In this older Financial Clarity conversation with Hannah Smolinski, I explained one of the most important distinctions in proactive tax work. Tax projection tells you what is likely to happen. For example: "You're projected to owe $10,000 next year." Tax planning starts there and asks a different question: "What strategies…
When I transitioned my CPA firm into a tax advisory model, I knew not every client would say yes. In this older Financial Clarity conversation with Hannah Smolinski, I explained how I handled that shift. I reviewed clients one by one. For each client, I built a proposal around the…
Being needed can feel like success when you own a firm. Clients come to you with questions. Your team waits for your decisions. Problems eventually make their way back to you. But there is a downside to becoming the person everything depends on. You cannot really step away. This video…
Tax planning is not automatically the right investment for every client. In this older Financial Clarity conversation with Hannah Smolinski, I explained that there is a cost-benefit point advisors need to consider. If a client owes around $2,000 in taxes and professional planning costs roughly the same amount, there may…
Paying a CPA to prepare your tax return does not automatically mean you have hired a tax planner. That distinction came up in this older Financial Clarity conversation with Hannah Smolinski. Tax preparation is focused largely on what has already happened. A tax projection can help estimate what you may…
In this older Financial Clarity conversation with Hannah Smolinski, I shared the moment that pushed me to rethink how my CPA firm worked. After having kids, I realized I could not keep operating like a workaholic. So I hired a business coach, Chuck Bauer. He asked me which clients I…
I thought "free money for kids" sounded fake too. So I checked the rules. Some eligible kids can get a $1,000 federal Trump Account contribution. Others may qualify for a separate $250 Dell contribution. That's why we made Bow's Free Money Check. 🐾 It takes about 60 seconds to see…
When I started my CPA firm in 2010, I began with a fairly traditional practice. I was already passionate about tax planning and regularly shared ideas and strategies with clients. But over time, I started seeing a problem with the way traditional accounting services were priced. In this older Financial…
How do you value a professional service when the work itself can look like a commodity? Bookkeeping was the example Hannah Smolinski raised during this older Financial Clarity conversation. One way to think about it is through opportunity cost. Instead of only asking what the bookkeeping service costs, ask what…
In this older Financial Clarity conversation with Hannah Smolinski, we talked about where AI fits into advisory work. Even then, parts of the process were already becoming automated. I could upload a 1040 into TaxPlanIQ and have the system identify a large number of potential tax strategies based on the…
In this older Financial Clarity episode with Hannah Smolinski, we talked about how value pricing can apply well beyond accounting. Hannah used creative agencies as a great example. A logo may take a certain number of hours to create, but that logo could represent a company across its website, marketing,…
In this older Financial Clarity episode with Hannah Smolinski, we talked about a question that has only become more relevant: What happens to accounting as more compliance work becomes automated? The repeatable parts of the profession are the easiest places for technology and machine learning to make an impact. That…
How can a tax advisor show a client the value of tax planning without promising a result they cannot control? That question came up in this older Financial Clarity conversation with Hannah Smolinski. My answer was that CPAs should be able to quantify potential tax savings and provide a cost-benefit…
In this older Financial Clarity conversation with Hannah Smolinski, I shared what happened when I first shifted my CPA firm toward tax advisory and value pricing. I was nervous because the change was significant. Some clients would be paying three to five times more than they had before. So when…
In this older Financial Clarity conversation with Hannah Smolinski, I answered a question I still hear from accountants: Is value pricing basically a contingent fee? No. That distinction matters, especially for CPAs. With the ROI Method, the fee is established upfront based on the expected value and scope of the…
In this old episode of the Financial Clarity podcast with Hannah Smolinski, we talked about something very practical that can make value pricing easier for clients to understand. Show them the numbers. The visual can be simple: estimated savings, the cost of the engagement, and the expected ROI. 📊 When…
In this older Financial Clarity episode with Hannah Smolinski, we started with two topics that can make accountants uncomfortable: tax planning and value pricing. Hannah joked that tax planning might send people running, and I told her I like to make the conversation much simpler. Instead of saying "tax planning,"…
In the final moments of this throwback interview with Jeff Crilley, I talked about how grateful I felt for where my career had taken me. By that point, I had spent years speaking to accountants and sharing what I had learned with the profession. But I was beginning to feel…
This is a throwback to an older episode of the Financial Clarity podcast with Hannah Smolinski, where we spent a lot of time talking about tax planning and value pricing. One of the biggest reasons I created the ROI Method was that I wanted accountants to have a clearer way…
In this throwback episode of The Concierge CPA Podcast, I sat down with Naomi Granger to talk about the career path that eventually led her into cannabis accounting and education. By the time we had this conversation, Naomi had already spent 18 years in accounting. Her background included public accounting,…
This part of the conversation is a good reminder that career changes do not always begin with a perfect business plan. She had already spent 18 years in accounting, worked in public and corporate accounting, and spent time at PwC, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young. She had clearly put in…
This throwback clip takes me back to the original vision behind The Concierge CPA Podcast. 🎙️ When I started the show, I wanted to create conversations for accounting firm owners and industry leaders who cared about delivering better service and building stronger businesses. But I also wanted to go deeper…
One of the things I have always appreciated about being a CPA is how much of a client's financial picture we get to see. We see the books. We see the cash flow. We see where money is being spent and where there may be problems inside the business. That…
Before we get into this throwback conversation, Jeff Crilley shares a little of his own story. After more than 25 years in journalism, he made a major career change in 2008 and started a PR firm from his home. That business grew over time, and Jeff eventually expanded into live…