there’s room for tweaking.

A wise place to start is in these five high-impact areas that successful practitioners have mastered. 

A Time to Reflect: Are You Mirroring the Habits of Successful Practitioners?

CPA Marketing Genius