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Planning a Firm Retreat That Keeps Your Team Aligned All Year

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Team retreats can easily become forgettable obligations. People spend a few hours in a conference room, have some general discussion about “next year,” and everyone returns to their desks unchanged. But Marcus and Rachel Dillon have spent nearly a decade figuring out how to make their twice-yearly retreats count for something more.

In this episode of Who’s Really the Boss?, recorded just after a successful year-end team retreat, the Dillons share exactly how they plan and execute gatherings that keep their remote team aligned all year long. This retreat was particularly significant, as it was the first time their entire team came together after two acquisitions that grew their firm from $3 million to $6.5 million in revenue.

Starting with Leadership Alignment

The work that made this retreat effective started in late September. Their leadership team, including Marcus, Rachel, Director of Operations Amy McCarthy, and Director of Accounting and Advisory Lezlie Reeves, met in Saint Louis, Missouri.

They were already there for a meet-and-greet related to their recent acquisition, so they carved out a full day specifically for 2026 planning. The change of location helped them focus beyond daily operations.

“We were out of our normal element, which was great because it changed the pace and place and allowed us to focus better,” Marcus explains.

The team uses a framework originally developed by C12, an organization of Christian business owners, which they’ve adapted for their accounting firm. The framework breaks planning into five key areas:

  • Revenue Generation. Setting targets and monitoring progress, with flexibility to adjust client onboarding based on team capacity
  • Operations Management. The steady force that keeps the firm grounded when new opportunities arise
  • Organizational Development. Team structure, hiring, roles, and succession planning three to five years out
  • Financial Management. KPIs and reporting—the self-accountability accountants sometimes neglect for their own firms
  • Ministry. How the firm gives back and serves as good stewards

What emerges is a one-page document with a matrix showing each goal area, the strategic objective, success metrics, who’s responsible (including first and second chair assignments), and deadlines.

“If there’s no timeline, you just keep kicking the can down the road,” Marcus notes. “And those goals never get touched again.”

The leadership conversations extend beyond immediate goals. They discuss where each person sees themselves in three to five years, and what they want to see happen. These discussions require openness from everyone involved.

“As a leader, you have to be prepared for whatever your fellow leaders’ answers may be,” Marcus says. “You have to be open to hearing that.”

Finding the Right Time

The Dillons learned through trial and error that when you hold a retreat matters as much as what you cover. Their timing has evolved over the years.

Initially, they held retreats in January, capturing the new year, fresh goals energy. But that created immediate conflicts. “Taking a day and a half or two days right when you come back from the holidays is tough,” Rachel explains, especially with year-end financials due by the 15th and 1099 work piling up.

They tried pushing it to after January 20th, but that still felt rushed with the January 31st deadline approaching. Moving it any later meant they were already more than a month into the year before rolling out goals.

Their current approach places the retreat in mid-November, the week before Thanksgiving. This timing works because teams have just finished the November 15th deadline for month-end financials. Leadership has ten and a half months of data to review, enough to project year-end performance and celebrate achievements without waiting for perfect December numbers.

“If people are busy and have deadlines and clients waiting and asking for things, they cannot be fully focused and engaged in the retreat,” Rachel emphasizes.

For a remote firm where more than half the team flies in, the schedule runs Sunday arrival, full day Monday, half day Tuesday, with people heading home Tuesday afternoon. This prevents taking up too much of people’s weekend and avoids the stress of same-day travel.

The Logistics That Matter

Every detail either helps team members focus or creates distraction. The Dillons have learned which investments pay off.

They provide hotel rooms for everyone who needs one, including local team members. “Some people took us up on that because they didn’t want to wake up super early, commute, and get ready. That’s just not their normal routine,” Marcus explains.

Food is available throughout both days. Hotel catering costs more than bringing things in, but it simplifies coordination dramatically. The team eats lunch off-site both days, providing mental breaks from the meeting room.

When everyone’s together, they maximize the opportunity. A photographer comes in for professional headshots, and team members cycle through during sessions without disrupting the flow. Only Monday requires professional dress; Tuesday is comfortable.

The Monday evening Christmas party happens at a nearby Brazilian steakhouse, with spouses invited. But first, the team went to Great Big Game Show, a venue where groups compete in TV-style game show formats.

“It was less than $40 per person. It was an hour and a half event,” Rachel notes. “So it was fairly cost effective but very memorable for the team.”

“It doesn’t have to be expensive to be memorable,” Marcus says.

Building Trust Through Transparency

What happens in the room determines whether the retreat creates lasting change or fades by the following week. The Dillons’ approach centers on transparency about the firm’s actual performance.

They share real revenue data, including year-to-date numbers, projections, where the firm stands against goals. Many firm owners hesitate at this level of openness, but the Dillons have only seen positive results.

“There has never been an instance where someone has come to us and said that we are unfair based on a revenue number,” Rachel says. “The only things that have come from us sharing more has been positive response and feedback.”

This transparency extends to the firm’s direction. In 2021, during their pivot to remote work, they created “Future Direction” statements, which are clear commitments:

  • Monitor, monetize, or refer annual tax clients outside core services
  • Operate within a fully connected tech stack
  • Share industry best practices with peers
  • Be the model firm in small business accounting
  • Attract highly qualified, highly motivated team members
  • Implement travel retreats
  • Create initiatives to give back locally and abroad

Four years later, they still reference these statements at every retreat. “We can go through and put a check mark next to every single one and point back directly to exactly how we achieved those things,” Rachel explains.

The continuity matters when firms undergo major changes. “When they look back at this, they see it’s not any different than what we said we were going to do,” she notes. “Maybe how we get there or what we use to do it changes, but the overall direction definitely aligns.”

Celebrating Before Charging Forward

The Dillons organize both achievements and initiatives into four categories: Growth (clients and team), Process (procedures and technology), Team Development, and Collective by DBA (their peer network offering). This structure ensures nothing gets forgotten between retreats.

For 2025, there was plenty to celebrate:

  • Securing 12 out of 15 targeted new organic clients
  • Two successful firm acquisitions
  • Multiple director-level additions including Operations, Accounting and Advisory, Technology, and Tax and Financial Planning
  • Implementing of Double for improved client reporting
  • Launching monthly role-specific training programs
  • Growing the team from 15 to 25 people

“I don’t do a great job of stopping to celebrate,” Marcus admits. “So I made sure that it was built in.”

Each year gets a theme. For 2025, it was “Growth, not comfort.” For 2026, they’ve chosen “Lead change, create impact,” reflecting their shift from a growth phase to refinement as they integrate everything they built.

The firm also shares specific quarterly goals and hiring plans. “When we started opening up more transparently with the financials and the overall plan of the business, we could actually invite people who are smarter and better than us in given areas,” Marcus explains.

Even the closing gifts reflect practical thinking. The Dillons receive quite a bit of vendor swag throughout the year, including high-end items from Canopy, Intuit, QuickBooks, ADP, and Double. Rather than letting these accumulate, they share them with the team.

“If you don’t have stuff like that laying around, I’m sure you can reach out to your partners, your technology partners, and they’ll send you some stuff to share with your team,” Marcus suggests.

Making It Work for Your Firm

The difference between retreats that drain resources and those that create momentum is intentional planning that starts months ahead, timing that respects your team’s reality, logistics that remove friction rather than create it, and transparency that turns information sharing into trust building.

Listen to the full episode of Who’s Really the Boss? for more advice for running a successful team retreat. Plus, Rachel offers to share DBA’s actual retreat agendas and planning templates with any firm owner or team member who reaches out. “Don’t feel like you have to reinvent the wheel,” she says. Email her at rachel@collective.com or use the contact form on their website.

As the Dillons have learned through nearly a decade of refinement, when you invest in getting retreats right, a two-day gathering can align and energize your team for the entire year ahead.

Rachel and Marcus Dillon, CPA, own a Texas-based, remote client accounting and advisory services firm, Dillon Business Advisors, with a team of 15 professionals. Their latest organization, Collective by DBA, supports and guides accounting firm owners and leaders with firm resources, education, and operational strategy through community, groups, and one-on-one advisory.

This CPA Firm Grew to $1 Million by Saying No to Most Clients

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When Nick Liguori, CPA started his accounting firm at the beginning of 2020, he had modest goals. “I figured if I can add a few more clients and build it up a little bit, that would work fine,” he tells Rachel Dillon, host of Who’s Really the Boss? podcast. “I’d hopefully make enough money to pay the mortgage and make ends meet.”

Five years later, his New Hampshire-based firm, Liguori Accounting, has seven employees and just under $1 million in annual revenue. The transformation didn’t come from working longer hours or taking on every client who walked through the door. Instead, Nick discovered the power of focusing on one specific industry: medical aesthetics and med spas.

From Side Hustle to Specialized Practice

Nick’s path to firm ownership wasn’t typical. After starting his career at a mid-size regional firm and then moving to a smaller practice focused on small businesses, he spent time in industry working for a publicly traded company. During those corporate years, he began taking on tax and bookkeeping clients on the side.

“After a little while of doing that, it got to the point where I couldn’t balance both things anymore,” Nick explains. He made the leap to full-time practice right as 2020 began, just before the pandemic changed everything. In some ways, the timing worked in his favor. “I was setting everything up virtually and remote anyway,” he says. “So COVID-19 obviously forced that on everybody. In some ways I got a little bit of a head start.”

For over a year, Nick worked solo. Then, about two years in, a referral changed everything. A local med spa needed help with outsourced accounting, tax, and advisory work. The fit was perfect.

Discovering the Perfect Niche

“A lot of the med spa owners that we work with are obviously medical professionals. That’s their area of expertise,” Nick explains. “But they’re not necessarily financially minded or that’s not their strength. So we provide a lot of value there, helping them navigate the financial aspect of their business.”

That first med spa client led to referrals, which led to more referrals. The firm got involved with local associations. “That was the first stepping stone into taking it to a much bigger audience—more med spas across the country,” Nick says.

Two years ago, the firm decided to focus exclusively on med spas. It wasn’t easy. “We had an existing client base that were not all med spas,” Nick admits. “So it was a little scary to say, okay, now we’re only going to focus on med spas.”

The transition meant letting go of clients who no longer fit. “We’ve definitely lost a lot of those clients. Some have just churned out naturally and some we’ve let go because they really weren’t a good fit for the services we provide now.” But Nick sees it as progress. “Each year when I look back, we’re a step forward in the right direction.”

Marketing Where Your Clients Already Are

Once the firm committed to the med spa niche, marketing became much more targeted and measurable. “What’s been most successful is getting in the industry spaces where the owners are hanging out,” Nick says.

Conferences became a primary strategy, though the investment felt risky at first. “Getting into it for the first time was a little bit scary because it’s a big investment,” Nick admits. Conference booths typically cost between $3,000 and $5,000, with some running as high as $10,000.

But the returns justified the expense. “We went to one last November and came away with two or three new clients,” Nick reports. “When you think about it from an ROI standpoint, if you’re getting a monthly client for an event that costs you $5,000, it pays for itself.”

Beyond conferences, the firm appears on industry podcasts and webinars targeted at med spa owners. They work with the New Hampshire Association for med spas, which started just a few years ago. “We’ve worked with them from the beginning,” Nick says. “There’s a much lower cost of entry when it’s local.”

The firm now focuses on getting speaking opportunities at conferences rather than just booth space. “That’s where you get the most exposure and probably the best opportunities,” Nick explains. “People can come and go. And depending on where you’re set up in the conference center, you may not get great activity.”

Building Systems That Scale

Specializing in one industry created unexpected operational benefits. “Once you learn a few med spa clients, now you sort of know where the potential issues lie,” Nick says. “It’s probably inventory. Are their sales broken out properly? Is there equipment broken out on the balance sheet? We know where the problems tend to be.”

This predictability transformed their onboarding process. What originally had no timeline became a 60-day process, then shortened to just 30 days. The firm built templates in Keeper (now Double), its practice management software, sends comprehensive checklists to clients, and schedules three strategic meetings throughout the onboarding period.

“We always try to schedule the next meeting before the end of the current meeting,” Nick shares. “So it’s on the calendar. They’ve committed to a time that works in their schedule.”

The firm adopted the Team of Three structure about a year ago. With three bookkeepers, two managers, and Nick as the CFO, everyone has clear responsibilities. “There’s no confusion,” Nick says. “Everyone knows what they’re responsible for.”

Training new team members became easier too. “Once you’ve worked on this client, the next client is going to be very similar,” Nick explains. The firm relies on shadowing and screen recordings for training. As Rachel notes, “When people are limited on capacity or availability, shadowing is always great. We just always try to record.”

The Price of Expertise

Perhaps the most dramatic change has been in pricing. “My original packages were $200 a month for bookkeeping and $500 for CFO support,” Nick recalls. Today, the firm offers three tiers:

  • Bronze (bookkeeping only): $800/month
  • Silver (bookkeeping + quarterly tax planning/CFO): $1,200-1,500/month
  • Gold (bookkeeping + monthly tax planning/CFO): $2,000+/month

Most clients choose the silver tier. “That’s where we have the most interest, especially with med spas, because that tax planning piece is really beneficial,” Nick explains.

The firm also charges substantial onboarding fees: $3,000 for bronze tier, $5,000 for silver or gold. When prospects push back, they might offer to split the fee into two or three payments, but rarely discount.

Higher prices actually improved client quality. “You avoid some of the clients that are just price shopping and really don’t value what you’re doing,” Nick notes. The clients who seek out industry specialists understand they’re paying for expertise.

Lessons from the Journey

Looking back, Nick wishes he’d been more intentional from the start. “I started my firm without a big picture plan in mind,” he admits. “I wish I had set up processes, set up our service offerings at the beginning before starting, rather than trying to figure it out on the fly.”

Pricing confidence took time to develop. “We really didn’t get our pricing to a place that was solid for probably a couple of years,” Nick says. “Knowing the value you provide and being confident as you’re selling—that was a big thing for me.”

The past year has been one of regrouping after team and client transitions. “We’ve put a lot of effort into building the team, getting our processes down really well, and streamlining onboarding,” Nick explains. “We’re doing our best to set ourselves up for that next phase of growth.”

Working with an advisor through Collective by DBA has helped navigate these changes. “Having that sounding board and someone who has seen a lot of different firms at a lot of different stages has given us a really good perspective,” Nick shares. “It’s easy to feel a little bit isolated, especially with these bigger picture decisions.”

The Power of Focus

Nick’s journey demonstrates that specialization doesn’t limit opportunity—it creates it. By focusing exclusively on med spas, his firm can:

  • Market directly to a defined audience with measurable ROI
  • Onboard clients in half the time it used to take
  • Train team members more efficiently
  • Command premium pricing for specialized expertise
  • Better plan capacity

“Having that industry focus makes it a lot easier to say no to the clients that are not ideal,” Nick says. “And a lot easier to identify clients that are going to be a good fit.”

For accounting professionals considering specialization, Nick’s advice echoes what his father taught him in the family conveyor belt business: “Measure twice, cut once.” Think through the decision from multiple angles. Research your chosen niche thoroughly. But once you commit, the benefits compound with each new client you serve.

The firm now limits itself to onboarding just two new clients per month—not because they can’t handle more, but because they know exactly what it takes to deliver exceptional service. That’s the confidence that comes from knowing your niche inside and out.

Want to hear more about Nick’s journey and get detailed insights into building a specialized accounting practice? Listen to the full episode of Who’s Really the Boss?, where Rachel and Nick dive deeper into the specific strategies, challenges, and victories of transitioning from generalist to specialist.

Rachel and Marcus Dillon, CPA, own a Texas-based, remote client accounting and advisory services firm, Dillon Business Advisors, with a team of 15 professionals. Their latest organization, Collective by DBA, supports and guides accounting firm owners and leaders with firm resources, education, and operational strategy through community, groups, and one-on-one advisory.

Admitting You Don’t Know Everything Became This Young CPA’s Secret Weapon

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Picture this: You’re 26 years old with a newborn baby, eating rice and beans from a bulk bag because your accounting firm is three months away from bankruptcy. Your Excel budget calculation was catastrophically wrong, and you’re facing the reality that your entrepreneurial dream might be over before it really began.

That’s exactly where Nate Goodman found himself in 2022. He was staring at his wife across their kitchen table in Black Mountain, North Carolina, wondering if they’d bitten off more than they could chew. “I told my wife, ‘We tried it, I failed. We’re gonna have to eat rice and beans,’” Goodman recalls.

Fast-forward to today, and Goodman’s firm, Goodman CPAs, just closed 2024 with $1.7 million in annual revenue. His team of 12 professionals serves clients across the country, and he’s building toward a $2 million run rate.

His transformation from struggling bookkeeper to successful CPA firm owner didn’t happen because he suddenly became a better accountant. It happened because he discovered something many of us resist: admitting you don’t know everything can be your greatest competitive advantage.

In the latest episode of the Who’s Really the Boss? podcast, Goodman shares the raw details of his journey, including the pivotal moments when crisis became his catalyst for growth.

From Churches to CPAs: The Humble Beginning

Goodman’s story doesn’t start with grand business plans or venture capital. It starts with chickens, three young boys (ages 5, 4, and 2), and a simple desire to help churches with their bookkeeping while maintaining work-life balance.

In December 2019, fresh out of his MBA program, Goodman launched what he thought would be a small bookkeeping practice focused on churches. “I have some mentors doing this and only working  20 or 30 hours a week,” he explains.

But a conversation with Jim, an experienced CPA firm owner, changed everything. When Goodman pitched his church bookkeeping idea, Jim asked the hard question: “What are your credentials? Do you have any experience? Do you have any education?”

Goodman had an MBA but admitted to a limited accounting background. Jim’s response was direct: “Well, no one’s going to trust you if you don’t either have education or experience.”

Instead of getting defensive, Goodman chose to be teachable. Within a week, he re-enrolled in school for his accounting certificate so he could sit for the CPA exam. Jim sweetened the deal: complete a tax course, and he’d bring Goodman on as an intern for the 2020 tax season.

The Crisis That Changed Everything

By 2022, things looked promising on the surface. Goodman had purchased Jim’s practice (Jim was 85 at the time) and another practice through owner financing. But underneath, the numbers weren’t adding up.

The problem was embarrassingly simple and devastatingly expensive. Goodman had built his budget in Excel, but made a critical error. “I got the calculation wrong. My shareholder distributions were being added back to the cash,” he explains. “When I figured it out, I was like, oh, we only have like three months left, and we’re not going to make it to next tax season.”

The timing couldn’t have been worse. The CPA he’d hired was asking for more money than the firm simply couldn’t afford. “That was my first time terminating somebody. And that went very poorly,” Goodman admits.

That’s when the rice and beans period began. “We bought the big bulk bag of rice and did that whole thing to make it work,” he says. They were literally living on the most basic provisions while trying to save their struggling business.

But this rock-bottom moment became Goodman’s turning point. Instead of giving up, he finally discovered something that would transform his business: CPA communities and coaching groups.

“I did not even know that CPA communities existed, that there were other CPA owners out there that would share common knowledge. And so I was just going blind through 2022. And that was a very dark year for the business,” he reflects.

The transformation began in August 2022 when he found coaching groups that taught him proper pricing strategies and service delivery models. “I could price a 1040, but to price a CFO engagement or a bookkeeping engagement, I was just shooting from the hip and hoping for the best.”

The Systematic Turnaround

The results were immediate and dramatic. After implementing the new models and pricing strategies, Goodman’s firm grew from roughly $300,000 to $1.2 million in revenue in 2023—a nearly 300% increase in a single year.

Part of this growth came from strategic acquisitions. The acquired practices brought about $150,000 in revenue, and a third acquisition added $275,000. But the real growth came from transforming how they served existing clients.

“We were able to present to them, hey, instead of getting your financials once a year, what if we did your bookkeeping once a month, and you could make some more decisions? And what if we could save you $30,000 in taxes next year, and it’ll cost you a fraction of that, but it’s more than you’re paying now?” Goodman explains.

The firm also benefited from being the only CPA practice in Black Mountain. “We’re the only people here that can provide this service now,” Goodman notes, which helped with client retention during the transition.

Building Systems That Weather Storms (Literally)

By 2024, the firm had grown to 12 team members working in a hybrid model. Some work in the office, others are fully remote, and they even have team members in the Philippines. But their systems faced the ultimate test in September 2024 when Hurricane Helene hit.

“The eye of the storm went through our town,” Goodman explains. “About a 10th of a mile down from our house turned into a lake.” While their community was devastated, with power lines down and infrastructure destroyed, Goodman made a crucial decision.

“We’re like, well, we could take the server, take the networking equipment so people can VPN to the office, and we can set it up at my parents’ house in Roanoke, Virginia,” he recalls. “So we drove to Roanoke, plugged in the server, hooked it up to their internet, and then our team could work from my parents’ living room.”

This wasn’t just crisis management—it showed how the firm’s systems had evolved to handle unexpected challenges. The team maintained operations while their entire region struggled with basic utilities.

The Power of Peer Networks

Goodman’s discovery of peer communities happened almost by accident, but it became a game-changer for his business. During summer 2024, while mowing his lawn and trying to complete CPE requirements, he discovered he could listen to accounting podcasts instead of sitting through webinars.

“A friend of mine told me about Earmark to earn CPE with podcasts. I was like, ‘This is great. Now I don’t have to sit down for like a webinar or something,’” he explains.

That’s when he found the “Who’s Really the Boss?” podcast and heard discussions about fractional CFO services and team structures, and listening to the podcast helped him discover the team structure the firm needed to move toward. 

The remarkable part? His firm had just overhauled its structure two months earlier. But instead of sticking with something that wasn’t working, Goodman brought the new model to his leadership team with complete honesty. A willingness to abandon recent work in favor of proven systems accelerated their growth significantly.

Current Focus and Future Goals

Today, Goodman’s firm operates with metrics and systems that would impress much larger practices. Team members earn performance bonuses based on four specific metrics: maintaining accuracy above 90%, achieving client satisfaction scores of 90% or above, keeping client retention at 90% or above, and completing month-end closes by the 15th.

The firm also specializes in serving direct primary care practices—doctors who’ve left the traditional healthcare system for a subscription-based model. “We really believe in what they’re doing and the model they’re building. So we’re trying to be the great back office so they can focus on patient care,” Goodman explains.

They’ve even hired a dedicated salesperson with a compensation structure of $50,000 base plus 8% on collected revenue and 4% on first-year residuals. It’s a sophisticated operation for a firm that’s only five years old.

The firm’s current focus is on process optimization and AI implementation to help their team work more efficiently. Their goal? A 36-hour workweek with half-day Fridays while maintaining their growth trajectory toward $2.5 million in revenue.

The Lessons That Matter

Looking back, Goodman’s transformation offers clear lessons for other firm owners:

  • Be willing to admit what you don’t know. “I’ve been surprised at how many people are relatively open with what they’re doing and willing and wanting to help you and your development,” he reflects. “And so just asking the question, asking for a virtual coffee has been extremely helpful.”
  • Find your community. The isolation of trying to figure everything out alone nearly destroyed Goodman’s business. Once he found coaching groups and peer networks, his growth accelerated dramatically.
  • Implement proven systems rather than reinventing them. Goodman’s breakthrough came when he stopped trying to create everything from scratch and started following blueprints that other successful firms had already tested.
  • Stay teachable. When Goodman discovered the team-of-three structure just months after reorganizing his firm, he didn’t let pride prevent him from making another change. That flexibility to adapt has been crucial to his success.

At 29 years old, Goodman is quick to acknowledge he still has much to learn. “I love to learn from people who have been here and done that,” he says.

His advice to other young firm owners facing similar challenges is simple: “Don’t stress out so much. It will work out.” But pair that with action: seek mentorship, join communities, and be willing to admit when you need help.

Your Next Step

Goodman’s story offers insights into pricing strategies, team structures, acquisition approaches, and the systems that enabled his dramatic growth. If you’re ready to move beyond struggling alone and start leveraging the collective wisdom of successful practitioners, listen to his full interview on “Who’s Really the Boss?

Sometimes the difference between eating rice and beans and building a multi-million dollar firm isn’t what you know; it’s your willingness to learn from those who’ve already walked the path.

The crisis that could have ended Goodman’s entrepreneurial dreams became the foundation for extraordinary growth. Your current challenges might be setting the stage for your own breakthrough if you’re willing to be teachable enough to find it.

Rachel and Marcus Dillon, CPA, own a Texas-based, remote client accounting and advisory services firm, Dillon Business Advisors, with a team of 15 professionals. Their latest organization, Collective by DBA, supports and guides accounting firm owners and leaders with firm resources, education, and operational strategy through community, groups, and one-on-one advisory.

Design Better Habits, Build a Better Accounting Firm

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When Rachel Dillon began her 4:30 a.m. workouts in January 2010, she only knew she needed a routine that fit her teaching schedule. She had no idea this personal commitment would eventually shape how she and her husband, Marcus Dillon, run their accounting firm, Dillon Business Advisors. Years later, they discovered that the same habits guiding their health journey could also help them overhaul their business.

Starting from Excess and Finding Focus

In 2016, Rachel and Marcus merged their firm with a mentor’s practice. This left them juggling more clients than they could serve effectively. At the same time, they were both working with a nutrition coach to improve their health. Seeing how steady, daily actions led to personal change, they realized these principles could solve their firm’s overload problem.

The final puzzle pieces came together when the Dillons read James Clear’s Atomic Habits. They recognized they’d already been applying many of his ideas to their personal lives and their accounting practice. This sparked an intentional approach to three principles that continue to guide their growth today.

1. Make It Obvious and Easy

A big lesson from Atomic Habits is turning good intentions into obvious, easy actions. The Dillons did this by scheduling important firm tasks at the start of each year. They get quarterly client meetings, team scorecards, and even vacation windows on the calendar long before anything else can crowd them out.

Rachel explains, “What gets measured, gets managed, and what gets scheduled is more likely to happen.” 

Going on a family vacation during spring break is nearly unheard of in accounting firms as it often falls right in the middle of the March 15th and April 15th tax deadlines. But the Dillons started blocking off spring break in small steps. At first, it was just a few days, but then they eventually built up to the entire week. This helped them balance busy season deadlines with time for family. Over time, team members also learned that when tasks and priorities are clearly laid out, everyone stays accountable.

2. Environment Design

Environment design means shaping spaces and systems so the right behaviors become natural. When Rachel and Marcus wanted more flexibility for their team, they began transitioning to remote work. Before going fully remote, they tested digital tools like Microsoft Teams so people became comfortable collaborating online. They also invested in proper desks, monitors, and other equipment rather than letting everyone rely on a single laptop at the dining room table.

According to Marcus, “If someone stayed on one small laptop for five years, they wouldn’t be as effective. Actually spending money on environmental design was a good call.” By building a flexible, remote-first culture, they kept talented staff who valued autonomy. They also served clients more effectively because team members had the right setups to do their work.

3. Identity-Based Habits

Finally, the Dillons aligned their daily actions with the values and identity they wanted for their firm. Marcus and Rachel emphasize transparency, so they share their objectives early—even when they’re unsure how plans will unfold. For example, they’ve begun exploring possible firm acquisitions to grow beyond the standard one-client-at-a-time model. They keep their team in the loop even before potential deals become certain.

“Transparent leaders do this,” says Rachel. Their team appreciates being trusted with big-picture thinking and offers ideas for making acquisitions smoother. Marcus adds that their firm’s vision and values mirror their personal ones, so it feels natural rather than forced. When beliefs, words, and actions match, big changes tend to stick.

Personal Habits Fuel Professional Results

The Dillons’ story shows that lasting change often starts with personal commitments. By applying principles of habit formation to their firm—making tasks obvious, designing supportive environments, and acting consistently with their values—they’ve built an organization that embraces growth year-round.

To learn more about how Rachel and Marcus continue to evolve their firm and stay true to their values, listen to the full episode of the “Who’s Really the Boss” podcast. You can also visit Collective.cpa for more resources to help you design a modern accounting practice.

Rachel and Marcus Dillon, CPA, own a Texas-based, remote client accounting and advisory services firm, Dillon Business Advisors, with a team of 15 professionals. Their latest organization, Collective by DBA, supports and guides accounting firm owners and leaders with firm resources, education, and operational strategy through community, groups, and one-on-one advisory.

The Blueprint for Turning Your Accounting Practice into a Private Equity Magnet

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Private equity investment is changing the accounting industry in a big way. In the past three years, five of the top 26 accounting firms in the U.S. have received financial support from private equity firms. This marks a notable change in how these businesses operate. As more money comes into the industry, smaller to mid-sized accounting firms are feeling the pressure to either grow larger or focus on specific areas of expertise to stay competitive.

How can we ensure our practices thrive in the face of ongoing challenges? Dave Bunce, Director of Partnerships at interVal, has extensive experience in accounting and mergers and suggests that companies willing to change and adapt their operations can achieve remarkable growth and value. This applies whether they are looking for investment from private equity firms or choosing to operate independently.

On a recent webinar, Dave shared three critical transformations that can help position your firm for success:

1. Moving beyond compliance work
2. Building sustainable recurring revenue
3. Creating scalable operations

Beyond Compliance: Redefining Value

When looking to buy a business, buyers pay close attention to two main things: the people you serve (your clients) and the skills of your staff (your talent). It’s important to remember that it’s not just about how many clients or employees you have; what really matters is the quality of your relationships, and the unique value you bring that goes beyond just meeting basic requirements.

“What they’re going to assess on that client list is how long they’ve been with you, how well you’ve grown or retained them, how well you’ve sold your other services to them, and how you’ve moved beyond the commodity of compliance,” Dave explains.

Offering high-profit advisory services can significantly increase the overall value of a firm. While accounting firms usually sell for a price that is about half to two times their revenue, where you fall on that scale largely depends on how well you provide valuable additional services. Top firms often group their clients into three categories—A, B, and C—based on how much growth potential they have and how open they are to receiving advisory services. This approach allows these firms to concentrate their efforts on the clients who are most likely to benefit from these expanded services.

Great opportunities for offering advice can often be found in the information we have about our current clients. For instance, analyzing $15 billion worth of client businesses, Dave’s team discovered that there was $4 billion sitting in working capital that businesses weren’t using efficiently. This finding opened up immediate chances to have important discussions with clients about smart ways to handle their money, plan for the future of their business, and improve how they manage their financial resources.

Finding new opportunities is only the beginning. Companies need clear methods to effectively offer these services on a larger scale and truly make the most of them. This is why creating strong Client Advisory Services (CAS) is so important.

Building Recurring Revenue with Strategic CAS Development

Many firms looking to increase their recurring revenue often begin by considering CAS. However, they must make an important choice: What kind of CAS do they want to provide?

“Are you looking at being a fractional CFO and bookkeeper? Or are you aiming for a high-margin, value-add CAS practice where you guide business owners through strategic planning exercises?” Dave asks. These are completely different ways of running a business, and each one needs unique strategies for hiring people, using technology, and providing services.

To build a successful CAS practice, Dave recommends a four-step approach:

  1. Define Your Scope: Determine whether you’re pursuing a high-volume bookkeeping model (starting around $500 monthly per client) or a high-margin advisory practice focused on strategic guidance.
  2. Validate the Market: Test your proposed offering with existing clients, understand what competitors charge, and ensure your pricing aligns with market expectations and cost structure.
  3. Build the Processes: Develop standardized workflows and procedures to ensure consistent delivery and scalability.
  4. Assemble the Team: Hire and train professionals suited to your chosen model—process-driven staff for bookkeeping or experienced advisors for strategic guidance.

Creating Scalable Operations

The foundation of a valuable, scalable firm lies in well-documented processes. Yet many firms make the costly mistake of implementing technology solutions before mapping out their core business processes.

“Map those things out—current state. Identify the gaps. Build the process the way you want it. Then identify where technology can fit,” Dave advises.

Start by documenting your key business cycles:

  • New Business to Cash Collection: From acquiring a client to receiving payment.
  • Resource Allocation and Delivery: Managing how work is assigned and completed.
  • Talent Lifecycle Management: Recruiting, training, and retaining staff.

This documentation is important for several reasons: it helps maintain stability when employees leave, ensures that services are provided in a consistent way, and shows potential buyers that the company operates at a high level of professionalism and readiness.

Think about the issue of employee turnover. Firms often invest a lot of time helping new employees learn their roles without having clear instructions or guidelines to follow. By creating standardized processes and having everything documented, the onboarding experience for new team members becomes smoother and quicker. This not only helps maintain a high level of service but also boosts the firm’s overall efficiency and profitability. Additionally, a well-organized business is more appealing to potential buyers.

Only after mapping these processes should you evaluate technology solutions. By mapping out how things work and noticing where there are gaps or inefficiencies, you can make better choices about which digital tools and automation will truly help your business succeed.

Positioning Your Firm for Success

Changing a traditional compliance-focused accounting practice into a more scalable business takes careful planning and a step-by-step approach. By moving beyond compliance tasks, firms can develop regular income sources and create clear, documented processes, which can lead to both immediate profits and lasting success.

Whether you choose to seek investment from private equity firms or decide to stay independent, making these changes can help your firm thrive in a competitive marketplace. Successful firms will focus on building efficient operations and offering valuable services.

Anyone looking to build an accounting firm that’s ready for the future should consider watching the full webinar recording. You’ll get practical strategies, pricing ideas, and tips based on Dave Bunce’s wide-ranging experience in both public accounting and private equity.