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Welcome back to Count Me In,

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IMA's podcast about all things affecting
the accounting and finance world.

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This is your host Adam Larson,

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and I'm here to preview episode
160 of our series. Katie Thomas,

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owner of Leaders Online, rejoins Count
Me In today to talk about finding,

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connecting, and developing
relationships with key stakeholders.

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Katie does a lot of marketing and social
media for executives and helps them

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increase their presence in the industry.
In her conversation with Mitch,

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she talks about the power of technology
and social media as it pertains to

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increasing influence and
nurturing lasting relationships.

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Keep listening as we head over to
the main part of the episode now.

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So Katie, the first time we spoke,

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you talked about how technology really
changed the landscape of the accounting

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industry. We talked about
analytics, growing your business,

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becoming more profitable,
things along those lines.

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But I understand a lot has changed
since we spoke and that was, you know,

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February of 2020. So what I
wanna kind of get into and,

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and start off is if you can
kind of explain, you know,

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what you've seen over
the last year and a half,

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and what else has changed
across the accounting industry?

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Yeah, so man, since February of 2020,

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I feel like technology has had
to be embraced more than ever.

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I mean, there were a lot
of firms using technology,

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but then there were a lot not,

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and I think it was this thing
where the firms who weren't fully

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embracing technology, they knew about it,

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but it was kind of scary be
because what you've done before,

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and if it was working, it's
like why fix what's not broken,

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but then the pandemic hit and there
was something that was broken.

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You could no longer have
face-to-face meetings.

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You could no longer
operate as you did before.

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And so it really forced the accounting
firms and their clients into

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digital relationships,

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even if they were traditionally
local relationships, like come in,

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meet face-to-face, it was, Hey,

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we've gotta find different ways
to communicate with our clients.

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A lot of people jumped on Zoom and
then managing the staff and the firm

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members that also had to change.

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So if you didn't previously
use project management

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tool or document sharing,

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all of that had to be quickly
learned and leveraged and

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utilized.

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So I think that the outcome of all
of this is really cool because firms

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had to become confident in using
this and they realize that they don't

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necessarily need as big of an office
or they don't need to meet in person as

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much. And they can still
maintain those relationships,

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whether it's with clients or with staff.
I know a lot of firms I work with.

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They're like, okay,

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we miss getting together in person and
we're still gonna do that. But you know,

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maybe it's, you don't have to be in the
office eight to five every single day.

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There's some flexibility.

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Yeah. I think that's a
great point. And you know,

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our focus for today's conversation
really is on these relationships, right?

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Whether it's clients or key stakeholders
inside or outside of the business,

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we'll get into, you know, how
we connect with them and such,

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but to kind of connect the dots
where we were and where we are.

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Can you first talk a little bit about
maybe some of the things that technology

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can influence when it comes to stakeholder
relationships and where we're going

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with our conversation today?

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Yeah. So people really
connect in two ways.

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There's gonna be emotional connections.

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So like that's just gonna
be like conversations and
how you feel out someone.

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maybe you have similar
views, goals, thoughts,

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and people really connect this way
through talking and through stories.

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So there is some technology
that can help with this,

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even like Zoom or Loom or
apps that just connect us.

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But really I see technology on the
other side of how we connect the logical

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way that we connect and with technology,

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you can really see into the
data and create a story through

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this to then help you connect and
talk about why you're doing certain

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things, the outcome of
why of what's happening.

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The data really gives us the facts and
the technology and able to us to access

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the data to then create
stories around this data.

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So technology is a key
piece in communicating,

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but I really see it supporting a lot
of that logical side of how humans can

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connect.

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That's really well said.

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And we did briefly talk about
analytics last time and you know,

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the data and everything you just
mentioned. It's, it's a great point.

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So to take it a step further,
you mentioned Zoom and
some other, you know, apps,

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as far as technology goes,

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whether they're specific tools or more
broadly social media, just in general,

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what kind of resources can our
listeners use to better find,

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connect and develop relationships
with key stakeholders? You know,

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what can they go out and access in order
to improve these relationships for the

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long term?

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Yeah, so I definitely think
Zoom's a really popular one.

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Another one I mentioned was Loom. So
that's like a screen recording tool,

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which is super helpful if you're trying
to explain something and you're not,

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maybe you're gonna deliver
this through an email.

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You can walk someone through like
financials or maybe a process or a report.

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And you can actually show yourself
talking about it as well as share your

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screen. I think this one's great
client portals are great tools.

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So client portals can be used
to share documents, securely,

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communicate through them.
I think that's a great one.

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and then social media platforms are also
awesome because you can create content

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for a wide variety of people. You can
have conversations in the direct message.

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You know, there's a lot
of platforms out there.

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Maybe it's even like your
project management tool
where you're communicating,

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but really it's just identifying maybe
where there's a gap in communication.

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And since there is a tool for about
everything, if you Google that,

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you'll probably find someone that's found
a solution or created a solution that

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you can utilize.

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Yeah. Google is a, it's a great
tool in itself and very, you know,

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very helpful on a daily basis.
But as I said earlier, you know,

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there's obviously a lot more to
our conversation than technology.

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There's a lot more to the
profession than just technology.

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So I do wanna take this a step further
and really make sure we cover, you know,

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our listener side of things,
the management accounting side,

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a little bit more of the
accounting finance profession.

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As far as connecting with individuals,

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I know something that you really focus
on with the marketing side of your

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business is enabling individuals
to increase their influence.

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So I'd like to hear your
thought on, you know,

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whether it's tools or strategies,

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what can individuals do to increase
their influence and really make a greater

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impact on the business.

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So I think one of the number one
things that individuals can do

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to create a greater influence on the
organization and individuals as a whole

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it's to really align their why
with the company's why and why this

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is so important is if you can come
to work every single day and you

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can see like your why,

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which if you haven't read Simon
Sinek's book all about find your why I

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highly recommend it to everyone,

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but based it's your personal
why is different from someone

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else's.

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And if you can figure out what yours is
and how it can fit into an organization,

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then you can come to work every
single day with a purpose and

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a driving force. And whenever you do that,

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then you can take that and you can be
passionate about what you do and you can

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help others do the same,

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because if you can help others
through you being passionate about it,

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find meaning in their work, because
otherwise it's just a job, right?

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If you can help others do that,

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then they're gonna be committed to
the ultimate goal of the organization.

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They're gonna be excited
about what they do.

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They're gonna feel
positive and enthusiastic,

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even when times get tough because they
they're connected to something greater.

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I think that's so
important. So as leaders,

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whether you're the owner of a company
or you just started a company,

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you can still be a leader and
you can still create influence,

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but it starts with leading by example and
being passionate and connected to what

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you do and why you do it.

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Yeah. I think if there's something that
the last 18 plus months have taught,

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a lot of people it's, you know,

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really gotta take care of
yourself first and foremost and,

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and understanding your why you're
passionate in making sure that everything

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you're doing is, you know,

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keeping you physically
mentally healthy along the way.

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Otherwise the job just takes away from
that. I think that's a big part of it.

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So, I certainly know where you're
coming from here. And, you know,

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I know I mentioned the marketing,
the social media side of things,

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and you help executives really increase
their presence within the industry.

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I'm just wondering if you
have any strategies, you know,

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anything that our listeners can take
away from this conversation where even if

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they're just contributors to
a team or something like that,

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they can really stand out. You know,

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what is it about understanding
your passion and your why
that enables anybody to

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stand out in the organization
and make a difference?

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Yeah. So this is a process
that anyone can apply.

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And if someone is listening to this
and wants to know more about it,

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I have a whole guide that they can
download. That'll go into more depth,

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but it's called the 4C process.

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And if you go to leaders/online.com/4C,

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anyone can get that guide. but basically
it's built around, you guessed it,

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the 4 C's. And, we can talk
a little bit about those now,

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but basically you need to
choose a platform to be on.

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And when you're trying to
choose a platform to be on,

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when it comes to social media, think
about where do your stakeholders hang out,

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or maybe this is where do your ideal
staff hang out, whatever your goal is,

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think about where those people are
hanging out and then about what platform

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plays to your strengths. So, for example,

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if you're someone who you
don't like creating videos,

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then maybe don't use YouTube.

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Even if your stakeholders are
on there or your ideal clients,

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or your ideal staff,

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like pick a platform where you can
create content that you feel comfortable.

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So you've gotta choose a platform
and just pick one. And then,

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you've gotta figure out how to connect
with the people that you really want to

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connect with.

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So LinkedIn's really popular for
professionals and people in our industry

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because it's a professional
platform. And so with LinkedIn,

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you can go find people by searching by
their name, their title, their location,

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their experience,

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and you know how you find these
people and you connect with them.

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It's gonna be a little different for
each platform. So Facebook, it might be,

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you find them in groups, Instagram,
you may find them by hashtags,

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but you've gotta find them.
You've gotta connect with them.

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and then the third thing you've got
to do, so you've chosen your platform.

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You've connected with them.

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Then you've gotta talk to them because
if you went to a brand new cocktail

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party, and this is a new group,
and you didn't say anything,

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you just stood in the corner, what
would happen? Probably nothing.

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So you've actually go out to go
out and talk to these people,

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whether you know them, or you've never
met them, start a conversation with them,

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ask them what they're seeing
in the industry. Ask. them
what they're working on.

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What they're excited about.

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Just ask them a question is
whenever you ask a question,

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you open up the doors for a conversation
and the fourth step in this is gonna be

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to create. So we picked our
platform. We chose our platform.

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We connected with our ideal people that
we're looking to build relationships

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with. We conversed with
them, and they'll finally,

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we're gonna create and create is
something that a lot of people,

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people can get hung up on. And it's
something that should come last.

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So if you aren't actively going out
and building your community and having

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conversations with these
people, if you create content,

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then not as many people are gonna see it.

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So content's like the gas
to your fire. It comes last.

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And when you create a lot of
people, be like, I'm not creative,

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everyone's creative because
everyone has a story they can share.

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Everyone gets emails with questions on
a regular basis. Everyone's doing work.

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You can talk about what you're doing,
what's going on in your company.

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What's going on in the industry,

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maybe how you got into the
position you're at today.

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Maybe some of the
challenges you're facing,

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there's so much content
that can be created.

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And that's something that is so fun to
work with professionals on to help them

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share their story, share. What's
exciting them, what they're changing,

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maybe in the industry. This is
where we love to help out. But,

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it definitely only comes
last in a lot of people.

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They can try to do it first and then they
don't see the results they're looking

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for.

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So I'm actually gonna rewind for a second,

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because as you're explaining
all of this, you know,

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your passion for what you're doing it's
very noticeable. And I can tell that,

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you know, you enjoy what you do.
So I kind of wanna go back to the,

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the beginning of our conversation
here and kind of ask you, you know,

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what's your, why, I know that you're,
like I said, so passionate about this.

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So I'm just curious,
you know, why is that?

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What have you been able to figure out
when it comes to helping others increase

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their influence and increase
their, their presence?

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What do you enjoy most about doing this?

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My why is to help people be more
confident in what they can do so that they

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can create a bigger impact.

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And that just excites me because I think

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as a profession, we do so much great
work and we create a lot of changes,

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whether it's like helping a business
succeed, that's external to us.

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Maybe it's our internal company, maybe
it's teaching staff, like we do a lot.

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And a lot of us aren't
confident in what we do.

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We aren't confident to talk about
it or to share our knowledge.

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we like to just kind of do
the work and we do it well,

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and we don't talk about it. So we aren't
creating as big of impact as we could.

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We aren't having the
influence that we could.

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and a lot of us aren't making
the money that we deserve.

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And so my why is helping people
become confident about it.

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And it's so cool to see
that transformation that
someone can have when we work

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with them.

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That that's awesome and I'm sure many
of your clients greatly appreciate that.

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Like I said, it definitely comes
across, even in this conversation here,

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but to wrap things up, you know, like
I said, we spoke a year and a half ago,

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and you could argue
that a lot has changed,

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but you could also say that nothing has
really changed because as we said in the

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beginning, technology continues to
evolve. Analytics is so important.

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Relationship buildings,
you know, upscaling,

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rescaling everything across the
profession. When we started, you know,

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before we started recording here,

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you mentioned your business has changed
a little bit since we last spoke as

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well. So things continue
to evolve is my point.

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And I'm just curious to get your thoughts.

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We wrapped up the conversation
the same way the last time.

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How do you envision the accounting
profession moving along into the future?

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You know, what else do you see coming up?

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Whether it's because of the result of
the pandemic or just technology impacting

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the profession,

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how do you see things progressing
for all of our listeners coming up?

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There's a lot of ways that this
question could be answered.

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It's definitely the accountants are
moving into more advisory roles.

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As technology becomes more advanced and
can do some of those lower level tasks.

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I think it's a lot more smaller
firms are now coming into play

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because technology makes it
easy to start up your own firm.

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And then it's this whole idea
of digital relationships.

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someone doesn't need to
be located in your same

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city or your same state to work with you,

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whether that's a client or a staff member,

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whether or not these tools and resources
were available to people pre pandemic

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that doesn't really change anything
other than the fact that now more

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and more people are seeing the opportunity
and maybe even had the time to say,

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okay, during the pandemic,

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they got to reimagine what's possible for
their self and their business or their

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current role. So they are changing.

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And I think that it's ultimately
more opportunity for everyone.

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This has been Count Me In,

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IMA's podcast providing you
with the latest perspectives
of thought leaders from

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the accounting and finance profession.

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If you like what you heard and you'd
like to be counted in for more relevant

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00:16:30,641 --> 00:16:35,390
accounting and finance education,
visit website at www.imanet.org.