here’s what you’re looking for: sandi smith leyva

growth strategies

four tips for when the going gets tough

how to change your thinking to prevail over the most difficult circumstances.

perseverance is a skill that anyone can learn to not only survive, but thrive through life’s curves. when adversity strikes, it’s not what happens to you but how you respond to what happens to you that has the greatest impact on your life.

here are four specific ways you can change your thinking to persevere in the toughest of circumstances, from sandi smith leyva, cpa, creator of  the accountant’s accelerator small-firm growth program. read more →

outlook & analysis

the five tech trends turning beancounters into business advisors

as data-entry costs plummet, new opportunities for accountants open up.

by sandi smith leyva
accountant’s accelerator

after over 30 years in this profession, accounting has never been more promising and more exciting.  the main reason is technology is driving data entry costs so low that it’s just about to disappear.  that means we can finally focus on helping small businesses get more out of their accounting dollars through more analysis and better tools.

here are five areas that i believe are essential to serving clients best: read more →

growth strategies

three must-have checklists for your practice

checklists work for astronauts. why not accountants?

by sandi smith leyva
accountant’s accelerator

airplane pilots and astronauts have checklists for just about everything they do.  checklists promote performance consistency, make it easier to learn new procedures and increase safety exponentially.  in accounting, we can learn from the airline industry and apply checklists to certain areas of our practices in order to reap similar benefits.   here are three areas of your accounting practice that can benefit from checklists: read more →

outlook & analysis

two steps to easy upsells

by sandi smith leyva
accountant’s accelerator

adding revenue does not have to take much time or money. start by going after the low-hanging fruit.

open excel or your favorite spreadsheet tool, and make a worksheet from the sales numbers in your accounting system. list the name of each current, active client you have in the rows of the spreadsheet. across the top, make columns for each service you offer. for example, if you offer tax, bookkeeping and quickbooks consulting, you will have three columns.

you can break your revenue out any way you like. the more columns, the better.

then, drop in your revenue numbers from your accounting system. in quickbooks, you may be able to run your sales by customer summary to make it faster. you can create the columns by class, if that’s what you use to break out your revenue by service line.

that’s step one, to create your spreadsheet. step two is the fun part.

read more →

outlook & analysis

five thinking patterns that will keep you playing small

what makes you flinch?

by sandi smith leyva
accountant’s accelerator

if you feel you should be doing better than you are in business, you may have a belief pattern that is unconsciously holding you back. the first step is to bring it to the surface. only then can it be addressed, released and replaced with a belief that will lead you to increased success.

here are five of the most common thinking patterns or beliefs that will keep your accounting business from growing. read more →

outlook & analysis

how to build a marketing plan on an excel spreadsheet

7 key elements.

by sandi smith leyva, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

it’s quite common for accounting firms (even the regionals) to have no marketing plan in place. the marketing plan might very well be, “get as many referrals as we can.” or it might be a number for each partner (which is not a marketing plan). or it might be, “if it’s not busy season, i’ll go to my business networking international group.” none of these are plans. they are individual marketing tasks and components. read more →

outlook & analysis

3 steps to business clarity amid the sea change in accounting

by sandi smith leyva, cpa
accountant’s accelerator

with 2014 upon us, it’s a good time to take stock of where we stand for the year, plus regroup as needed before the busy season begins. with so many changes in software, politics, tax laws and global standards, it’s pretty easy to feel a little disorganized.

here are three steps to help us take stock of our foundational business goals, re-evaluate our big picture and get us centered as we enter this new phase. read more →

outlook & analysis

does your website have the winning formula?

follow the 5 c’s to a better website.

by sandi smith leyva

it might feel like the internet, your website, and marketing in general is just one big game of chance.  large companies gamble millions on superbowl commercials, while small companies gamble on trade shows, networking groups, and answering the next hot rfp.  the question is, is there a better way to market and get clients that doesn’t feel like gambling?

when it comes to websites, there is a surefire formula you can follow to make sure your web site brings you business, no matter what your business.  i call it my 5c formula.  let’s take a closer look: read more →