August 7, 2025 • 35 mins
Most firms wait to adapt, Gary DeHart built a media empire by doing the opposite.
As the publisher of Insightful Accountant and founder of the Top 100 ProAdvisor Awards, Gary shares:
- What 10+ years of ProAdvisor data reveals about firm success
- How small firms can punch above their weight at industry events
- Why AI is not optional (and where to start if you’re behind)
- Leadership lessons from military training that apply to accounting
- What’s coming next at Scaling New Heights and Intuit Connect
🎓 Plus: Details on his Be Insightful training platform for firm owners
📬 Want to connect with Gary
- Visit insightfulaccountant.com
- or find him on LinkedIn under Gary DeHart
🎧 Hit play to stay ahead of the curve and make smarter moves this year.
This episode is brought to you by Bill.com
- Ready to take your finances to the next level? See how BILL Spend & Expense can power up your business—and get that free grill—at bill.com/cfochronicles
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of CFO
Chronicles.
In this episode, I'm joined byGary DeHart, publisher of
Insightful Accountant and thedriving force behind the top 100
ProAdvisor awards.
We dive into the future ofaccounting, from AI integration
and small firm growth to what itreally takes to lead in this
rapidly evolving industry.
Gary also shares how militaryleadership principles apply to
(00:23):
business, plus a behind thescenes look at what's coming up
at Scaling New Heights andIntuit Connect.
This episode is brought to youby Billcom, helping firms
streamline AP and get paidfaster, and the Universal
Accounting Center, your partnerin building a more profitable
practice.
Don't miss this one, especiallyif you're looking to level up
your firm and stay ahead of thecurve.
(00:44):
Enjoy, gary.
Thank you so much for joining ustoday on CFO Chronicles.
We have Gary here fromInsightful Accountant.
Gary, we had a chance to meetat GrowCon a couple weeks ago.
It was a pleasure to meet youand come by your booth and have
(01:05):
the opportunity to do aninterview with you at our booth,
and we had some amazingheadshots.
So thank you very much for thegenerosity there at GrowCon.
I would love if you could takeus back.
How did your career journeylead to the creation of
Insightful Accountant?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Oh, wow.
Well, thanks for having me.
Certainly glad to be here.
It's always good to haveconversations and part of my
push this year actually is to domy goal that I set for myself
is to do 150 podcasts this year,and I'm not tracking it, so I
don't know exactly what mynumber, and not not necessarily
just beyond them.
It's more about producing myown, but the conversation we had
(01:41):
prior to even kicking offactually was very helpful for me
about thinking of what we needto be doing with that content.
So, but again, thanks forhaving me winding it back.
So so, grocon, actually I'lleven touch on that before we
wind back.
Yeah, so Grocon, for those whodon't know, is it's an annual
event put on by the UniversalAccounting Center.
(02:02):
James and I were both thereexhibiting.
You spoke right, yeah, and itwas an interesting group for me
because I've been in this spacefor a very long time and we'll
get to that.
But that's one of the few showsI've ever been to where I
didn't know people, and it'svery rare that we go to a show
(02:25):
that we don't know people, and Iknew two of the speakers and I
knew one attendee and that wasit and out of you know it wasn't
the biggest show, but what?
110, 120 people?
Uh, unusual not to know morethan that.
Actually, I knew three of thespeakers and so, but how did I
end up here?
(02:45):
Well, got a real estate degree.
So my mother built houses whenI was growing up she was a home
builder in middle Georgia and Ithought that's what I was going
to do.
So I went to college, got areal estate degree and have
never, ever used it.
First job out of college was inmedia.
We called it publishing backthen, back in the Stone Age, and
(03:09):
so it was with a magazinepublisher business-to-business
magazine publisher.
They did have one, and thenended up with two consumer
products.
But I worked on a magazine forthe textile industry and then
another one, a competitor forthe textile industry, and so
I've worked again in media and,as my career progressed, I ended
(03:32):
up working for the company thatowns and publishes Accounting
Today, and I was working for amagazine they own called
Employee Benefit News, and thenI was moved over to Accounting
Today.
I was the associate publisherfor that product, and that was
in 2000.
We started this in 2013.
(03:53):
So I think I started working onAccounting Today, in maybe 2007
or 2008, something like that andhad, in that capacity, had gone
to most of the Scaling NewHeights trade shows and I missed
the first one, but I've been toall the other ones and Joe
(04:15):
Woodard is the guy that runsthat.
He, as I, was walking aroundthese shows.
You know the the difficultywith shows is getting the
attendees to engage with thesponsors.
I mean show producers.
They make their money on theshow floor.
They don't make the money onattendees, and the attendees
were engaging, very heavilyengaging, with the sponsors.
So Joe and I got to know eachother.
(04:35):
He lives here, I'm in theAtlanta area, he is as well.
He and I ended up on a flightback together, sitting next to
each other and from we can'tremember if it was California or
Vegas, one or the other and, uh, just struck up a relationship
there, and that was probably inmaybe November of 2012, and
(04:59):
decided hey, you know what, hehad a.
He has an amazing trade show,he had a conference or an
association, so he had anaudience already.
He was looking for media.
I had media background and sowe said, hey, you know what,
let's go into business together.
Let's start a business.
That was 2013.
We kicked it off, we off, uh,we you part of this business
(05:31):
partners in 2008.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
We um, oh sorry, gary , I'll just I'll interject there
just for a second, I lost youraudio just for a little bit
there after he's saying you guysmet on the plane, struck up a
relationship and and uh, uh, youguys, yeah, kicked off, kicked
off a business.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, all right, so I can go back to there.
Yeah, so you're still kind ofin the yellow on the on the wifi
there.
So, um, yeah, so we we sat nextto each other on a flight back
from some trade show, back inagain I think it was November
2012 and decided, hey, aftermany lunches, many breakfasts,
(06:07):
hey, let's, you know, let'sstart a business.
So we started insightfulaccountant.
At the time, it was intuitiveaccountant, um, we changed it
about a year into it, changed itto insightful accountant.
Then we parted ways as businesspartners in 2018 and, uh, kind
of Bob Allard, who worked forJoe at the time, is now my
business partner.
We still have a good workingrelationship with the Woodard
(06:29):
Group and with Joe.
We present our awards programthe Top 100 ProAdvisor Awards at
Scaling New Heights, and that'snext week or in two weeks.
So we're looking forward tothat.
That's in Orlando, right, it isyeah, orlando, june 23rd through
the 25th, awesome, awesome.
Is that one you go to?
(06:49):
Do you go to that?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Not yet.
We were introduced to a lot ofdifferent shows that got on our
radar at GrowCon, so our plannow will be to attend more trade
shows.
We're going to be attendingWomen who count in the fall in
arizona after meeting sharonfuller at uh growcon, so we're
really excited about that andand we'll try to attend um into
(07:13):
a connect the following weekend.
So, just being on that side ofthe country, the plan will be to
attend both of those shows yep,yeah, yeah into a connect will
be a good show, it's.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Uh, it's interesting, we've been actually joe watered
um, actually helped them startthat event okay, years ago when
I started.
It was quickbooks connect atthe time, but I mean he planned
all the content he bobbed.
My current partner sold thesponsorship space on the floor
for the first year, maybe eventhe first two years of it, um,
(07:42):
but then, you know, into it,took it all over, brought it in
house, but it's a good, greatevent yeah, a lot done, awesome.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I've never been to vegas, so you know what?
What better time than than foran accounting event?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
I've been to vegas way too many times and could
never, ever go back again and beperfectly happy.
But what I didn't know?
And again, I've been to vegasprobably, literally, probably,
30 times and, uh, I don't gamble.
I like to play poker with myfriends, but I don't gamble and
I just don't lose the money.
Yeah, but if you, if you're notaware, but if you have time,
(08:17):
take a weekend and go up to zionnational park yeah it is.
It's a two and a half hour drivefrom Vegas and that time of
year it was late October.
It's probably beautiful at theend of October.
I went in December a couple ofyears ago and if you have a
chance, do it.
It is well worth it.
(08:37):
And it's right there and GrandCanyon is pretty close as well.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, that was on my radar being at Grocon, um, and I
was like all right, next year,when we go back to salt lake, if
it's not from the vegas trip up, I'll definitely be taking a
trip south from salt lakedesigns it looks stunning yes,
it is.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
There's so much there , I've only been to zion.
I want to go to the other parks, but uh, just to zion and maybe
next year, but over my shoulderhere.
So this is from Grocon thisyear.
So we went fly fishing.
My son was with me.
You met him.
So we went fly fishing on theday before Grocon and then we
fished on the day after.
But the other picture actuallyis also from Utah, but from a
(09:20):
trip several years ago.
Yeah, very cool, if you flyfish, you got to do that next
time.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, yeah, definitely so, Gary.
What, what gap or opportunitydid you see in the accounting
profession that inspired you tolaunch, to launch the
publication?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, I think the the biggest thing for us was the
focus in on the QuickBooksProAdvisor and you know it's Joe
Woodard's show.
That was his primary focus atthe time.
It was an Intuit exclusiveevent and they only trained on
Intuit products.
Now it's different.
They cover, you know, allgeneral ledgers.
But for us it was that it washey, let's build a product that
(10:01):
is hyper-focused for thatQuickBooks ProAdvisor space.
And again, we still cover morethan that as a magazine, online
magazine, but we cover more thanthat.
But that's an easilyidentifiable and addressable
market is the QuickBooksProAdvisors and so we've kind of
(10:22):
built out of that.
But it was primarily to focuson the technology that's
impacting the accountingprofession and to tie in with
what Woodard was building at thetime.
You know, an Intuit-centricevent and association.
Again, we cover outside ofIntuit, but that is still really
our core.
And, as I mentioned before, wedo annually we do a top 100 pro
(10:45):
advisor awards program where weidentify and it's not a
popularity contest, it's basedon merit the top 100 pro
advisors in the US and then top50 globally, and then we also
have an additional top 25 up andcoming pro advisors and that is
.
It's been a very good.
(11:05):
It's been good to see that thatprogram grow and evolve to what
it is now, because most as youget deeper into this world,
you'll see that there's so manypeople in the accounting
profession that are smallerfirms, right, either, like me.
I'm in a guest room right now.
(11:26):
You know, in my house.
You know a lot of them.
All these people work from homeand a lot of people are isolated
.
A lot of people have somecommunity, but not a lot, and if
you're not in a bigger companythat has resources or has the
ability to or really kind oflift you up for your
accomplishments, that's what Ithink this awards program has
(11:50):
done for the audience.
It's done for the profession,and what I have really enjoyed
seeing is I'll go to shows andhave people like Debbie
Kilsheimer I'm sure you met herat the show.
She was one of our awardwinners yeah, maybe 2015 or
something and she still talksabout that, how that impacted
(12:12):
her, how it impacted her, herbusiness, but how that
recognition really meanssomething and we're able to
provide that.
So that's been.
That's so good for us.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, the, what you're touching on there, the,
just the, the remote working andhaving that recognition from
your peers from another group.
I think that goes so far andI'm sure everyone really
appreciates what you guys aredoing there with the awards
program and you guys must get alot of joy and benefit from that
as well, acknowledging everyonefor all of their hard work
(12:47):
within the industry.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
It is and it's been.
So it started off it was justthe 100, right.
And then we kept gettingfeedback from people who were
saying, gosh, you know, I'veonly been in the profession for,
you know, five years, sevenyears person that wins all the
awards and in those rankingsthey've been doing this 20 years
.
You know, 15 to 20 years.
I'll never, you know, untilthey retire, I'll never be able
(13:11):
to take their place, right,because it is it's not a
popularity contest, like Imentioned before, it's a
merit-based.
So when you apply, there'sroughly 150 questions maybe that
you have to answer and it's allabout your CPE, your training,
what are you doing socially?
How are you?
What's your client base looklike?
(13:33):
How engaged are you in the appecosystems?
And are you, you know, are youreferring the apps?
Are you working with yourclients on?
So it's very, very, veryinvolved.
So there's other awards programsout there, but when people get
these awards, it's becausethey've earned them.
And so three years ago, I thinkit was we taking that feedback
that we'd received from peoplesaying, hey, you know, I'll,
(13:54):
I'll never, never get in therebecause there's so many older
people in the profession.
So that's when we added this,this up and coming, 25 top 25 up
and coming and that has allowedus to broaden who.
We can recognize people who arenewer in the firms, newer in
the space and, you know, broadenour audience.
So it has has been good but itis great being a part of it.
(14:15):
And this year, at scaling newHeights, if you're going to be
in Orlando, we are doing a bigparty for you know all of the
award winners on Monday night atthat event.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
That's so awesome, that's so cool.
What's one major trend in theaccounting, in the accounting
tech that you believe firms arestill underestimating?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Well it's.
I mean I hate to say it becauseit's a broken record and we're
going to hear it for the nextlike 15 years, right, but it's
AI and it's leveraging AI, andwe just did a survey.
I don't know if I still have itopen, I don't.
I was just looking at surveyresults a little bit earlier and
we're basically asking hey,what's your content preferences?
What are you looking for?
What do you want us to writeabout?
And QuickBooks Online was numberone, not surprising, that's our
core.
(15:01):
But number two was AI, and Ithink it's really leveraging and
understanding how to use thattool because it is a tool.
I think it's really leveragingand understanding how to use
that tool because it is a tool,but at the same time, not making
(15:57):
your business all about thattool.
I don't want to say disconnect,but there's to me a missed
opportunity for people, whetherthey're bookkeepers, whether
your practice to where you canbetter advise your clients, is
where people need to be focusingtheir efforts to better
understand how to use the AItool so they can better advise
their clients.
So I think it's kind of acombination of those two things.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yeah, where do you think someone should start when
it comes to AI?
Because I know it's like thesexy buzzword that everyone's
excited about and they want toget into AI and use it.
There's a lot of differentavenues to go down.
There's a lot of different waysto use it.
Ultimately, I think it comesdown to the prompts that you're
(16:37):
giving it and who the individualis.
We're not there yet.
I'm sure it's not terribly farbefore ai just could completely
take over everything, but itstill has to be run by the
individual to prompt it.
What would you say to someonewho's kind of looking to get
started, to get their feet wet,to try to just get a little bit
of AI incorporated into theirbusiness?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, and I would say from I'm not an AI expert by
any means, but I've had.
We've got a series going rightnow on my podcast with this lady
, diane Gilson, who was actuallyshe was our I think it was our
2019 ProAdvisor of the Year.
I think it was our 2019ProAdvisor of the Year, and
she's desktop-based, like herwhole business was around
working with contractors,construction on desktop, and
(17:19):
about a year ago she said thatshe decided you know what If
desktop's dead, so am I.
I'm just not going to be.
She still has her business andis still doing that, but her
focus in her business is AI.
She's like I'm going to teachpeople how to use AI.
So I asked her that samequestion in our first.
We're doing a six part seriesand we just recorded the part
(17:41):
three yesterday.
But on part one, I asked her avery similar question.
And it's just get your handsdirty, right?
Yeah, you just have to use it,just like if you're going to,
you know, if you want to go,learn how to build a chair,
right?
Well, your first chair is goingto be pretty ugly and you know,
the more you build it, the moreyou work on them, the better
(18:02):
your chair is going to get overtime, and so it really is that
and I think you really have tocarve out time to use it.
And really is that, and I thinkyou really have to carve out
time to use it.
And it's so funny because, as Iwas speaking with her yesterday
, she was talking about I thinklast conversation was prompts
and then yesterday was how canyou use it for a meeting?
Let's say, I got a meetingcoming up.
(18:23):
What do I do?
Well, ask chat gpt, and that'swhat she's focused on ChatGPT.
Obviously, there's otherproviders, but you just have to
use it and you have to read andor, better yet, have it read to
you.
Right, grok my brother is a bigfan of Grok and my business
(18:46):
partner he uses Grok, and it'smore conversational in the way
that you leverage the tool, andso I think you could even ask it
right, hey, I'm running abookkeeping firm.
What's the best way for me touse ai?
yeah and see what it says.
Right and but I think witheverything, you have to make
(19:06):
sure you read the answer andmake sure the answer makes sense
, because it's not 100 fullproof and um, but obviously it
seems to be getting better everysingle day yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I always tell our team and anyone else who's using
it or asking use it as like aplatform to completely brain
dump what's your thoughts are.
Just like type out yourthoughts and then, as it keeps
feeding you back answers, justkeep brain dumping until you get
what you're looking for.
Like there's there's probablywrong ways to prompt, but for
the most part, there's really isno right or wrong way, because
(19:41):
you get to drive, you get tochoose where the vehicle goes
and just you keep feeding ituntil you kind of get what
you're looking for.
At least that's how I'm usingit.
I use it as a spot to braindump, to organize my thoughts.
Okay, now I know what I want todo and I could add in my own,
my own personalizationafterwards, but it really helps
with writer's block or like justgetting started on something.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, I've used it for just hey, I had to do a
short presentation.
Give me an outline for this.
Here's the topic.
I want four slides and it givesyou boom, boom for this.
Here's the topic.
I want four slides, you know,and it gives you boom, boom,
boom.
Then I was going to do one.
We've started the scaling up.
Are you familiar with that kindof business management method?
Yeah, um, it's.
It's really driven more forbigger companies.
But we're friend of mine is animplementer and he, I went to
(20:24):
one of his sessions on it andlike, wow, this does make sense.
We're because we're all overthe place, we're all remote,
remote and we're all doing, butnot, we weren't necessarily
doing all going to the sameplace, pointing at the at the
same.
You know North Star, if youwill.
And and I'd asked him if hecould do a presentation, he was
(20:45):
like, oh, I'm not sure if Icould on this certain date.
So I went in and chat GPT andjust like, hey, I need to do a
presentation on the scaling upprocess.
And then it asked me would youlike for me to put this into a
(21:07):
PowerPoint template?
Sure, would you like for me toadd graphics?
Sure, although the graphicsaren't great, right.
Yeah, they were getting better,but I think that's the key is,
the more you're in it, the moreyou understand how much you can
get from it and how much you canpush it to get you what you
really need.
And the more you're in it, themore you learn how to, how to
(21:29):
prompt it to get what you, whatit is that you really want.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yeah, it's pretty mind blowing stuff.
It's fun to play with it's.
It's cool, um, gary, you'vefeatured countless thought
leaders.
What qualities make someonestand out in this space in your
opinion?
Speaker 2 (21:56):
I think it's probably I'm going to go back to our, to
the top 100.
Not that I want to keep beatingthat to death, but, like with
those people, you know, thepractitioners it's the ones who
continually, continuously arelearning.
It's that people who are andagain, that's kind of what our,
what that top 100 process kindof shows, is like these are
people who are continuouslylearning, whether it's about a
(22:17):
new app, whether it's about youknow a new way like cashflow
Mike right, he was at at Groconwhether it's learning a
different method of serving yourclients or, you know, becoming,
you know, the specialist in AI,right, I think it's that it's
probably that continuouslearning would be number one,
especially from the practitionerside, I think, from other
(22:42):
people who are more like a RandyJohnston, you know, I think
Randy, while he is a continuouslearner, he's also a continuous
sharer.
He is the most willing to sharea person of his knowledge that I
think I've ever met, and hedoesn't look at it from a hey,
(23:04):
this is a transactional reasonfor me to share this.
He shares because he has thisimmense knowledge that does come
back to him because he has atraining business, he has a
consulting practice and and he'sa speaker all around the
country.
But I think it's probably thosetwo things having building your
knowledge base and beingwilling to share it, and not not
(23:27):
only willing to share itbecause you're getting paid to.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah, ok, awesome.
Just a couple more questionsfor you because I know you're.
You have an appointment herefor lunch.
So if you were advising a firmwith two to five members today,
what should they focus on overthe next 90 days?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Are they starting out or are they're kind of?
Speaker 1 (23:51):
So there's already a firm running with, say, two to
five members on the team.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, and I've never run an accounting firm, so I
have to always want to make surethat there is no CPA or letters
behind my name.
Accounting wasn't really my bestclass in college either, but
the irony of life we sharethat't really my best class in
college either we share that,then we share that in college,
(24:17):
yeah, and so the irony of lifehas me running a magazine or an
online product for accountingprofessionals, I think.
Well, probably one is LeverageAI, laura Redman.
I don't know if you've ever metLaura Redman, but she runs a
firm called Redman Accountingand years ago, one thing that
she shared with me that they dothat, I think, is amazing.
We don't do this internally,but as a scaling up process, as
(24:37):
we're diving more into it, weare going to add this.
They have I don't remember howbig our firm is, but they each
month identify, let's say, youknow, this month, james is going
to be.
Well.
Actually, I don't think theyassigned it.
(25:04):
Each person on the staff istasked with finding an app or a
solution that they don't knowanything about and to learn
about it, and then they comeback and they bring it back to
the team and they share.
Hey, we looked at XYZ app andwe thought it was going to be
great for workflow, and what wefound out is it's terrible for
workflow but it's good for this,and so I think that kind of
goes to that continuous learning.
(25:25):
So I think that kind of goes tothat continuous learning.
Right, but engage your team to.
You know, if you've got fivepeople on your staff, well,
there's five apps a month youcan look at.
And or, you know, maybe one ofthose apps is AI.
Maybe one of those person wants, you know, find out who wants
to be the AI person and taskthem to it and don't make them
(25:49):
do it on their spare time.
Pay them to do it.
You know, pay them to do it.
I think that's one thing thatthe profession is is.
I think the younger people inthe profession are already
moving out of the hourly,minutely mindset.
But you know, we have a coupleof three, two and a half people
in the Philippines and we useHubSpot and I've said, hey, you
(26:10):
go train on HubSpot on my dimeand when you get certified we'll
pay you to get certified.
Why would I not?
You know what's the saying is.
You know it's better to have atrained person leave than have
an untrained person stay.
So I think you, we have a lotof.
(26:34):
There is a lot of change comingvery rapidly from a technology
standpoint at firms and theyneed to be prepared for that
change, and a lot of it's goingto be AI, A lot of it's going to
be the apps that are beingbuilt that help with the
workflow or help with clientcommunication.
That would be one, or maybethat's two things, but I think
another would be whatever it is,take time to sit down with your
(26:59):
team and find out what is itthat, where are the gaps, and
either train up to fill the gapsor hire to fill the gaps.
And through again, through thisscaling up process that we're
going through right now.
We're finding that and we knowour processes aren't great, but
fix the first process, then thesecond, then the third, and if
(27:23):
you're really weak on sales,well, hire a salesperson or get
better at it.
If you're really weak onmarketing, you know, call james,
um, you know and find somebodythat can help you in marketing,
because what we find ongoingover the every year we've done
surveys, two of the areas thatthey tell us, that our readers
(27:45):
tell us that they need help inbusiness development and
marketing they're always in thetop.
The last one, when I was lookingat the survey this morning,
those two were in the top 10.
I think they were like numbersix, number eight.
They're always, always in top10 because this is a highly
intelligent group of people.
(28:05):
They are typically numbersfocused and not people focused,
and I don't say that as a badthing, it's just.
You know, I'm a greataccountant.
I may not be a greatsalesperson.
Well, if you're not and youwant to grow your business, you
have to figure out how to dothat.
And you know process.
(28:27):
People are key to make thathappen.
Yeah, that's probably the twoor three things that come to
mind for me.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
So good.
Last question for you, garywhat is the best piece of advice
you've ever received?
Oh gosh, I know I'm putting youon the spot.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, that is a best piece of advice I've ever
received.
I really that's a greatquestion.
I'm going to have to get backto you on that.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
What comes to mind, what's kind of floating around
there, maybe in the front or theback of your mind, when you
hear that question.
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Well, I want to have like a personal side.
I want to have a business side.
Um, I think actually I'm goingto pull all the way back to I
was in the national guard andfor about uh, seven years and as
part of that, your, um, your 10, what they call it, it's like
(29:28):
your 10 leadership principles.
One of them is is keep yourtroops informed, and that has
well, actually two.
I'll take two, actually one ofyour, I can't remember what they
were called, it's been a while,but one was seek responsibility
and take responsibility foryour actions.
I think would be number one.
(29:48):
And then two, keeping yourtroops informed, whether that's
in a military setting, whetherit's a business setting, whether
it's within your family.
I think ensuring thateverybody's on the same page,
everybody understands whatyou're doing and what you're
trying to accomplish, is goingto keep everybody happy.
(30:11):
That may not actually may notkeep everybody happy, because
you may have some people.
Once you share whatever thatvision is and are informing
people.
There are some people possiblythat might self-select out and
go.
It's not where I want to goright, but probably those two
things.
And then, happy, go I'm.
It's not where I want to goRight, but probably those two
things.
And then, and happy wife, happywife, happy life Right.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
So Perfect.
That's great, that's um.
That's really good.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
Um last last question is a veryquick one, gary.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Last, last question.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Yeah, last, last question when can people get in
touch with you if they want tocontinue the conversation or,
you know, learn a little bitmore about what you guys are
doing?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Sure, yeah, I mean.
So we're on, uh, we're on allthe social media either.
Um, you know Gary D heart.
Uh tied that in with insightfulaccountant.
You'll, you know, find me onwhatever social channel.
We do post a lot.
Most of what's posted is is ourteam posting it.
It comes out under my name, butmost of it's our team Really
there and our website, you knowinsightfulaccountantcom.
(31:09):
I do want to plug real quicklythis Be Insightful program and
that is our.
It's basically a trainingprogram that we're building out
nine training tracks Right nowwe've got you can join it for a
dollar and then it's $50, $49 amonth after that and it's we're
covering all the things that wewere just talking about.
We actually have humanresources, which is another
(31:31):
topic that comes up very high inall of our surveys.
So we have a human resourcestrack, we have an app comparison
track, we do tax, we domarketing, we do business
development, three or fourothers, but just to encourage
people to go out there and again, insightfulaccountantcom or
bloginsightfulaccountantcom ispretty much where you'll find us
(31:54):
.
We will be at Scaling NewHeights exhibiting there.
Then we'll be walking at IntuitConnect no exhibiting no
exhibiting Awesome, gary.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Thank you so much for coming on today.
Sharing, sharing all of yourknowledge and I'm I hope
everyone goes and gets in touchwith you.
I really like what you guys aredoing.
It was a pleasure meeting youat GirlCon.
I can't wait to see you at thenext event, wherever that may be
.
Yeah, thanks again for comingon today.
Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Looking forward to it .
And also, if you know if youwill have some content you want
to share, send it our way.
We'd love to put it out there.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Perfect, awesome, we'll make sure links are in the
show descriptions so people canget in touch with you.
Gary, enjoy the rest of yourday, all right, thanks, you too.
Thanks for tuning in to thisepisode of CFO Chronicles the
secrets behind success.
I hope you found value intoday's conversation.
As we wrap up, I'd love for youto do two things.
First, make sure to subscribeto this podcast so you don't
miss any future episodes.
(32:48):
If you enjoyed today'sdiscussion, please rate and
review the show.
It helps others discover theinsights we share here.
Second, if you're ready to takeyour business to the next level
and attract the high-endclients you deserve, head over
to accountingleadsnowcom orclick the link in the show notes
to book your strategy.
(33:08):
Call it and don't forget youcan connect with me on LinkedIn
to stay up to date on what'shappening in the world of
accounting and financial growth.
We've got exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
Until then, keep pushingforward your growth is just one
strategic move away.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets
behind success.
We hope today's episodeprovided valuable strategies to
help you attract more highpaying clients.
Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
professionals.
Connect with us on LinkedIn andleave a review or comment to
join the conversation.
Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
(33:49):
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
business's potential.
Welcome back to another episode of CFO
Chronicles.
In this episode, I'm joined byGary DeHart, publisher of
Insightful Accountant and thedriving force behind the top 100
ProAdvisor awards.
We dive into the future ofaccounting, from AI integration
and small firm growth to what itreally takes to lead in this
rapidly evolving industry.
Gary also shares how militaryleadership principles apply to
(00:23):
business, plus a behind thescenes look at what's coming up
at Scaling New Heights andIntuit Connect.
This episode is brought to youby Billcom, helping firms
streamline AP and get paidfaster, and the Universal
Accounting Center, your partnerin building a more profitable
practice.
Don't miss this one, especiallyif you're looking to level up
your firm and stay ahead of thecurve.
(00:44):
Enjoy, gary.
Thank you so much for joining ustoday on CFO Chronicles.
We have Gary here fromInsightful Accountant.
Gary, we had a chance to meetat GrowCon a couple weeks ago.
It was a pleasure to meet youand come by your booth and have
(01:05):
the opportunity to do aninterview with you at our booth,
and we had some amazingheadshots.
So thank you very much for thegenerosity there at GrowCon.
I would love if you could takeus back.
How did your career journeylead to the creation of
Insightful Accountant?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Oh, wow.
Well, thanks for having me.
Certainly glad to be here.
It's always good to haveconversations and part of my
push this year actually is to domy goal that I set for myself
is to do 150 podcasts this year,and I'm not tracking it, so I
don't know exactly what mynumber, and not not necessarily
just beyond them.
It's more about producing myown, but the conversation we had
(01:41):
prior to even kicking offactually was very helpful for me
about thinking of what we needto be doing with that content.
So, but again, thanks forhaving me winding it back.
So so, grocon, actually I'lleven touch on that before we
wind back.
Yeah, so Grocon, for those whodon't know, is it's an annual
event put on by the UniversalAccounting Center.
(02:02):
James and I were both thereexhibiting.
You spoke right, yeah, and itwas an interesting group for me
because I've been in this spacefor a very long time and we'll
get to that.
But that's one of the few showsI've ever been to where I
didn't know people, and it'svery rare that we go to a show
(02:25):
that we don't know people, and Iknew two of the speakers and I
knew one attendee and that wasit and out of you know it wasn't
the biggest show, but what?
110, 120 people?
Uh, unusual not to know morethan that.
Actually, I knew three of thespeakers and so, but how did I
end up here?
(02:45):
Well, got a real estate degree.
So my mother built houses whenI was growing up she was a home
builder in middle Georgia and Ithought that's what I was going
to do.
So I went to college, got areal estate degree and have
never, ever used it.
First job out of college was inmedia.
We called it publishing backthen, back in the Stone Age, and
(03:09):
so it was with a magazinepublisher business-to-business
magazine publisher.
They did have one, and thenended up with two consumer
products.
But I worked on a magazine forthe textile industry and then
another one, a competitor forthe textile industry, and so
I've worked again in media and,as my career progressed, I ended
(03:32):
up working for the company thatowns and publishes Accounting
Today, and I was working for amagazine they own called
Employee Benefit News, and thenI was moved over to Accounting
Today.
I was the associate publisherfor that product, and that was
in 2000.
We started this in 2013.
(03:53):
So I think I started working onAccounting Today, in maybe 2007
or 2008, something like that andhad, in that capacity, had gone
to most of the Scaling NewHeights trade shows and I missed
the first one, but I've been toall the other ones and Joe
(04:15):
Woodard is the guy that runsthat.
He, as I, was walking aroundthese shows.
You know the the difficultywith shows is getting the
attendees to engage with thesponsors.
I mean show producers.
They make their money on theshow floor.
They don't make the money onattendees, and the attendees
were engaging, very heavilyengaging, with the sponsors.
So Joe and I got to know eachother.
(04:35):
He lives here, I'm in theAtlanta area, he is as well.
He and I ended up on a flightback together, sitting next to
each other and from we can'tremember if it was California or
Vegas, one or the other and, uh, just struck up a relationship
there, and that was probably inmaybe November of 2012, and
(04:59):
decided hey, you know what, hehad a.
He has an amazing trade show,he had a conference or an
association, so he had anaudience already.
He was looking for media.
I had media background and sowe said, hey, you know what,
let's go into business together.
Let's start a business.
That was 2013.
We kicked it off, we off, uh,we you part of this business
(05:31):
partners in 2008.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
We um, oh sorry, gary , I'll just I'll interject there
just for a second, I lost youraudio just for a little bit
there after he's saying you guysmet on the plane, struck up a
relationship and and uh, uh, youguys, yeah, kicked off, kicked
off a business.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, all right, so I can go back to there.
Yeah, so you're still kind ofin the yellow on the on the wifi
there.
So, um, yeah, so we we sat nextto each other on a flight back
from some trade show, back inagain I think it was November
2012 and decided, hey, aftermany lunches, many breakfasts,
(06:07):
hey, let's, you know, let'sstart a business.
So we started insightfulaccountant.
At the time, it was intuitiveaccountant, um, we changed it
about a year into it, changed itto insightful accountant.
Then we parted ways as businesspartners in 2018 and, uh, kind
of Bob Allard, who worked forJoe at the time, is now my
business partner.
We still have a good workingrelationship with the Woodard
(06:29):
Group and with Joe.
We present our awards programthe Top 100 ProAdvisor Awards at
Scaling New Heights, and that'snext week or in two weeks.
So we're looking forward tothat.
That's in Orlando, right, it isyeah, orlando, june 23rd through
the 25th, awesome, awesome.
Is that one you go to?
(06:49):
Do you go to that?
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Not yet.
We were introduced to a lot ofdifferent shows that got on our
radar at GrowCon, so our plannow will be to attend more trade
shows.
We're going to be attendingWomen who count in the fall in
arizona after meeting sharonfuller at uh growcon, so we're
really excited about that andand we'll try to attend um into
(07:13):
a connect the following weekend.
So, just being on that side ofthe country, the plan will be to
attend both of those shows yep,yeah, yeah into a connect will
be a good show, it's.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Uh, it's interesting, we've been actually joe watered
um, actually helped them startthat event okay, years ago when
I started.
It was quickbooks connect atthe time, but I mean he planned
all the content he bobbed.
My current partner sold thesponsorship space on the floor
for the first year, maybe eventhe first two years of it, um,
(07:42):
but then, you know, into it,took it all over, brought it in
house, but it's a good, greatevent yeah, a lot done, awesome.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I've never been to vegas, so you know what?
What better time than than foran accounting event?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
I've been to vegas way too many times and could
never, ever go back again and beperfectly happy.
But what I didn't know?
And again, I've been to vegasprobably, literally, probably,
30 times and, uh, I don't gamble.
I like to play poker with myfriends, but I don't gamble and
I just don't lose the money.
Yeah, but if you, if you're notaware, but if you have time,
(08:17):
take a weekend and go up to zionnational park yeah it is.
It's a two and a half hour drivefrom Vegas and that time of
year it was late October.
It's probably beautiful at theend of October.
I went in December a couple ofyears ago and if you have a
chance, do it.
It is well worth it.
(08:37):
And it's right there and GrandCanyon is pretty close as well.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, that was on my radar being at Grocon, um, and I
was like all right, next year,when we go back to salt lake, if
it's not from the vegas trip up, I'll definitely be taking a
trip south from salt lakedesigns it looks stunning yes,
it is.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
There's so much there , I've only been to zion.
I want to go to the other parks, but uh, just to zion and maybe
next year, but over my shoulderhere.
So this is from Grocon thisyear.
So we went fly fishing.
My son was with me.
You met him.
So we went fly fishing on theday before Grocon and then we
fished on the day after.
But the other picture actuallyis also from Utah, but from a
(09:20):
trip several years ago.
Yeah, very cool, if you flyfish, you got to do that next
time.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, yeah, definitely so, Gary.
What, what gap or opportunitydid you see in the accounting
profession that inspired you tolaunch, to launch the
publication?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Yeah, I think the the biggest thing for us was the
focus in on the QuickBooksProAdvisor and you know it's Joe
Woodard's show.
That was his primary focus atthe time.
It was an Intuit exclusiveevent and they only trained on
Intuit products.
Now it's different.
They cover, you know, allgeneral ledgers.
But for us it was that it washey, let's build a product that
(10:01):
is hyper-focused for thatQuickBooks ProAdvisor space.
And again, we still cover morethan that as a magazine, online
magazine, but we cover more thanthat.
But that's an easilyidentifiable and addressable
market is the QuickBooksProAdvisors and so we've kind of
(10:22):
built out of that.
But it was primarily to focuson the technology that's
impacting the accountingprofession and to tie in with
what Woodard was building at thetime.
You know, an Intuit-centricevent and association.
Again, we cover outside ofIntuit, but that is still really
our core.
And, as I mentioned before, wedo annually we do a top 100 pro
(10:45):
advisor awards program where weidentify and it's not a
popularity contest, it's basedon merit the top 100 pro
advisors in the US and then top50 globally, and then we also
have an additional top 25 up andcoming pro advisors and that is
.
It's been a very good.
(11:05):
It's been good to see that thatprogram grow and evolve to what
it is now, because most as youget deeper into this world,
you'll see that there's so manypeople in the accounting
profession that are smallerfirms, right, either, like me.
I'm in a guest room right now.
(11:26):
You know, in my house.
You know a lot of them.
All these people work from homeand a lot of people are isolated
.
A lot of people have somecommunity, but not a lot, and if
you're not in a bigger companythat has resources or has the
ability to or really kind oflift you up for your
accomplishments, that's what Ithink this awards program has
(11:50):
done for the audience.
It's done for the profession,and what I have really enjoyed
seeing is I'll go to shows andhave people like Debbie
Kilsheimer I'm sure you met herat the show.
She was one of our awardwinners yeah, maybe 2015 or
something and she still talksabout that, how that impacted
(12:12):
her, how it impacted her, herbusiness, but how that
recognition really meanssomething and we're able to
provide that.
So that's been.
That's so good for us.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, the, what you're touching on there, the,
just the, the remote working andhaving that recognition from
your peers from another group.
I think that goes so far andI'm sure everyone really
appreciates what you guys aredoing there with the awards
program and you guys must get alot of joy and benefit from that
as well, acknowledging everyonefor all of their hard work
(12:47):
within the industry.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
It is and it's been.
So it started off it was justthe 100, right.
And then we kept gettingfeedback from people who were
saying, gosh, you know, I'veonly been in the profession for,
you know, five years, sevenyears person that wins all the
awards and in those rankingsthey've been doing this 20 years
.
You know, 15 to 20 years.
I'll never, you know, untilthey retire, I'll never be able
(13:11):
to take their place, right,because it is it's not a
popularity contest, like Imentioned before, it's a
merit-based.
So when you apply, there'sroughly 150 questions maybe that
you have to answer and it's allabout your CPE, your training,
what are you doing socially?
How are you?
What's your client base looklike?
(13:33):
How engaged are you in the appecosystems?
And are you, you know, are youreferring the apps?
Are you working with yourclients on?
So it's very, very, veryinvolved.
So there's other awards programsout there, but when people get
these awards, it's becausethey've earned them.
And so three years ago, I thinkit was we taking that feedback
that we'd received from peoplesaying, hey, you know, I'll,
(13:54):
I'll never, never get in therebecause there's so many older
people in the profession.
So that's when we added this,this up and coming, 25 top 25 up
and coming and that has allowedus to broaden who.
We can recognize people who arenewer in the firms, newer in
the space and, you know, broadenour audience.
So it has has been good but itis great being a part of it.
(14:15):
And this year, at scaling newHeights, if you're going to be
in Orlando, we are doing a bigparty for you know all of the
award winners on Monday night atthat event.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
That's so awesome, that's so cool.
What's one major trend in theaccounting, in the accounting
tech that you believe firms arestill underestimating?
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Well it's.
I mean I hate to say it becauseit's a broken record and we're
going to hear it for the nextlike 15 years, right, but it's
AI and it's leveraging AI, andwe just did a survey.
I don't know if I still have itopen, I don't.
I was just looking at surveyresults a little bit earlier and
we're basically asking hey,what's your content preferences?
What are you looking for?
What do you want us to writeabout?
And QuickBooks Online was numberone, not surprising, that's our
core.
(15:01):
But number two was AI, and Ithink it's really leveraging and
understanding how to use thattool because it is a tool.
I think it's really leveragingand understanding how to use
that tool because it is a tool,but at the same time, not making
(15:57):
your business all about thattool.
I don't want to say disconnect,but there's to me a missed
opportunity for people, whetherthey're bookkeepers, whether
your practice to where you canbetter advise your clients, is
where people need to be focusingtheir efforts to better
understand how to use the AItool so they can better advise
their clients.
So I think it's kind of acombination of those two things.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yeah, where do you think someone should start when
it comes to AI?
Because I know it's like thesexy buzzword that everyone's
excited about and they want toget into AI and use it.
There's a lot of differentavenues to go down.
There's a lot of different waysto use it.
Ultimately, I think it comesdown to the prompts that you're
(16:37):
giving it and who the individualis.
We're not there yet.
I'm sure it's not terribly farbefore ai just could completely
take over everything, but itstill has to be run by the
individual to prompt it.
What would you say to someonewho's kind of looking to get
started, to get their feet wet,to try to just get a little bit
of AI incorporated into theirbusiness?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, and I would say from I'm not an AI expert by
any means, but I've had.
We've got a series going rightnow on my podcast with this lady
, diane Gilson, who was actuallyshe was our I think it was our
2019 ProAdvisor of the Year.
I think it was our 2019ProAdvisor of the Year, and
she's desktop-based, like herwhole business was around
working with contractors,construction on desktop, and
(17:19):
about a year ago she said thatshe decided you know what If
desktop's dead, so am I.
I'm just not going to be.
She still has her business andis still doing that, but her
focus in her business is AI.
She's like I'm going to teachpeople how to use AI.
So I asked her that samequestion in our first.
We're doing a six part seriesand we just recorded the part
(17:41):
three yesterday.
But on part one, I asked her avery similar question.
And it's just get your handsdirty, right?
Yeah, you just have to use it,just like if you're going to,
you know, if you want to go,learn how to build a chair,
right?
Well, your first chair is goingto be pretty ugly and you know,
the more you build it, the moreyou work on them, the better
(18:02):
your chair is going to get overtime, and so it really is that
and I think you really have tocarve out time to use it.
And really is that, and I thinkyou really have to carve out
time to use it.
And it's so funny because, as Iwas speaking with her yesterday
, she was talking about I thinklast conversation was prompts
and then yesterday was how canyou use it for a meeting?
Let's say, I got a meetingcoming up.
(18:23):
What do I do?
Well, ask chat gpt, and that'swhat she's focused on ChatGPT.
Obviously, there's otherproviders, but you just have to
use it and you have to read andor, better yet, have it read to
you.
Right, grok my brother is a bigfan of Grok and my business
(18:46):
partner he uses Grok, and it'smore conversational in the way
that you leverage the tool, andso I think you could even ask it
right, hey, I'm running abookkeeping firm.
What's the best way for me touse ai?
yeah and see what it says.
Right and but I think witheverything, you have to make
(19:06):
sure you read the answer andmake sure the answer makes sense
, because it's not 100 fullproof and um, but obviously it
seems to be getting better everysingle day yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I always tell our team and anyone else who's using
it or asking use it as like aplatform to completely brain
dump what's your thoughts are.
Just like type out yourthoughts and then, as it keeps
feeding you back answers, justkeep brain dumping until you get
what you're looking for.
Like there's there's probablywrong ways to prompt, but for
the most part, there's really isno right or wrong way, because
(19:41):
you get to drive, you get tochoose where the vehicle goes
and just you keep feeding ituntil you kind of get what
you're looking for.
At least that's how I'm usingit.
I use it as a spot to braindump, to organize my thoughts.
Okay, now I know what I want todo and I could add in my own,
my own personalizationafterwards, but it really helps
with writer's block or like justgetting started on something.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, I've used it for just hey, I had to do a
short presentation.
Give me an outline for this.
Here's the topic.
I want four slides and it givesyou boom, boom for this.
Here's the topic.
I want four slides, you know,and it gives you boom, boom,
boom.
Then I was going to do one.
We've started the scaling up.
Are you familiar with that kindof business management method?
Yeah, um, it's.
It's really driven more forbigger companies.
But we're friend of mine is animplementer and he, I went to
(20:24):
one of his sessions on it andlike, wow, this does make sense.
We're because we're all overthe place, we're all remote,
remote and we're all doing, butnot, we weren't necessarily
doing all going to the sameplace, pointing at the at the
same.
You know North Star, if youwill.
And and I'd asked him if hecould do a presentation, he was
(20:45):
like, oh, I'm not sure if Icould on this certain date.
So I went in and chat GPT andjust like, hey, I need to do a
presentation on the scaling upprocess.
And then it asked me would youlike for me to put this into a
(21:07):
PowerPoint template?
Sure, would you like for me toadd graphics?
Sure, although the graphicsaren't great, right.
Yeah, they were getting better,but I think that's the key is,
the more you're in it, the moreyou understand how much you can
get from it and how much you canpush it to get you what you
really need.
And the more you're in it, themore you learn how to, how to
(21:29):
prompt it to get what you, whatit is that you really want.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yeah, it's pretty mind blowing stuff.
It's fun to play with it's.
It's cool, um, gary, you'vefeatured countless thought
leaders.
What qualities make someonestand out in this space in your
opinion?
Speaker 2 (21:56):
I think it's probably I'm going to go back to our, to
the top 100.
Not that I want to keep beatingthat to death, but, like with
those people, you know, thepractitioners it's the ones who
continually, continuously arelearning.
It's that people who are andagain, that's kind of what our,
what that top 100 process kindof shows, is like these are
people who are continuouslylearning, whether it's about a
(22:17):
new app, whether it's about youknow a new way like cashflow
Mike right, he was at at Groconwhether it's learning a
different method of serving yourclients or, you know, becoming,
you know, the specialist in AI,right, I think it's that it's
probably that continuouslearning would be number one,
especially from the practitionerside, I think, from other
(22:42):
people who are more like a RandyJohnston, you know, I think
Randy, while he is a continuouslearner, he's also a continuous
sharer.
He is the most willing to sharea person of his knowledge that I
think I've ever met, and hedoesn't look at it from a hey,
(23:04):
this is a transactional reasonfor me to share this.
He shares because he has thisimmense knowledge that does come
back to him because he has atraining business, he has a
consulting practice and and he'sa speaker all around the
country.
But I think it's probably thosetwo things having building your
knowledge base and beingwilling to share it, and not not
(23:27):
only willing to share itbecause you're getting paid to.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah, ok, awesome.
Just a couple more questionsfor you because I know you're.
You have an appointment herefor lunch.
So if you were advising a firmwith two to five members today,
what should they focus on overthe next 90 days?
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Are they starting out or are they're kind of?
Speaker 1 (23:51):
So there's already a firm running with, say, two to
five members on the team.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, and I've never run an accounting firm, so I
have to always want to make surethat there is no CPA or letters
behind my name.
Accounting wasn't really my bestclass in college either, but
the irony of life we sharethat't really my best class in
college either we share that,then we share that in college,
(24:17):
yeah, and so the irony of lifehas me running a magazine or an
online product for accountingprofessionals, I think.
Well, probably one is LeverageAI, laura Redman.
I don't know if you've ever metLaura Redman, but she runs a
firm called Redman Accountingand years ago, one thing that
she shared with me that they dothat, I think, is amazing.
We don't do this internally,but as a scaling up process, as
(24:37):
we're diving more into it, weare going to add this.
They have I don't remember howbig our firm is, but they each
month identify, let's say, youknow, this month, james is going
to be.
Well.
Actually, I don't think theyassigned it.
(25:04):
Each person on the staff istasked with finding an app or a
solution that they don't knowanything about and to learn
about it, and then they comeback and they bring it back to
the team and they share.
Hey, we looked at XYZ app andwe thought it was going to be
great for workflow, and what wefound out is it's terrible for
workflow but it's good for this,and so I think that kind of
goes to that continuous learning.
(25:25):
So I think that kind of goes tothat continuous learning.
Right, but engage your team to.
You know, if you've got fivepeople on your staff, well,
there's five apps a month youcan look at.
And or, you know, maybe one ofthose apps is AI.
Maybe one of those person wants, you know, find out who wants
to be the AI person and taskthem to it and don't make them
(25:49):
do it on their spare time.
Pay them to do it.
You know, pay them to do it.
I think that's one thing thatthe profession is is.
I think the younger people inthe profession are already
moving out of the hourly,minutely mindset.
But you know, we have a coupleof three, two and a half people
in the Philippines and we useHubSpot and I've said, hey, you
(26:10):
go train on HubSpot on my dimeand when you get certified we'll
pay you to get certified.
Why would I not?
You know what's the saying is.
You know it's better to have atrained person leave than have
an untrained person stay.
So I think you, we have a lotof.
(26:34):
There is a lot of change comingvery rapidly from a technology
standpoint at firms and theyneed to be prepared for that
change, and a lot of it's goingto be AI, A lot of it's going to
be the apps that are beingbuilt that help with the
workflow or help with clientcommunication.
That would be one, or maybethat's two things, but I think
another would be whatever it is,take time to sit down with your
(26:59):
team and find out what is itthat, where are the gaps, and
either train up to fill the gapsor hire to fill the gaps.
And through again, through thisscaling up process that we're
going through right now.
We're finding that and we knowour processes aren't great, but
fix the first process, then thesecond, then the third, and if
(27:23):
you're really weak on sales,well, hire a salesperson or get
better at it.
If you're really weak onmarketing, you know, call james,
um, you know and find somebodythat can help you in marketing,
because what we find ongoingover the every year we've done
surveys, two of the areas thatthey tell us, that our readers
(27:45):
tell us that they need help inbusiness development and
marketing they're always in thetop.
The last one, when I was lookingat the survey this morning,
those two were in the top 10.
I think they were like numbersix, number eight.
They're always, always in top10 because this is a highly
intelligent group of people.
(28:05):
They are typically numbersfocused and not people focused,
and I don't say that as a badthing, it's just.
You know, I'm a greataccountant.
I may not be a greatsalesperson.
Well, if you're not and youwant to grow your business, you
have to figure out how to dothat.
And you know process.
(28:27):
People are key to make thathappen.
Yeah, that's probably the twoor three things that come to
mind for me.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
So good.
Last question for you, garywhat is the best piece of advice
you've ever received?
Oh gosh, I know I'm putting youon the spot.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, that is a best piece of advice I've ever
received.
I really that's a greatquestion.
I'm going to have to get backto you on that.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
What comes to mind, what's kind of floating around
there, maybe in the front or theback of your mind, when you
hear that question.
That's a great question.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Well, I want to have like a personal side.
I want to have a business side.
Um, I think actually I'm goingto pull all the way back to I
was in the national guard andfor about uh, seven years and as
part of that, your, um, your 10, what they call it, it's like
(29:28):
your 10 leadership principles.
One of them is is keep yourtroops informed, and that has
well, actually two.
I'll take two, actually one ofyour, I can't remember what they
were called, it's been a while,but one was seek responsibility
and take responsibility foryour actions.
I think would be number one.
(29:48):
And then two, keeping yourtroops informed, whether that's
in a military setting, whetherit's a business setting, whether
it's within your family.
I think ensuring thateverybody's on the same page,
everybody understands whatyou're doing and what you're
trying to accomplish, is goingto keep everybody happy.
(30:11):
That may not actually may notkeep everybody happy, because
you may have some people.
Once you share whatever thatvision is and are informing
people.
There are some people possiblythat might self-select out and
go.
It's not where I want to goright, but probably those two
things.
And then, happy, go I'm.
It's not where I want to goRight, but probably those two
things.
And then, and happy wife, happywife, happy life Right.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
So Perfect.
That's great, that's um.
That's really good.
Thank you so much for sharingthat.
Um last last question is a veryquick one, gary.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Last, last question.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Yeah, last, last question when can people get in
touch with you if they want tocontinue the conversation or,
you know, learn a little bitmore about what you guys are
doing?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Sure, yeah, I mean.
So we're on, uh, we're on allthe social media either.
Um, you know Gary D heart.
Uh tied that in with insightfulaccountant.
You'll, you know, find me onwhatever social channel.
We do post a lot.
Most of what's posted is is ourteam posting it.
It comes out under my name, butmost of it's our team Really
there and our website, you knowinsightfulaccountantcom.
(31:09):
I do want to plug real quicklythis Be Insightful program and
that is our.
It's basically a trainingprogram that we're building out
nine training tracks Right nowwe've got you can join it for a
dollar and then it's $50, $49 amonth after that and it's we're
covering all the things that wewere just talking about.
We actually have humanresources, which is another
(31:31):
topic that comes up very high inall of our surveys.
So we have a human resourcestrack, we have an app comparison
track, we do tax, we domarketing, we do business
development, three or fourothers, but just to encourage
people to go out there and again, insightfulaccountantcom or
bloginsightfulaccountantcom ispretty much where you'll find us
(31:54):
.
We will be at Scaling NewHeights exhibiting there.
Then we'll be walking at IntuitConnect no exhibiting no
exhibiting Awesome, gary.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Thank you so much for coming on today.
Sharing, sharing all of yourknowledge and I'm I hope
everyone goes and gets in touchwith you.
I really like what you guys aredoing.
It was a pleasure meeting youat GirlCon.
I can't wait to see you at thenext event, wherever that may be
.
Yeah, thanks again for comingon today.
Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
Looking forward to it .
And also, if you know if youwill have some content you want
to share, send it our way.
We'd love to put it out there.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
Perfect, awesome, we'll make sure links are in the
show descriptions so people canget in touch with you.
Gary, enjoy the rest of yourday, all right, thanks, you too.
Thanks for tuning in to thisepisode of CFO Chronicles the
secrets behind success.
I hope you found value intoday's conversation.
As we wrap up, I'd love for youto do two things.
First, make sure to subscribeto this podcast so you don't
miss any future episodes.
(32:48):
If you enjoyed today'sdiscussion, please rate and
review the show.
It helps others discover theinsights we share here.
Second, if you're ready to takeyour business to the next level
and attract the high-endclients you deserve, head over
to accountingleadsnowcom orclick the link in the show notes
to book your strategy.
(33:08):
Call it and don't forget youcan connect with me on LinkedIn
to stay up to date on what'shappening in the world of
accounting and financial growth.
We've got exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
Until then, keep pushingforward your growth is just one
strategic move away.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets
behind success.
We hope today's episodeprovided valuable strategies to
help you attract more highpaying clients.
Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
professionals.
Connect with us on LinkedIn andleave a review or comment to
join the conversation.
Your feedback helps us bringyou the best insights in finance
(33:49):
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
business's potential.
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