Avoiding Five Firm Owner Pitfalls

In this episode, Rachel and Marcus delve into the common pitfalls that accounting firm owners often encounter, sharing hard-earned wisdom from their own experiences. They highlight five critical mistakes to avoid, from building a nightmarish firm instead of a dream one to lacking passion and vision. The discussion also emphasizes the importance of steering clear of the comparison trap, letting go of the pursuit of perfection, and truly resting in a way that rejuvenates mind and body.

Chapters

• (00:00) - Welcome to Who's Really the BOSS
• (01:21) - The Five Firm Owner Mistakes to Avoid
• (10:28) - Mistake #2: The Comparison Trap
• (15:39) - Mistake #3: Chasing Perfection
• (23:06) - Mistake #4: Lacking Passion and Vision
• (29:31) - Mistake #5: Resting the Wrong Way
• (41:32) - Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead

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Creators & Guests

Host

Marcus Dillon, CPA

Host

Rachel Dillon

What is Who's Really the BOSS??

"Who's Really the BOSS?" highlights the joys and challenges of running a CPA firm with your spouse or family. From hiring and terminating to improving capacity, cash flow, and culture, our conversations cover leadership, operations, and current accounting industry challenges. Our mission is to strengthen families and accounting firms by helping listeners avoid the mistakes we have made, so they can lead and live happily ever after.

There may be errors in spelling, grammar, and accuracy in this machine-generated transcript

Rachel Dillon: Hi, I'm Rachel Dillon, and together with my husband, Marcus Dillon, we lead Who's Really the Boss podcast, where we highlight the joys and challenges of running a business with your spouse or family. Our mission is to strengthen families and businesses by helping listeners avoid the mistakes we have made so they can lead and.Live happily ever after.

Rachel Dillon: Welcome back to another [00:00:30] episode of Who's Really the Boss podcast.

Marcus Dillon: Hey, thanks for having me back.

Rachel Dillon: Well, I feel like, you know, some of the ideas or thoughts for the conversations that we're going to have. They really are inspired by other things that I see. And so sometimes when I see things, they're such click bait. But it's like the the five ways to do whatever or the three answers to, you know, all [00:01:00] your life's problems or whatever it might be. And so really thinking through what does that look like as it applies to accounting, firm ownership or, you know, having your own accounting firm, leading your own accounting firm. And so really talking through the five firm owner mistakes to avoid. And really what we're going with here is what are some the five lessons that we've learned that we want to share. So maybe someone else doesn't [00:01:30] have to learn them the same way we did.

Marcus Dillon: Oh, you're only giving me five. Uh, there's so many that I can I can own at this point. Um, I feel like I've matured quite a bit to actually be okay with the mistakes that I've made. Um.

Rachel Dillon: So maybe maybe it's the attention deficit coming in there, too, of, like, if it says that there's like 25 things, I'm like, yeah, that's too many. I'm not reading that. I'm not clicking on that. But if it says three, I'm like, well, I could probably do three things. So [00:02:00] here we go. I'm sure with five today.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, I'm sure it depends on the platform too. So like BuzzFeed, I feel like that one's always like 20 plus and they just want you scrolling as long as possible. Have all the pop ups that come along and, you know, Instagram it's it's probably five or less. Right.

Rachel Dillon: So that's right. That's right. So starting with number one, we want to avoid building a nightmare instead of building your dream ferm.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And a lot of times [00:02:30] what we see, uh, my journey is no different than a lot of our listeners and friends who have firms, and you're just a creature of habit. So you build what you grew up in. And so a lot of times I looked up and I realized what I left. I had now built and owned, which is not what I intended to do. So it's one of those where it's a trap that easily we all fall into. So if you're trying to avoid late nights and 80 hour workweeks and annual touch [00:03:00] points with clients, and then you go start your own firm, it may be very likely, if you don't have a plan in mind, that you look up one day or wake up one day from what you thought was a dream firm, and you're in the middle of a nightmare. And so where we saw that, um, and where a lot of people get frustrated within their own business is there's usually a tipping point. Right? And so for us, we kind of talk about that a lot, and we use it as, um, where we saw inflection [00:03:30] and we went one way because we didn't want to keep going the other way. Um, and it wasn't, it wasn't fun to maintain. So what we had built, um, just didn't turn out to be the dream firm that we intended to build. So no intention. We kind of lost it along the way if we did have intention. Um, and then the other piece that was quickly, um, defined, I guess is the role. So the role as the owner, what what is your role within your firm? And whenever you started it, [00:04:00] was it to do a thousand tax returns a year and to kind of be the number one production asset of the firm, or were you really called to go serve a select few or build a team or do something really cool? Who knows? Um, but that's where a lot of people talk about visualization.

Marcus Dillon: And if you visualize what success looks like one year out from now, um, what does your day look like? What like, can you picture yourself living out the life that you want one year from now? [00:04:30] Like even from what your morning looks like to your shutdown routine, what your family dynamic may look like or what you do as far as extracurricular activities. Um, so if you can do that with one year, you know what success looks like. So you work towards success and then can you do that three years out? That's a much bigger project. And you kind of have to, uh, maybe do a little bit more planning to make sure that three years out, you just don't. Put it out so far that, hey, I've got time to [00:05:00] improve. I've got time to work on that. Um, and even if you need to kind of back off the year and do six months out, you know, what do you want your life to look like a year from now? And I think that is really important this time of year because we are recording this on April 15th. So for a lot of our friends that just exited a tax season, what do you want tax season that you're finishing up in 2025? What is success look like. And if you can picture that then hey, let's go work towards it and make that a reality. [00:05:30]

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. Which is so very different than dreaming about let's say maybe some people get stuck in dreaming about the outcomes of the firm instead of dreaming about the actual firm. And I am not singling you out or any one person out. But I think so many times we dream of I want to have a firm that makes $1 million, or maybe it's $2 million. Maybe you've already passed up the million [00:06:00] like I want to inflation. Like now it is $2 million. Like I need a firm that makes $2 million. I want to have this kind of car. I want to live in this neighborhood with this house. I want to, you know, have this kind of watch, whatever it might be. And that's what you think about when you think of your dream firm. And that really has very little to do with what your firm is, but more of what the firm produces. And so that's where [00:06:30] we're saying, like, don't build a nightmare instead of your dream firm. If getting to that point of now, you have the $2 million and you have the nice car and the nice watch and the nice house, but it's a nightmare to maintain that you're constantly having to say no to things or people. You're having to miss out on things because you're just trying to maintain this firm so that you can maintain these things [00:07:00] that you have. Those things start to mean a whole lot less when you don't have anyone to share them with. So that's just something that we've learned. Again, we're just sharing from our personal experience that really the things don't matter much at all. You could be, um, in Switzerland living and having, you know, 18 years old, very little responsibility and just kind of unlimited time. And [00:07:30] the world is your oyster. But if you feel alone and there's no one to share those experiences with, it's not as cool as you know. If your best friends or your family were there to experience that with you.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, and thanks for calling me out, because I do like houses. I do like cars. I do like watches. So, you know, those are some of the tangible goals that could be seen, uh, with milestones that are achieved in any business or life milestones, if [00:08:00] you will. Um, some of some of this could equate, you know, growing up in a, in a sports family and also, uh, having children that did different sports, uh, mainly swimming. Uh, right. But if you equate it to to running, I would assume that most people that are runners that call themselves runners actually enjoy running. They don't just enjoy the finish line. And why would you put yourself through the pain of running? [00:08:30] Uh, which is probably not natural for most people just to experience the finish line. And whenever I visit with Ferm leaders or business owners, so many people put themselves through just difficult seasons, like just chaos of business to have an exit. And you think even about employees W-2 employees, they deal with crazy situations and like bad situations just [00:09:00] to get to retirement. And that is not the way that we should be kind of living our lives, I guess, uh, if you back up and take full perspective of it all and you I just heard this recently on another podcast where you should become less enthused with the success or the milestone and care more about the becoming, uh, that you are. And so that runner kind of analogy, uh, you [00:09:30] would embrace calling yourself a runner and enjoying the thrill of running and not necessarily the race or the finish line.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. And so just to highlight what it looks like, what we should be focusing on as we're building a dream, Ferm is really focusing on what do you want your role in that firm to be? What does that look like? And then you know, what does what does your day look like day in and day out every week? What does what [00:10:00] does that look like in your dream firm? And then backing into some of those other metrics or outcomes of how to how to get there, but doing it on a daily basis, enjoying each day and having that, um, firm kind of match your values and the lifestyle that you actually want to live, not just the things that you can maybe show to other people or say that you have.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And while we're talking about showing, that brings [00:10:30] up our second point. And, um, the biggest thief of joy that's out there is comparison. So that second point being comparison, that is the the mistake that you have to avoid as a firm owner because you never know what's going on on the other side of that screen or the other side of that camera. And one person, if you think about it this way, one person's dream firm may be another person's nightmare and vice versa. So, um, all that to say, like [00:11:00] you build the business that you want to build and have full confidence in it, we all have fear of missing out and comparison and just anxiety that goes along with like, that's just the age we live in. And especially if you have kids, you see that, you know, with the screen time and the amount that you see on, on, uh, not only maybe your kid's phone, but if you look at the screen time on your own phone and, uh, think about all that time you could get back, um, 5 to 10 hours a day for most people, I [00:11:30] would think so. Um, but comparison is just where, where you can kind of make sure that you don't fall in that trap because it's easy to and in all aspects of life. And so firm ownership is no different.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. And it just it's important to say that some people are going to have to work harder. To get to certain points than others. And it all comes down to, I mean, things that we can't necessarily change, like inherent [00:12:00] talent, um, skill set, even just things that people are interested in. So then it becomes easier because it doesn't feel like work. They're constantly learning about this or refining the skill because they're so interested in it that they just are always thinking about it and always working towards better in that area. Um, some other things are location potentially where you live and what type of clients are around you. And we're talking specifically [00:12:30] to accounting firms. It might look different. You may have to work harder, and you're definitely going to have to work differently than other people. So comparison is really a waste of time if we're comparing like, well, he said he did this and I did it and it didn't work for me. It's probably not going to. So it's really, again, when you're thinking about that dream firm and what you want your role and your firm to look like, and then figuring out the best way with your your skill set, your team skill set, [00:13:00] uh, the area that you're in and who you serve best. All of those things are a much better way to spend your time and energy thinking about, um, and kind of refining and growing rather than looking at what somebody else is doing and just comparing the two firms trying to do it apples to apples, because really, it's just not.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So let's let's talk about that because every social media platform, and if you think about the social media platform that probably most of us use, it's LinkedIn. And [00:13:30] um, we don't help like we post a lot and we, uh, fuel, you know, different things. Um, so how do you, you know, how do you get over comparison? How do you feel that people can actually leave comparison aside and put that thief on the bench, if you will? That way they can go and actually work on things that are fruitful and productive in their own lives versus just endless scroll. Because I've [00:14:00] gotten there personally on LinkedIn where it's just like, I'm done, I give up. I'll never be a success in the eyes of what this world says, success is. So other than just age and maturity, how do you speed that up?

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, I would say one and I'm just a little bit skeptical. And so I feel like it's always going to the source and like really talking to people and getting to know them. If you do really want to model your firm after someone who's gone before [00:14:30] you or who has already done it, then getting to know that person for us, we try to put out as much as we can as far as how it really went, what it looked like, the mistakes we made, the lessons we learned so that people will really understand. Yes, for social media posts, we're trying to put out like the best face forward. But if you want to talk about what that looked like, the months leading up to that, the years leading up to that, um, all of those things or just kind of the setbacks [00:15:00] that we faced in between, then it's really getting to actually getting to know people and not just looking at their social media feed. So talking to them, the other part is getting your own accountability partner or like support partner. So having somebody that you can go to and work with, who knows you and your team and kind of the goals and vision of your firm and then can help guide you along and help put a plan in place that's specific [00:15:30] to you and all of the things that you have going, um, and really play off those strengths rather than just trying to copy or mimic somebody else.

Marcus Dillon: So that brings us to that third point and what picture most people paint is perfection, right. And so the third kind of mistake that firm owners could make is constantly chasing perfection. And I've been guilty of that myself. Um, the hard truth behind all of that is perfection [00:16:00] isn't attainable. You get to whatever that perfect size is, that perfect client, that perfect revenue, profitability. And what's next? You know, I think we're just driven in ways that, um, perfection isn't there. It's kind of fleeting. And so I don't know if it's a mirage or whatever visual you want, but for me, it's just it's something that can never be attained. It's something that you kind of have [00:16:30] to constantly be okay with that you're going to make mistakes as you go. And like you said in the comparison mistake, uh, point, you know, there's just you need people around you that can kind of help keep you accountable and also understand that perfection isn't a real thing.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, consistency is always going. To yield better results than perfection. So there might be the best way to do something or the optimal [00:17:00] way to do something. But if it's not practical, if you can't apply it on a consistent basis, then it's not the perfect way for you or for me. So I can go all in and say, um, you know, I'm going to work out twice a day, every day. I think 75 hard challenge. So for 75 days and maybe you can make it for 75. But what happens on 76, like what happens on 300 after that 75 [00:17:30] days. What do those days look like? So um, or can we do like something maybe a little less extreme, but can do it? You know, I can take a walk every day, um, whether that's inside or outside, whether that's 5 minutes or 55 minutes. And so really just looking at things like that, um, another one might be for us, like posting on LinkedIn every single day. So somewhere that was set up as a goal that we wanted to do, um, and just see. And so [00:18:00] then it's like, oh my gosh, we're just trying to put anything out there. And it's like, okay, if we're consistent, if we can do four days a week and put out good content versus I have to do five days a week, so I'll just put out anything, um, it just has to be a balance. And so being consistent because what happens at the end of the day, sometimes minds are crazy places to go. And if you can't be perfect, then you're like, well then it's just not worth doing at all. And so that's why [00:18:30] consistency often beats out perfection, because a lot of times perfection is not sustainable. So even if you can achieve it at a point, um, then it's not sustainable. So then you end up not doing it anything and doing something then in that case would be better than doing nothing.

Marcus Dillon: Hey, but those 75 hard challenges, that's that's what people talk about. Like that's what gets the views and the clicks. And you know, the discussion, right, [00:19:00] is something like that. I feel like it's died down. Well, it's it's past the 75th day of the new year. Right. So no one no one's talking about it anymore. Uh, so I don't know what percentage of people, like, quit around what? Day 12. Um, isn't there some magic number after so many times of, uh, doing something, it becomes a habit. I'm sure you know that off the top of your head.

Rachel Dillon: Um, I think that that it's different for every person. [00:19:30] There are maybe some averages or something that that helps, but really, that is different for every person. Um, with 75 hard, which was something that's very interesting. Is that it? If you miss any part of it on one day, you have to start over at day one. And so there's probably not a whole lot of people that talk about if they didn't quite make it or if they had to restart multiple times and then still didn't make it. Um, yeah, they're probably not. They're probably not sharing that on social media. It's only the people who actually [00:20:00] made it.

Marcus Dillon: So yeah, the only the only thing in my life I try to avoid stuff like that because I know I'm going to fail. Um, and you want to just build in acceptance once that day comes or once whatever that non consistency is. And I think, uh, there's great books about that. Uh, Craig Rochelle just wrote a recent book about that exact topic. So even for example, my uh, Bible app. Right. You know, you can have a streak if you do the daily, um, [00:20:30] kind of reading and all that fun stuff. And if you miss a day, you have to start over kind of that same, um, 75 hard concept. So from a chasing perfection, I would just make sure that all Ferm leaders, CPA or business owners in general know that perfection can't be caught. Um, you're just chasing after the wind, right? Is kind of how the old saying goes.

Rachel Dillon: I think the recovery strategy for, [00:21:00] uh, perfectionism is that you have to intentionally fail at something and then start again and see that it's okay, that it's okay, that you could pick back up and keep going, and the world doesn't shut down. The world doesn't end. So that if you're not doing something the very best, but you're just doing something, you're still making progress forward. So even if you don't have it all figured out, but you're still you're still trying. You're still doing things and headed in the right direction. [00:21:30] You're better off than if you, you know, did it one time perfectly for such a short amount of time and then gave up after that because it wasn't sustainable.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And I think when it comes to Ferm ownership or types of firms, you've got tax practices, you've got the full, um, larger firm options where you may have a variety. A different practices or service lines with audit and consulting and all that fun stuff. Or you may have a CAS practice. And so, um, when I think about [00:22:00] just firms in general and the word perfect, um, it's real easy to see, like there is no perfect firm because within a firm you have people, and people aren't perfect. Right. And so I think once you start realizing that this isn't a textbook scenario, as much as we all kind of think back to our education, um, and how easy it seemed, right? Whether it's a CPA exam or a classroom type setting, [00:22:30] those textbook scenarios made it made it real easy, right? We knew the answer, but we didn't have to have the conversation with the team member about what they were working through, or how they needed to step it up in one area or another, or deliver the hard news to a client. Like you can't do that in those settings. You kind of have to learn on the fly. And so whenever you look at perfection, especially when it comes to a CPA firm, you have to give yourself a lot of grace because of who's in that [00:23:00] firm. Maybe if it's even only yourself, um, no one person is perfect.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so another mistake to avoid. And this is this is a big one. And not often this could potentially be overlooked, uh, by the accounting industry or by accounting professionals, but lacking passion or lacking vision or lacking both. So firms need both. They need both passion and vision [00:23:30] to be successful.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So I think the, the main thing there is passion fuels vision and vision gives passion direction. And so they are intertwined, as tight as you could imagine. And whenever we back up and look at the just, um, you know, the world of accounting or the world of technical tax, let's say, um, I haven't met too many people in my career, which now spans decades who are [00:24:00] passionate about, let's say, tax or a specific section of the tax code. Um, and that also goes to the perfection piece. Like as soon as you know it, they're going to change it on you. So, um, all that, you know, kind of leads to most of the people I know that are in accounting are passionate about other people, like relationships, and that is ultimately why they have chosen to [00:24:30] stay in the career of the industry that they're in. Um, they may have not started, uh, in accounting because of people or relationships. They started because of maybe their technical acumen, whether it was in math or accounting. They just did really well, uh, with numbers. And they had to choose along the way to stay in our industry because of something more than the technical piece. So I would say it goes a lot of times back [00:25:00] to that passion. Um, and like I said, I have never seen someone passionate about technical accounting or technical tax.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. And I think this is really important to having the passion and the vision when you have a team. So when you have a team, you need to have both. Passion is great to get people really excited, but they have to know where they're going. Or maybe everybody's going off in a different direction. And vision is super important. Again, to actually [00:25:30] achieve a goal, to actually achieve, um, making a positive impact, which is what is really important to us and to our team. And so without a vision, maybe you're going, but you're could be going in all different directions, um, vision without passion. Again, nobody's going to jump on board with you. Maybe they understand what you're trying to do, but they're not super excited about it. And so really, that's kind of how those go hand in hand, [00:26:00] especially when you have a team, you want them to be excited about the direction and then willing to move with you or, you know, sometimes so excited. Maybe they have even more passion about it than you do. And they're leading the way and so and getting other people on board. And so that's really where that comes in. And I think it was easy for us in the very beginning of the accounting firm was just to like, put your head down, do your work, go home. [00:26:30]

Rachel Dillon: Right. Like, let's, let's hurry up and get everything done as fast as we can so that we can spend time not working. We can spend time, you know, outside having fun doing whatever, um, with friends or family. And that really wasn't a good strategy to have. Yes, we all had kind of that same goal we had outside priorities. Um, but we spent the majority of our day, like, wishing we were someone else and trying somewhere else and trying to hurry [00:27:00] up and get somewhere else. So it actually started to look not so great in the firm, even though we were young and we thought that's all what we wanted. Like we don't want to spend our time working or thinking about work. Um, but actually, that really wasn't a good culture, um, to have at the time. And we were really lacking vision and we didn't really have any where to direct our passion. We didn't really know how to put [00:27:30] it in words. So really clarifying our vision, mission and values, that was something that became really important. Um, but really helped the firm and helped the culture as well.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So so give me some examples of maybe not inside of a CPA firm, but what's an example of something where there's passion? Tons and tons of passion, but no vision? So I think an example of passion [00:28:00] with no vision. You know, I go back to vehicles and cars and things like that. And so just the output alone and maybe a sports car. Um, and it just idling kind of being there without the vision, how to use all of that power. Um, I could see that, you know, it's just without the vision, the passion is kind of wasted. Um, on just sitting there idle, uh, maybe in traffic. You know, there's a ton of memes out there where this thing will do 0 to 60 and 2.9 seconds, [00:28:30] but then you're in rush hour traffic, right? So, um, I can kind of equate that to. The CPA firm and like passion without vision. Um, but then whenever you think about vision without passion, that's a lot of times where I think we are maybe as an industry and, um. It's just kind of the check the box the same as last year. You almost wish your life away, kind of to your point of how we used [00:29:00] to operate the business and not have fun doing it. I think a lot of people could say they're in that stage of life or stage of business ownership where they've got a vision, right. It's not a great vision like the vision is to get through the day, but are they passionate about what they do and helping others? And so I think that's where just overall adds to the success of your fulfillment with the business and fulfillment in life. And that's definitely one of those mistakes to avoid as a firm owner.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah [00:29:30] for sure. And then the last the last mistake to avoid which if you if like for me, I did have some perfectionist tendencies. I think I've recovered from all of those now. But once upon a time. And so this one is you can actually rest wrong. So if I needed one more thing in my life that could potentially be done wrong, um, this is like a new fear unlocked that you can rest wrong.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, [00:30:00] so talk about that. How can you like rest as a good thing? Right. And especially for a lot of our friends who are coming off the roller coaster of another tax season, just thinking about like, I'm going to do anything but. Firm. Firm related items. So what is rusting wrong look like?

Rachel Dillon: Yeah for sure. And I think I heard this on a podcast as well. Or read it, you know, on social media somewhere about resting wrong. And what it means is [00:30:30] not necessarily that, you know, like, this is gonna you're gonna have like this huge consequence as far as, like illegal or anything like that. Um, but more of the personal consequence that you're never fully rested. So a lot of the things that we do, and I'll just use personal example, is like scrolling social media that you're doing things to kind of numb out instead of actually rest. And so [00:31:00] really just citing in that, that rest doesn't mean you have to sleep. So resting doesn't mean just that you have to, you know, take naps or sleep ten hours a night, but that resting is actually doing something that you really enjoy that kind of recharges your batteries or reinvigorates you, maybe reinvigorates that passion, um, that might be lacking because you're tired, but that actually [00:31:30] doing things that are more numbing just will continue to contribute to how tired, um, that you actually are.

Marcus Dillon: So compared to where we were, let's say, a decade ago or even two decades ago when we had just a lot more energy, um, kids or no kids. But how do you value rest more today than you did earlier in your life?

Rachel Dillon: I feel like for [00:32:00] the two of us, because we had kids super early, um, we were 23, uh, and 25 when we had our daughters. And so, uh, I think I've always valued, I've always valued rest, but it has looked different at different times. And so for us, thinking about like, for example, and this means that I'm just super old is really what this means. But when we were in like our 20s, thinking about what we would do on the weekend, [00:32:30] and it was how many activities can we squeeze in? Like we're going to go with friends here, we're going to do this with our, um, small group here. The girls have, you know, 13 games, and then we'll take them to the park or the zoo or the poor man zoo. Uh, PetSmart. And, you know, like how many things and if there was a free hour or two hours, we were going to fill it with something. But again, that still felt different. And then we were [00:33:00] ready to go back to work, you know, on Monday. Now when I think about rest, I'm like, oh, like, not a plan. What rest feels like the weekend. The perfect weekend feels like maybe one activity scheduled over from Friday night to Sunday night. And and then of course, like church, but like one extra activity besides that. And that feels like how I need to rest now.

Marcus Dillon: And would that activity include other people?

Rachel Dillon: So [00:33:30] sometimes sometimes.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, I think I think that's the piece where. When you're in the moment, whenever you are working. Um, I used to be real guilty of it. Whenever we were at our busiest, whether I was within the firm that we own or at another firm, I would always go shopping, like to avoid work and different things. And, um, it would just be consumption of more and more and more. Um, [00:34:00] and then on the other side of that. You know, in date. The deadline, if you will. You just keep going. You just keep pushing. And you, um, you really don't stop to embrace the goal or the deadline that you just finished. You keep running. And, uh, part of that is even in a situation like this. I heard someone recently say that you run through the goal, um, like, you don't stop right at [00:34:30] the finish line and just shut down. You kind of have to run through the goal, ease off, and then maybe, uh, going back to the runner example, you hardly ever see anybody just finish a race and just stop. Especially if, like, they're a seasoned runner, you see them kind of carry it out, maybe go the block and kind of wind down. They're not going race pace or anything like that. Um, so for our friends that are just now finishing and about to enter into maybe a season of rest [00:35:00] or a season of reflection, what are some tips and tricks to kind of make sure that they don't abruptly stop and maybe tear an ACL or something?

Rachel Dillon: I think really what it is, is like not filling that downtime with things you don't enjoy. So especially for us, when we had a heavy tax practice and we had a lot of projects between January and April 15th, after that we [00:35:30] would start stacking like starting April 17th. All of the things that we couldn't get to during March and April. So that meant client meetings, calling clients back, you know, doing, um, one off projects that weren't related to the prior tax year and that tax return, um, even some, even some, you know, family and friend commitments we would start putting in because maybe we had pushed off parents and grandparents and siblings because [00:36:00] we just had to say no to everything, March and April. And so we would weigh over schedule. So I think that that's something to remember as you're coming off and rest is going to be a really important thing, is not that you have to go and like, okay, well, I can only rest if I can lock myself in my room and sleep for three days to try to catch up on all the missed sleep before, but really putting in some things that you really enjoy. Maybe you do really enjoy [00:36:30] other people and that is what recharges your batteries, then that's what you put in. But trying not to over schedule so many things. And then I think the biggest right now is like putting down the phone, like putting down the technology and allowing some space for actual hobbies or interests, and just to kind of let the mind relax and get back into a state of, you know, what do I really like? What really brings me joy in life? [00:37:00]

Marcus Dillon: So you've rested, you've had a period of rest. How do you come back? Because I know that a lot of people, uh, you get in that, you know, you get in that season and we've talked about this like even on vacation, you kind of need 1 or 2 days before your body finally, like says, hey, okay, we're on vacation and then you've got to come back at some point. You've got to boot back up the laptop. You've got to go back to to work, if you will. So what are some tips and tricks [00:37:30] on actually moving healthy, moving from rest back into a sustainable work? Um, pace.

Rachel Dillon: I was going to say I'm the worst person to ask about this because even if I'm off for like four days, I'm like, what do I even do here? How do I work? I don't remember this place. What am I supposed to be doing? But maybe that makes me the best person, because here's some things that I know help me to be able to come back. So before I completely [00:38:00] shut down or check out, I typically write my priorities of what I need to start on when I come back, because again, it's like complete mind erase. If I'm going for more than three days, then I'm like, oh my gosh, I don't remember anything that happened previously. So if I can write those down. So whether that's typed up in notes or scheduled in notifications or reminders for me whenever I'm scheduled to come back, then I don't have to spend the first 30 [00:38:30] minutes or hour reminding myself what I was working on and the status of where things were when I left. So really kind of, um, we talk about that in a shutdown routine that that can be done at the end of every day is, you know, kind of what are my priorities for tomorrow or where did I leave off on these projects or tasks? And then the other thing, and this, it just goes right along with it is kind of setting your priorities for that day, not necessarily for every day [00:39:00] or not every single thing that needs to be done, but. Tween now in the next six months, but really focusing on what needs to be done today, for today to feel like a success and then getting through those things. If there's extra time, that's bonus and you can do a few more. Um, but if not, at least you did the things that were most important to set yourself up for the next day and then continue to build on that momentum.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, I think you kind of hit on it making making the comeback easy as [00:39:30] well. So like leaving your space in a, in a good spot right to where you can kind of just sit back down and go, you know, go again. Uh, it's kind of like the equivalent of, you know, cleaning your house, making sure everything's square before you go on a trip, and then you have like a routine like we do when we come back in town from a trip. There's like, these different, um, different things that we do to know that we're back from vacation. Right. So on the way back from the airport, we eat at Lupe [00:40:00] Tortilla just to kind of know, hey, we're back in Texas. We have good Tex-Mex. Uh, maybe we didn't leave Texas, but it's just one of those where that's kind of a a habit or a ritual, if you will, and kind of get your mind back, um, to where what you're going to pick up the next day. And then I think the other, the other piece that I've kind of drifted, um, away from and need to get back into is whenever you're ready to jump back in.

Marcus Dillon: Um, probably not just jumping back [00:40:30] in, but starting with something that really you've missed and that builds excitement and kind of going back to that passion and that vision and all that good stuff, like something that you geek out on within your business or something that you really enjoy doing and starting with that. So maybe it's like the tech puzzle of a tax return or whatever that could be. Um, for those people that are wired that way, maybe you really just enjoy client development. So maybe the second or third day back, you [00:41:00] kind of have some client meetings with, uh, referral partners or prospects or things like that. And then the third that comes to mind is team development. Maybe you just really miss your team while you're gone. And so whenever you come back, probably not your first day back, but maybe your second or third, you build in some team time to reconnect and kind of get back into a rhythm, um, to where you can pick back up at a, at a reasonable pace and, uh, you know, not hurt yourself. [00:41:30]

Rachel Dillon: Yeah for sure. So just some highlights of the episode and kind of what we covered as far as the five perm owner mistakes to avoid. Um, the first it's not a dream ferm if it's a nightmare to maintain the second. Um, avoid the comparison trap that some people will have to work harder than others. The third stop chasing perfection. Consistency is always going to trump perfection. So instead of chasing maybe optimal [00:42:00] or the best, how about chase? Chase practical? What can you practically do on a consistent basis? Um, making sure that you have both passion and vision and that those two are working together to run your firm and then making sure that you're resting. Actually resting. Um, in a way that's going to make you both have more joy in your day, more satisfaction, and then also just more productive is what [00:42:30] hopefully that will lead to.

Marcus Dillon: All right. Well, those are those are five mistakes we can talk about five more on the next podcast. Uh, or we'll just leave it at that and uh, go go further, uh, with the conversation next time.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, absolutely. It's been a great conversation. Thanks for having it.

Marcus Dillon: All right. Thanks so much.

Rachel Dillon: Thanks for hanging with us to the end of another episode. Leave us a review with your thoughts, comments, and feedback on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you don't miss [00:43:00] any future episodes. Join us again next week for another great conversation.