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May 15, 2025 15 mins

I walked off stage and knew our business had just leveled up.

This wasn’t just a marketing play,it was a career milestone, a systems test, and a visibility machine rolled into one.

In this episode, I break down what really happened at GrowCon 2025, from battling nerves backstage to booking deals, meeting the team in real life, and learning where our systems still break.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • The ROI of sponsoring high-ticket events (and what most firms get wrong)
  • What happened after my talk that I didn’t expect
  • The moment I realized I’m not the bottleneck in my business anymore
  • How we’re building for scale and what this event exposed in our systems
  • The underrated real value of masterminds and community

If you’re serious about growing a firm that doesn’t rely on you 24/7 this one’s worth the listen.


Send us a text

This episode is brought to you by Universal Accounting - the gold standard for accounting professionals who actually want to grow firms, not just do books.

Whether you're solo, scaling, or somewhere in between, their certification programs in bookkeeping, tax, and advisory give you the tools, confidence, and credibility to serve clients at a higher level and build a real business.
Get trained. Get certified. Get growing → universalaccounting.com

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This was, hands down, one of the best experiences I
feel like I've had in myprofessional life.
I want to compile all mythoughts over what just happened
the last couple of days.
We sponsored the event lastyear.
This was our second year comingback and sponsoring and it was
incredible.
We'll get into some of thedetails.

(00:25):
Some highlight highlights torhyme off at the top.
I mean sponsoring for thesecond time a little bit more
brand awareness recognitionamazing seeing some attendees
who were there last year.
Always awesome to see the teamat universal accounting.
And again, massive shout out toroger and Christy and everyone
at Universal Accounting.
You guys run an amazing eventand thank you so much for

(00:48):
sponsoring this episode.
For anyone who is listening,please make sure you go check
out universalaccountingcom.
They're amazing what they do.
They help you work and buildyour firm into the firm that you
want and get out of theday-to-day operation.
So make sure to check them out.
Some other highlights being ableto speak on stage for the first

(01:10):
time.
So again, can't thank Roger andthe team enough for giving me
that opportunity to do that.
Being able to hand out my newbook, book solid, to all the
attendees Pretty surreal momenthaving a lot of attendees come
up and ask for the book to besigned, ask for pictures.
Nothing I ever imagined whenwriting that book a couple

(01:34):
months ago and having itpublished.
Getting to meet my team member,blue, who I've been working
with for almost two years nowover Zoom and phone calls,
getting to meet in person andspend the last four or five days
together walking around provo,going on some hikes, attending
the event, having meals.

(01:55):
It's been absolutely incrediblemeeting so many different
sponsors, uh, meeting so manydifferent attendees and real,
genuine connections.
I feel like I'm really leavingthis event with a lot of great
friends.
So overall, this was just sucha cool experience.
I do want to speak a little bitabout sponsoring the event and

(02:21):
sort of what that means for thebusiness.
We did it last year first timeand it's obviously a big
investment.
It's scary for a smallerbusiness, but coming back and
doing that for the second timeand having people walk up and
say, hey, I've seen your ads orI've seen your stuff everywhere,
I really like what you're doing.
It's very humbling and veryaffirming reaffirming to know

(02:43):
that we're on the right trackand what we're doing is making a
difference.
There's a lot of people comingup and mentioned hey, you know
I've been, I've been followingyour newsletter, I've been
following some of the strategiesyou use and I really appreciate
it.
Um, so that's great and it'sawesome to hear other people's
wins and that we're making animpact, even if they're not a
direct client of ours.
So that's that was just so coolto hear.

(03:05):
Having the chance to go up onstage.
I can't tell you how nervous Iwas the day.
Uh, christy and the team gotback and said that I've been
accepted to speak.
I knew it was a step in thedirection that I needed to take.
I want to get on more stages.
I want to put myself out therea little bit more.
Step into the.

(03:25):
The uncomfortable um I was.
I'm lying.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn'tsweating and nervous before
walking up on stage after lunch.
Um, I was backstage gettingmiked up and they were getting
ready to make my introductionand and, yeah, my heart was
pounding a bit.
There was no turning back atthis moment and it was just a

(03:47):
chance to go out and deliver areally powerful message and
shout out to some friends andmentors who really helped me get
in the right mindset of thisisn't about me and that's where
the nerves are coming from.
It's about the attendees andhaving a chance to leave a
really impactful and valuablemessage.

(04:08):
So that's what I tried tochannel.
I feel like the message cameacross pretty well.
It was well received.
I got a lot of feedback afterwhich I was shocked about which
I was shocked about.
I thought I did all right, butit was really cool and, again,
really humbling to have a lot ofpeople come up and say thanks

(04:32):
so much for what you delivered.
I wasn't aware of this or Iwasn't doing all of these things
, so I hope I was able topositively impact a lot of
businesses and they can go andbetter their clients' businesses
and that ripple effect.
So that was the goal.
I think it came across.
It was an amazing experienceAgain, we'll have the episode

(04:55):
post or the presentation postedhere on our social channels
shortly but being able to dothat, being able to give a copy
to all the attendees in theaudience of my new book, having
everyone hold that up and comeup afterwards and say how
excited they are to read it andhow some of them were already

(05:16):
starting to read it while wewere at the event over the
couple days coming back up tothe booth, so it was just a very
, very fulfilling event.
I'm so proud of our team.
I'm so proud of Blue forkilling it at the booth and
having so many genuineconversations with everyone.
I'm really looking forward tonurturing those connections and

(05:39):
seeing where they go andhopefully impacting and helping
out more and more in theaccounting space.
I really have a passion forthis industry and I want to see
everyone succeed, so if there'sanything I can do to help anyone
out who's listening to this,please don't hesitate to reach
out.
I want to make sure everyone'srowing in the right direction
and even if it's just thatsubtle tweak that makes a

(06:00):
massive difference in theirbusiness, I'd love to be a part
of that and help out, so don'thesitate to reach out.
Another win that really standsout to me is how well my team
handled myself and Blue beingout of the office for the better
part of this last week.
We also brought on two newhires, one started a week ago

(06:24):
and one starting on Monday.
We had a team member out onvacation, working relatively
part-time, so not the most idealtiming in regards to a lot of
people being out new peoplestarting, but the team
absolutely crushed it.
Anna, thank you so much forholding down the fort.

(06:45):
You're amazing, you're anabsolute rock star.
It's really cool to.
There was a lot of conversationsat the event.
Kim Fader spoke about systemsand how to scale and how she was
able to step away for the weekand she has team members on
vacation, but she has thesystems in place to rely on on

(07:05):
that for her business vacation,but she has the systems in place
to rely on on that for herbusiness.
And that was very eyeopeningfor myself and blue knowing all
right, cool.
Well, we're, things are running.
Yeah, there's probably someareas where we can improve, but
that's what it's all about andit's being able to step away, to
have those bottlenecks andthose areas of weakness
highlighted and now we can fixthem.

(07:26):
And if we wouldn't have comehere and we wouldn't have been
away for the time we were, itwould have taken us a lot longer
to identify where those gapsare.
So to me, that's a massive win.
I think any time we canidentify a weakness or where a
potential gap is that's amassive win.
That's not a loss in my eyes.
So again, shout out to to annaand the team for for holding

(07:49):
that down indy, audrey, tarim,um all the sponsors that were
there making making so manydifferent connections.
There's so many amazing servicesin the industry that are there
to help accounting firms andbookkeepers and tax preparers.
So when you see these vendorsand you see these posts coming

(08:12):
from GrowCon or other eventsyou're attending, make sure
you're going and speaking to theother vendors.
They're there to help.
They're there because they havea valuable service.
I know for a fact Roger and theteam at Universal Accounting.
They're not just picking anyonewho applies to go to their
event.
They're making sure they'revetting their, their sponsors,
so there's actual value beingprovided.

(08:33):
So make sure you're checking,checking those out when you are
attending events.
And for anyone listening to this, who who didn't attend grow con
, I highly recommend you attendnext year.
It's going to be in salt lakecity.
It's going to be anotheramazing event.
I'd love to see you there.
So make sure to check that out.
If you're looking for moreinformation, just send me a
message.
Happy to get you connected, getyou the links you need.

(08:56):
Shout out to Rami at PeopleProcesses Amazing guy, what
they're doing over there isabsolutely incredible.
I'm so excited to have him comeon the podcast doing over there
is absolutely incredible.
I'm so excited to have have himcome on the podcast.
We had some amazingconversations over the last
couple days, shared some reallycool ideas.
So, yeah, I just want to sayshout out rami really appreciate
that.
What else?

(09:18):
A little little bit of ramblingon now.
It just overall, this was sucha cool, cool experience and I'm
so humbled to have been a partof it.
And again, just all the amazingconnections that I felt I was
able to make and definitely somefriendships.
I know that we'll carry on,even outside of business, which

(09:39):
I think is the most importantpiece.
The gala on the first nighthaving amazing food, being able
to sit down and interact withother sponsors and speakers and
attendees um, the universalstaff.
That that, to me, is what it'sall about that networking, just

(09:59):
learning about others and andtheir business and their
personal lives.
They had an amazing comediancome in cave on flew in from
vegas.
He absolutely crushed it, forfor the hour he was on stage his
jokes were incredible.
Um, yeah, that was.
That was a lot of fun, uh.
Then the second night having avip casino night.
So vip for for all the vipattendees sponsors, speakers

(10:24):
being able to play some tablegames poker, blackjack, roulette
, craps Such a fun evening.
And then, obviously, just beingin Utah, I was blown away by how
beautiful this state is.
I've heard it's incredible.
I've never been here before.
And from the second flying overthe mountains when the plane

(10:44):
started to descend, until nowrecording this podcast, looking
out of my Airbnb on the ninthfloor at these mountains in Salt
Lake City, it's insane.
It's one of the most beautifulplaces in the world I've been.
It does remind me a little bitof New Zealand with the
mountains, but it's so cool hereHaving the opportunity to go on

(11:06):
a hike in Provo with Blue forreally for some team bonding.
I mean, we haven't.
We've been working together onover Zoom in a box for the last
two years, so being in personout in outdoors in the nature,
hiking to a waterfall, gettingsome pictures and just being
able to bond and learn moreabout each other on a personal

(11:27):
level was so cool.
So yeah, I just so.
I feel so fulfilled and sograteful and so happy with how
everything turned out.
This to me is a really bigmilestone personally and
professionally is a really bigmilestone.
Personally and professionally.
The thought of public speakinghas always petrified me.

(11:50):
I was so nervous a couple ofyears ago when one of my best
friends asked me to be the bestman at his wedding.
So that was kind of first firstexperience in my adult life
public speaking after absolutelybotching uh, being an MC at a
friend's wedding before that, sohad had a little bit of nerves

(12:11):
doing that.
And then now, obviously,speaking at an event with a
hundred plus attendees in theroom other professionals in your
industry.
It was quite daunting, but I'mtrying to trying to remember
this feeling for when that nextopportunity arises, to take
advantage of it, because I'm soexcited about the feedback, how

(12:35):
it was received, and I want tomake sure I can share that with
as many people in the industryas possible.
So, yeah, this was huge.
Yeah, this was huge.
If you guys are getting valuefrom these episodes.
I do have a selfish ask.
I would love for you to rateand review the show on whatever
platform you're listening to iton Spotify, apple Music, youtube

(12:57):
, whatever it is.
Leave a comment, leave a review.
Let me know your thoughts.
If there's certain topics thatyou want to hear, if there's
certain guests that you want tohave on the show, I would love
to make this as interactive aspossible.
I'm here to help the accountingindustry grow, be better, make
more money, grow a business thatthey want to be growing.
That's my goal here.

(13:19):
So thank you so much for takingthe time to listen to me ramble
on about my experience here atGrowCon 2025, my experience in
Utah.
I'll definitely be back.
I can't wait to attend nextyear.
See all the attendees, see allthe sponsors again and, of
course, the team at UniversalAccounting.
Again, massive shout out to youguys.

(13:41):
Roger, christy, leslie, robert,connor You're all amazing.
Thank you so much foreverything you do for my
business, connor.
You're all amazing.
Thank you so much foreverything you do for my
business, for having us in thecommunity and we'll speak to you
in the next one.
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.

(14:02):
First, make sure to subscribeto this podcast so you don't
miss any future episodes.
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 toaccountingleadsnowcom or click
the link in the show notes tobook your strategy.

(14:23):
Call it's time to positionyourself as the advisor your
clients need.
And don't forget you canconnect with me on LinkedIn to
stay up to date on what'shappening in the world of
accounting and financial growth.
We've got more exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
Until then, keep pushingforward.
Your growth is just onestrategic move away.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets
behind success.
We hope today's episodeprovided valuable strategies to
help you attract morehigh-paying 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

(15:07):
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
business's potential.
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