Most tax professionals that I speak with aren’t really sure where they want there practice to be. They’re doing this thing that they do, week in and week out, but don’t really have a vision for where they want to take it.
Many motivational speakers will talk about having a 5-year plan for your life. They talk in terms of very long-term goals and planning. But I think on a much shorter scale, and there’s no reason not to. Amazing things can be accomplished in twelve months or less, particularly in a professional services business like tax or accounting. There’s absolutely no reason for us to look on a time horizon longer than a year, especially if you focus heavily on tax services, due to the natural annual cycle of most things in tax.
Have you given any thought to where you want to be a year from now? If not, this is the time to think about it. We’re in the lull between tax seasons, and it’s convention and seminar time, so practice management and planning are probably near the top of your mind right now. In fact, if you haven’t yet registered for one of my live workshops, I’d encourage you to do so. See the workshop schedule here.
It’s completely possible to take an accounting practice from one person and $60,000 per year in revenue to 10 people and $2 million in revenue in one year flat: It’s been done. If your ultimate goal for your practice is to grow to this level, then what are you waiting for?
If your goal is to never have employees and remain a solo practitioner, but want to double your revenue and live full time in a foreign country while serving your American clients, that’s been done, too. There’s nothing stopping you from doing it, and it’s very doable within just a few months.
Go for a walk and give serious consideration to what you want your practice to look like a year from now. If it’s growth, then there is a marketing solution. If it’s location independence, there’s a practice management solution. No matter what you want out of your practice, you can have it.
Remember, you created your business to serve you, not for it to be the master of your life.
