What Your CPA Wants You to Know

90. Achieving Your Business Goals in 2025

• Carson Sands, CPA & Teran Sands, MBA. • Episode 90

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Setting clear goals at the start of a new year is essential for any business's success. We encourage deliberate planning to review past performance, establish actionable goals, and stay aligned as a team throughout the year. 

• Reflecting on last year's successes and challenges 
• Setting realistic and actionable goals for 2025 
• Weekly meetings for team alignment 
• Updating and refining standard operating procedures 
• Proactive client communication and training strategies 
• Discussing budget and marketing efforts 
• Documenting meeting notes for accountability and progress tracking 
• Emphasizing work-life balance alongside business growth

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Speaker 1:

This is something that every single business should be doing, so, if you're not, definitely add this to your list of things to review in this meeting.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to what your CPA Wants you To Know.

Speaker 1:

Tax and accounting help can be expensive, so we've created this podcast to help guide you through it all and make you feel like you have a CPA in your back pocket.

Speaker 2:

I'm Carson Sands.

Speaker 1:

And I'm Taryn Sands.

Speaker 2:

I'm a CPA with over 10 years of experience helping people start and grow their businesses.

Speaker 1:

And I'm an MBA with a specialization in marketing and entrepreneurship. Taxes suck and we want to make sure you don't pay more than your fair share.

Speaker 2:

We're here to share everything your CPA wants you to know in a fun and easy to understand way. Let's get started.

Speaker 1:

Let's do it. Happy 2025, everyone. I seriously cannot believe I'm saying that. I feel like every single year goes by quicker and quicker. But here we are and we were just discussing what we would like for this first episode of 2025 to be and, if I'm not wrong, I think this is our 90th episode, or somewhere close. So what did we want to kick off the new year with? What do we want to give you? And we recently had kind of our end of year meeting with each other and I thought that that would be such a good idea to share on here and give you kind of a look into how we run our business and the things that we do as not only accountants but business owners, since we do share a lot of accounting advice and tax advice with personal and business finance here, but we offer a unique perspective because we not only are accountants but we also run our own business together. So this meeting is something we do every single year, either at the end of the year or the very beginning of January, before we really ramp up for tax season, and I just wanted to share what we go through during that meeting so that you can replicate that in your business as well.

Speaker 1:

In our business, it is just Carson and I who are making like the big decisions. We are 50-50 owners, so we're the only ones that are looped into this conversation and then later, if there's any big goals, we would be giving them to, like our podcast editor VA, all of those other people that kind of help us behind the scenes. But if you have employees or managers or supervisors or anything like that, it would be good to bring them into a lot of this, because I think the biggest mistake business owners make sometimes is not letting the people that truly matter and are doing a lot of the work in on what the goals are. So everybody has to be on the same page and it doesn't matter if you have a large company or a very small company, like we do. Everyone has to be on the same page and that's why we like to do this meeting. So getting on the same page is what this is all about, and looking at what happened last year and what is to come for 2025 is the goal of the meeting.

Speaker 1:

So the first thing, we just set goals for the new year and to do that, we kind of work backwards. So what is our goal? Are they monetary goals. Is it time, like, do we want to reduce the time that we're in the office because the kids are really needing us more this next year? Whatever those goals are, we write them down and we work backwards. How are we going to meet those goals? And we don't just talk about it, you know, on January 1st, and then forget about it. So we do set on our calendar time to go back monthly and quarterly to talk about it. Like, are we actually doing the things to meet our goals? I think that's a huge thing that every person is guilty of at some point or another.

Speaker 1:

But definitely put at least quarterly meetings to talk about your goals and write them out so that you can look back at that when you're trying to update and see if you're moving towards your goal and what steps you're taking to get you there. So if we were to set that we were going to need more time with the kids, we would make a list of actionable steps to to get us there. Or if you wanted a revenue goal, what is that going to be For us this year? This is actually the first time in like seven years that we have updated our hourly rate pricing, so that is one of our strategies for growth. This year we have increased our pricing and we actually talked about this in a few of our quarterly meetings last year and so we felt the need to share that with our clients as soon as possible, in case the price increase was something that they weren't comfortable with. They had time to make that decision, so we've let everyone know multiple times. So now, going into our busy time of year, everyone knows, and everyone's on the same page If they don't like that price change, then they definitely have had time to make other arrangements or anything like that. So, working backwards to meet those goals and plan ahead.

Speaker 1:

The next thing that we swear by is weekly meetings, and these become very hard whenever we get into tax season, because sometimes we're not in the office at the same times, and if we are, we're in meetings. So if we want those weekly meetings to work, then we have to have them. So we set the day For us it's always Monday, because I feel like it's so good to get on the same page from day one, and mostly what we cover in that meeting is what's going to happen for the week. So this doesn't apply to every business, but I'm sure that you can think of how it applies to yours. We have all of these tax returns going out and we have to make sure that we stay at a good pace and make sure that we're meeting client expectations. So if we tell them that their tax return will be ready in a week or two weeks, we have to make sure that we stay on a really good schedule to make sure that all of them go out at the same time. So on Monday we're stating these are the tax returns going out Monday, tuesday, wednesday and if something happens in the week by the end of the week, these are the ones that were promised out and we discuss that. We also discuss any ones that are having issues like we're still needing things from people, and we take the time then to follow up with them so that we're not getting super behind. So this could look different in any type of business, but I think it is important to touch base, even if it's like a five or 10 minute meeting every single week. So what we do at the end of the year is just decide on the date, because what we have to do is block off our calendar. We use Calendly for anyone to schedule a meeting with us if they have a question or anything, and if we don't have Calendly blocked off for those meetings, then people would be able to book during that time. So if you are going to start implementing this, make sure that you block it off on your calendar and make sure that nothing else can happen during that time.

Speaker 1:

Another big thing that we do and we update every single year at this time and it can be at your busy time your busy time is probably way different than ours but we update our SOPs, or our standard operating procedures, and that just means it's a fancy way of saying who does what. So for us, there is a lot of moving parts for a tax return. The documents come in scanning the organizing, doing the tax return, sending invoices, getting signatures there's all of these steps. So what we've done is we've listed out all the steps for tax season and also different times of the year. So one of our SOPs is when we have a new client, we have to have a new client form and then that has to be scanned in. They have to have a new folder created and they have to be put in all of our stages so that they get our updates, they get our emails, all of that. So that's something that has to be done, and making those steps and listing them out and who has to do what is so very important, especially if you have a small business like ours.

Speaker 1:

I feel like those are the types of businesses that just wing it, and I can tell you right now that it makes a huge difference if you're winging it versus if you're taking the time to do these, because that's exactly what we were doing in the beginning and we have changed to making sure that we spend time on things like this, and it has saved us a vast amount of time in our business. So, if you're listening to this going, no, I mean, I don't feel like I need to do that. Maybe it's just me or there's two of you Absolutely you do. Take some time to set up those procedures and figure out who does what, so that everyone is on the same page. So, after we review the SOPs, we always update those, because every single year, there's something that maybe didn't go as well during tax season or during the year and we're like, hey, we need to add this step. So we always review them and make some tweaks at this time of the year.

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 1:

The next thing we do is discuss any big purchases we're going to be making during the year. So this year there was nothing really big on our radar, but in the past you know we've built a new office and we've had to redo all of our computers and things like that. So we would discuss anything like that and make sure that it is on our agenda for the year. The next thing we do and this is a huge part of our business now, but it actually wasn't always a very big part of our business, and that is we focus on client training. So what does that actually mean? Well, for us is we had to build an email list for our clients, and we didn't always have that. It's one of those steps that come up as you continue to grow and you need to get more organized and more efficient. So we built our email list and we have everyone added that's a client to our email list. We have to make sure that we always add somebody if they're a new client and we keep that updated.

Speaker 1:

And then the training part of that is what do you want your clients to do? How do you want them to interact with you? How do you want them to interact with you? How do you want them to give you documents? How do you want them to pay their invoices, all of those things? And if you don't do client training, it makes everything quite messy. And if you do we've been doing this for a few years now I want to say like three years, but only maybe two really well, then you get the result you want and things are so much more efficient.

Speaker 1:

So what that looks like in our business is that we plan and set emails throughout the year for our clients telling them what to do, reminding them of due dates and things that are coming up. So that's way easier to do when we're doing it in January, for instance, there are due dates coming up and things that we need them to know going into January, like filing their 1099s or how we want their tax documents to come to us. Do they need to upload them? Can they drop them by our office? All of those things are questions that come in and result in hundreds and hundreds of emails. So at the beginning of the year we need to plan out all of those emails and then they go out when they're supposed to. So now we've done this for a couple of years. We have all those emails and we just need to tweak them.

Speaker 1:

So recently we have made some changes to our processes, and that's what we were working on now is just updating those emails that are training every single client, like saying hey, this is how we want to work with you and this is how it's most efficient, so that they know what to do without having to ask. So we also send out things like a tax prep checklist and that helps everyone, not email us and go. Hey, I forgot. What all do I need to provide you this year so that eliminates a lot of emails, so anything that eliminates questions and helps them along the way during the year to remember due dates, remind them. We have all of that set up before we get into the year and what it has done is it's actually made things run so much smoother. Our clients aren't asking us all the time what to do because we've already jumped in their email and said, hey, tax season just started, here's what you need to do. And then there's another email that goes out a little bit later saying, like reminder, here's the due date, here's our turnaround times right now and here's what you need to do once you're ready to file your tax return. So that eliminates a ton of emails and it eliminates a ton of phone calls. So we've learned that the hard way and I think this could apply to almost any business. So, just getting on top of what do you want your clients to know and how can you address that before they even ask?

Speaker 1:

The next thing we do and hopefully all businesses do this is that we look at last year and we say what we think went well and what we think could be better. Now we have meetings along the year, like every quarter, about this too, so we kind of already knew what those answers were going to be. But this is a time that we talk about the entire year. Look at all of our reports if it's revenue based or time, number of clients, that type of thing and be like, okay, what could we do better to make things run smoother or to make more revenue, whatever our goals and just talk about how last year went. This is something that every single business should be doing, so if you're not, definitely add this to your list of things to review.

Speaker 1:

In this meeting Next up, we talk about marketing for the next year. So this has a lot to do with where's our money going to go. We have so many people asking us to donate to a specific organization where we get advertisement for that, or we're putting money on ads or getting new t-shirts and pins. Like, what are we going to do for marketing? And for us it isn't a lot. We don't spend a lot of money on marketing, but we do spend a lot of money on advertising within the community. So that looks like donating to the school and then they will advertise our logo on certain things. So we do a lot of that and we have to discuss, like, what we're going to continue doing this year, what is our budget for that, and what we may not continue doing this year. I know so many business owners probably get overwhelmed with the number of phone calls and emails for asking for donations and sponsorships and advertisement blocks and we get it. We do too. We just try to make those decisions at the beginning of the year so we know what our budget is and we know what we want to spend and what we can spend, and so that we're all on the same page.

Speaker 1:

Finally, in this meeting we just discuss what our focus is for the year, and that can be hard sometimes and I think as your business grows it definitely changes. So we were in a big growth period for the first probably five years of our business and then we hit a point where we didn't want to grow anymore because we were sacrificing too much of our time. So we had to make a lot of changes that year. And then you can also be in a year where you're like you know, last year we did great, I liked how things felt, and we don't want to grow, we just want to stay about the same, and that's where we are this year. But every single year we discuss it, discuss how the last year felt and discuss what's our focus for this year. Is it growth, are we downsizing, or do we just want to stay the same? And for us this year, that is just staying the same. We probably will be here for quite some time, considering we have three busy kids and we just don't want to sacrifice any more of that family time at the moment.

Speaker 1:

But, depending on your answer for that question, there is a lot of things that you should be putting into place and talking about in your next meetings, whether they're monthly or quarterly, and talking about with your employees or people working for you like contractors, all year long. So these notes that you make in the meeting are so important moving forward in 2025. Don't just write them down and forget about them, or don't just have the meeting and not write anything down. Make sure that you are typing out at least a quick meeting agenda and putting down your answers to all of these things so that you can go review them as the year progresses and make sure that you're staying on top of your goals and your focus for the year.

Speaker 1:

I know this is not our typical episode, but I hope someone enjoyed it and finds this helpful to have a meeting similar to this with your business, your business partner or your employees before the year starts. If you do, and if you do love this episode, I would really appreciate it if you share it with someone who you think would also like it, or share it on social media and tag us Until next time. Thank you so much for listening to what your CPA Wants you To Know, podcast.

Speaker 2:

This podcast is intended to provide accounting and tax information for educational purposes only. All tax situations are unique and should be handled with the assistance of a tax professional.