063: Badger & Badger – Building Your Company’s Reputation as a Trusted Advisor

Shannon Badger, CPA and Jonathan Badger, CPA of Badger and Badger LLC, joined us for this episode of Life In Accounting: The Where Accountants Go podcast

In this podcast, you will hear the story of two CPAs who ventured out to start their own unique practice. Some may find their path risky as they had two young children (and a third on the way), but the Badgers felt called to do so and that it was definitely the right decision for them.

Listen in as Shannon and Jonathan share what went well and the lessons they learned in their first few years.

Begin with Vision

Shannon and Jonathan tell us that establishing your vision is key. They had a limited vision initially, and they feel like they paid a little bit for it later on. This vision (and financial need) caused them to accept pretty much any client; big clients, small clients, and in a huge variety of industries. This course of action taught them the importance of honing in on their niche. It’s taken them about 3 years to do so, but they’ve been able to better focus now on the areas that they feel are their true strengths where they bring the most value to their clients.

Announce the Business as a Business

The Badgers also coach listeners to be intentional about communication. Tell all your friends and family that you are starting your business. This is important so people don’t view it as side hustle and incorrectly assume that their needs will come as a lower priority.

Staff the Business

As the business grew, Shannon and Jonathan needed to find additional help. One of the lessons they want to share is that it can be a challenge to find the best-fitting team members. They found that they hired reactively and too quickly in the beginning. Now they have refined that process and the long-term outcome has benefited both their clients and their team.

Their advice is to slow down and be more proactive in the search process. Know the skills, work styles, and demeanor that is going to work best with your vision. For example, in public accounting, a person is required to work on multiple accounts quickly, so it’s important to make sure that the person you hire understands how that aspect as well.

Grow Your Business

Find your champions and nurture those relationships. Nurturing key relationships is Badger and Badger’s primary marketing tool. Interestingly enough, they have found that over 70% of their business originated through just a small number of key referral sources.

Five Tips for Couples

You’ll have to listen to the audio version for these particular tips so you get the full context, but it is definitely worth it. Jonathan and Shannon share their tips for balancing work and marriage to ensure both are successful.

Thank you for joining us. We’ll see you next week! There’s more to come…