Here are a few quotes from our conversation with Greg:
"Oh, wait, stop, this is the opportunity. I can, without damaging my firm, I can halve my workload."
"it was a much easier process than I thought it was going to be."
"One of the great things I got from your guys teachings was how to focus on the type of client that brings the most value and where you can bring the most value to them."
"my staff and I take Fridays off outside of tax season. This coming tax season, we're actually still going to try to take Fridays off."
"No more weekends for me or the staff. And I am, I made a goal for myself for 2023 to take eight weeks of vacation. I'm going to hit it. And I'm going to do it again next year. So it's a night, much nicer life, much nicer lifestyle. "
"I wish I'd done this 20 years ago, it would have made my life so much different."
You can watch the full conversation here. We've also included the transcript with timestamps below.
[00:00:00] Greg: I started my firm in 2002 focused primarily on small business owners, but over time acquired a lot of individual tax returns. In building the business, I kind of took on things that Whatever brought money in the door, not necessarily what made sense long term ended up just kind of running around.
Definitely the business was running me, not vice versa. Was working. On average, even outside of tax season, probably a 50 to 60 hour week. And I don't even want to talk about what tax season was like. It was brutal. Couldn't seem to get it, get it fixed.
Couldn't get it straight. Created a lot of stress, not only between me and the clients, because it was just constant running. I feel like maybe I made more mistakes than I should have or would have if I'd had the time to sit and think, but it also created a lot of stress probably with between my wife and myself and my kids and myself, it was hard to get to their activities and even driving to their activities, I'd be like, Oh my God, I've got to get this done, that done, that done. So I just wasn't really present. and it wasn't, wasn't a great way to be living.
[00:01:21] Colin: So you jumped into the process with us at Renew and if you can think back to the start of that, what was your mindset going into the process? So in other words, maybe what was some limiting beliefs, things that you didn't believe that you could achieve?
[00:01:38] Greg: You know, I was willing to listen, but I, I didn't honestly believe that tax accountants could work normal hours and have a normal life. In fact, I'd never even met one and worse, I think, you know, when I'm in conferences, it seems to be a badge of honor about how hard we work. So it was like, okay, well, this is just the norm.
It is what it is. It's my chosen profession. You know, it took a little bit to to get me out of that. And I think probably like a alcoholic I'd hit rock bottom and I knew I needed to make a change, uh, cause I was just not happy with my life. And the business was a big reason for it was just too demanding.
So I, when I heard about you guys. And I had a chance to speak with Colin. He was talking about some things that just resonated with me. I knew I wanted to get there. Even if initially, initially I wasn't certain that was going to be possible. But it was like, okay, I'll hear you out. I'll, I'll join in and I'll learn.
And I think the epiphany was the Pareto analysis. Mine showed me. that essentially half my clientele was generating 8% of my revenue. That left me feeling first sick, frustrated, but then it was like, Oh, wait, stop, this is the opportunity. I can, without damaging my firm, I can halve my workload.
And it, when I started really thinking about the clients who are on that list, they were the same clients getting a lot of notices. They were saying clients emailing me a lot, calling a lot. They're the same clients who would insist on having a face to face tax appointment during tax season. And I was just like, if I never have to see these people again, it'll be awesome.
[00:03:44] Colin: So that's a great realization. And I remember that conversation with you. It's, it's a scary time. And I remember you saying, Yeah, I just didn't feel good about this at all. But the key is to, of course, follow through and take action. So how did you deal with those clients?
[00:04:04] Greg: Well, I made, I made the decision that if I was going to do this, I was going to dive into the deep end.
So I just did it. I used your suggested letter template to sort of politely send them on their way.
You know, that was I think in November of the year before tax season was like, I'm just not going to be able to work with you. Most people were just extremely understanding. If you were stressed out about it, but you know, they went anyway, and that's fine. But it was a much easier process than I thought it was going to be.
What I didn't realize is that even though we were right on the forefront of tax season, it already, it made that tax season a lot easier and it also freed up a lot of time to start having conversations with people who were, could be potential clients. You know, one of the frustrations is when you're running around with a hair on fire, you can't talk to future clients.
That you'd like to bring in that would actually be good for your firm . So yes, I lost when I made sent out those letters, I lost 8 percent of my revenue, but in having the time, like the first five months of this year, I'd more than got that back just because it freed up time to go pursue the right, right types of clients.
[00:05:22] Shannon: That's awesome. Yeah. Congratulations. And Greg, thanks again for being here. Question for you, Greg, what, what did you need to unlearn when you, when you think back on the process or even continuing to move forward? Like what was the, what's the biggest thing you needed to unlearn and moving forward?
[00:05:36] Greg: The biggest thing I needed to unlearn was to stop trying to work with everybody. One of the great things I got from your guys teachings was how to focus on the type of client that brings the most value and where you can bring the most value to them. And as I started to realize that I was like, I need to go back to Focusing just on small businesses owners, which is where I started the business in the first place.
So I stopped accepting individual tax clients. Only. I stopped accepting one offs. You know, if a client was no longer willing to work with me through the year and pay me a minimum of, You know, I charge now minimum 6500. And that's up about 150 percent from where I was. then it's not a fit.
And, it's been great because the people who are coming in are really much better clients overall than the people who used to come in and drift in because I was very much in it. You know, not in the scheme of defining the rules enough. And now through the prospecting process, I was like, this is the way we're going to work together, Joe.
You know, we're going to be talking, we're going to be doing this. You need to get me your information on time. You know, this is the format I want to see it. And they're like, yeah, absolutely.
[00:06:57] Shannon: What was the, for that. And so what was the hardest part of not being all things to all people. Like, what did you have to overcome either with your team or mentally?
Like, that's a big thing to go from, you know, you, you started your practice in 2002 and then 20, you know, you go 20 years later. So there was something that was sort of in your wiring. So what, what did you, what did you have to overcome? What was the hardest part?
[00:07:23] Greg: That actually wasn't the hardest part.
The heart of, you know, once you, once the Pareto analysis made clear that, look, there was a certain, it was a core clientele that generated the vast bulk of my revenue and why not focus on those guys? So once you bit, you saw that group that way, it was an easy decision to get rid of all this stuff for that just didn't make any sense anymore.
My staff was really relieved to say. We don't have to deal with all that anymore. The phone calls, the letters, stressed out people, you know, the traffic during tax season, you know, yada, yada, yada. And it's you know, I think, I think we've all heard the truism that your lowest margin client is also your biggest user of your time.
And expertise that was definitely mostly true with us. And we, we got a lot of psychic relief, if you will, just getting rid of that clientele and it's just made our, all of our lives a lot better.
[00:08:31] Shannon: That's awesome. So it was really just stepping in. It seemed like, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, I'd love your opinion on this, so like the Pareto sort of validated what you thought and then meaning, you know, it was a surprise to you, but it probably validated that you were being all things to all people and then just knowing the numbers helped you really move forward.
Is that, is that fair?
[00:08:55] Greg: you know, and I I was again, I was at a point where I needed to make a change. It wasn't just an exercise. And when I saw the Pareto analysis, which was just on my numbers, it was just grouping them in a different way than I had thought about it before the opportunity became clear.
And really then it was just a matter of like, yeah, let's move forward. Let's do something different. And it's been a magnificent change, honestly.
[00:09:24] Shannon: That's awesome. And what would you do just in hindsight, what would you do? Is there any, is there anything that you would have done differently or do differently?
[00:09:32] Greg: I wish yeah, you know, I mean, the only answer I've got for you, which is a coulda woulda shoulda is I, I wish I'd done this 20 years ago, it would have made my life so much different. But, you know, I'm honestly, it's, it's kind of changed the evolution of how I want to spend the rest of my life. I am kind of moved away from like, I want to get out of this business as soon as possible.
And now I'm thinking like, I could Work in this business for many more years as long as I'm physically and mentally capable of it. It's like we're at a good pace right now. You know, my, my staff and I take Fridays off outside of tax season. This coming tax season, we're actually still going to try to take Fridays off.
No more weekends for me or the staff. And I am, I made a goal for myself for 2023 to take eight weeks of vacation. I'm going to hit it. And I'm going to do it again next year. So it's a night, much nicer life, much nicer lifestyle.
[00:10:34] Shannon: That's awesome. So just getting focused on those small business clients, the right clients.
I love what you said about when you were just at your max capacity, you weren't present with your family. You didn't have time to talk to prospects. It's just, it's a great story. So that. The, the Friday's off during tax season as a mic dropper. So with that, I'll, I'll pass it back to Colin and well done on the eight weeks of vacation.
[00:10:58] Colin: That's a fantastic story. Thank you, Greg.
About Renew Group
Shannon Vincent and Colin Dunn created Renew Group to create a better model and better lives for accounting firms. Our Firm Transformation Framework is the blueprint to a better model and a better life. Through education and training, templates, tools, and resources, coaching and community, our framework delivers life-changing results.
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