I learned that growth is not just about being, having or doing more. Sometimes it is simply the practice of shifting how we think. I have been doing this work for over 20 years. As much as I encourage my clients to look at the story their numbers tell them, I had not considered the story I tell myself each tax season and how that has impacted our growth.
See, there is a hammock on a beach somewhere in the Caribbean that calls my name. It begins to call my name in late December and early January. It travels by way of a warm ocean breeze and it tells me ‘this is going to be the best tax season ever’!
The Tax Season Journey
Our team begins as we do every year -- scheduling appointments, collecting tax information and creating strategies to help clients lower their tax liability. We are ready to work a system that we have honed season after season.
Yet when we get to the other side, what we experience is not quite what we envisioned. Those 3 months, from approximately Jan 15 to Apr 15, are not a perfectly smooth ride. As we move towards a hard deadline, pressure builds.
Regular workdays and weeks turn into 12-to-18-hour days, 6 days a week.
Client anxiety heightens as many are triggered by just the idea of “taxes”.
Managing countless calculations and financial data requires a nearly zero tolerance for mistakes.
This way of working is not sustainable. It creates an unrealistic challenge for our team and it disappoints clients when processes and procedures do not work.
For years I have believed that not experiencing a smooth and easeful tax season is due to:
The sometimes-complicated nature of tax filing
The pressure of a deadline that comes with penalties and interest
The extreme workload because every taxpayer in the country is filing at the same time
These things are indeed true, but I have come to understand there is something else that stands in the way of a smooth and easeful tax season.
The Story I Am Telling Myself
There is a vision of how I want the tax season to go. Then there is the story I am telling myself.
I want an easeful tax season where our approach and the systems we have in place support low stress and anxiety while allowing our team to be accurate and efficient in providing tax solutions.
Yet, the story I have told myself says:
stress and anxiety are a given when it comes to taxes, and
committing to a system that supports an ideal workflow would be too restrictive.
I am a creative. As much as I love a good process & procedures manual, I have been afraid that the system we truly need to implement would stifle our creative approach to doing this work and it would not be welcomed by clients.
A Fixed Mindset vs A Growth Mindset
There is a cost to growing while continuing an old mindset.
I am no longer a sole-proprietor with a few dozen clients. Logically, I know managing a practice that has grown to nearly 200 clients requires a new approach.
We have grown this practice by caring for our clients in a way that includes a level of personalization. I did not want to lose that approach.
We have built systems that have worked well for quite some time. I have been afraid a new system would tether me in a way that would restrict my ability to be creative in my entrepreneurial pursuits.
Over the years, I have made many changes and improvements. Yet I have been growing our practice with a certain mindset, justified in my old way of doing things.
Protecting Our Queen Bee Role
While I thought I was defending my right to be creative and caring for our clients, I was not protecting our queen bee role.
The Queen Bee Role is a concept explained by Mike Michalowicz in his book, Clockwork. It is a way to identify what is truly important in your business. Mike uses the example of a beehive as he explains that the role of the entire colony of bees is to protect the Queen Bee. If the colony does not work for and protect the Queen Bee in her role, the entire colony suffers and dissolves.
Our Queen Bee role is providing Tax & Accounting solutions for our clients
Every time I have told myself that is okay to do things the way I have always done them...
Accept tax documentation in various formats instead of our standard template,
Allow clients to skip tax prep intake meetings versus requiring a scheduled meeting with one of our team members to ensure all required documentation is provided before we begin our work,
Make client exceptions to the process but do not make a clear plan for how to manage these exceptions or set the client up with a new engagement,
Work 12-to-18-hour days, 6 days a week, week after week at the cost of our self-care and showing up at our best for clients,
...I have not been protecting the Queen Bee role.
Our colony is the team and systems that support our ability to fill this role for our clients. If we do not protect this role, our ability to do what we are intended to do suffers, adversely impacting our team and our clients.
An Action Plan for Growth
To honor and protect the key elements of our services, we will:
Implement faster turnaround times.
Require the use of standard template forms (i.e. Client Organizer, Schedule C Expense worksheet, Profit & Loss statements)
Require all tax communication to go through the client portal to allow better visibility for our team to respond and limit the backlog of email correspondence
Lessen anxiety and unknowns.
Provide a weekly countdown leading up to the tax deadline to alert clients of their preparation status and where they stand in the process
Provide clearer expectations to clients on the front end based on the timeline of submission, the level of complexity of the tax return, and when our team has everything required to thoroughly begin and complete the work
Reduce back and forth communication.
Require a mandatory tax intake interview with a member of our team to ensure we are on the same page and have everything we need before we begin the work
Provide a calendar link to schedule a brief 10-min check-in throughout the tax season for a quick clarification and focused conversation on any outstanding issues (i.e. unable to access a tax document requested weeks ago, assistance filling out the Tax Organizer, requesting an accommodation to meet in person or use other methods that do not entail online technology).
We will implement our plan for growth in a manner that equally considers client’s needs and the support our team requires to do this work successfully.
This will be done by seeking client input (i.e. surveys, one-on-one interviews), doing an internal evaluation of our current processes and announcing the implementation of our new system as we roll it out prior to the next tax season.
Growing Sustainably
Growth is not just the idea of “more”. More clients. More money. More services.
Sometimes growth is simply the practice of shifting how you think.
What I thought would stand in the way of our creative approach to doing this work, is actually the thing that will support our ability to grow in a sustainable way.
I am clearer now that systems do not stifle creativity. It is our fixed mindset and what we tell ourselves that limit our ability to grow. Systems serve as a supportive container for sustainable creation.
So I am ready to tell a new story.
Push against any doubt and hesitation so we can create successful ways to provide meaningful tax and accounting solutions for our clients.
And most of all, I am ready to lie on my hammock, somewhere in the Caribbean, where I will sip cool delicious drinks, gaze at the ocean, be kissed by the sun and express gratitude that we had the best tax season ever. I invite you to join me.
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