Erik’s Rant: Shift your accounting business model and get back your freedom!

I am fired up!

I just got off a mastermind call with a group of my CPAs in the Accountant Success Formula program. 

I’m really fired up and pissed off. I was talking to one of the members of my group and they had a phone conversation with another CPA in the town where they work in. Another CPA in their town called them up and questioned them about changing their accounting business model. 

This client that I’m working with is shifting their business model. My client is shifting from the billable hour to a subscription-based value price and they’re stopping doing just T1’s only and bookkeeping and they’re becoming a quarterback for the client like what I say to do in the Accountant Success Formula, which is giving the client the advice that they need to build the life that they want. So I’m not talking about a fractional CFO, but it’s the idea of that. For more information on the value pricing model, see my complete Guide to Value Pricing for Accountants article here.

The Way Things Have Always Been Done In the Accounting Profession

But here’s the thing that drives me crazy…this partner in the other firm called up my client and said  “Hey, what are you doing? I heard you got rid of your T1s. And I heard you’re changing your model. You don’t do that. That’s not what our industry does. That’s not what our accounting profession does. We are a transactional profession.”

Another accounting firm actually put pressure on my client’s accounting firm saying “how dare you change the model? How dare you change the way things have always been done?” 

I’m seriously on fire man. I just can’t believe this! Here’s the thing, every accountant and CPA out there is burnt out, tired, and grinding through an accounting business model that is completely oppressive. And it doesn’t have to be that way. Sadly, accountants are brainwashed. Our professionals at the top of their career do it and every partner before us have done it. And they keep saying “ this is the way we do things. This is how accountants do things…we bill by the hour and we are transactional.”

Now think about this…if you’re being transactional with your clients:

• you aren’t building a relationship with them
• you are not helping guide them to build the life that they want for themselves.
• you’re going to lose to artificial intelligence
• you’re going to lose to outsourcing

Eventually, your clients are going to find a cheaper way to get their transactions done if you’re only being transactional. And that’s the end of it. 

I’m sorry for my rant today but I still can’t believe that there are accounting firms pressuring other firms to not change the business model for the better. Honestly, I think they’re afraid. 

My Invitation to the Accounting Profession to Change Their Business Model

I want to put an invitation out there to you that if you are an accountant in the profession, and you’re sick and tired of the grind and the stress and the turmoil and the oppression that’s going on in your accounting practice, there is another way that’s what the Accountant Success Formula is all about. It’s getting you back to freedom. It’s about giving you money, clients, and more time. Those are the three freedoms that you deserve. 

I’m really passionate about this. I’m the advocate for the accountant who’s sick and tired of the bullshit that’s been going on in our profession as soon as you shift your model your clients are going to get what they truly deserve. You’re gonna get paid the right way and you’re gonna have a bunch of free time that people spend and enjoy outside instead of inside cranking out tax returns “transactionally”.

I’m Erik Solbakken, reminding you that when you take back control of your business model, you can take back control of your life. Stay tuned for more success tips and don’t hesitate to let me know what you think about this week’s video.