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

leadership

4 ways small firms can surpass larger firms

by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

when i look through accounting today’s top 100 leaders list and the comments they have made about what they perceive to be the challenges in our profession, many of the answers are the same: change, talent and relevance are a few you’ll see. and they are all right to some extent, but there is a deeper systemic problem that i think could fix quite a few of these in one swipe. i’m not saying it will be easy, but it is a fairly straightforward problem once diagnosed.

the most interesting part is that the smallest firms are getting better at solving this than the larger firms. read more →

marketing & sales

the 5 worst marketing methods for accountants

update: see the rebuttal, “the 3 most unused marketing methods for accountants“

by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

there are a couple of dozen different marketing methods that you can use to build your practice, but they are definitely not created equally. in fact, some are so ineffective and costly that we really try to steer people away from them. here are five of the worst for building your practice. read more →

management

5 tech tools for managing remote staffers

by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

when you are working out of your home and have reached the point where you want to hire someone, you have many options, but one of them may not be having employees come to your home to work. and although i have had employees working out of my home when i was single, it was not an option in 2010 when i was ready to hire an assistant. so i hired a virtual one.

today you might be surprised to know that my employees work from home two days a week each, and i only see them in person once a month. how do we do it? we keep our heads in the clouds. here are five tools that keep us seconds away while we’re miles apart. read more →

outlook & analysis

the five biggest social media mistakes of accounting firms

by sandi smith leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

social media is all the rage, and there’s lots of pressure on small business owners – from friends, coaches and especially social media vendors – to get you to use social media in your marketing.

in most cases, we like to talk accounting practice owners out of social media marketing (and we’re one of those vendors who will set up and maintain your social media accounts for you, so we turn down an awful lot of business).

here’s why, and here are the five biggest social media mistakes accountants make:

read more →