99% of accountants report burnout. That's not a statistic I'm making up. That's almost everyone in the profession.
60 to 80 hour weeks. Caffeine as a food group. Feeling like your firm owns you instead of the other way around.
I had over 200 clients. Growing firm, great credentials, and a to-do list that genuinely never ended. I checked emails at midnight and woke up at 6 AM to review returns. I missed family dinners. I missed myself.
And when I actually ran the numbers on my effective hourly rate, I was making about $50 an hour. Leading a firm. Charging $200 plus per hour. That doesn't make sense.
But what hurt more than that low number was this quiet question I couldn't stop asking myself: Is this what success is supposed to feel like? Burnout wrapped in spreadsheets?
Here's what I know now: CPAs, EAs, tax advisors don't burn out because we're lazy or not disciplined enough. We burn out because the model itself is broken.
Compliance work is a treadmill. The deadlines never end. The volume only grows. And hourly billing keeps your income capped no matter how good you are at what you do.
You can't outwork a broken model. I tried for years. I nearly broke myself proving it.
But there's a different way. And that's what I want to show y'all.
Drop your questions in the comments.
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