September 25, 2025 • 25 mins
She sold her firm for 7 figures with just 56 clients. Here's how she did it.
Jackie Meyer, CPA, founder of TaxPlanIQ and leader of the proactive accounting movement, is done watching firms burn out and undercharge.
In this episode, she breaks down:
• The ROI method that turns tax advice into a 5-figure service
• How to quote tax planning with confidence (even if you hate sales)
• What’s killing firms from the inside and how she rebuilt hers
• Why advisory isn’t just a service, it’s your survival strategy
📚 First sneak peek at her new book The Balanced Millionaire: Advisor Edition
📍 Connect with Jackie at jackiecpa.com
🔗 Free workbook: TaxPlanIQ.com
⏳ If you’re still stuck in compliance mode, this episode is your wake-up call.
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
Terms and conditions apply.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Most accountants are trained to stay in their lane,
do all the work, keep clientshappy, survive tax season and
hope it all pays off in the longrun.
But what if you could flip thescript and turn your firm into a
strategic growth engine insteadof a compliance treadmill?
Today's guest, dr Jackie Meyer,did exactly that.
She's a CPA, a coach and thefounder of taxplaniqcom, a tax
(00:22):
planning platform and frameworkthat helps accountants scale
with higher fees, deeper clientimpacts and less burnout.
In this episode, she shares thecore shifts that separate
proactive firms from reactiveones, how to reposition yourself
as a true advisor, and why thefuture of accounting has nothing
to do with working more hours.
If you're ready to stopundercharging, stop over
(00:44):
delivering and finally step intoa model that respects your time
and expertise, thisconversation is for you, jackie.
Thank you so much for joiningthe show.
I'm so excited to have you ontoday.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, I'm really excited as well.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Let's dive right into it.
What led you to move beyondtraditional tax work and build
something like tax plan IQ?
Was there a moment that pushedyou to think differently about
accounting?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, the logical accountant in me was like wait a
minute.
Saas companies get valued eighttimes ARR versus CPA firms get
like one times ARR.
No, but from like thephilosophical shift.
I had my own CPA firm for 12years.
I transitioned and was verysuccessful into doing tax
(01:33):
advisory services and I startedtalking, coaching other
accountants about it, and I fellin love with helping other
accountants get better whatthey're doing instead of working
directly with taxpayers, and sothat's what TaxPlan IQ was all
about.
It's a culmination ofeverything that we've learned to
help other accountants andfinancial advisors sell tax
(01:54):
plans, get proposals out,implement.
We've got tons of taxstrategies.
We're really just like anall-in-one resource for people.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
It's amazing what's broken in how most accountants
offer tax planning today and whyis it that hurting?
You know, why is it hurtingboth them and their clients.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, most of the time they're giving it away for
free or significantly discounted, so at like an hourly rate, and
honestly, that is the worstidea ever.
I'd almost rather say don't doit at all than just let me be
straight with y'all.
Don't you know?
Vomit advice on your clientafter you hand them their tax
(02:35):
return, tell them all these coolideas you have, charge them 300
bucks or something or nothing,and then nothing gets done.
And so that doesn't help you,that doesn't help the client.
You have to value price upfrontand the return on investment
you can show in tax savingsalone is tremendous and by
making that one shift ittransforms your client's life.
(02:58):
With the tax savings ittransforms the firm's life, your
staff, yourself as the owner.
It just is so win, win, win.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Would you argue that selling tax plans may be one of
the easier things out there tosell and I'm asking this as
someone who's not a CPA butworking in the industry like the
thought of selling saved money.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Oh for sure, yeah.
So I mean I would love to hearyour perspectives because you do
sales for firms, but to me it'sthe easiest thing to sell
because it sells itself.
I invented what's called theROI method of value pricing, and
it literally just visualizesout for the client your estimate
of savings for them, what yourcost is or their investment in
(03:46):
you, and then what the immediateROI and then long term ROI is
in that and it people are likewhy wouldn't I do this?
You know, but you're stillpricing three, five, sometimes
20 times more than what youwould have charged before.
But the client's happy becausethey get results and they get
that trusted advisor they reallywant.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
And it's an amazing foot in the door opportunity as
well.
Let me come in and save you apile of money.
And then, now that I'm in there, now if you're offering you
know fractional CFO work, you'reoffering more advisory services
.
You've already got a massivewin, which they could also use
all that savings to justreinvest back into you.
When I see other firms gostraight for the CFO advisor,
(04:28):
I'm like you're skipping over amuch easier like entry.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And I just hanging fruit.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I just want to like shake their head, but you know,
naturally humans make thingsmore difficult than needs to be.
So what can you do?
We've got people like you whojump on stage and tell everyone
this is how it's supposed to bedone.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, but it still isn't moving as quickly as I
want it to.
It's not transforming asquickly.
It's like I'm a CPA just likey'all and this stuff works Like
it's no BS.
The AICPA is actuallymass-releasing that methodology,
so there's really no excuse asto why people can say, oh, I
can't do that.
I give out a free workbook onmy website, happy to give you
(05:16):
the link to that for people totry out the method themselves.
You know we're we really.
My mission is just to impact asmany people through
entrepreneurs and advisors aspossible through strategic
planning.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
That's amazing.
Yeah, we'll definitely take youup on the link.
Put that in the show notes.
Everyone can take advantage ofthat.
Jackie, you've helped countlessfirms raise prices, niche down,
reposition themselves.
What mindset shift usuallyneeds to happen first, with
those students that you'vecoached, those clients that
you've coached.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
So I wish it was as easy as like oh, I show them
what they can do, and they'relike, oh, I got this.
But, honestly, like there's anentire belief system that has to
change within someone as towhether they're worth that value
or not, and so that goes somuch deeper than running a
business or doing a sales callor whatever.
(06:08):
And so, you know, the firstmindset shift is this is
extremely valuable work, you areextremely valuable, and
underpricing is not going tohelp anybody.
This is the highest demandservice out there, the highest
net profit margin out there, andso you know, as much as I like
to be logical and be like here'sthe results, let's move to it,
(06:31):
you do have to go a littledeeper with their belief systems
as well.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
That's so interesting .
I mean the thing that comes tomind for me like anything
expensive, there's just aperceived higher value.
You think about going out andbuying a lambo.
You're not going to expect youget in a lambo and it's going to
be clunky and fall apart likeyou're expecting premium, and
that's just what is naturallyassociated with more premium
(06:58):
pricing.
So for anyone listening yeah,just like increase your price be
perceived as premium and itjust goes hand in hand.
So it I mean that idea itselfshould sell itself.
Just like increase your pricebe perceived as premium, and it
just goes hand in hand.
So I mean that idea itselfshould sell itself, just like
the tax plan.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
So Tax Plan IQ, it's not just a software, it's a
whole methodology.
What's the core frameworkbehind it and how does it help
firms scale smarter?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, I mean the ROI method is behind everything we
do there, so we put togethercustom presentations and
proposals for the users so thatthey don't have to be the
salesperson, because accountantshate doing that.
Right, we also actually will doall of the tax strategy
suggestion work for you.
(07:43):
So if you're busy which most ofus are 99% of accounts are
extremely darn busy you uploadthe client's 1040 PDF and we
suggest over 50 tax strategiesjust like that exact estimates,
and we have this list of like.
You can upload a hundredreturns in bulk and I'll list
out.
Hey, you know, this client has80,000 of potential savings.
(08:06):
This client has 60,000.
It's just like it's mindblowing, amazing what you can do
these days with AI andtechnology, and it's been a lot
of fun to be involved in that.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
That's awesome, it's.
Yeah, I mean to just have thatin bulk show where, where all
the savings are.
That would get me fired up togo back and tell everyone, hey,
this is exactly how we couldsave it.
And boom, here's the price andyou'd be insane not to say yes
to this.
Here's the math.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
You've said you're building a movement of proactive
accountants.
What does that mean in practiceand how is it different from
the status quo?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Well, the status quo is very reactive.
We get stuck in this compliancemindset where we're just
cranking out returns and then wefeel like everything's out of
our control because thegovernment's telling us this or
they're changing the new taxcode to this.
But in reality you can actuallycontrol a lot more than you
(09:05):
think with those things you can.
You know, I'm a huge advocateof time blocking time block for
those fires, time block for newtax code changes, time block for
the IRS being you know what youknow.
Put an hour a week towardsnonsense and then you know you
can stay ahead of the curve.
But then that puts you more inthat proactive mindset instead
(09:28):
of the reactive, becausereactive is I mean.
I don't have to say it, this isprobably the five billionth
time anyone listening has heardthis but I mean AI is going to
take over more and morecompliance.
It just is what it is and it'sbetter for everybody because
it's more accurate that way.
And so we have to shine wherewe can shine best, which is that
(09:49):
human, relational and advisoryside.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
That's amazing.
Where do most firm owners getstuck when trying to shift from
compliance to advisory?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah, I think they're already quite burnt out if they
have a current client load andthey're trying to move over.
So, honestly, some of the mostsuccessful people I've seen do
tax advisory started fromscratch.
Or they sold their client listand started over, or they just
(10:18):
fired a bunch of clients tostart over.
Because it's really hard to getout of that grind if you've
already kind of trained yourclients in a different manner.
It is totally possible.
But again, you have to havethat confidence and support to
know that, like, you're going tobe OK, you can let go of these
clients.
One new tax advisory client isgoing to treat you so much
(10:41):
better than 20 others.
Tax advisory client is going totreat you so much better than
20 others and it's going to giveyou the same amount of revenue,
right?
And so I try to like break itdown into micro steps.
Like just pick one client, oneclient who's a fan of yours,
that you can take that return,get those strategies and be like
hey look, I'm going to bestraight with you.
I haven't offered tax advisoryservices in the past.
(11:02):
I've just kind of given awayfree advice.
That's not best for either ofus.
I'd like to quote you on anROI-based proposal and show you
a tax savings estimate.
Would you like to do that?
And the clients were like well,of course, you know, I thought
we were, that's what I thoughtwe were doing this whole time.
And then you show it to them.
They're like great, let's do it.
(11:26):
And if they complain about thefact that they didn't pay you
for this before, you can justcircle back to the fact that
they didn't get any resultsbefore.
So you know, if you wantresults, you have to pay.
You know you get what you payfor, right.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Absolutely so.
You were speaking a little bitabout the you know that mindset
shift as well of getting paidwhat you're worth blocking out
time, finding it.
A lot of people are always like, well, I don't have, I don't
even have time to block out timeto do the things.
What would your advice be tothose listening who are like,
yeah, I know I need to timeblock and I know I need to do X,
(11:57):
y, z, but I just don't evenhave time to do that.
How do you overcome that hurdleto make time, to have the time?
How?
Speaker 2 (12:04):
do you overcome that hurdle to make time to have the
time.
So packaging and sellingclients or firing clients gets
you a lot of time back, sothat's one way to go.
Another thing is, like I tendto say, which is what same thing
I did.
You know, you just got toincrease the hustle for like one
more month, right, put in threeextra hours each week over the
(12:26):
next month.
That's targeted, focused onthis concept and selling one tax
plan, right.
And then when you see theresults happen to you, you'll be
like, oh wow, this is amazing.
Let's rinse and repeat this.
And then you just kind ofnaturally start letting go of
(12:47):
the low value work and thenyou're bringing in the higher
value work and then your timefrees up along with it.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Before we get to a book that I want to talk about.
Is there any books you'drecommend that help with that
mindset of finding time and likewhere to buy back time?
Any recommendations?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Oh for sure, well there's Buy Back your Time by
Dan Martell.
That's a great one.
There's Redeeming your Timewith Jordan Rainer.
That's one of my favorites.
Oh my gosh, I'm such an avidreader.
I love Dr Ben Hardy's stuff.
He has a book calledPersonality Isn't Permanent that
a lot of people don't knowabout, but it helps you realize
(13:32):
like you can change and mold theway that you interact with
people and become a betterversion of you, and that's
required when it comes to thesebig changes in people's lives
and recreating their own firms.
So, gosh, I could list off likefive billion books, but those
are a few that you can startwith.
Boundaries by Dr Henry Cloud isgreat about.
(13:54):
Like whoa.
I've been letting people walkall over me, family included,
and that may be a huge timesucker.
It is for a lot of people.
They're way, way overdoing itwhen it comes to things they
should and shouldn't be doingfor their family members, for
friends, for clients, and it's agreat reset.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
That's amazing.
Now I've kind of self-teedmyself up for this segue.
But speaking of great books, Iwould love to hear about the
Balanced Millionaire Advisoredition that's coming out very
soon by yourself.
Tell me what that's going to beabout.
When is it dropping?
What can readers expect?
Where can people get a copy ofit?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, so this is actually the first interview I'm
doing about the book, so it'sexciting that we get to release
it together to everybody.
But I finished a doctorate inleadership a couple years ago
and my final project wasactually creating what I'm
calling like a happiness auditor sometimes I'll call it the
(14:56):
balance sheet of life, becauseaccountants understand that and
it's just measuring differentaspects of your life and then
optimizing them on a quarterlybasis, which we should all be
doing.
It's just math, y'all, it'ssimple math, and so that book
has been like my end-all, be-allfor any entrepreneur and I'm
(15:18):
working on a traditionalpublishing deal for that next
year publishing deal for thatnext year.
But in the meantime, rickTelberg, who runs CPA Trendlines
and he has an audience of halfa million accountants he saw
kind of the spark in me andreally appreciated the passion I
bring to the table and he askedme to create an edition for
advisors.
(15:38):
So I have a very targetededition that will be coming out
in the next couple months withCPA Trendlines, just for any
kind of accountant, tax advisor,financial advisor or want to be
tax advisor If you want tostart revamp, grow and then
eventually sell your firm, whichI did for seven figures with 56
(16:00):
clients.
I give you the exact blueprintof how to do that.
So there's a lot of noise outthere.
I am a no BS-er.
I'm like we're going to getdown to exactly how to do this.
I actually created a custom AIbot that will come along with
the book and it will allow youto interact with it to do the
(16:21):
action items.
So like creating core values,implementing packaging.
It gives you everything youneed to start doing packaging in
your firm.
So it's all those little stepsthat really add up and it's
going to save someone gosh, youknow months and months, if not a
year, worth of work to helpthem move in a better direction.
So I'm really, really excitedabout it.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
This is so cool.
When is this?
When's the official releasedate?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Well, that's a good question.
I just I just asked that myselfyesterday, because they are
doing the final tweaks on theformatting and we're getting the
graphics done, and so I'mhoping it's going to be in
October 2025.
I did start a book waitlist andI'm doing something a little
crazy.
I'm going to be sending outchapters of the book for free to
(17:08):
anyone on that wait list.
I feel like we need to just getthis out there, and if you
can't afford to buy the bookitself, I'm going to give it to
you anyways.
So I would love to give youthat link, james, and you can
give that out to your audienceand continue to spread the word,
because it's going to be, Ihope, a revolution.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Let's make it happen.
This is super exciting.
Thanks for the generosity.
Again.
More resources, jackie, for anaccountant who knows they're
undercharging or stuck in taxseason burnout.
What's the first move you'drecommend they make today,
listening to this episode.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Okay.
So, going back to thephilosophy of you get what you
pay for, I myself was stuck inburnout.
I had awful health conditions.
I was wanting to just quit.
I didn't know if I could evencontinue in my own firm and the
one thing that helped me resetthat was hiring a business coach
, and it was the biggestinvestment of my life at the
(18:06):
time.
So you know, 2015 or so, it waslike eight grand and I was like
I've never paid that much in mylife for anything like this.
I talked to my husband about it.
He's like no way of desperationwhere I had to change something
(18:31):
to get better, and hiring thatbusiness coach just helped hold
me, hold my hand, hold meaccountable and encourage me to
know that, like, I'm making allthe steps in the right direction
and it's what really helpedtransform my entire firm, be
able to help other accountantsand go from there.
So long winded answer to sayhire a coach or consultant and
(18:52):
invest in that.
I don't care who it is, there'sa lot of great ones out there.
They're flooding the market,get referrals, of course, and
recommendations, but that'sgoing to have someone that's
going to hold you accountable togetting things done and figure
out that timeline with you sothat it's not so overwhelming.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
That's amazing.
I I a hundred percent agreewith everything you just said.
When I started this almost sixyears ago, I put down I think it
was like almost four grand, andI live in Canada, so four grand
us was very scary numberdollars, not great, um, and at
the time I was just let go froma job and I was like this is
insane.
(19:30):
I'm just paying a stranger wholives in Florida and I think his
sales rep on the phone was fromSouth Africa and I was like
what am I doing?
I'm pretty much giving away allof my money.
But from there I've justcontinued to grow and invest in
other coaches and I canguarantee I would not be where
I'm at today without taking thatleap.
And you get to follow in thepath of other people who've done
(19:51):
it.
You can avoid the ditches theywent through.
So, hearing you say that aswell, I couldn't back that more
that everyone should be doingthat full circle.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
So I got along so great and had so much success
with my business coach, who wasChuck Bauer.
He's now retired, but he askedme to start coaching with him
and so we did these mastermindsfor hundreds of accountants over
a few years.
And, like everything that Ilearned and taught to people in
that group which was eight grandor so for small group sessions
that people paid for I put intothis book the advisory edition
(20:30):
of the book, and so it'sliterally like jam packed full
of tens of thousands of dollars.
And I'm just, you know, I wantpeople to succeed.
I don't want to have any reasonwhy people can't have a perfect
tax advisory firm.
So it's all in there.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
That's amazing.
I can't wait to get a copy andread it.
Jackie, outside of publishingbooks, speaking on stages,
building software, AI bots,doing it all for the accounting
industry, what do you like to dooutside of quote unquote work?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I love spending time with my family.
I love my animals.
I have three dogs, two cats,and I love traveling.
So we're actually building ahome in Costa Rica.
I've been there about a dozentimes and it's my favorite place
on earth the Pura Vidalifestyle.
I am so in on that and so, yeah, that's what I do.
(21:24):
My kids are very active.
They are just starting sixthand third grade, they're in
select soccer, they're in elitebaseball you know all the things
.
So my personal time is absorbedall around them right now, but
I'm okay with that becausethey're turning into some pretty
cool little human beings.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
So that's amazing.
That's amazing.
And last question for youwhat's the best piece of advice
you've ever received?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Oh, I just started re-listening to what's it called
the Shoe Dog book by thefounder of Nike, and it made me
remember that one phrase just doit.
That literally has gotten me sofar in life.
When I start overthinkingsomething in my mind, I'm like
(22:13):
just do it.
Just do it, stop overthinkingand just do it.
And by taking those smallactions, even though they're
scary, it produces the mostamazing long-term results.
So just do it.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
I love it.
What a, what a great way to tiea bow on this episode.
Um, I okay Not, I guess, thelast question, but that was the
last like real, real meaty one.
But where can people get intouch with you, jackie?
I'm sure everyone already knowswho you are anyways, but where
can we make sure people arecontinuing the conversation with
you?
How can they?
How can they reach you?
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Well, that's very sweet of you, but, um, I am very
active on LinkedIn.
On YouTube, I have theconcierge CPA channel and my
podcast there.
I'll be doing a special podcastseries all around the advisor
edition of the book as well.
I can't wait to start releasingthat very soon.
And then my general websiteit's just Jackiecpa, so you can
visit me there.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Amazing.
We'll make sure all the linksare in there.
We'll grab the other resourcesyou were speaking about.
Jackie, I can't thank youenough for coming on the show.
I'm so excited that we were thefirst spot.
You were releasing the news foryour new book.
Yeah, I'll make sure we get acopy of that.
And yeah, for anyone listening,make sure you get in touch with
Jackie.
Make sure you get a copy of herbook.
She's absolutely amazing.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Thanks for tuning into this episode of CFO
Chronicles the secrets behindsuccess.
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(23:53):
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(24:15):
Until then, keep pushingforward.
Your growth is just onestrategic move away.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Thanks for listening to CFO Chronicles the secrets
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We hope today's episodeprovided valuable strategies to
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Be sure to subscribe, followand share with fellow
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(24:45):
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
business's potential.
Most accountants are trained to stay in their lane,
do all the work, keep clientshappy, survive tax season and
hope it all pays off in the longrun.
But what if you could flip thescript and turn your firm into a
strategic growth engine insteadof a compliance treadmill?
Today's guest, dr Jackie Meyer,did exactly that.
She's a CPA, a coach and thefounder of taxplaniqcom, a tax
(00:22):
planning platform and frameworkthat helps accountants scale
with higher fees, deeper clientimpacts and less burnout.
In this episode, she shares thecore shifts that separate
proactive firms from reactiveones, how to reposition yourself
as a true advisor, and why thefuture of accounting has nothing
to do with working more hours.
If you're ready to stopundercharging, stop over
(00:44):
delivering and finally step intoa model that respects your time
and expertise, thisconversation is for you, jackie.
Thank you so much for joiningthe show.
I'm so excited to have you ontoday.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, I'm really excited as well.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Let's dive right into it.
What led you to move beyondtraditional tax work and build
something like tax plan IQ?
Was there a moment that pushedyou to think differently about
accounting?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, the logical accountant in me was like wait a
minute.
Saas companies get valued eighttimes ARR versus CPA firms get
like one times ARR.
No, but from like thephilosophical shift.
I had my own CPA firm for 12years.
I transitioned and was verysuccessful into doing tax
(01:33):
advisory services and I startedtalking, coaching other
accountants about it, and I fellin love with helping other
accountants get better whatthey're doing instead of working
directly with taxpayers, and sothat's what TaxPlan IQ was all
about.
It's a culmination ofeverything that we've learned to
help other accountants andfinancial advisors sell tax
(01:54):
plans, get proposals out,implement.
We've got tons of taxstrategies.
We're really just like anall-in-one resource for people.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
It's amazing what's broken in how most accountants
offer tax planning today and whyis it that hurting?
You know, why is it hurtingboth them and their clients.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Well, most of the time they're giving it away for
free or significantly discounted, so at like an hourly rate, and
honestly, that is the worstidea ever.
I'd almost rather say don't doit at all than just let me be
straight with y'all.
Don't you know?
Vomit advice on your clientafter you hand them their tax
(02:35):
return, tell them all these coolideas you have, charge them 300
bucks or something or nothing,and then nothing gets done.
And so that doesn't help you,that doesn't help the client.
You have to value price upfrontand the return on investment
you can show in tax savingsalone is tremendous and by
making that one shift ittransforms your client's life.
(02:58):
With the tax savings ittransforms the firm's life, your
staff, yourself as the owner.
It just is so win, win, win.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Would you argue that selling tax plans may be one of
the easier things out there tosell and I'm asking this as
someone who's not a CPA butworking in the industry like the
thought of selling saved money.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Oh for sure, yeah.
So I mean I would love to hearyour perspectives because you do
sales for firms, but to me it'sthe easiest thing to sell
because it sells itself.
I invented what's called theROI method of value pricing, and
it literally just visualizesout for the client your estimate
of savings for them, what yourcost is or their investment in
(03:46):
you, and then what the immediateROI and then long term ROI is
in that and it people are likewhy wouldn't I do this?
You know, but you're stillpricing three, five, sometimes
20 times more than what youwould have charged before.
But the client's happy becausethey get results and they get
that trusted advisor they reallywant.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
And it's an amazing foot in the door opportunity as
well.
Let me come in and save you apile of money.
And then, now that I'm in there, now if you're offering you
know fractional CFO work, you'reoffering more advisory services
.
You've already got a massivewin, which they could also use
all that savings to justreinvest back into you.
When I see other firms gostraight for the CFO advisor,
(04:28):
I'm like you're skipping over amuch easier like entry.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And I just hanging fruit.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
I just want to like shake their head, but you know,
naturally humans make thingsmore difficult than needs to be.
So what can you do?
We've got people like you whojump on stage and tell everyone
this is how it's supposed to bedone.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Yeah, but it still isn't moving as quickly as I
want it to.
It's not transforming asquickly.
It's like I'm a CPA just likey'all and this stuff works Like
it's no BS.
The AICPA is actuallymass-releasing that methodology,
so there's really no excuse asto why people can say, oh, I
can't do that.
I give out a free workbook onmy website, happy to give you
(05:16):
the link to that for people totry out the method themselves.
You know we're we really.
My mission is just to impact asmany people through
entrepreneurs and advisors aspossible through strategic
planning.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
That's amazing.
Yeah, we'll definitely take youup on the link.
Put that in the show notes.
Everyone can take advantage ofthat.
Jackie, you've helped countlessfirms raise prices, niche down,
reposition themselves.
What mindset shift usuallyneeds to happen first, with
those students that you'vecoached, those clients that
you've coached.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
So I wish it was as easy as like oh, I show them
what they can do, and they'relike, oh, I got this.
But, honestly, like there's anentire belief system that has to
change within someone as towhether they're worth that value
or not, and so that goes somuch deeper than running a
business or doing a sales callor whatever.
(06:08):
And so, you know, the firstmindset shift is this is
extremely valuable work, you areextremely valuable, and
underpricing is not going tohelp anybody.
This is the highest demandservice out there, the highest
net profit margin out there, andso you know, as much as I like
to be logical and be like here'sthe results, let's move to it,
(06:31):
you do have to go a littledeeper with their belief systems
as well.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
That's so interesting .
I mean the thing that comes tomind for me like anything
expensive, there's just aperceived higher value.
You think about going out andbuying a lambo.
You're not going to expect youget in a lambo and it's going to
be clunky and fall apart likeyou're expecting premium, and
that's just what is naturallyassociated with more premium
(06:58):
pricing.
So for anyone listening yeah,just like increase your price be
perceived as premium and itjust goes hand in hand.
So it I mean that idea itselfshould sell itself.
Just like increase your pricebe perceived as premium, and it
just goes hand in hand.
So I mean that idea itselfshould sell itself, just like
the tax plan.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
So Tax Plan IQ, it's not just a software, it's a
whole methodology.
What's the core frameworkbehind it and how does it help
firms scale smarter?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, I mean the ROI method is behind everything we
do there, so we put togethercustom presentations and
proposals for the users so thatthey don't have to be the
salesperson, because accountantshate doing that.
Right, we also actually will doall of the tax strategy
suggestion work for you.
(07:43):
So if you're busy which most ofus are 99% of accounts are
extremely darn busy you uploadthe client's 1040 PDF and we
suggest over 50 tax strategiesjust like that exact estimates,
and we have this list of like.
You can upload a hundredreturns in bulk and I'll list
out.
Hey, you know, this client has80,000 of potential savings.
(08:06):
This client has 60,000.
It's just like it's mindblowing, amazing what you can do
these days with AI andtechnology, and it's been a lot
of fun to be involved in that.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
That's awesome, it's.
Yeah, I mean to just have thatin bulk show where, where all
the savings are.
That would get me fired up togo back and tell everyone, hey,
this is exactly how we couldsave it.
And boom, here's the price andyou'd be insane not to say yes
to this.
Here's the math.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
For sure.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
You've said you're building a movement of proactive
accountants.
What does that mean in practiceand how is it different from
the status quo?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Well, the status quo is very reactive.
We get stuck in this compliancemindset where we're just
cranking out returns and then wefeel like everything's out of
our control because thegovernment's telling us this or
they're changing the new taxcode to this.
But in reality you can actuallycontrol a lot more than you
(09:05):
think with those things you can.
You know, I'm a huge advocateof time blocking time block for
those fires, time block for newtax code changes, time block for
the IRS being you know what youknow.
Put an hour a week towardsnonsense and then you know you
can stay ahead of the curve.
But then that puts you more inthat proactive mindset instead
(09:28):
of the reactive, becausereactive is I mean.
I don't have to say it, this isprobably the five billionth
time anyone listening has heardthis but I mean AI is going to
take over more and morecompliance.
It just is what it is and it'sbetter for everybody because
it's more accurate that way.
And so we have to shine wherewe can shine best, which is that
(09:49):
human, relational and advisoryside.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
That's amazing.
Where do most firm owners getstuck when trying to shift from
compliance to advisory?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah, I think they're already quite burnt out if they
have a current client load andthey're trying to move over.
So, honestly, some of the mostsuccessful people I've seen do
tax advisory started fromscratch.
Or they sold their client listand started over, or they just
(10:18):
fired a bunch of clients tostart over.
Because it's really hard to getout of that grind if you've
already kind of trained yourclients in a different manner.
It is totally possible.
But again, you have to havethat confidence and support to
know that, like, you're going tobe OK, you can let go of these
clients.
One new tax advisory client isgoing to treat you so much
(10:41):
better than 20 others.
Tax advisory client is going totreat you so much better than
20 others and it's going to giveyou the same amount of revenue,
right?
And so I try to like break itdown into micro steps.
Like just pick one client, oneclient who's a fan of yours,
that you can take that return,get those strategies and be like
hey look, I'm going to bestraight with you.
I haven't offered tax advisoryservices in the past.
(11:02):
I've just kind of given awayfree advice.
That's not best for either ofus.
I'd like to quote you on anROI-based proposal and show you
a tax savings estimate.
Would you like to do that?
And the clients were like well,of course, you know, I thought
we were, that's what I thoughtwe were doing this whole time.
And then you show it to them.
They're like great, let's do it.
(11:26):
And if they complain about thefact that they didn't pay you
for this before, you can justcircle back to the fact that
they didn't get any resultsbefore.
So you know, if you wantresults, you have to pay.
You know you get what you payfor, right.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Absolutely so.
You were speaking a little bitabout the you know that mindset
shift as well of getting paidwhat you're worth blocking out
time, finding it.
A lot of people are always like, well, I don't have, I don't
even have time to block out timeto do the things.
What would your advice be tothose listening who are like,
yeah, I know I need to timeblock and I know I need to do X,
(11:57):
y, z, but I just don't evenhave time to do that.
How do you overcome that hurdleto make time, to have the time?
How?
Speaker 2 (12:04):
do you overcome that hurdle to make time to have the
time.
So packaging and sellingclients or firing clients gets
you a lot of time back, sothat's one way to go.
Another thing is, like I tendto say, which is what same thing
I did.
You know, you just got toincrease the hustle for like one
more month, right, put in threeextra hours each week over the
(12:26):
next month.
That's targeted, focused onthis concept and selling one tax
plan, right.
And then when you see theresults happen to you, you'll be
like, oh wow, this is amazing.
Let's rinse and repeat this.
And then you just kind ofnaturally start letting go of
(12:47):
the low value work and thenyou're bringing in the higher
value work and then your timefrees up along with it.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Before we get to a book that I want to talk about.
Is there any books you'drecommend that help with that
mindset of finding time and likewhere to buy back time?
Any recommendations?
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Oh for sure, well there's Buy Back your Time by
Dan Martell.
That's a great one.
There's Redeeming your Timewith Jordan Rainer.
That's one of my favorites.
Oh my gosh, I'm such an avidreader.
I love Dr Ben Hardy's stuff.
He has a book calledPersonality Isn't Permanent that
a lot of people don't knowabout, but it helps you realize
(13:32):
like you can change and mold theway that you interact with
people and become a betterversion of you, and that's
required when it comes to thesebig changes in people's lives
and recreating their own firms.
So, gosh, I could list off likefive billion books, but those
are a few that you can startwith.
Boundaries by Dr Henry Cloud isgreat about.
(13:54):
Like whoa.
I've been letting people walkall over me, family included,
and that may be a huge timesucker.
It is for a lot of people.
They're way, way overdoing itwhen it comes to things they
should and shouldn't be doingfor their family members, for
friends, for clients, and it's agreat reset.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
That's amazing.
Now I've kind of self-teedmyself up for this segue.
But speaking of great books, Iwould love to hear about the
Balanced Millionaire Advisoredition that's coming out very
soon by yourself.
Tell me what that's going to beabout.
When is it dropping?
What can readers expect?
Where can people get a copy ofit?
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, so this is actually the first interview I'm
doing about the book, so it'sexciting that we get to release
it together to everybody.
But I finished a doctorate inleadership a couple years ago
and my final project wasactually creating what I'm
calling like a happiness auditor sometimes I'll call it the
(14:56):
balance sheet of life, becauseaccountants understand that and
it's just measuring differentaspects of your life and then
optimizing them on a quarterlybasis, which we should all be
doing.
It's just math, y'all, it'ssimple math, and so that book
has been like my end-all, be-allfor any entrepreneur and I'm
(15:18):
working on a traditionalpublishing deal for that next
year publishing deal for thatnext year.
But in the meantime, rickTelberg, who runs CPA Trendlines
and he has an audience of halfa million accountants he saw
kind of the spark in me andreally appreciated the passion I
bring to the table and he askedme to create an edition for
advisors.
(15:38):
So I have a very targetededition that will be coming out
in the next couple months withCPA Trendlines, just for any
kind of accountant, tax advisor,financial advisor or want to be
tax advisor If you want tostart revamp, grow and then
eventually sell your firm, whichI did for seven figures with 56
(16:00):
clients.
I give you the exact blueprintof how to do that.
So there's a lot of noise outthere.
I am a no BS-er.
I'm like we're going to getdown to exactly how to do this.
I actually created a custom AIbot that will come along with
the book and it will allow youto interact with it to do the
(16:21):
action items.
So like creating core values,implementing packaging.
It gives you everything youneed to start doing packaging in
your firm.
So it's all those little stepsthat really add up and it's
going to save someone gosh, youknow months and months, if not a
year, worth of work to helpthem move in a better direction.
So I'm really, really excitedabout it.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
This is so cool.
When is this?
When's the official releasedate?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Well, that's a good question.
I just I just asked that myselfyesterday, because they are
doing the final tweaks on theformatting and we're getting the
graphics done, and so I'mhoping it's going to be in
October 2025.
I did start a book waitlist andI'm doing something a little
crazy.
I'm going to be sending outchapters of the book for free to
(17:08):
anyone on that wait list.
I feel like we need to just getthis out there, and if you
can't afford to buy the bookitself, I'm going to give it to
you anyways.
So I would love to give youthat link, james, and you can
give that out to your audienceand continue to spread the word,
because it's going to be, Ihope, a revolution.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Let's make it happen.
This is super exciting.
Thanks for the generosity.
Again.
More resources, jackie, for anaccountant who knows they're
undercharging or stuck in taxseason burnout.
What's the first move you'drecommend they make today,
listening to this episode.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Okay.
So, going back to thephilosophy of you get what you
pay for, I myself was stuck inburnout.
I had awful health conditions.
I was wanting to just quit.
I didn't know if I could evencontinue in my own firm and the
one thing that helped me resetthat was hiring a business coach
, and it was the biggestinvestment of my life at the
(18:06):
time.
So you know, 2015 or so, it waslike eight grand and I was like
I've never paid that much in mylife for anything like this.
I talked to my husband about it.
He's like no way of desperationwhere I had to change something
(18:31):
to get better, and hiring thatbusiness coach just helped hold
me, hold my hand, hold meaccountable and encourage me to
know that, like, I'm making allthe steps in the right direction
and it's what really helpedtransform my entire firm, be
able to help other accountantsand go from there.
So long winded answer to sayhire a coach or consultant and
(18:52):
invest in that.
I don't care who it is, there'sa lot of great ones out there.
They're flooding the market,get referrals, of course, and
recommendations, but that'sgoing to have someone that's
going to hold you accountable togetting things done and figure
out that timeline with you sothat it's not so overwhelming.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
That's amazing.
I I a hundred percent agreewith everything you just said.
When I started this almost sixyears ago, I put down I think it
was like almost four grand, andI live in Canada, so four grand
us was very scary numberdollars, not great, um, and at
the time I was just let go froma job and I was like this is
insane.
(19:30):
I'm just paying a stranger wholives in Florida and I think his
sales rep on the phone was fromSouth Africa and I was like
what am I doing?
I'm pretty much giving away allof my money.
But from there I've justcontinued to grow and invest in
other coaches and I canguarantee I would not be where
I'm at today without taking thatleap.
And you get to follow in thepath of other people who've done
(19:51):
it.
You can avoid the ditches theywent through.
So, hearing you say that aswell, I couldn't back that more
that everyone should be doingthat full circle.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
So I got along so great and had so much success
with my business coach, who wasChuck Bauer.
He's now retired, but he askedme to start coaching with him
and so we did these mastermindsfor hundreds of accountants over
a few years.
And, like everything that Ilearned and taught to people in
that group which was eight grandor so for small group sessions
that people paid for I put intothis book the advisory edition
(20:30):
of the book, and so it'sliterally like jam packed full
of tens of thousands of dollars.
And I'm just, you know, I wantpeople to succeed.
I don't want to have any reasonwhy people can't have a perfect
tax advisory firm.
So it's all in there.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
That's amazing.
I can't wait to get a copy andread it.
Jackie, outside of publishingbooks, speaking on stages,
building software, AI bots,doing it all for the accounting
industry, what do you like to dooutside of quote unquote work?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I love spending time with my family.
I love my animals.
I have three dogs, two cats,and I love traveling.
So we're actually building ahome in Costa Rica.
I've been there about a dozentimes and it's my favorite place
on earth the Pura Vidalifestyle.
I am so in on that and so, yeah, that's what I do.
(21:24):
My kids are very active.
They are just starting sixthand third grade, they're in
select soccer, they're in elitebaseball you know all the things
.
So my personal time is absorbedall around them right now, but
I'm okay with that becausethey're turning into some pretty
cool little human beings.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
So that's amazing.
That's amazing.
And last question for youwhat's the best piece of advice
you've ever received?
Speaker 2 (21:51):
Oh, I just started re-listening to what's it called
the Shoe Dog book by thefounder of Nike, and it made me
remember that one phrase just doit.
That literally has gotten me sofar in life.
When I start overthinkingsomething in my mind, I'm like
(22:13):
just do it.
Just do it, stop overthinkingand just do it.
And by taking those smallactions, even though they're
scary, it produces the mostamazing long-term results.
So just do it.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
I love it.
What a, what a great way to tiea bow on this episode.
Um, I okay Not, I guess, thelast question, but that was the
last like real, real meaty one.
But where can people get intouch with you, jackie?
I'm sure everyone already knowswho you are anyways, but where
can we make sure people arecontinuing the conversation with
you?
How can they?
How can they reach you?
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Well, that's very sweet of you, but, um, I am very
active on LinkedIn.
On YouTube, I have theconcierge CPA channel and my
podcast there.
I'll be doing a special podcastseries all around the advisor
edition of the book as well.
I can't wait to start releasingthat very soon.
And then my general websiteit's just Jackiecpa, so you can
visit me there.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Amazing.
We'll make sure all the linksare in there.
We'll grab the other resourcesyou were speaking about.
Jackie, I can't thank youenough for coming on the show.
I'm so excited that we were thefirst spot.
You were releasing the news foryour new book.
Yeah, I'll make sure we get acopy of that.
And yeah, for anyone listening,make sure you get in touch with
Jackie.
Make sure you get a copy of herbook.
She's absolutely amazing.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Thanks for tuning into this episode of CFO
Chronicles the secrets behindsuccess.
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.
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
(23:53):
and attract the high-endclients you deserve, head over
to accountingleadsnowcom orclick the link in the show notes
to book your strategy.
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 exciting topicscoming up, so stay tuned for the
next episode of CFO Chronicles.
(24:15):
Until then, keep pushingforward.
Your growth is just onestrategic move away.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
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
(24:45):
and marketing.
Until next time, keep strivingfor success and unlocking your
business's potential.
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