The Four R's of Improvement Season: Recharge, Review, Refocus, Refine

Rachel and Marcus share their approach to "improvement season" - the strategic summer months between tax deadlines when most accounting firms slow down. They break down their four-part framework of recharge, review, refocus, and refine, revealing how they used this time to tackle everything from cybersecurity upgrades to team candor training after completing a firm acquisition. The duo candidly grade their own performance while discussing the challenges of maintaining momentum when team members are taking well-deserved vacations.

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• (00:00) - Welcome to Who's Really the Boss
• (00:55) - Family Updates
• (03:01) - Accounting Firm's Busy Season
• (03:44) - Improvement Season Concept
• (07:51) - Recharge: Rest and Relaxation Strategies
• (15:54) - Review: Analyzing Feedback and Performance
• (22:49) - Refocus: Aligning with Mission and Vision
• (24:56) - Refine: Setting Goals and Execution Plans
• (30:09) - Technology and Security Enhancements
• (36:29) - Soft Skills and Team Dynamics
• (40:41) - Client Alignment and Service Models
• (45:00) - Growth Strategies and Future Planning
• (51:12) - Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Creators and 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: Welcome to Who's Really the Boss podcast. I'm Rachel Dillon, and along with my husband, Marcus Dillon, we share the joys and challenges of leading a $3 million accounting firm together. From team structure to growth strategies, we share our leadership successes and failures so you can avoid the mistakes we have made and grow a valuable accounting firm.

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

Marcus Dillon: Hey, thanks for having me back.

Rachel Dillon: Excited to record with Just you and me this week. So that's a little bit different maybe than the last episode. Um, looking forward to our conversation.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Uh, we've we've been spending a lot of time just you and me, uh, here together. So I'm sure people will hear cash in the background. He's still the plus one, uh, for now. And, uh. Yeah. You want to give a little bit of update, family wise, Eyes about why? It's just [00:01:00] you and me spending so much time together.

Rachel Dillon: Yes. So recently we dropped off both daughters at college, and so they are both in the North Texas area and about an hour from each other, but quite a ways away from Houston. So I think we're officially considered empty nest. But having the dog that's, uh, high needs, high maintenance doesn't feel so much like empty nesting.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Uh, Jon Acuff is somebody [00:01:30] that we listen to their podcast, his podcast and his books, and he likes to call it the Road Show. Uh, instead of Empty Nest. And we've been spending a lot of time on the road, for sure. Uh, back and forth between Waco, back and forth between Fort Worth, uh, even today, after this is recording, we're heading up to Fort Worth for the holiday weekend. So, uh. Yeah, it's it's been good, but putting a lot of miles, uh, on on vehicles with the commute.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, absolutely. [00:02:00] So if any of the listeners want to check it out and see if we look refreshed now that we have both girls out of the house, or if we look super tired from all the travel that we've been doing, they can go check us out on YouTube. So if you like watching instead of listening, definitely go check out the podcast on YouTube. Um, collective by DBA channel and definitely a playlist for all of the podcast episodes. Um, as well as if you [00:02:30] enjoy listening to this, it's always helpful if you can like or share the podcast with others. Our goal definitely is to help other people and definitely help people learn from our mistakes. So we share a lot of those, uh, and then also share what's working well, not only in our firm but in other firms that we get to do life with.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. For sure. Um, YouTube, check it out if you like video. So, um. But. Yeah. What are we, uh, what are we going to spend some [00:03:00] time talking about today?

Rachel Dillon: Well, we are right here, um, starting another busier season in our accounting firm. And so Dylan Business Advisors focuses on accounting and advisory, full service. So we do the monthly bookkeeping, but we also do tax and tax consulting for our clients. And so the full time September and October typically get a little bit busier within the office just with the extension filing deadline. [00:03:30] So with that, you know, a lot of accounting firms kind of measure their year in those seasons tax season, then this lull in the middle and then extension filing season. But at Dylan Business Advisors a few years ago, we decided that that time wasn't really the time to take a break or take our foot kind of off the gas. And so we decided to turn that season improvement season, actually [00:04:00] give it a name and give it a focus. So, um, may hear cash hear in the background as he's coughing. Maybe he'll make an appearance, uh, in the video of this later on.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So, uh, you framed it. Well, improvement season is that summer. Um, those summer months where a lot of people take time off. And, uh, we've spoke to that both at DBA and collective, and I think a lot of folks are latching on to to that term. Right. And [00:04:30] there's so many projects, so much improvement that people want to do that it is an ideal time to do that. Uh, the pace of work during a tax season is a little bit different than the pace of work in summer or even, uh, after extension season during the holidays, and rightly so. Like nobody wants to keep, uh, working that hard and it's just a shift to different types of work, which is sometimes harder. Sometimes the work that you do during an improvement season [00:05:00] is actually more challenging than just picking up a set of financials or a tax return. So, uh, for those of y'all that share in that thinking and are coming out of improvement season going into extension filing season, uh, we're right there with you.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. So thinking about that as far as improvement season, that time right after April 15th. And then we like to give ourselves kind of a deadline of August 15th right before that, um, work starts to [00:05:30] pick back up in the office as we near the September and October 15th deadlines. And so this, this past year, um, at the end of April, we actually shared an improvement season guide to help friends through collective by DBA. So we actually shared a resource that was a free download, um, still available in case anybody wants to grab that. But really, we wanted to talk about and recap what Dillon Business Advisors improvement season looked [00:06:00] like. So we have that guide available if anybody would like it. We can definitely share that with you if you just email us. Um, happy to share that resource with you if you haven't found it yet. Um, but wanted to talk through kind of the four areas and how we applied that at Dillon Business Advisors. What this allows us to do, and has allowed us to do really, is to take that year, um, and not experience those, uh, such [00:06:30] busy times in the normal January through April time period and the September October time period. So what we started doing was really using these times to focus on what improvements need to be made in our firm. So that every tax season is better than the last. Or said differently, we never have to experience that kind of pain again so that each. Each year, the filing season feels a little bit better, both to team and client.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. [00:07:00] And to your point, like what's in your control, I think is a question that we ask ourselves a lot around DBA and collective. And a new tax law was passed July 4th in preparation for that. Like, you can control your preparation and your amount of communication out to your clients. And hopefully that lends itself to a as good as a tax season that we could hope for in Q1 and Q2 of 2026. If you [00:07:30] wait, um, to your point, you know, we we always try to do things for improvement, but there are external variables, uh, like a new tax law or like, uh, a reduced workforce at the IRS. And that applies to taxes that could apply to different parts of, uh, of the accounting business as well. But, uh, yeah, I think improvement season really starts with recharge, right. And so we're going to go through each, each one of these areas in that first area, which is, you [00:08:00] know, important to anybody, especially if they're coming out of a season where they've worked, uh, maybe more than they wanted to, or just the stress and anxiety that goes along with a deadline was a little bit higher than what they wanted it to be, um, consistently. So recharge is, you know, a few different things to us both. You know, at collective, we we actually had an event called recharge, and we will continue to have that event called recharge. And while the destination may [00:08:30] change, uh, for that, that event and I know that's a an Easter egg for some, um, yeah, I think it's an important kickoff to improvement season.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. So recharge really just means that you take some time Off to rest and relax. But while you don't really have to convince anyone that some time off is needed after a deadline, we do put some parameters around that. So because we want [00:09:00] to take advantage of this most of the time, slower season within an accounting firm that happens between April and August. Um, that's where we want to say maybe don't quit. Like maybe don't just stop and leave the office and never think about it again, but take a few days to rest and recharge and then come back ready to start putting a plan in place and focusing on areas [00:09:30] that need the improvement, so that over the next few months, you can actually make some changes. Again, that's going to make every year in the future that much better.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And I would say it's recharge, not retire. Uh, I know a lot of people feel that they they owe themselves the whole summer, uh, you know, as far as a recharge break. So really would, uh, recommend putting in parameters because it's [00:10:00] just harder to get back into the groove. Uh, as we all know, if we take too much time off and, uh, that, that only that doesn't only apply to us as leaders. It also applies to team members. And we know how hard that they work during that season as well. So yeah, it's important to, you know, take the time and reflect. Right. And just say, hey, this is was a was a season that we're coming out of. How do we rest appropriately. And then what's the timeline [00:10:30] on that rest if if you had to put a timeline on it, what would you say is appropriate for somebody like us? That's that's leading an accounting team?

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, I would say no more than a week, so even even better. 3 to 5 days and maybe an extra long weekend after that deadline, or maybe through the end of that first week. But there are so many things that are important to capture right there at the beginning, before everyone within the [00:11:00] firm forgets how painful things were or what didn't work. Um, and so, yeah, 3 to 5 days is ideal. Um, no more than seven because you're going to start getting the team is going to start forgetting. And then all of those things that we like to pile up for after the deadline are going to need attention immediately. And you're you'll start running out of space to really focus on what were [00:11:30] those areas that needed improvement. And so what that looked like in Dillon Business Advisors this year, it just worked out. Um, the deadline was in the middle of the week, and then the Friday was good Friday and Easter, so we were able to give the team an extra day off for that. And then, uh, as a leadership team, that's the time that we took to rest and recharge was just over a long weekend.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And I think we were proactive, [00:12:00] uh, even though we were all going to be taking some time off and, um, you know, obviously, uh, re-energizing ourselves after, uh, the, the, the deadline. Right. But for us, we we're kind of balanced even leading up to that deadline. But there is always stress involved, uh, with things that come up at the last minute. So, um, some proactive things that we did is we had, like the tax season survey teed up and ready to go to our team. It was sent to them. [00:12:30] It just wasn't required to be completed until that next week after Easter. And a lot of people did fill that out. Maybe that week of Of the deadline because they were, you know, in between tasks and making sure stuff got done and they weren't really going to be starting anything new. So that was just a good, you know, filler. Uh, for some of those gaps. And I would recommend anything that you can schedule, anything that you can put in their hands and then give them a longer timeline to, to to kind of [00:13:00] think about and, and prepare that. But when we came back after Easter on Tuesday, we had those results, uh, ready to go. And that was really recapping, um, you know, the, the next stages of the improvement season.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, absolutely. And before anyone turns off the episode and says, I'm not listening to this because I'm taking a vacation, uh, after busy season, we still took a vacation. Um, I feel like the month of August was a super long time [00:13:30] off for the two of us, at least where we were traveling multiple places, working a little bit in between, but a lot of vacation time. And what that meant was we had a lot of things to focus on and get done. Get the team and all of the people that we work with, whether it's outside vendors or whatever, it may be, kind of in line on a plan and executing before we just disappeared for days at a time where we weren't available to others. [00:14:00] And again, it's just about not letting that momentum stop. So it's not about never resting or never taking a vacation. It's just about strategically planning when you do that so that momentum continues. You know there's a lot of momentum going during busy season. Everybody's working, firing on all cylinders, and then you don't want to just stop, you know, let everything come to an abrupt because then it's so much harder to pick back up and get really focused and get into a good, [00:14:30] um, kind of rhythm and pace. So that's that's all we have to say about recharge and kind of strategically planning, maybe instead of immediately the day after the deadline disappearing. Maybe you postpone that rest for a couple of days, come back, get a good plan in place, and then once it starts executing, then take, you know, then disappear for a week or ten days or however long you like to be out.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And I think for most people that have, [00:15:00] uh, children or connected to some type of school calendar, um, you know, it's not like you're easily going to be able to break away right after a deadline like that. So, um, maybe how you reward yourself and recharge mentally is you book some vacations, right? You actually, you actually schedule the travel. You pay for the hotels and airlines just to have something to look forward to. To your point, we did that a lot in August. We had a lot of travel. Um, I don't know that we would consider [00:15:30] moving people into new dorm rooms and new duplexes a vacation necessarily, if you count that as fun, please see us every year in August, and we will gladly give you all the fun that you could enjoy. Uh, because we have about four more years of that in front of us. So, uh, yeah. But yeah, so that's recharge. And then we already kind of planted the seed about, uh, the next stage of, uh, improvement season, [00:16:00] which is review. So we move from recharge to review. And I think we did a really good job this year of, like I said, getting that survey into the team members hands and that tax season survey. I know it's, uh, available within the collective community. And we've shared that, uh, before. And it's really helpful. It kind of narrows in on the pain points that may exist leading up to a deadline.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. And definitely gives permission and invites the team in to share [00:16:30] what went well, What didn't go well? And specifically for each team member, what went well? What didn't go well? Because maybe there was only a something that was happening that only 1 or 2 people experienced, but that could make a huge impact, meaning client service or client experience. Maybe they're the only two that do a certain portion, but it touches all of the clients. That's something good to know, even though maybe the whole team didn't experience it. So sending out that survey is really important. [00:17:00] Um, shout out to Amy, our Director of operations, and Leslie, for helping make sure that things like surveys go out timely, um, and don't get missed. And so there's there is some prep, but we've tried to make it very easy for everyone. Now by sharing those are already created and sharing those with others. So it's not something where you have to reinvent the wheel or figure out, what are we going to ask? Um, they're already templates available and ready for [00:17:30] that. So as we received those back, it was really important to this has been kind of the theme. I feel like all year it's so important if you have something that you want to do to put it on the calendar. It doesn't matter if you know it doesn't matter. You don't have to know anything else except for that you want to do it and then pick a date in the future and put it on the calendar. Because at least by that date, there's going [00:18:00] to be some movement. Um, with that project, with that meeting, with that survey, whatever it might be, put it on the calendar. So that's something that I have been trying to do this year, not waiting until I have everything figured out and then scheduling a meeting, but going ahead and holding the space for it in the future so that I have time and accountability to continue moving forward on whatever I'm working on.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Um, your your calendar [00:18:30] link and my calendar link both float around to a lot of different people. And, uh, you always want to make sure that that calendar is blocked appropriately or, you know, personal events and things like that are blocked out just because, um, you know, as two of the team members that really are leading the growth aspect of DBA and collective, you know, we have to be available for for phone calls and things like that. So, uh, I would highly recommend that you review your calendar and live by [00:19:00] that and stay true to your ideal workweek, your ideal days. Um, because that also, I mean, that just breeds into a healthy, uh, a healthy work life balance, for sure.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. So in our review meeting, we actually scheduled that meeting. So we had review meetings with the tax team, which includes everybody who touches any part of the tax process. And then also we had an additional meeting with leadership. So we just used one of our weekly [00:19:30] leadership meetings for reviewing, um, the tax surveys, reviewing the KPIs. And so, Marcus, will you share what stood out most to you when we looked back at this year's numbers and feedback? And that's been a few months ago. So it would have had to really stand out to still be thinking about it here in August.

Marcus Dillon: Well, uh, what stands out as far as 2025 is concerned and, uh, 2025, the [00:20:00] rally cry for DBA and me personally was the goal is growth, not comfort. And as we've shared before, we did a firm acquisition and closed it January 3rd or 31st. And then, you know, essentially started assimilating that firm into DBA on February 1st. And as part of that, when looking back over really what could have gone better during, you know, February through April. Uh, one main thing [00:20:30] that we saw was, uh, a process improvement. If we're going to do another acquisition like that and immediately start working on client work and client files. Uh, we need to have those clients sign an updated engagement letter with 72 sixteens as part of it. Because, uh, when we looked across the service team, uh, during those few months and not having those 72 sixteens, which, uh, that's just the disclosure that has to be signed. So external [00:21:00] contractors, including foreign contractors, can work, um, on a client's tax forms. So, uh, not having that kind of limited the available team members that could help with some of those projects. And I would say if we had the whole team available to help, it would have gone a lot smoother.

Marcus Dillon: Uh, but we did have to re shuffle some engagements, um, to avoid, you know, breaching that that confidence that we would have with clients. [00:21:30] So, uh, highly recommend, uh, getting updated engagement letters and 7216 signed the very next day or timely. Uh, we learned from that and, uh, everything still still worked out. It was still fine revenue, obviously after doing an acquisition, we expected it to be up. It was up. Uh, the team did a great job as far as the number of projects completed from an accounting side, which drives so much of the tax side since we've implemented, uh, the 15th of the [00:22:00] month, financial incentives and different things like that. Um, the, the flow of work has improved dramatically. So, like looking back from some of those surveys, the highlights, you know, the fact that monthly closes are happening just that much faster, uh, which which leads to a smoother, you know, tax preparation process and, um, you know, leaving clients more educated in a more timely manner because of those, uh, closes [00:22:30] being done so fast?

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, absolutely. Um, and so I know some other initiatives have come out and we'll share that as kind of what our, you know, what our improvement season consisted of. But after we received back, uh, that survey data, after we talked through, uh, what were the areas, you know, that were hard for people and what areas needed to improve? Then we were [00:23:00] able to really take that and align it with our or hold it up against our mission, vision and values just to really make sure that whatever goals and initiatives we were going to set in place for the next few months or through the end of the year still align with what we believe, what we're working towards. Not that those things can never, ever change, but sometimes it's reminding ourselves, reminding the team what that [00:23:30] bigger vision is, reminding them and helping them put themselves into that mission. So making sure that we're refocusing on that. Um, again, doing that as a leadership team. And then also during our mid-year team retreat. Going back through those things to make sure that are the things that we're placing priority on, are the initiatives that we're trying to do and implement. Do they still align with what everyone knows to be true [00:24:00] about Bill and business advisors?

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Yeah. You have to have those checkpoints in place and those other people there, whether they're checkpoints or accountability partners, to make sure that you're not going down a rabbit hole or, you know, stewing on on one area or comment or anything longer than you really need to. So, um, but know that that really reinforced a lot that we felt during that time. So hopefully when you do a survey like that and you invite whole team in, it's more confirmation [00:24:30] versus, uh, surprise, you know, if you're surprised and maybe not involved in the day to day, then that could be, uh, shocking potentially, if there was a big, a big comment on some of those surveys. But nothing really surprised us. It was just reinforcing what we already knew and what we needed to work on. Um, over the next few months during improvement season.

Rachel Dillon: So we've gone through kind of the first three parts [00:25:00] recharge, review, refocus. And then the fourth part of improvement season is refined. It's definitely the longest part because during the refine you're actually setting the goals and initiatives. Then you're setting out the execution plan. And then you're constantly checking in and adjusting where needed to continue to make progress on whatever those goals and initiatives were. And so the way, you [00:25:30] know, in Dillon Business Advisors, the way that we monitor those or track progress on those, we talk about them weekly, weekly, at lead team meetings and then specific areas at weekly team meetings that we're currently in the middle of addressing. If it's something that's, um, more the responsibility of 1 or 2 people than those check ins happen in our one on ones. So those we have one on ones every other week. Those are set up [00:26:00] with a team leader and some of the people that they work directly with. So that gives opportunity to go back and um, kind of do status updates and checks and then offers a lot of accountability, but then also support if things are not moving along or, um, kind of running into roadblocks as they're going.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And, um, this can weave in nicely if, if your business, if you follow EOS or some other type of, um, system, [00:26:30] um, operating system, this is already kind of reinforced in those scheduled prescheduled weekly, monthly, bi weekly meetings. However, those are done. So we'll just definitely recommend taking the data from the recent survey or the recent recaps and factoring that in instead of just ignoring it and saying, oh, we did a good job. Let's let's keep working on what we thought we were going [00:27:00] to work on or just disregard that altogether. You know, we did good enough. We'll do good enough again next year. So but definitely the refine, um, you know, I think that weekly accountability has definitely helped momentum keep going. And there's been times, uh, you know, you look up on any given week during the summer and you've got team members out, you've got lead team members out. And, you know, if you wait for everything to be perfect, then you're just never going to move forward. And so by [00:27:30] having that visibility across the team or teams that you're, uh, really you're really putting those initiatives in front of, you can keep moving forward while others are taking vacation with family or, you know, having other, other priorities than that meeting for the day. So I would highly recommend just refining that and making sure that it is frequently being addressed, because accountability during the season is a pretty big one. If there's no accountability, you can easily just become [00:28:00] pretty lax and then look up, go into extension season, and then forget about all the improvements that you wanted to make.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, absolutely. So let's go through what exactly was on our improvement season list this year. Um, do you want to start with your your favorites or. We don't have to do them in any specific order. We can talk about any and we'll share all, uh, all that at least the two of us can remember.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So this has [00:28:30] been a big growth year, and we'll close out the year, um, really well as well. Um, two, two of the growth, um, pieces were, uh, related to team members and director level team members. So, uh, in January, we were fortunate enough to, uh, hire, uh, on our director of technology, Angel Sabino. And Angel was actually tasked coming out of the gate to start the year with a pretty big project, and it needed to be done before [00:29:00] we finalized the acquisition and rolled new clients, new team members into our tech stack. So Angel actually, um, you know, rebuilt, uh, how we operate and the tech stack that we use and went from a hosted solution to Microsoft Azure, which is still a hosted solution, but we control so much of the ins and outs, which led us to on the other side of, uh, you know, the filing season and moving into improvement season. We were able to [00:29:30] really firm up the cell phone security, um, that we have floating around throughout the team and give team members options. Uh, as far as, hey, there's a lot of sensitive information that is on your phone. You could either, you know, be brought into the bubble on that device, or that device stays outside the bubble and it pretty much becomes an authentication device, uh, for you to enter the bubble through your laptop.

Marcus Dillon: So cell phone security was a big one. Um, and, you know, having somebody [00:30:00] on the team, like Angel to kind of keep us on on point as far as it relates to, you know, just security measures, um, the onboarding process for team members was also streamlined as far as like it. So now we have the setup. We actually work directly with Dell to preload a lot of our things on laptops when those are purchased, and then those get sent directly to, uh, a new team member instead of going, you know, to our home. And then we have to reship them to a new team member, or they have to [00:30:30] come pick it up. So having that set up directly with a vendor like Dell is a huge win. And then the final piece that was really fine tuned and of credit to Angel was single sign on really across the board. So beginning with Microsoft and then single sign on across every most everything that we log into throughout the day, including uh, our tax program, ultra tax. So, um, not entering in passwords or picking up the phone to authenticate multiple times per day. [00:31:00] Um, he really led that effort. And it was, you know, began in January, uh, whenever we started to rebuild the whole system.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. So in February, I think it was February, the beginning of February. We brought on a a couple new team members at the same time. And so Angel had, you know, really had just jumped right in, um, with all parts, all aspects of everything that he would be responsible for as director of [00:31:30] technology. So he got to experience what it was like to onboard the remote team members, and then immediately started making a list of things that this could be better, this could be better, this could be better. And, you know, not necessarily better for him, though, that I'm sure was a huge thought in his mind. But the new team members experience so that it doesn't feel clunky so that they don't waste their first not waste, but so they don't use their first two days just trying to [00:32:00] figure out it and how to log into programs, um, and get connected, but they can really do that in about 30 minutes on their first day, maybe one hour max. And then from there, they're immediately starting to meet new team members. Um, learn all the things about mission, vision and values and services rather than just fighting and struggling with technology. So that's huge. Um, cell phone security. You know, we [00:32:30] really enjoy being able to work anywhere, anytime. And what that means is that without our phones having that extra level of security, our phones really carried the same information that you could access from our server, from our laptops, from kind of anywhere. And so that was a huge, um, help, but also something that we needed to make sure that we communicated [00:33:00] well with the team because it could feel like, why are you trying to take over my phone? What information are you trying to get? What are you trying to monitor as far as what the team member is using on the phone? So I think that that's important to just to highlight that even though as an owner, as a leader and you have kind of all of the background and see the bigger picture of like, oh yes, that's an entry point for someone [00:33:30] who shouldn't have our data to get in.

Rachel Dillon: And it's a fairly easy entry point for them to get in. Not all team members might understand that, especially if it's something new. You haven't ever addressed it before. It's never been a concern, and we've been working like this since about 2020. So, you know, now that it becomes like, well, why is it important now? But it wasn't important for the last five years. We decided to have those conversations in person at our midyear retreat [00:34:00] just because it was, um, it could have been difficult in nature to explain everything and communicate that well to team members remotely. Can you do it? Of course you can do it. But also you can have more conversation, especially for ones who have reservation, um, in person and really understand where both parties are coming from to try to clear, um, and clarify why it's important and how it [00:34:30] actually works.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Um, and we gave people the option, um, you know, obviously we subsidize their cell phone, uh, with the technology reimbursement, but we gave them the option, uh, we didn't want to pursue an additional device. Uh, we have some friends that are in financial services or banking, and they have two cell phones, one personal and one business. We didn't want to go down that route unless we have to. So we treated people like adults, had the conversation face to face, uh, at our midyear [00:35:00] retreat. And yeah, it seems to be going fine. Um, I would say the, the second part, uh, that we really, uh, worked on during improvement season was just candor within the team, uh, solve skill improvement, uh, across the board. And whenever you lead a remote team, uh, that can be a challenge. Especially, you know, when you're when most of your interactions are over video throughout the year. Um, so we took the time, uh, during our midyear retreat [00:35:30] while we were all together in Mexico, uh, for a few sessions to improve that candor, uh, and really talk about conflict within the team, what healthy conflict is and how that conflict can be used, uh, to improve as a team, because we would love to continue to continue to pursue excellence. And with that pursuit, we have to challenge one another to make sure that we are staying on top of, uh, the things that we need to. Just a big [00:36:00] accountability play for sure. And that's where inviting your fellow peer, your fellow teammates to hold you accountable. That could feel uneasy. But if we're all trying to improve and we're all on the same team, uh, and, you know, with the effort of client service, then we should be open to that.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. And both of those, um, as far as allowing people to challenge each other no matter their position, role, seniority, it doesn't matter. [00:36:30] But allowing people and even offering up appropriate times of when to do that is so helpful. Some might think, well, that's common sense. People should know that they should be allowed to say a different opinion. Maybe the rest of the team is thinking about something in one way, and you and your mind are thinking about it completely different. But you don't want to ruffle any feathers or cause a problem by saying, hey, I don't think that's right or [00:37:00] I don't see it like that. I see it like this. So just giving permission to be able to say that, um, at any time. But even so, like reminding the team, it's appropriate to say that during the team meeting, you don't have to wait until after until you're in a one on one situation to bring up a difference of opinion, a new idea, um, a concern. You can bring it up right then and we can talk about it because potentially [00:37:30] not everyone is on the same page and thinking in the same direction, but others may not feel comfortable to speak out either if they feel like it's going against or challenging what the majority is thinking. Um, and then as far as the peer accountability, again, it's just permission and inviting others and saying, hey, you know, um, I think one example thrown out was if I get really quiet in [00:38:00] a meeting, I or I'm not, you know, I'm not offering suggestions or information.

Rachel Dillon: Could you ask me what I think about that and then just giving permission for that accountability? Because sometimes it's a help me refocus and get back into the conversation. And other times it's like, I need to know for sure that it's okay to offer my opinion in in this meeting. Or if, you know, if you don't ask me, I may have something, but I'm not going to share it without being in explicitly [00:38:30] invited in in that scenario. So I think that those were huge. They were helpful, um, for team to talk. We did some role playing exercises and then of course have um, maybe not talked about those every single week. We did that at Team Retreat. So I have to say, we haven't really gone back and um, addressed Address that again in a team meeting. But I do know that it has helped that there is more discussion and [00:39:00] conversation in team meetings. People don't feel like they just have to stay on mute or just stay silent, since ours are in a remote team's environment.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah, yeah. And I would say, uh, the next thing that we really worked on was client alignment. Um, as part of the improvement season, kind of taking a lot of the we made the technology improvements, we did the soft skills, and then it was getting into, okay, the, the work. Right. So, um, with the acquisition [00:39:30] we needed to address, like, hey, who's going to serve these clients, you know, long term and how do we serve them? So taking some of those monthly recurring clients that, uh, were acquired, uh, at the beginning of the year and putting them into our team of three model and making sure that that team member who did come over in the acquisition, that she had the right spot on that team of three to continue to serve those clients, but then also support her moving forward with the appropriate leadership, both in a comptroller and a CFO, [00:40:00] to really have her back on a weekly and monthly basis with client things that come up and really to take, um, you know, take information from her and really help serve the client. And we've seen that work really well with a few of those clients. A few, uh, have latched on to our service model and really enjoy it. The others, you know, it's one of those things where they were acquired and they, um, were used to the way that it had always been done. So it's a little bit, you know, like we're trying to convince [00:40:30] somebody that, uh, we're a better our service is a better option. Um, but I think, you know, you just consistently show up and you consistently show them why, uh, the team of three and why constant, constant proactive communication is a better option versus retroactive.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah. And I think you alluded to it that not every single, um, newly acquired client appreciates [00:41:00] how defined our team structure is and our service models. And so trying to help bridge that gap. So, you know, moving them into service by a team of three. But because that acquisition happened in February and we're still in the same calendar year, it hasn't even been one year, um, introducing more support to them. And then from there, as, [00:41:30] as needs arise and they are needing things on a more consistent basis because these clients, some are used to having things on a quarterly basis, and some are used to having um services on an as needed, like as in a I need it right now and then everything gets dropped and start working on that and get it to them. Um, but as those opportunities present themselves, then we're able to explain more about [00:42:00] why the monthly consistent basis of services works. Well, um, especially if they're having a pain point or needing, you know, needing something that's not able to be done in that instance or even finding things that could have been better. Did we have some prior knowledge and just were able to get ahead of it, rather than waiting until the moment of or after the fact? So I think that's important just to share that, yes, we acquired [00:42:30] a firm.

Rachel Dillon: Yes, the transition and acquisition has gone very well, but it's not perfect. Those clients, you know, here, however many months after, they don't look exactly the same as all of our clients who have been with us this entire time. So it's a process and it's picking and choosing what's best for that client. And then also what works well for our team and how we can manage and sustain that. And then that helps us determine what [00:43:00] we prioritize changing. And then the how quickly we start to change those things because these are great clients. And so we don't want to run them all off. Um, at the same time, we don't want to lose team members or jeopardize other clients service because we're trying to we're afraid to change. Um, I think that that is definitely something we are not afraid of at DBA is change. But definitely, you know, keeping in mind that the client didn't necessarily [00:43:30] choose this acquisition themselves.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. And to that point, within that same vein, I think, uh, the last thing that stands out to me as far as like our improvement season is really just growth and, uh, Evaluating additional acquisitions, uh, you know, making sure that we're having the right conversations and really, you know, for all the right reasons, not just to grow, but, um, you know, taking into account what that growth could look like. Those [00:44:00] additional families that we could serve, those additional, uh, team members that we could employ. And it's ultimately shifted, uh, kind of to where we're at today, where you and I and the leadership team were asking a lot of these growth questions about, you know, uh, what does it look like a year from now? Three years from now, what does the team look like? Uh, that's serving clients. What does that team. How is it structured? What are those service lines under the team? And then also who's who's taking point on different areas of [00:44:30] the business. And uh, one of the one of those areas, the big one is growth. And we're asking a lot of questions, uh, bringing in others to help us think through what it looks like to grow and who the right team is to help us grow.

Marcus Dillon: So obviously from a marketing, advertising, business development, we've just had a lot of conversations over the summer. And ultimately, they all point back to you and me. Uh, as far as like who, who, who the best people, uh, for growth are. And I think, as [00:45:00] you and I are like, realizing that, uh, we realize that, you know, if we look out a year or three years. Sure. We could be the best people for for that role. Uh, and that part of the team. But we can't hang on to other job, you know, duties and tasks that we're currently doing. And we need to give those away to others that are better equipped than we are. Uh, whether it's from a production standpoint or different, uh, administrative tasks that we all handle, um, [00:45:30] if we're really the best people to be in those growth seats, we can't we can't hold down other ones as well.

Rachel Dillon: Yeah, absolutely. And so then in addition to that kind of organic growth, looking at strategies and options, then also looking at additional acquisition opportunities and continue to vet that. And so we let the team know that that was a goal for the whole year of 2025, was looking at additional opportunities [00:46:00] for growth, both organic and inorganic. And so that has definitely still been a area of focus during this improvement season. Again, where it could be so easy to say, you know, I'm not going to work on that right now. I'm not going to focus on that right now. I deserve a vacation. I need to do whatever else. But because we set that out at the beginning of improvement season of yes, this is still [00:46:30] a priority and an initiative that we need to work on. We have still been making progress towards that over the entire summer.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. So if we had to even grade ourselves. Right. Like if we had to say as a team at DBA, uh, what grade would you assign us? How do we do during this improvement season?

Rachel Dillon: Um, you know, being a former teacher, I feel like I am really in a really great position to assign a grade, but I would say an A plus. [00:47:00] And that just comes from not just from because we accomplished four things or eight things or ten things, but just because we didn't let momentum stop no matter who was out of office, um, no matter what challenges were coming up. I think really as a team, as a full team, as a leadership team, stepping in when other people are out, like absent. Um, and then [00:47:30] also that piece about holding each other accountable to what comes next and then even helping teach each other how to put some of those measures in place, for example, putting things on the calendar just at some date in the future so that you don't forget. Um, yeah. How about you? You don't have to have the same answer as me. Uh, you have permission to, uh, challenge that if you want, but what would you say as far as a grade?

Marcus Dillon: Um. And this is like grading myself, right? [00:48:00] So, um, I think I'm not an a plus because I've been distracted and had different things going on. Um, I was going to say a b plus, but I think I could convince myself to give myself an A minus. Uh, so at least I still have the 4.0. But yeah, I'm holding a minus because there's things that could have been done. I could have been a little bit more proactive, or I could a little bit a a little bit better with my time management. Um, because even when we look back right [00:48:30] at improvement season, and if we're saying improvement season is made up of four things recharge, review, refocus and refine. Each one of those, they're not divided evenly into four different, you know, timelines. Um, so you may stay in refine for most of improvement season. And speaking for myself, like the refinement season is where I get bored and I want to go start something new or I want to break something just to fix it. So, um, [00:49:00] that's just me. And I know a lot of other people think like me and, um, yeah. So I would say a minus solid a minus. But yeah, I would, I would really encourage any other, um, you know, firm leader that improvement season. It's it's not it's more a marathon than a sprint. And, uh, definitely keeping a good, consistent pace is what's going to win the race at the end of the day.

Rachel Dillon: I didn't know I had permission to just grade you. My answer might change if I wasn't [00:49:30] grading us as a firm and as a team, and I was just grading you, I might not say A+ on that one.

Marcus Dillon: Well, I'm glad the the rest of the team brings my average up. I mean, that's why you have a team around you, so.

Rachel Dillon: Uh, yes. Absolutely. Well, this has been a great conversation. What I do want to, um, just invite anyone who's listening to this. If you haven't downloaded that improvement season guide, I'd love to share that with you. You can email me at Rachel at [00:50:00] um and just ask for it. I'm happy to send that over. And then also, if you didn't start improvement season, you don't have to wait until after April 15th of the next calendar year. You can do your own mini improvement season even if it's after October 15th through the end of the year, there's still a lot of progress that can be made. And definitely, you know, taking a day off, reaching [00:50:30] out to your team for some feedback Still applies even in Q4. Refocusing and kind of realigning your mission vision values with initiatives. This may be this will help you plan even for the year ahead. So don't feel like you've lost everything if you're just hearing about this and want to do it for this year, there's still plenty of time in the year. Even if you want to wait until after the October 15th extension deadline.

Marcus Dillon: Yeah. Well, um, [00:51:00] thanks for leading the charge today on this conversation, and I look forward to the next.

Rachel Dillon: Thanks for listening to this episode. If you enjoyed the conversation and want to learn more, be sure to visit. You can schedule a meeting directly with me, Rachel, by clicking on the Contact Us page. Be sure to subscribe, like, and share so you don't miss any future episodes. We look forward to connecting with you soon!