This week I want to reframe outsourcing to create leverage.
But first –
Today’s Tactic
This past week, a newsletter subscriber asked me about mindset mentors I follow or books I read.
I responded that I had a paid mentor/coach from May ’21 to Jun ’23 while transitioning out of my firm. We spoke primarily about mindset and how to achieve bigger goals.
For books, I read Ron Baker’s stuff for accounting-specific mindsets and perspectives.
I also read and listen to Alex Hormozi to challenge my view on big picture stuff. Alex has numerous approaches to reframe how we see things. His content never fails to instruct and inspire.
I believe that our education and training are the least of our issues when it comes to hitting goals. The greatest barriers are related to tightly-held beliefs about our circumstances, networks and support, and personal abilities.
The biggest improvements in my businesses were not due to enhancements in my tech but changes in my perspective. Having someone challenge your mindset is the only way to get that perspective change.
I’ve read Alex’s book ‘$100 Million Offers’ four times, and his new book, ‘$100 Million Leads’ is being released tomorrow at a live event.
If you are interested in getting exclusive additional value during the event, you can tune in via this link:
If you have time, it will be worth your investment. I guarantee that.
Reframing Outsourcing
Every single firm outsources.
If you use accounting software, you outsource your ledger.
If you use Microsoft 365, you outsource your communication.
You cannot build a firm without outsourcing.
Most of us wouldn’t consider using an app or a tool as outsourcing, but it is.
We are depending on a partner to help us deliver our services.
Other things we outsource: Office cleaning. IT support. Marketing + Web development. Usually, we don’t say we’ve outsourced these firm components but hired a contractor.
It seems that something isn’t considered outsourced until we charge a client for services someone else delivers.
Regardless of how you define it, outsourcing is leverage.
When done correctly, outsourcing improves profitable. It is a major lever to untangle the strategic revenue and profit driver in your firm: You.
If you don’t remember anything else from this week’s newsletter, remember this:
Outsourcing isn’t profitable because of the markup on the service but because of the time + capacity it creates for you.
Competing Priorities
When I launched my firm, I had two competing objectives:
- I wanted to deliver a high quality work to my clients.
- I also was hungry for revenue.
To generate revenue, I offered a long list of services. I was a one-stop shop for small biz clients.
I was proficient in everything, but I wasn’t delivering the maximum value for each service.
My need for revenue outweighed my ability to deliver value.
I see a lot of small firms do this. To generate cash flow, they offer AND do more things. They are heavy on services and low on client impact.
The thing is, sustainable firm growth doesn’t come from stacking the services. It comes from maximizing value from a core set of services and finding leverage for everything else.
Getting to the point where you only deliver on a core set of services
1. List out your clients and the services you offer – get granular.
2. Tabulate the revenue (and profit, if available) of those services.
3. Find the top three services you offer by volume and value.
4. For every other service, find a partner that can do that service better than you.
5. For the services you keep, break down the tasks of that service – get really granular.
6. Tabulate the tasks into low, medium, and high skill levels required.
7. Find a VA for the low skill level tasks. This doesn’t mean these tasks are not important, but they are easier to teach to someone else.
Once your billable work is leveraged, let’s look at the firm operations:
8. List the non-billable tasks you and your team complete. Think – training, onboarding, hiring, mentorship, team building, app research and development.
9. Determine what non-billable tasks can be augmented or if one of the team members involved can be substituted with an outsourced service.
The idea is to remove you and your core team from low-value, low leveraged work.
Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.
Maximizing Leverage – Outsourced Series
It is time-consuming to find the best resources to create leverage. That’s why I am running an Outsourced Series in September.
I am hosting four value-packed webinars to gain leverage in key areas of your firm:
1. South American Accounting Talent
I will be chatting with Agustin Morrone from Vintti about outsourced talent in South America. Every outsourced employee I’ve worked with has been from either India, Sri Lanka or the Philippines.
South America offers the unique advantage of having offshore team members in the same time zone. Reduce the early morning or late evening meetings to sync up with your team.
Thursday, September 7, 2023 @ 1pm EST
Register Now
2. Candidate Personality + Skills Testing
Quickly assessing talent is important to identify and acquire good talent as soon as possible. Giles Pearson FCA, CEO of Accountests will join me to discuss how to reduce the chances of hiring the wrong person.
Assess top bookkeeping and accounting talent in hours instead of weeks.
Thursday, September 14, 2023 @ 3pm EST
Register Now
3. Outsourced Top Tier Payroll Services
Christina Hageny PHR, CPP, SHRM-CP, President of Valor Payroll Solutions, will discuss with me the benefits of outsourcing payroll. Payroll seems like a simple add-on, but it can quickly become a nightmare.
If you’re not on top of jurisdictional laws, I guarantee that you’re delivering sub-par value service to clients.
Thursday, September 21, 2023 @ 1pm EST
Register Now
4. Outsource School
Non-traditional accounting talent has to be part of your team structure. I will speak with Ana Santiago, COO of Outsource School, on how Virtual Assistants can change the trajectory of your firm.
We are going to dive deep into vetting, hiring and training world-class VAs.
Thursday, September 28, 2023 @ 11am EST
Register Now
Build The Firm You Want.
Mark