Category: Get More Tax Clients

10 Game-Changing Productivity Strategies for Tax Professionals Who Want Their Lives Back

10 Game-Changing Productivity Strategies for Tax Professionals Who Want Their Lives Back

Alright, my friend—grab your coffee, find a comfy spot, and let’s talk about getting your life back.

All week we’ve been diving into the big-ticket productivity strategies: delegating low-value work, charging rush fees, firing problem clients, and automating everything that repeats.

Those four? They’re the heavy hitters. Implement them and you’ll transform your practice.

But we’re not done yet.

Today I’m giving you TEN more strategies that will compound on everything you’ve already learned. These aren’t “nice to haves”—they’re the difference between tax professionals who are constantly overwhelmed and those who actually enjoy their work.

Ready? Let’s go!

1. Design Your Ideal Week with Theme Days

Here’s a question that changed my life: What if every day had a purpose?

Instead of bouncing between tax returns, marketing tasks, client calls, and admin work all day every day, what if you themed your days?

Here’s an example:

  • Monday: Marketing and business development
  • Tuesday & Thursday: Client meetings (10 AM–12 PM and 1 PM–4 PM only)
  • Wednesday: Deep work on complex cases
  • Friday: Admin wrap-up and weekly planning

Why does this work? Because context-switching kills productivity. Every time you jump from a tax return to answering an email to taking a client call, your brain pays a “switching tax.” It takes 15-25 minutes to get back into deep focus after an interruption.

Theme days eliminate that. When it’s Marketing Monday, you’re in marketing mode. Period. When someone asks for a meeting on Wednesday, the answer is simple: “I don’t take meetings Wednesdays. How about Tuesday at 2 PM?”. I know your going to say ” but that doesn’t work for the client”. It’s not about them, it’s about you. When you call your doctor or dentist do they let you choose or do they tell you what is available?

You’re not being difficult. You’re being strategic.

2. Plan Your Day the Night Before

This one’s simple but powerful: Before you leave your desk each day, write down your top three priorities for tomorrow.

Here’s why this matters more than you think.

When you know exactly what you’re working on first thing in the morning, you eliminate the “what should I do now?” decision paralysis. You sit down, look at your list, and get to work. No wandering. No accidentally opening email “just to check.” No wasted first hour.

But there’s a bonus benefit: When you

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The $20,000 Mistake That Made My Friend a Better Leader (And What Every Tax Practice Owner Needs to Learn From It)

A friend of mine who runs a successful practice shared a story with me recently that stopped me in my tracks. I asked if I could share it with you because I think every tax professional with a team needs to hear this.

One of his assistants made a mistake.

It cost the company $20,000.

The moment she realized what happened, she came to him in tears, apologizing profusely.

His response? “It happens. So what are we going to do next time?”

That’s all he said.

She was stunned. “How are you not mad at me?”

His answer was simple: “Me being mad at you doesn’t accomplish anything. You’re already mad at yourself.”

Here’s What Most Practice Owners Don’t Understand

When a team member makes a mistake, your role as the leader is not to point out the mistake and explain why it was wrong. In the heat of the moment, they take it personally.

Instead, show your team members where they are in terms of skill set and where they need to be to prevent these errors from happening.

Yelling at someone who already knows they messed up is lazy leadership.

It’s self-indulgent venting. It makes YOU feel better while making them feel worse. And it changes absolutely nothing about what already happened.

So my friend sat down with her and worked through what he now calls The Mistake Protocol:

Step 1: Acknowledge Without Emotion

“It happens.”

Not “It’s fine” (because $20,000 isn’t fine). Not “How could you?” (because that’s not helpful). Just acknowledgment that mistakes are part of business.

Step 2: Skip the Blame

She was already punishing herself. Adding his disappointment wouldn’t un-spend the money. It would just make her more likely to hide the next mistake.

Step 3: Focus Forward

“What’s the plan for next time?”

This is where the learning happens. Not in the shame spiral, but in the solution building.

Step 4: Document the Learning

They turned her mistake into a system improvement. Now nobody else can make that same $20,000 mistake because they built a process to prevent it.

Here’s What Happened Next

That assistant became one of his most loyal team members. She’s caught three other potentially costly mistakes before they happened. She’s the first to admit when something’s wrong because she knows he won’t punish honesty.

And that $20,000 mistake? It probably saved them $200,000 in future mistakes because of the systems they built

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The Hidden Cost of Saying Yes to the Wrong Clients

One of my Mastermind members recently shared a story that stopped me in my tracks—not because it was unusual, but because it’s the exact moment every successful tax professional must face (plus it made very proud).

She met with a prospective client for fractional controller services. On paper, it was perfect: a former boss who knew her work, familiar processes, guaranteed income for three to six months. Easy money, right? Especially when she is trying to start a brand new tax firm.

Then came the pricing conversation.

Her rate: $250 per hour. His expectation: $45-$50.

That’s not a negotiation gap. That’s a fundamental misalignment of value.

Here’s where most practitioners stumble. The voice in your head whispers all the “reasonable” justifications: It’s guaranteed work. I already know the systems. It would be so easy to just say yes. It is money/cash today that I need.

But she didn’t.

She recognized something profound in that moment—her desire to please people and work with everyone could have sabotaged everything she was building. Three to six months of underpriced work would have meant three months of NOT building the practice she actually wanted.

This applies to every service you offer.

Whether it’s a tax prep client pushing back on your $500 return fee, a bookkeeping prospect expecting $25 per hour work, or a resolution case where someone wants champagne service on a beer budget—the principle remains identical.

You get to choose.

You choose the practice you build. You choose how you spend your time. You choose who you work with and at what price. Not your clients.

Notice I said “choose,” not “hope for” or “settle for.”

When you accept work at rates that don’t serve your goals, you’re not being flexible or client-focused. You’re actively building the wrong practice. Every hour spent on underpriced work is an hour unavailable for the clients and services that actually move you forward.

My mastermind member concluded her message with something that made me incredibly proud: “So thank you for your support and your mentorship. I’m learning so much and I’m finally starting to believe in myself and my ability to build this practice.”

That belief didn’t come from saying yes to easy money. It came from having the courage to say NO.

So here’s your homework: The next time a prospect has “sticker shock” at your rates, resist the urge to negotiate against yourself. Instead, wish them well and … Continue reading