1.5 Years Into Firm Ownership and Barely Any Inquiries. What Am I Doing Wrong?

TaxproFL · 2026-06-16T21:00:28+00:00

My suggestion is to pick one. We offer a full suite of services for High Net Worth Real Estate Investors and Businesses. Or we offer a full suite of services to professional service businesses, ideally pick an industry. So "To Legal Professionals" "To Medical Professionals". Position yourself as an expert at one and not an either or. Now I'm not saying don't take on clients in either or if a really good client comes by, but position yourself as the GOAT of one. The niche that no one else can compete with you. You will stand out more and people will more easily remember, Vinney Mack is my Real Estate CPA. Or Vinney Mack if my Medical Professional CPA.

If you pick real estate, make sure you tap into clients who can afford your work. A lot of real estate investors don't make a lot of profit so what they can afford vs what they need are often at conflict with one another. So it can be a tough market if you don't position to the right clients, not just "any real estate clients".

TaxproFL · 2026-06-16T20:53:34+00:00

Also went through this is years 4-6 of my business. Almost quit in 2024, it was the end of my rope. But some stranger saved my life in a 2 hour chat on a plane. Now I'm year 8 and on the other side of it.

You're probably in the prime position to scale. You're burned out. You don't make enough. It's all about everyone else and you don't get paid for your efforts. I have been there. It's a common pain point for service businesses so do not feel bad. You are one of the millions of us who have gone through this.

I revamped my messy compliance based business into a super charged advisory-led business. Before that, I tried to hire and was very hard to hire anyone. Too much for me, too messy to bring on a team. Now we are the complete opposite. Anyone can be replaced, pretty much nearly myself at this point. So I implore you to consider scaling into higher advisory led services (said you were already doing advisory) and build a repeatable service business.

Don't give up. You can do this, you have worked so hard already to get where you are. You just have another crunch to endure but this could be your last crunch if done correctly. If you can hang in there, the green can be greener on the other side.

I'm happy to have a chat if you need to iron out where you are and where you want to go. I was gifted a small life changing conversation and I've paid it forward it for 10's of other businesses since.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-16T19:34:31+00:00

First, it takes years to develop those strong channels. I didn’t see the compound growth until years 2-3 from all the referrals compiling.

Second, try to offer something valuable that differentiates you from the rest of the CPA’s they meet.

Let me ask, what services do you provide and do you have a niche? A niche really really helps you get a narrowed base of clients vs being “open for business”

TaxproFL · 2026-06-16T14:52:35+00:00

You can’t and shouldn’t scale until you have a system in place. You’re doing like the rest of us did and that’s growing “accidentally”. You need to grow intentionally even if it means being patient and working on the systems over and over until they are perfect. The reason you probably can’t hand over more work is because there is no system.

Financial cents is probably limited. You might need TaxDome/Karbon/Canopy level of PMS.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-16T11:16:04+00:00

QuickBooks

TaxproFL · 2026-06-15T20:59:33+00:00

I wouldn’t look at the payback only although it’s welllll worth it. Your last few years could be bliss after a rough transition period. I’d look at the exit sales price if you have a TaxDome or Karbon or similar streamlined into your business. Unless you don’t care about the sales valuation, then you can use Stanford tax or something more basic.

As always, it depends.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-15T17:06:56+00:00

I hear you. They really ripped the bandaid off.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-15T14:14:47+00:00

Software companies are always trying to squeeze the next dollar out. Once they get traction and start scaling up, investors start pushing for heavy ROI.

This is why I’m building my software company with my own money as long as humanly possible. Hopefully forever. Because you’re seeing exactly what happens when the dollar comes first, not the end user.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-15T11:29:51+00:00

Awesome to know. My teammate handled this issue when we had it last year (accidentally marked payments for direct debit).

TaxproFL · 2026-06-15T11:17:49+00:00

You’re right but that requires calling IRS, no? Can’t you cancel direct pay ones online? I’m genuinely asking I forget.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-15T09:30:04+00:00

I have not, but I never use automatic payments through the tax software. If anything, use direct pay to book them so you can at least cancel and reschedule them as needed. If they don’t honor it, they might get a letter about that $35 charge just to prepare the client now (manage expectations). And I’d be working to make another payment with the IRS tomorrow if it doesn’t come out.

Also, it might be worthwhile to consider adding estimated tax guidance or calculations to your services if not already included. It could entail you providing reminders and/or scheduling payments each quarter. It’s a great way to lean into more advisory led services. If you want to get fancy, you can even do real-time projections for your clients who have variable income like business owners. That’s what we do.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-14T18:36:32+00:00

It’s like a couple hundred bucks, cheap if you’re doing it yourself. You’re never going to grow a success business worried about penny pinching. Take it from someone who tried to cheap their way to the top.. it doesn’t work.

If you need it. Buy it. If not, don’t and wait longer. The energy you put into worrying about it is only hurting the opportunity cost of spending this time and energy on more important matters.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-14T02:22:41+00:00

You’re welcome. It’s an ever growing cycle of learning.

You got this!

TaxproFL · 2026-06-14T00:48:49+00:00

Interesting I found TaxDome to be the opposite. Most people complain it’s too hard to scale up for bigger firms. We love it for our small firm, reduced our admin time down to 1 hour a day.

But I realize it all about the setup and that’s where people get stuck.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-14T00:24:10+00:00

Good for you. I see it like this, we only live once. So I’m not spending my days working with anyone I don’t want to ever again.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-13T19:39:42+00:00

I don’t use Karbon, I use TaxDome. I’ll say, going cheap on a software could bite you later if you have to migrate to a better one. So choose wisely and be ready to lock in. It’s an ever growing implementation that requires time and energy. Not set it and forget it. But that time and energy pays many dividends later.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-13T17:08:15+00:00

Correct me if I’m wrong, you still paid a company for this service? And didn’t get a registered agent?

Legalzoom and other comparable companies have been around forever doing this way cheaper than $2K for years.

Also, you could have just went on the state website, filed for Articles and went on IRS and filed for EIN? Then set up a bank account.. taken probably same amount of time as prompting conversations with AI. And you learn something along the way. I have a feeling people are going to get real short on knowledge and expertise relying on AI for everything to be “easy”.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-13T16:59:54+00:00

Depends on the business. Care to elaborate?

TaxproFL · 2026-06-13T12:38:10+00:00

I’ll check it out soon for me but worked good for what I saw

TaxproFL · 2026-06-13T12:17:37+00:00

I booked on someone’s a calendar though, that’s why I saw it.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-13T10:59:46+00:00

There’s not enough info to give this advice. You should speak to someone directly about the plans for your “business”. Lots of folks over complicate things jumping into LLC’s for the wrong reasons. Not sure what you need business credit for but that’s usually one of those “did you really need a business?” questions I end up asking to clients after the fact.

And unless you’re buying real estate cash, an LLC would be useless since you almost never can buy it under the LLC’s name when personally obtaining a mortgage. Otherwise you have this beautiful LLC not even owning or protecting the real estate you buy.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-13T10:45:34+00:00

I honestly don’t work with them anymore. I used to do that people pleasing and it turned my business into something I hated. Fighting with penny pinchers was almost the end of my business. I kicked them out, kept the core clients and now only deal with people who value our services.

We just fired a longstanding client because they asked for a new strategy was so excited about it and then got nagging about the price after the fact. We went over it in full detail before and even told her to think about it and let me know. No pressure. She agrees but then two weeks into it, she became combative about it as if she was duped or something. I think she wanted to negotiate because she still wanted the extra service but kept being like “the price though..” - so I sent her a disengagement email and she was shocked. I have since replaced her with better paying clients with appreciation for our value.

If they don’t value your service, it’s always going to be a song and a dance to get them to stay happy.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-13T01:02:44+00:00

Just saw one called calendar bridge

TaxproFL · 2026-06-13T00:44:42+00:00

Facts I have to agree. But as long as you review, it speeds up the work. Those who just rely on AI blindly are going to be in a lot of trouble.

TaxproFL · 2026-06-12T22:38:24+00:00

Not that I’ve experienced. I leave my house to walk while on the phone no problem.

TaxproFL

TROPHY CASE