January 22, 2025 • 30 mins
Rusty Fulling shares his journey of going from burnout to building a thriving virtual accounting firm. He highlights the importance of intentional leadership, creating a strong team culture, and aligning with ideal clients.
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KC Brothers (00:06):
Welcome to another episode of Canopy Pras Whoa,
can't talk today.
Canopy Practice Success.
Say that five times fast.
I'm here with Rusty Folling.
Hi, Rusty.
Rusty Fulling (00:18):
Hey, good to see you, Casey.
I'm glad you didn't have me saythat because you did a much
better job than I would have.
KC Brothers (00:24):
Oh, well, I say it, who knows how many times and
that's the first time I feellike I've actually stumbled.
There
Rusty Fulling (00:29):
you go.
There you go.
KC Brothers (00:31):
Anyway, Rusty, give a quick intro of yourself before
we hop into, um, the excitingtopic today.
Rusty Fulling (00:37):
There, yes, yes.
Hey, Rusty Fuling, uh, based outof the Kansas City area.
Uh, I started to practicefooling management and
accounting back in 2000.
So coming up on 25 years and,uh, we focus on really that
fractional CFO piece for clientsaround the country and, uh, just
really coming along withbusiness owners, uh, to help
(00:58):
them get clarity.
Grow their profits and gainpeace of mind.
KC Brothers (01:03):
I love it.
Say that one more time.
Cause that is your, your visionstatement.
Yeah,
Rusty Fulling (01:08):
exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's get clarity, grow profitsand gain peace of mind.
And it's funny, Casey, on that.
We, we probably weren't theinstigators of that, but those
are the things that we kepthearing from clients.
Hey, I have clarity now.
Uh, our, our profits aregrowing.
Yeah.
I can sleep at night.
(01:28):
And so sometimes when you'reworking on those mission
statements.
Sometimes it's your clients thatwill tell you those.
And so be sure and, you know,listen, uh, for that input
instead of putting together somebig paragraph, you know, what
our mission is.
KC Brothers (01:42):
Oh, I love that.
Um, well, speaking of, right, soyou've gone through an evolution
within your firm.
Give a little background on,you've been in business for
about 25 years now.
You've, you've seen a lot.
Let's maybe talk about likemaybe your first five years in
your career and, and moveforward until we get to.
(02:02):
Today's larger topic and we'lltease it for the audiences.
Managing culture in a virtualenvironment.
Hot
Rusty Fulling (02:09):
topic.
Yes.
Yes.
Well, a lot of therapy thosefirst five years.
Uh, we, uh, I came from atraditional CPA firm and, and,
um, you know, the, thetraditional firms, uh, you know,
60, 70, 80 hours a week, uh, ifyou're, if you're lucky.
Uh, and, and I tell you, I wasjust burned out, Casey.
I, I, Literally ended up in thehospital.
(02:30):
Uh, just, just my body wasshutting down because of just so
much stress.
And, um, I remember, um, sittingdown with a coworker and they
said, I can't believe youhaven't started your own
business.
And it was just the belief in a,in a, from a friend.
Who just gave that affirmation.
And so, so sure enough, April,April 1, 2000 launched the
(02:51):
business with three littleclients.
Uh, and what's fun is one ofthose little clients are one of
our biggest clients today.
And, uh, but it was just thatslow growth, uh, literally for
the first 10, 10 years, uh, ourgoal.
And, and I know you've done somemarketing and things don't get
too excited about this.
Our goal was to add one newclient a year.
(03:12):
One new client a year.
So, so you're like, Oh mygoodness.
But realism is
KC Brothers (03:17):
a thing.
Realism.
I mean, it's so good.
You know, and if you exceed,that's
Rusty Fulling (03:22):
right.
If you're still alive, butwhat's really neat about that
model that I've really grown toappreciate, um, and, and we've
upped the number since then,but, but we've really gone deep
with those clients.
And when I talk about thatclient that we started with,
that's still a, well, a growingclient today.
It's that going deep and, andsometimes when you go deep, you
(03:44):
don't have to go as wide and youreally get to, to make a
difference with those clients.
And so, so that's been our modelsince day one, but yeah,
definitely a lot, a lot of riceand beans to begin with a lot, a
lot of lean times, uh, uh, butjust, I think just that
consistency, just, just stayingwith that vision or that
mission, you know, was, was kindof, uh, that was, that's really
(04:06):
what kept us going.
KC Brothers (04:09):
Yeah.
I mean, so by nature of goingfrom three clients to, I mean,
do you want it?
Yeah, we're probably,
Rusty Fulling (04:16):
probably 60 clients.
Yeah, probably 60 clients today.
And, and, and so again, we'renot, uh, and then we're not a
traditional tax firm.
So we're again, just doing moreof that client advisory
services, but, uh, you know,our, our growth goals these days
will be like 15 to 20 a year.
And so almost more one a month,one to two a month versus, you
know, Versus one a year.
(04:37):
And so try to get a little more,uh, realistic around, around
growth in that area.
KC Brothers (04:44):
Yeah.
So you've seen a lot of changegoing from, like we said, three
to 60 clients.
Um, what have been some of your,maybe we start with worst
executed changes and they can beanything to some of the best
changes you've made.
Rusty Fulling (05:05):
Yeah.
One of our, um, still painfulchanges, uh, that, that we have
made because of this, we broughton the biggest client we'd ever
brought on probably year sevenor eight, literally doubled our
business overnight.
And it was just exciting.
And, and, you know, we'recruising shopping for a new
vehicle, you know, all those,you know, all those kinds of
(05:27):
things within six months, Casey,we lost that client.
We had never lost a client forany kind of service issue.
And we lost this massive client.
And I mean, Oh, you talk aboutjust the wind, you know, getting
kicked out of you there.
And part of that was that clientwas way out of our league.
It was way too big.
(05:48):
And, and so when you talk aboutbest practices, what lessons
learned, where have you pivotedor made those changes,
identifying our ideal client.
And so just, yes, taking sometime to go back to the, the
proverbial whiteboard and justsaying, who do we serve well?
Who do we like to work with?
And it was interesting in thatexercise.
(06:10):
A lot of the attributes werearound the leader attributes,
high integrity, well respected,seize value and outsourcing,
those type of things.
And so even today, you know, mygoodness, 10, 15 years later, we
still use those attributes.
as a checklist before we evenlook at the business, uh, the
size of business.
(06:30):
And, and so the leader is first,and then we typically look for,
you know, 1 to 50 employees,probably 1 to 20 million in
revenue kind of, kind ofcompanies.
Um, but that, that was a, uh,clarity moment maybe for us
that, oh, just made such adifference.
KC Brothers (06:48):
Man, I read a book years ago, if you haven't read
it, it's a good read, calledEssentialism.
Rusty Fulling (06:53):
Yes.
Uh, yeah.
McAllen.
McAllen.
Yes.
Yes.
KC Brothers (06:56):
Yeah.
Rusty Fulling (06:57):
Yeah.
KC Brothers (06:58):
Um, and he, the, the thing that I was left with
and I'm, I mean, this isprobably a decade or more that
I've read it now.
Rusty Fulling (07:04):
Yeah.
KC Brothers (07:04):
Um, if it's that old man, I'm going to laugh if
it was only written nine yearsago.
Rusty Fulling (07:09):
There you go.
There you go.
KC Brothers (07:11):
Um, It's just the idea that if you, you really
can't say yes to everything, butwhat you're saying yes to, you
are saying no to other things.
And I think that is such animportant concept applied in
this instance, right?
To clients and who you'reengaging with in business,
because.
You might see things and, or,you know, early on, it might be
(07:32):
scary to say no, or you mighthave a few years under your
belt, like this situation.
And you see someone and you'relike, Ooh, shiny dollar signs or
whatever.
And you want to say yes, butreminding yourself.
And if you haven't, if you can'tremind yourself, creating these,
um, characteristics, thisstandard checklist sort of thing
(07:54):
of like, What your ideal clientprofile or your ICP.
This is something I really liketo talk about because I think
it's so important in business ingeneral.
Rusty Fulling (08:03):
Yes.
Um,
KC Brothers (08:04):
is makes it easier for you to say no appropriately.
Rusty Fulling (08:08):
Absolutely.
And we, we actually developed acouple of personas that we, we
call bio Bob and bio Beth and,and bio Bob and bio Beth are
kind of our, you know, here'swho our ideal client is.
The other thing, Casey, I thinkthat's been so helpful is, uh,
Is there was a book called ThePumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz
and the Pumpkin Plan talkedabout sometimes you'll, you'll
(08:29):
have these clients, these idealclients that you really want to
focus on, but then you have alot of.
Little, uh, clients that arejust taking your energy and, and
they're just not the rightclients and they just suck the
life out of the, the bigpumpkins, the ones that you
really want to focus on.
And sometimes you need to, youneed to, you need to prune
(08:50):
sometimes those, those clientsthat are taking up, up the time.
So I remember we, we'd read thisbook as a, as a group and, and
our first pruning, uh, was a sixfigure year client for us.
So And I thought, Oh mygoodness.
You know, this is, this is a,you know, a hundred plus
thousand dollar a year client,and we're going to prune this
(09:10):
client.
And I, and the manager on thatclient was just going, uh, are
we sure?
Are we sure?
Well, in that pumpkin plan, ithas some great models as far as.
You know, what things are, youknow, do they pay on time?
Uh, what's the UG factor?
Oh, when Casey calls, do we go,Oh, it's Casey again, you know,
or, yeah.
And so it, and it wasinteresting going through that
(09:31):
and you could easily identify,ah, they've either grown into a
non ideal client or maybe theyweren't wanting to begin with,
but we went ahead and broughtthem on.
So now we actually do that on a,on an annual basis.
And so that, you know, thereason we don't have multiple
clients that are just chaotic,uh, is we say, you know what?
Let's work with the ones that,that we can, we can work well
(09:53):
with best and we're going toserve best.
KC Brothers (09:57):
Yeah.
I like that.
The nice thing about that toois, you know, you're not just
keeping, um, up with like yourown personal standards, well,
but actually by doing that,you're also communicating
something to your employees,which keeps morale high and in a
day and age where talent is hardto come by, that goes a long way
(10:20):
with your talent.
Rusty Fulling (10:22):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
They know what to expect.
They know, you know, they're notgoing to be.
Uh, taking advantage of, or, or,you know, uh, talk down to, or,
you know, and so absolutelythat, that has been a big, big
factor there.
KC Brothers (10:36):
Yeah, or even empowers them to come to you and
say, hey, I think we've reacheda point, even if it's not that
annual review, but they alreadyknow.
Because it's something that'sbeen established within the
business as part of youridentity.
Rusty Fulling (10:49):
Yep.
That's right.
Yeah.
That's a, that's a, that's ahuge, uh, I'd say advantage.
And, and even when we're lookingat new clients, you know, they
already know who's going to be agood fit upfront.
So that, that has been helpful.
KC Brothers (11:01):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Um, okay.
So we talked about some of thesechanges that, you know, kind of
like a, Hey, learn from mymistake.
Don't make the mistake yourself.
What on the opposite end of thespectrum, what have been, um,
one or two of the best changesyou've made?
The
Rusty Fulling (11:19):
best changes.
Oh my goodness.
What I would say one, uh, I canthink of early on and, and
another, and I'll mention aswell, but, um, learning to tell
the story of the numbers and notjust present the numbers, uh, I
remember working with a largephysician group years ago and,
and, uh, We had this 20 pagefinancial report that would put
(11:40):
anybody to sleep.
I mean, it was, it was horrible.
And you know, you'd see the eyesglazing over until page 13, 13
was the bonus page.
Hey, what am I getting as abonus?
You know, why are we spendingall this time on pages one
through 12 when they're just,they just want to see the bonus
page.
And so sometimes it's.
It's telling the story.
Here's what pages 1 through 12is really telling us.
(12:01):
Let's look at 13.
That's, you know, that's, that'sthe KPIs you guys want to be
looking at.
And so I think that's part of itis just dis, dis, you know,
discerning.
We often talk about being a CFOis like being a GPS and, and
helping guide where they'reheading.
as opposed to an old map whereyou're going, ah, this road, it
must be closed, you know, andso, uh, and, and so it's, it's,
(12:24):
I think that's been helpful.
The other thing is, uh, whenCOVID hit, we were a brick and
mortar firm and we sent everyonehome and, um, and just, Seeing
how well the team did in that,in that, in that time, uh, we
just never invited anybody backto the office.
And so we, we ended up goingtotally virtual and it was, uh,
(12:47):
one of those, you know, you kindof get pushed out of the nest
and you're going, Hey, we'reflying well.
And why, why, why go back and dosomething, you know, just, just
because.
KC Brothers (12:58):
Tell me more about this.
Cause this is where, again, wekind of teased that we wanted to
spend most of the time.
Few questions then that I feellike I hear often come up, not
just in accounting, but.
Rusty Fulling (13:11):
How do
KC Brothers (13:11):
you know they're not just playing beach
volleyball?
I don't know.
Um, how do you maintain culture?
How do you feel close to eachother?
How do you communicate?
Um, how long, I mean, did youget rid of the brick and mortar?
You know, all of these questionsthat are really talked about
right now.
Rusty Fulling (13:31):
Yeah, I, I remember prior to, to COVID, I
was asking all those, what ifthey're doing laundry during the
day and then they're not gettingtheir work done.
I think that's crazy.
Uh, you know, that'd just behorrible.
And, uh, it's so fun.
Uh, I think these days, theother thing that I, I'd always
get all amped up about is if youhad a kid walking in the
background while you're having ameeting or a dog or a cat, and
(13:54):
you're just going, Oh, this isnot professional.
And, and you know, what's reallycool.
Casey is.
People are inviting us intotheir homes now and, and boy,
what, you know, uh, well, we usethe word intimacy, uh, there's
just a more intimate connectionbecause, I mean, my goodness,
you know, you, I'm inviting youinto my space and, you know, for
(14:16):
this work environment.
So I think sometimes we can getwrapped up on if, if you're
worried about them doing laundryand you're worried about them
playing video games.
Maybe it's the higher hiringprocess that's wrong and not
the, not the environment that'swrong, not the culture that's
wrong.
And so, so I would saydefinitely spending more time on
that culture development andyeah, we can talk, we can unfold
(14:37):
that a little bit more.
But we, um, yeah, we wereactually in a beautiful facility
before, before COVID hit.
And, um, Uh, it was an incubatorfacility where there were new
companies coming all the time.
And so it was a great feeder forour business.
Um, and so, yeah, when we sendeverybody home, that was a, that
was a concern.
You know, how do we, how do wemaintain this?
(14:59):
And we just found other ways toconnect with folks.
But, but, um, mental health wasa big deal during that time as
far as, you know, isolation.
And how do you, how do you, howdo you work on that?
So, um, One of the quick thingswe did right off the bat was we
establish a buddy system, or wejust, uh, you know, Casey, you
connect with Rusty and Hey, justcheck in each day, how are
(15:20):
things going?
And, and so that was more on apersonal level.
And then throughout the day,there's going to be interactions
throughout
KC Brothers (15:27):
your firm.
Rusty Fulling (15:28):
Uh, we have 18, 18.
KC Brothers (15:30):
Okay.
Okay.
Rusty Fulling (15:31):
So, and, and, and so that, that was been helpful.
And then our, uh, Tuesdaymorning staff meetings, it's an
all play.
So everybody's joining that.
We started doing a lot moreleadership and culture teaching
during those staff meetings andeven breakout sessions for
discussion groups and those kindof things.
And so.
It's amazing.
(15:52):
Um, doing some of those, uh,just being more intentional
about teaching aroundleadership.
Then we bring everybody intoKansas City once a year, uh, for
a big celebration time, uh, in,in some strategic planning and
some serving time.
And that is like an, a highschool reunion, getting
everybody together.
It is so much fun.
KC Brothers (16:13):
Yeah.
We're, we're located.
Yeah.
So,
Rusty Fulling (16:15):
so we're in about, I think we're in about
seven states right
KC Brothers (16:19):
now.
Rusty Fulling (16:20):
And, um, one of our team members, when we went
totally virtual, sold their homeand lived in an Airbnb for 24
months all over the world.
And so, you know, just the, ifyou think about, Just the
ability to do that.
That was a dream that their,their family had had.
(16:40):
And boy, you can, it just, youknow, if you're not so hung up
with them being chained to thedesk and, and, you know, right
there, yeah, we, we've gotten alot.
I'll say we've amped up our teammember, um, quality maybe would
be a good word.
Just because of those kinds ofthings, being able to provide
some of that flexibility,
KC Brothers (16:59):
you know, being someone who does have a hybrid
work environment.
Um, I would never go back to ajob where they asked me to be
100 percent in office.
I'm a young mom.
Rusty Fulling (17:11):
Yes.
Yes.
I
KC Brothers (17:12):
love the flexibility it affords me.
I love, um, that I can notcommute and instead, you know,
adjust my day accordingly,either hop on a little earlier
or get on my bike and drop mykindergartner off.
Um, it's those affordances andthose, I feel like to remote
(17:32):
work, what it does is, um, itexposes to your point about like
being on a zoom and seeing kidsin the background or whatever it
might be, exposes us to eachother's humanity.
Yes,
Rusty Fulling (17:44):
yes, yes, yes.
KC Brothers (17:45):
And, and when we, when we feel we're seen more
that way, and when we see othersthat way, I feel like we have a
deeper, Connection, a deep,deeper sense of loyalty, even in
some sense.
I don't think we all need togive loyalty to our employers
per se, but to each other ashumans.
And to think that like the, thisemployees, um, you empower this
(18:09):
employee to fulfill An awesomedream and how much more are they
willing to put in the, not justtime, but good effort.
Right.
And producing quality work forthe firm.
Rusty Fulling (18:23):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
It's so much fun.
Uh, we, one of the things thatwe've found helpful is during
our staff meetings is do shoutouts when we first start out,
you know, and you've probablyseen that before.
Hey, Casey did this great job onthis project or, um, but in, but
also weekly wins.
And, and the weekly wins isreally an all play, you know,
Hey, what was something goodthat happened this week?
(18:45):
And, and it, and then the lastthing I'll mention on this is,
is, um, each pay period, so wehave our team members submit
their time and so forth for, forbilling and different things.
But they'll send me a note aspart of our payroll system that
again, what was their personalhigh of the period of the pay
period and what was theirpersonal low, and it could be.
(19:05):
You know, it could be, Hey, Ihad this great meet with this
client or, Hey, my kid just hitthe winning, uh, you know, home
run at the baseball game, or itcould be, well, we just suffered
a really tough loss in ourfamily.
And, and what the, again, youtalk about humanity, you know,
those help me stay connected tothe team.
And it also gives me theopportunity to reach out to the
(19:26):
team, especially on those.
Those sensitive things or, oreven celebrate.
Uh, and so I think that, youknow, how can we incorporate
humanity into the, you know, thenumber crunching environment and
those have been helpful for ourteam.
KC Brothers (19:42):
Yeah.
Um, so yeah, any of those, um,the things that you've done, you
mentioned a few, um, beingintentional, right?
Uh, leadership meetings, uh, thebuddy system.
Yeah.
Um,
I'd love, uh, an example of how.
You feel like those activities,um, in a remote environment has
(20:02):
really benefited theproductivity
Rusty Fulling (20:05):
of your mind.
Well, and, and I will say, youknow, one of the questions, uh,
I think you and I talked abouteven before we were coming on
board, but, but how do you knowpeople are working?
And, and, uh, you know, I thinkeven in a, in a brick and mortar
building, I think you need tomake work visible.
Um, you know, and just becauseyou can see somebody sitting
(20:25):
down the hall, that doesn'tnecessarily mean they're not,
you know, playing video games,you know, and so, um, tools like
canopy, which is workflowmanagement system, you know, I
think those are so helpfulbecause we can easily get on and
see what projects areoutstanding and we use.
That type of, that type ofsystem to, to, you know, when we
meet individual with each teammember to, Hey, how are we
(20:47):
doing?
You know, this, this week onthis client and, and we can look
at those things.
So I think that that's part ofthat exercise.
Um, but one of the commentswe've gotten from multiple team
members, new team members thathave come on board over the last
four years is they say, I feelcloser to my team here than I
ever did when I worked in anoffice space.
(21:10):
And so you, well, and it goesback to, I'll say kind of the
three eyes is what we talkabout.
Invest in your team weekly.
And that's the shout outs, theculture lessons.
So we bring in every week aspeaker from the outside on
video to, to teach about, um,uh, I'm trying to think what
(21:31):
we're talking about this week.
Uh, it could be communication,you know, how to be, how to, how
to be a better communicator.
Um, it could be how to, Oh,what's your personal.
Uh, mission.
And so, you know, if you thinkabout it, if you're, if you're
then breaking into small groupsand talking about that, you
know, my personal purpose is,you know, for me, it was
encourage, guide, equip, serve.
(21:54):
And listen.
Okay.
And so those are kind of myfive.
If I can do those throughout theday.
Well, that's a good day.
And so each of our team memberscame up with some, some of their
own.
But if you think about that, Imean, we're not talking about
balance sheets andreconciliations and some of
those kinds of things.
In that section, yes, we arelater in the week, but, but
(22:15):
we're just giving again, thathumanity that, Hey, how are
things going kind of stuff.
So that's made a world ofdifference, Casey.
I, I, and, and, you know, I suredon't get all the credit for
that because we've got a greatteam that, you know, has brought
ideas to the table and we'veseen other companies that, that
do similar things as well.
KC Brothers (22:33):
Yeah, no, I love it.
I think again, it's just thebeing seen as a human and then
allowing other people to show upas a human.
Like I get to see my boss as ahuman, as well as my coworkers.
It just adds something that maynot, I don't feel like it's
always been there in a workenvironment, depending on the.
(22:54):
The industry and stuffthroughout the last, you know, a
hundred years.
I think it is something thatwe're finding to be more unique
in this post COVID era,especially if people are
choosing to embrace remote orhybrid work.
Rusty Fulling (23:08):
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
We love it.
Um, the, one of the things too,we've really started pushing as
more core values.
And, and our core values can bea very good recruiting tool,
but, but you have to live thosecore values too.
And so that's been helpful to,to go through those.
And we even evaluate on aquarterly basis, the team
(23:29):
members actually do selfevaluation.
How am I doing on each of thesevalues?
And so that can be helpful thatway you're, you're, you have a
good foundation in what you'rebuilding the company from.
KC Brothers (23:41):
I mean, it sounds like, so a phrase, I feel like
I've said this on the podcastmultiple times, um, but
something I really ascribe to isthe sentiment of slowing down to
speed up.
Rusty Fulling (23:53):
Yeah.
KC Brothers (23:53):
And this, this seems like one of those areas
where it's like, okay, if youslow down and take the time to
think of core values, um,mission statements and in the
right way.
I, ICPs, you know, your idealclient profile, um, enables you
to go faster.
And it seems like it might bemaybe, I think it's hard for any
(24:15):
business owner, to be honest,aside, outside of accounting,
inside of accounting.
Um, but take a think week maybe,you know, and, and work on these
things because it will onlybetter your business.
Rusty Fulling (24:28):
Yes.
Uh, we kind of have fivelessons.
Uh, somebody asking, Hey, what,what are some lessons you've
learned?
One is being intentional.
It, you know, mission, vision,values that, that is so big.
Um, and number two would be, bepatient.
You look at somebody who's beenin business 25 years ago.
Oh, I wish I could be, I want tobe them.
I want to be, and you're juststarting out.
(24:48):
Boy, it hasn't always been easy.
And so be patient, uh, be adifference maker.
If it's all about you, it'sgoing to be short lived, but
boy, if you can make adifference in others and clients
and team members, that's goingto be, that's going to be big
and number four, be a, be alifelong learner.
So continue to learn, you know,don't, don't get complacent in
(25:09):
that.
And the last one is be stilltake time to just be still and
take time.
What'd you just talk about?
Maybe a week, maybe it's, maybeit's just, you know, a day,
something to just, you know,take some time to, to celebrate
where you've been.
Focus on where you're headingand, and, and maybe it's
bringing in a coach or a mentorin some of those times too.
KC Brothers (25:29):
Man, how did you survive before you opened your
firm and found all of thesethings?
I feel like you're, you're justlaying it out so clearly.
Um, and I hope, um, other peopleare able to hear this and take
advantage of it.
Those that, you know, might bein the thick of, Those long, um,
(25:50):
work weeks or the Yes.
In the, you know, the thresholdof deciding whether or not they
wanna start their firm or maybethey just started their firm and
they're drowning.
But this perspective that you'reoffering, I think is just so
beautiful.
Rusty Fulling (26:03):
Yeah.
I, I, and I think it's thethings that I always look for,
and I, I may have mentioned itearlier, but you know, the, the
kind of the three Cs, the coach,the cheerleader in the
community.
And if you don't have thosethree, that can, that can really
be lonely.
And, you know, cause if I don'thave somebody to go to when I'm
struggling on, how do I leadwell, uh, or somebody to
(26:25):
challenge you, maybe you're notleading well and here, I need to
maybe some accountability, butthat coach cheerleader, somebody
to cheer you on.
Those can be so, so vital.
So yeah, I'd, I'd encourageanybody that's starting out or
trying to figure out, do I evenkeep this thing going?
Or how do I grow from here?
Yeah, those would be, thosewould be some three things that
(26:45):
maybe look at investing in.
KC Brothers (26:48):
Well, more than three things.
You've dropped like 20 things.
Great gems to hold on to.
Okay.
Last question.
If you came across someone whois really skeptical of the Going
virtual or even hybrid, whatwould be your pitch?
Why would you say, you knowwhat, if you went, you'd be more
productive.
(27:08):
What, what, what would you sayto
Rusty Fulling (27:09):
them?
Yeah, I, I think there's,there's a, somebody was talking
about imitation or inspiration.
I think there's things thatwe've talked about today that
hopefully can be inspiring.
And, and maybe it's not, youdon't have to, you don't have to
go virtual to do everything thatwe've talked about.
Um, I would be cautious to say,yeah, go virtual and you can do
(27:30):
it just like this.
Um, So if, you know, if you'restruggling with going virtual,
maybe, maybe you shouldn't doit.
Uh, so I want to be, I want tobe realistic there.
Um, we've just found for, forour model, it's worked well.
Uh, we're recruiting right nowfor our next fractional CFO.
So if you want to
KC Brothers (27:50):
work fully virtual.
Yeah, yeah,
Rusty Fulling (27:51):
please, uh, yeah, virtual, uh, fractional CFO.
Hey, the cool thing, Casey, is,is guess where our workforce is.
Anywhere in the US, you know,and so, so we're not, you know,
stuck just in this one littlearea.
And so that's been so much funis, is bringing in great talent
from all over.
So, um, that that's one plugthough, as far as a, Hey, what's
(28:15):
a benefit.
You don't, you don't have alimited workforce.
Uh, and, and I think putting intools.
Uh, don't just, you know, leavepeople on islands.
Make sure you're intentionalabout bringing, building a
community.
Uh, having people say, wow, Ifeel closer to my team members
here than I ever did in person.
Those are the things that Iwould encourage you to strive
(28:37):
for.
If you are looking at a virtualmodel, does that make sense?
KC Brothers (28:41):
Yeah, well, and to your, that point to it, we
didn't call this out explicitly,but for some reason my brain is
like, Casey, call this out.
Um, it's just that, okay, we'resaving dollars, actual money, on
not having a brick and mortar.
Um, but remind yourself that notjust to save that money, but to
squirrel it away for things likebringing the whole team
(29:02):
together.
Rusty Fulling (29:03):
Absolutely love it.
Thanks for calling it outbecause so many people, oh,
you've saved so much money andI'm guessing we've probably
spent more, honestly.
Casey, we're preparing rightnow.
I don't know when this, thiswill drop, but we're preparing
right now for our virtualChristmas party.
And our parties are second tonone, even in a virtual world.
(29:24):
And you're going, how do you dothat?
We have an incredible team thatputs those on.
And, and so it's so much fun tosee what you can do in this
environment that, you know, fouror five years ago, I'd be going.
That's, you know, you know,that, that's not even going to
work.
So anyway, it, it, those, youcan definitely do it.
And, and there's so many toolsout there these days that make
(29:44):
it lots of
KC Brothers (29:45):
fun.
Don't, don't do it to savemoney.
Don't do it if you feel forcedto do it, but that there, there
are great benefits to it,especially if you feel like it
will serve your business model,you, your firm members.
Yes.
Rusty Fulling (29:58):
Yep.
Okay.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
KC Brothers (30:01):
Well, thanks so much for your time today, Rusty.
Rusty Fulling (30:03):
You bet.
Hey, it's good to see you.
We'll talk to you soon.
Welcome to another episode of Canopy Pras Whoa,
can't talk today.
Canopy Practice Success.
Say that five times fast.
I'm here with Rusty Folling.
Hi, Rusty.
Rusty Fulling (00:18):
Hey, good to see you, Casey.
I'm glad you didn't have me saythat because you did a much
better job than I would have.
KC Brothers (00:24):
Oh, well, I say it, who knows how many times and
that's the first time I feellike I've actually stumbled.
There
Rusty Fulling (00:29):
you go.
There you go.
KC Brothers (00:31):
Anyway, Rusty, give a quick intro of yourself before
we hop into, um, the excitingtopic today.
Rusty Fulling (00:37):
There, yes, yes.
Hey, Rusty Fuling, uh, based outof the Kansas City area.
Uh, I started to practicefooling management and
accounting back in 2000.
So coming up on 25 years and,uh, we focus on really that
fractional CFO piece for clientsaround the country and, uh, just
really coming along withbusiness owners, uh, to help
(00:58):
them get clarity.
Grow their profits and gainpeace of mind.
KC Brothers (01:03):
I love it.
Say that one more time.
Cause that is your, your visionstatement.
Yeah,
Rusty Fulling (01:08):
exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's get clarity, grow profitsand gain peace of mind.
And it's funny, Casey, on that.
We, we probably weren't theinstigators of that, but those
are the things that we kepthearing from clients.
Hey, I have clarity now.
Uh, our, our profits aregrowing.
Yeah.
I can sleep at night.
(01:28):
And so sometimes when you'reworking on those mission
statements.
Sometimes it's your clients thatwill tell you those.
And so be sure and, you know,listen, uh, for that input
instead of putting together somebig paragraph, you know, what
our mission is.
KC Brothers (01:42):
Oh, I love that.
Um, well, speaking of, right, soyou've gone through an evolution
within your firm.
Give a little background on,you've been in business for
about 25 years now.
You've, you've seen a lot.
Let's maybe talk about likemaybe your first five years in
your career and, and moveforward until we get to.
(02:02):
Today's larger topic and we'lltease it for the audiences.
Managing culture in a virtualenvironment.
Hot
Rusty Fulling (02:09):
topic.
Yes.
Yes.
Well, a lot of therapy thosefirst five years.
Uh, we, uh, I came from atraditional CPA firm and, and,
um, you know, the, thetraditional firms, uh, you know,
60, 70, 80 hours a week, uh, ifyou're, if you're lucky.
Uh, and, and I tell you, I wasjust burned out, Casey.
I, I, Literally ended up in thehospital.
(02:30):
Uh, just, just my body wasshutting down because of just so
much stress.
And, um, I remember, um, sittingdown with a coworker and they
said, I can't believe youhaven't started your own
business.
And it was just the belief in a,in a, from a friend.
Who just gave that affirmation.
And so, so sure enough, April,April 1, 2000 launched the
(02:51):
business with three littleclients.
Uh, and what's fun is one ofthose little clients are one of
our biggest clients today.
And, uh, but it was just thatslow growth, uh, literally for
the first 10, 10 years, uh, ourgoal.
And, and I know you've done somemarketing and things don't get
too excited about this.
Our goal was to add one newclient a year.
(03:12):
One new client a year.
So, so you're like, Oh mygoodness.
But realism is
KC Brothers (03:17):
a thing.
Realism.
I mean, it's so good.
You know, and if you exceed,that's
Rusty Fulling (03:22):
right.
If you're still alive, butwhat's really neat about that
model that I've really grown toappreciate, um, and, and we've
upped the number since then,but, but we've really gone deep
with those clients.
And when I talk about thatclient that we started with,
that's still a, well, a growingclient today.
It's that going deep and, andsometimes when you go deep, you
(03:44):
don't have to go as wide and youreally get to, to make a
difference with those clients.
And so, so that's been our modelsince day one, but yeah,
definitely a lot, a lot of riceand beans to begin with a lot, a
lot of lean times, uh, uh, butjust, I think just that
consistency, just, just stayingwith that vision or that
mission, you know, was, was kindof, uh, that was, that's really
(04:06):
what kept us going.
KC Brothers (04:09):
Yeah.
I mean, so by nature of goingfrom three clients to, I mean,
do you want it?
Yeah, we're probably,
Rusty Fulling (04:16):
probably 60 clients.
Yeah, probably 60 clients today.
And, and, and so again, we'renot, uh, and then we're not a
traditional tax firm.
So we're again, just doing moreof that client advisory
services, but, uh, you know,our, our growth goals these days
will be like 15 to 20 a year.
And so almost more one a month,one to two a month versus, you
know, Versus one a year.
(04:37):
And so try to get a little more,uh, realistic around, around
growth in that area.
KC Brothers (04:44):
Yeah.
So you've seen a lot of changegoing from, like we said, three
to 60 clients.
Um, what have been some of your,maybe we start with worst
executed changes and they can beanything to some of the best
changes you've made.
Rusty Fulling (05:05):
Yeah.
One of our, um, still painfulchanges, uh, that, that we have
made because of this, we broughton the biggest client we'd ever
brought on probably year sevenor eight, literally doubled our
business overnight.
And it was just exciting.
And, and, you know, we'recruising shopping for a new
vehicle, you know, all those,you know, all those kinds of
(05:27):
things within six months, Casey,we lost that client.
We had never lost a client forany kind of service issue.
And we lost this massive client.
And I mean, Oh, you talk aboutjust the wind, you know, getting
kicked out of you there.
And part of that was that clientwas way out of our league.
It was way too big.
(05:48):
And, and so when you talk aboutbest practices, what lessons
learned, where have you pivotedor made those changes,
identifying our ideal client.
And so just, yes, taking sometime to go back to the, the
proverbial whiteboard and justsaying, who do we serve well?
Who do we like to work with?
And it was interesting in thatexercise.
(06:10):
A lot of the attributes werearound the leader attributes,
high integrity, well respected,seize value and outsourcing,
those type of things.
And so even today, you know, mygoodness, 10, 15 years later, we
still use those attributes.
as a checklist before we evenlook at the business, uh, the
size of business.
(06:30):
And, and so the leader is first,and then we typically look for,
you know, 1 to 50 employees,probably 1 to 20 million in
revenue kind of, kind ofcompanies.
Um, but that, that was a, uh,clarity moment maybe for us
that, oh, just made such adifference.
KC Brothers (06:48):
Man, I read a book years ago, if you haven't read
it, it's a good read, calledEssentialism.
Rusty Fulling (06:53):
Yes.
Uh, yeah.
McAllen.
McAllen.
Yes.
Yes.
KC Brothers (06:56):
Yeah.
Rusty Fulling (06:57):
Yeah.
KC Brothers (06:58):
Um, and he, the, the thing that I was left with
and I'm, I mean, this isprobably a decade or more that
I've read it now.
Rusty Fulling (07:04):
Yeah.
KC Brothers (07:04):
Um, if it's that old man, I'm going to laugh if
it was only written nine yearsago.
Rusty Fulling (07:09):
There you go.
There you go.
KC Brothers (07:11):
Um, It's just the idea that if you, you really
can't say yes to everything, butwhat you're saying yes to, you
are saying no to other things.
And I think that is such animportant concept applied in
this instance, right?
To clients and who you'reengaging with in business,
because.
You might see things and, or,you know, early on, it might be
(07:32):
scary to say no, or you mighthave a few years under your
belt, like this situation.
And you see someone and you'relike, Ooh, shiny dollar signs or
whatever.
And you want to say yes, butreminding yourself.
And if you haven't, if you can'tremind yourself, creating these,
um, characteristics, thisstandard checklist sort of thing
(07:54):
of like, What your ideal clientprofile or your ICP.
This is something I really liketo talk about because I think
it's so important in business ingeneral.
Rusty Fulling (08:03):
Yes.
Um,
KC Brothers (08:04):
is makes it easier for you to say no appropriately.
Rusty Fulling (08:08):
Absolutely.
And we, we actually developed acouple of personas that we, we
call bio Bob and bio Beth and,and bio Bob and bio Beth are
kind of our, you know, here'swho our ideal client is.
The other thing, Casey, I thinkthat's been so helpful is, uh,
Is there was a book called ThePumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz
and the Pumpkin Plan talkedabout sometimes you'll, you'll
(08:29):
have these clients, these idealclients that you really want to
focus on, but then you have alot of.
Little, uh, clients that arejust taking your energy and, and
they're just not the rightclients and they just suck the
life out of the, the bigpumpkins, the ones that you
really want to focus on.
And sometimes you need to, youneed to, you need to prune
(08:50):
sometimes those, those clientsthat are taking up, up the time.
So I remember we, we'd read thisbook as a, as a group and, and
our first pruning, uh, was a sixfigure year client for us.
So And I thought, Oh mygoodness.
You know, this is, this is a,you know, a hundred plus
thousand dollar a year client,and we're going to prune this
(09:10):
client.
And I, and the manager on thatclient was just going, uh, are
we sure?
Are we sure?
Well, in that pumpkin plan, ithas some great models as far as.
You know, what things are, youknow, do they pay on time?
Uh, what's the UG factor?
Oh, when Casey calls, do we go,Oh, it's Casey again, you know,
or, yeah.
And so it, and it wasinteresting going through that
(09:31):
and you could easily identify,ah, they've either grown into a
non ideal client or maybe theyweren't wanting to begin with,
but we went ahead and broughtthem on.
So now we actually do that on a,on an annual basis.
And so that, you know, thereason we don't have multiple
clients that are just chaotic,uh, is we say, you know what?
Let's work with the ones that,that we can, we can work well
(09:53):
with best and we're going toserve best.
KC Brothers (09:57):
Yeah.
I like that.
The nice thing about that toois, you know, you're not just
keeping, um, up with like yourown personal standards, well,
but actually by doing that,you're also communicating
something to your employees,which keeps morale high and in a
day and age where talent is hardto come by, that goes a long way
(10:20):
with your talent.
Rusty Fulling (10:22):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
They know what to expect.
They know, you know, they're notgoing to be.
Uh, taking advantage of, or, or,you know, uh, talk down to, or,
you know, and so absolutelythat, that has been a big, big
factor there.
KC Brothers (10:36):
Yeah, or even empowers them to come to you and
say, hey, I think we've reacheda point, even if it's not that
annual review, but they alreadyknow.
Because it's something that'sbeen established within the
business as part of youridentity.
Rusty Fulling (10:49):
Yep.
That's right.
Yeah.
That's a, that's a, that's ahuge, uh, I'd say advantage.
And, and even when we're lookingat new clients, you know, they
already know who's going to be agood fit upfront.
So that, that has been helpful.
KC Brothers (11:01):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Um, okay.
So we talked about some of thesechanges that, you know, kind of
like a, Hey, learn from mymistake.
Don't make the mistake yourself.
What on the opposite end of thespectrum, what have been, um,
one or two of the best changesyou've made?
The
Rusty Fulling (11:19):
best changes.
Oh my goodness.
What I would say one, uh, I canthink of early on and, and
another, and I'll mention aswell, but, um, learning to tell
the story of the numbers and notjust present the numbers, uh, I
remember working with a largephysician group years ago and,
and, uh, We had this 20 pagefinancial report that would put
(11:40):
anybody to sleep.
I mean, it was, it was horrible.
And you know, you'd see the eyesglazing over until page 13, 13
was the bonus page.
Hey, what am I getting as abonus?
You know, why are we spendingall this time on pages one
through 12 when they're just,they just want to see the bonus
page.
And so sometimes it's.
It's telling the story.
Here's what pages 1 through 12is really telling us.
(12:01):
Let's look at 13.
That's, you know, that's, that'sthe KPIs you guys want to be
looking at.
And so I think that's part of itis just dis, dis, you know,
discerning.
We often talk about being a CFOis like being a GPS and, and
helping guide where they'reheading.
as opposed to an old map whereyou're going, ah, this road, it
must be closed, you know, andso, uh, and, and so it's, it's,
(12:24):
I think that's been helpful.
The other thing is, uh, whenCOVID hit, we were a brick and
mortar firm and we sent everyonehome and, um, and just, Seeing
how well the team did in that,in that, in that time, uh, we
just never invited anybody backto the office.
And so we, we ended up goingtotally virtual and it was, uh,
(12:47):
one of those, you know, you kindof get pushed out of the nest
and you're going, Hey, we'reflying well.
And why, why, why go back and dosomething, you know, just, just
because.
KC Brothers (12:58):
Tell me more about this.
Cause this is where, again, wekind of teased that we wanted to
spend most of the time.
Few questions then that I feellike I hear often come up, not
just in accounting, but.
Rusty Fulling (13:11):
How do
KC Brothers (13:11):
you know they're not just playing beach
volleyball?
I don't know.
Um, how do you maintain culture?
How do you feel close to eachother?
How do you communicate?
Um, how long, I mean, did youget rid of the brick and mortar?
You know, all of these questionsthat are really talked about
right now.
Rusty Fulling (13:31):
Yeah, I, I remember prior to, to COVID, I
was asking all those, what ifthey're doing laundry during the
day and then they're not gettingtheir work done.
I think that's crazy.
Uh, you know, that'd just behorrible.
And, uh, it's so fun.
Uh, I think these days, theother thing that I, I'd always
get all amped up about is if youhad a kid walking in the
background while you're having ameeting or a dog or a cat, and
(13:54):
you're just going, Oh, this isnot professional.
And, and you know, what's reallycool.
Casey is.
People are inviting us intotheir homes now and, and boy,
what, you know, uh, well, we usethe word intimacy, uh, there's
just a more intimate connectionbecause, I mean, my goodness,
you know, you, I'm inviting youinto my space and, you know, for
(14:16):
this work environment.
So I think sometimes we can getwrapped up on if, if you're
worried about them doing laundryand you're worried about them
playing video games.
Maybe it's the higher hiringprocess that's wrong and not
the, not the environment that'swrong, not the culture that's
wrong.
And so, so I would saydefinitely spending more time on
that culture development andyeah, we can talk, we can unfold
(14:37):
that a little bit more.
But we, um, yeah, we wereactually in a beautiful facility
before, before COVID hit.
And, um, Uh, it was an incubatorfacility where there were new
companies coming all the time.
And so it was a great feeder forour business.
Um, and so, yeah, when we sendeverybody home, that was a, that
was a concern.
You know, how do we, how do wemaintain this?
(14:59):
And we just found other ways toconnect with folks.
But, but, um, mental health wasa big deal during that time as
far as, you know, isolation.
And how do you, how do you, howdo you work on that?
So, um, One of the quick thingswe did right off the bat was we
establish a buddy system, or wejust, uh, you know, Casey, you
connect with Rusty and Hey, justcheck in each day, how are
(15:20):
things going?
And, and so that was more on apersonal level.
And then throughout the day,there's going to be interactions
throughout
KC Brothers (15:27):
your firm.
Rusty Fulling (15:28):
Uh, we have 18, 18.
KC Brothers (15:30):
Okay.
Okay.
Rusty Fulling (15:31):
So, and, and, and so that, that was been helpful.
And then our, uh, Tuesdaymorning staff meetings, it's an
all play.
So everybody's joining that.
We started doing a lot moreleadership and culture teaching
during those staff meetings andeven breakout sessions for
discussion groups and those kindof things.
And so.
It's amazing.
(15:52):
Um, doing some of those, uh,just being more intentional
about teaching aroundleadership.
Then we bring everybody intoKansas City once a year, uh, for
a big celebration time, uh, in,in some strategic planning and
some serving time.
And that is like an, a highschool reunion, getting
everybody together.
It is so much fun.
KC Brothers (16:13):
Yeah.
We're, we're located.
Yeah.
So,
Rusty Fulling (16:15):
so we're in about, I think we're in about
seven states right
KC Brothers (16:19):
now.
Rusty Fulling (16:20):
And, um, one of our team members, when we went
totally virtual, sold their homeand lived in an Airbnb for 24
months all over the world.
And so, you know, just the, ifyou think about, Just the
ability to do that.
That was a dream that their,their family had had.
(16:40):
And boy, you can, it just, youknow, if you're not so hung up
with them being chained to thedesk and, and, you know, right
there, yeah, we, we've gotten alot.
I'll say we've amped up our teammember, um, quality maybe would
be a good word.
Just because of those kinds ofthings, being able to provide
some of that flexibility,
KC Brothers (16:59):
you know, being someone who does have a hybrid
work environment.
Um, I would never go back to ajob where they asked me to be
100 percent in office.
I'm a young mom.
Rusty Fulling (17:11):
Yes.
Yes.
I
KC Brothers (17:12):
love the flexibility it affords me.
I love, um, that I can notcommute and instead, you know,
adjust my day accordingly,either hop on a little earlier
or get on my bike and drop mykindergartner off.
Um, it's those affordances andthose, I feel like to remote
(17:32):
work, what it does is, um, itexposes to your point about like
being on a zoom and seeing kidsin the background or whatever it
might be, exposes us to eachother's humanity.
Yes,
Rusty Fulling (17:44):
yes, yes, yes.
KC Brothers (17:45):
And, and when we, when we feel we're seen more
that way, and when we see othersthat way, I feel like we have a
deeper, Connection, a deep,deeper sense of loyalty, even in
some sense.
I don't think we all need togive loyalty to our employers
per se, but to each other ashumans.
And to think that like the, thisemployees, um, you empower this
(18:09):
employee to fulfill An awesomedream and how much more are they
willing to put in the, not justtime, but good effort.
Right.
And producing quality work forthe firm.
Rusty Fulling (18:23):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
It's so much fun.
Uh, we, one of the things thatwe've found helpful is during
our staff meetings is do shoutouts when we first start out,
you know, and you've probablyseen that before.
Hey, Casey did this great job onthis project or, um, but in, but
also weekly wins.
And, and the weekly wins isreally an all play, you know,
Hey, what was something goodthat happened this week?
(18:45):
And, and it, and then the lastthing I'll mention on this is,
is, um, each pay period, so wehave our team members submit
their time and so forth for, forbilling and different things.
But they'll send me a note aspart of our payroll system that
again, what was their personalhigh of the period of the pay
period and what was theirpersonal low, and it could be.
(19:05):
You know, it could be, Hey, Ihad this great meet with this
client or, Hey, my kid just hitthe winning, uh, you know, home
run at the baseball game, or itcould be, well, we just suffered
a really tough loss in ourfamily.
And, and what the, again, youtalk about humanity, you know,
those help me stay connected tothe team.
And it also gives me theopportunity to reach out to the
(19:26):
team, especially on those.
Those sensitive things or, oreven celebrate.
Uh, and so I think that, youknow, how can we incorporate
humanity into the, you know, thenumber crunching environment and
those have been helpful for ourteam.
KC Brothers (19:42):
Yeah.
Um, so yeah, any of those, um,the things that you've done, you
mentioned a few, um, beingintentional, right?
Uh, leadership meetings, uh, thebuddy system.
Yeah.
Um,
I'd love, uh, an example of how.
You feel like those activities,um, in a remote environment has
(20:02):
really benefited theproductivity
Rusty Fulling (20:05):
of your mind.
Well, and, and I will say, youknow, one of the questions, uh,
I think you and I talked abouteven before we were coming on
board, but, but how do you knowpeople are working?
And, and, uh, you know, I thinkeven in a, in a brick and mortar
building, I think you need tomake work visible.
Um, you know, and just becauseyou can see somebody sitting
(20:25):
down the hall, that doesn'tnecessarily mean they're not,
you know, playing video games,you know, and so, um, tools like
canopy, which is workflowmanagement system, you know, I
think those are so helpfulbecause we can easily get on and
see what projects areoutstanding and we use.
That type of, that type ofsystem to, to, you know, when we
meet individual with each teammember to, Hey, how are we
(20:47):
doing?
You know, this, this week onthis client and, and we can look
at those things.
So I think that that's part ofthat exercise.
Um, but one of the commentswe've gotten from multiple team
members, new team members thathave come on board over the last
four years is they say, I feelcloser to my team here than I
ever did when I worked in anoffice space.
(21:10):
And so you, well, and it goesback to, I'll say kind of the
three eyes is what we talkabout.
Invest in your team weekly.
And that's the shout outs, theculture lessons.
So we bring in every week aspeaker from the outside on
video to, to teach about, um,uh, I'm trying to think what
(21:31):
we're talking about this week.
Uh, it could be communication,you know, how to be, how to, how
to be a better communicator.
Um, it could be how to, Oh,what's your personal.
Uh, mission.
And so, you know, if you thinkabout it, if you're, if you're
then breaking into small groupsand talking about that, you
know, my personal purpose is,you know, for me, it was
encourage, guide, equip, serve.
(21:54):
And listen.
Okay.
And so those are kind of myfive.
If I can do those throughout theday.
Well, that's a good day.
And so each of our team memberscame up with some, some of their
own.
But if you think about that, Imean, we're not talking about
balance sheets andreconciliations and some of
those kinds of things.
In that section, yes, we arelater in the week, but, but
(22:15):
we're just giving again, thathumanity that, Hey, how are
things going kind of stuff.
So that's made a world ofdifference, Casey.
I, I, and, and, you know, I suredon't get all the credit for
that because we've got a greatteam that, you know, has brought
ideas to the table and we'veseen other companies that, that
do similar things as well.
KC Brothers (22:33):
Yeah, no, I love it.
I think again, it's just thebeing seen as a human and then
allowing other people to show upas a human.
Like I get to see my boss as ahuman, as well as my coworkers.
It just adds something that maynot, I don't feel like it's
always been there in a workenvironment, depending on the.
(22:54):
The industry and stuffthroughout the last, you know, a
hundred years.
I think it is something thatwe're finding to be more unique
in this post COVID era,especially if people are
choosing to embrace remote orhybrid work.
Rusty Fulling (23:08):
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
We love it.
Um, the, one of the things too,we've really started pushing as
more core values.
And, and our core values can bea very good recruiting tool,
but, but you have to live thosecore values too.
And so that's been helpful to,to go through those.
And we even evaluate on aquarterly basis, the team
(23:29):
members actually do selfevaluation.
How am I doing on each of thesevalues?
And so that can be helpful thatway you're, you're, you have a
good foundation in what you'rebuilding the company from.
KC Brothers (23:41):
I mean, it sounds like, so a phrase, I feel like
I've said this on the podcastmultiple times, um, but
something I really ascribe to isthe sentiment of slowing down to
speed up.
Rusty Fulling (23:53):
Yeah.
KC Brothers (23:53):
And this, this seems like one of those areas
where it's like, okay, if youslow down and take the time to
think of core values, um,mission statements and in the
right way.
I, ICPs, you know, your idealclient profile, um, enables you
to go faster.
And it seems like it might bemaybe, I think it's hard for any
(24:15):
business owner, to be honest,aside, outside of accounting,
inside of accounting.
Um, but take a think week maybe,you know, and, and work on these
things because it will onlybetter your business.
Rusty Fulling (24:28):
Yes.
Uh, we kind of have fivelessons.
Uh, somebody asking, Hey, what,what are some lessons you've
learned?
One is being intentional.
It, you know, mission, vision,values that, that is so big.
Um, and number two would be, bepatient.
You look at somebody who's beenin business 25 years ago.
Oh, I wish I could be, I want tobe them.
I want to be, and you're juststarting out.
(24:48):
Boy, it hasn't always been easy.
And so be patient, uh, be adifference maker.
If it's all about you, it'sgoing to be short lived, but
boy, if you can make adifference in others and clients
and team members, that's goingto be, that's going to be big
and number four, be a, be alifelong learner.
So continue to learn, you know,don't, don't get complacent in
(25:09):
that.
And the last one is be stilltake time to just be still and
take time.
What'd you just talk about?
Maybe a week, maybe it's, maybeit's just, you know, a day,
something to just, you know,take some time to, to celebrate
where you've been.
Focus on where you're headingand, and, and maybe it's
bringing in a coach or a mentorin some of those times too.
KC Brothers (25:29):
Man, how did you survive before you opened your
firm and found all of thesethings?
I feel like you're, you're justlaying it out so clearly.
Um, and I hope, um, other peopleare able to hear this and take
advantage of it.
Those that, you know, might bein the thick of, Those long, um,
(25:50):
work weeks or the Yes.
In the, you know, the thresholdof deciding whether or not they
wanna start their firm or maybethey just started their firm and
they're drowning.
But this perspective that you'reoffering, I think is just so
beautiful.
Rusty Fulling (26:03):
Yeah.
I, I, and I think it's thethings that I always look for,
and I, I may have mentioned itearlier, but you know, the, the
kind of the three Cs, the coach,the cheerleader in the
community.
And if you don't have thosethree, that can, that can really
be lonely.
And, you know, cause if I don'thave somebody to go to when I'm
struggling on, how do I leadwell, uh, or somebody to
(26:25):
challenge you, maybe you're notleading well and here, I need to
maybe some accountability, butthat coach cheerleader, somebody
to cheer you on.
Those can be so, so vital.
So yeah, I'd, I'd encourageanybody that's starting out or
trying to figure out, do I evenkeep this thing going?
Or how do I grow from here?
Yeah, those would be, thosewould be some three things that
(26:45):
maybe look at investing in.
KC Brothers (26:48):
Well, more than three things.
You've dropped like 20 things.
Great gems to hold on to.
Okay.
Last question.
If you came across someone whois really skeptical of the Going
virtual or even hybrid, whatwould be your pitch?
Why would you say, you knowwhat, if you went, you'd be more
productive.
(27:08):
What, what, what would you sayto
Rusty Fulling (27:09):
them?
Yeah, I, I think there's,there's a, somebody was talking
about imitation or inspiration.
I think there's things thatwe've talked about today that
hopefully can be inspiring.
And, and maybe it's not, youdon't have to, you don't have to
go virtual to do everything thatwe've talked about.
Um, I would be cautious to say,yeah, go virtual and you can do
(27:30):
it just like this.
Um, So if, you know, if you'restruggling with going virtual,
maybe, maybe you shouldn't doit.
Uh, so I want to be, I want tobe realistic there.
Um, we've just found for, forour model, it's worked well.
Uh, we're recruiting right nowfor our next fractional CFO.
So if you want to
KC Brothers (27:50):
work fully virtual.
Yeah, yeah,
Rusty Fulling (27:51):
please, uh, yeah, virtual, uh, fractional CFO.
Hey, the cool thing, Casey, is,is guess where our workforce is.
Anywhere in the US, you know,and so, so we're not, you know,
stuck just in this one littlearea.
And so that's been so much funis, is bringing in great talent
from all over.
So, um, that that's one plugthough, as far as a, Hey, what's
(28:15):
a benefit.
You don't, you don't have alimited workforce.
Uh, and, and I think putting intools.
Uh, don't just, you know, leavepeople on islands.
Make sure you're intentionalabout bringing, building a
community.
Uh, having people say, wow, Ifeel closer to my team members
here than I ever did in person.
Those are the things that Iwould encourage you to strive
(28:37):
for.
If you are looking at a virtualmodel, does that make sense?
KC Brothers (28:41):
Yeah, well, and to your, that point to it, we
didn't call this out explicitly,but for some reason my brain is
like, Casey, call this out.
Um, it's just that, okay, we'resaving dollars, actual money, on
not having a brick and mortar.
Um, but remind yourself that notjust to save that money, but to
squirrel it away for things likebringing the whole team
(29:02):
together.
Rusty Fulling (29:03):
Absolutely love it.
Thanks for calling it outbecause so many people, oh,
you've saved so much money andI'm guessing we've probably
spent more, honestly.
Casey, we're preparing rightnow.
I don't know when this, thiswill drop, but we're preparing
right now for our virtualChristmas party.
And our parties are second tonone, even in a virtual world.
(29:24):
And you're going, how do you dothat?
We have an incredible team thatputs those on.
And, and so it's so much fun tosee what you can do in this
environment that, you know, fouror five years ago, I'd be going.
That's, you know, you know,that, that's not even going to
work.
So anyway, it, it, those, youcan definitely do it.
And, and there's so many toolsout there these days that make
(29:44):
it lots of
KC Brothers (29:45):
fun.
Don't, don't do it to savemoney.
Don't do it if you feel forcedto do it, but that there, there
are great benefits to it,especially if you feel like it
will serve your business model,you, your firm members.
Yes.
Rusty Fulling (29:58):
Yep.
Okay.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
KC Brothers (30:01):
Well, thanks so much for your time today, Rusty.
Rusty Fulling (30:03):
You bet.
Hey, it's good to see you.
We'll talk to you soon.
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