Smell the fear, but do it anyway

Welcome back after the holiday season.

After my last column, I hope that some of you are setting goals for 2009, and will work towards achieving them.

In my November article, I mentioned 4 creative new services you might want to offer clients, and described two of them, CFO2Go and C4, with the promise to discuss the other two next time.

Well, here they are:

Tax Audit – This is an idea to target High Net Worth individuals and offer a review of their tax position for $5,000 with the promise to offer advice that will save them at LEAST $10,000 in tax, or the service is free.

Sounds too risky for your taste?

Well, before you rush into a ‘not for me!’ attitude, think about it. For non-clients, is it possible that for those who have a substantial amount in assets and income, that some potential savings could be generated with a little thought?

I think it is. And the bigger the file, the bigger the potential savings. So, guaranteeing $10,000 in savings isn’t really much of a big deal – IF and ONLY IF, you select your clients carefully!

Business Health Check – I have spoken about this before in this column, and make no apology for repeating myself somewhat, it’s that important. However, for the benefit of those who read this column regularly (and God bless you - thank you for your emails and phone calls – you know who you are!) I will be brief.

I’m a big fan of CCH Profit Driver. Anyone who really knows me, know that. It’s a ‘What If...’ analysis tool that you can use with your clients to really get them thinking about what they intend to do with their business in the coming year.

You can dump the results from their financial statements into the software within 30 seconds and then get to ‘play around’ with the tool.
It’s great to get clients thinking about their business and seeing you as a business mentor rather than a bean counter.

It can also be very lucrative for you. A new DVD I have coming out in 2009 is called ‘How to make $5,000 or more for 2 to 3 hours work’ and it is aimed directly at the practitioner using CCH Profit Driver to get high end but easy work from their better clients. I urge you to check out Profit Driver and give it a spin.

Now, the two ideas above, and the two mentioned in an earlier edition of The Bottom Line are not rocket science, but so few practitioners do this.
I think it’s because they’re scared.

They’re scared of the software, they’re scared of the investment (oh, do come on, it’s very inexpensive and is paid for on the first use, even if you charge your clients peanuts, relatively speaking) and they’re scared of breaking away from their comfort zone of year-end financial statements and tax returns.

Please, take a chance this year. Try something new. Smell the fear, but do it anyway.

Fear is a nice segway into the second thing I wanted to talk about this month.

In my office, one of the biggest lines of work we do is recruiting staff for public accounting firms. In our recruiting work, we often see candidates who know they are ready to move firms, but something is holding them back.

They know the opportunity we have been discussing with them is right for them, better hours, better conditions, better work, more responsibility, better money, and so on, but something is still holding them back from making the move.

That ‘something’ is fear.

‘It’s better the Devil you know’ some of them have said, either to me, or to Debbie at my office, and some decide to stay put, even though they know they will be happier in a new role.

For those who are switching firms for the first time, it is a more emotional problem – a lot like breaking up with your first boyfriend/girlfriend, but for the more senior people, the root cause of their indecision, is fear.

They’re afraid that they’re making a mistake, they’re afraid that they won’t fit in, they’re afraid that the commute will be too much and so on and so forth. It’s really the fear of change and the fear of the unknown, nothing else.

If these were genuine concerns, they would not have gone to the interview in most cases. Fear is really an acronym for False Experiences Appearing Real.

So, if you’re looking at a new opportunity, and it feels right, smell the fear, but do it anyway. In most cases, you’ll be very pleased that you did.

Wishing you a great start to 2009, let’s enjoy the ride together.