Category: Get More Tax Clients

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

… Continue reading

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

How AI Turns Your Tax Practice Into a Client-Attracting Machine

Let’s talk about the feast-or-famine cycle that plagues tax practices. January through April? You’re turning people away. May through December? You’re wondering if you should have kept your day job. Sound familiar?

The problem isn’t that people don’t need tax help year-round—they absolutely do. The problem is that lead generation often stops the moment you get busy, which means you start every year scrambling to fill your pipeline all over again.

The Lead Generation Treadmill

Effective lead generation requires running ads that don’t waste money, building referral programs that actually generate referrals (not just good intentions), managing complex funnels that nurture prospects from “who are you?” to “take my money,” following up on leads before they go cold, and creating lead magnets that people actually want to download.

Oh, and you need to do all of this consistently, track what’s working, and continuously optimize. All while preparing tax returns, answering client questions, and staying current on tax law changes. Oh, and have a personal life with your family, friends and fun things to do.

Most tax professionals handle lead generation in one of two ways: they either throw money at it inconsistently (hello, panic-induced Facebook ads in December), or they simply rely on word-of-mouth and hope for the best. Neither approach builds a sustainable, growing practice.

AI: The Lead Generation System That Never Sleeps

Artificial intelligence excels at the repetitive, analytical, and creative tasks that make lead generation effective. While you’re meeting with clients or actually living your life, AI can be identifying prospects, crafting ad copy, nurturing leads, and identifying patterns in what converts browsers into buyers.

Here’s how AI transforms each aspect of lead generation:

Running Ads: AI-powered advertising platforms like Google Ads and Meta (Facebook/Instagram) use machine learning to optimize your campaigns in real-time. But beyond platform automation, AI can help you write ad copy, create multiple variations for A/B testing, identify the best targeting parameters, and analyze performance data to suggest improvements. Instead of guessing which ad message will resonate, you can generate ten variations in minutes and let AI help you test them.

Building Referral Programs: AI can analyze your client base to identify your most likely referral sources, draft the messaging for your referral program, create automated follow-up sequences to remind clients to refer, and even personalize referral requests based on client characteristics. The CPA who does great work but never asks for referrals is leaving serious … Continue reading