How to Build an Intentional tax Business: 3 Tips to Create a Biz You Love
Running a tax business isn’t usually on a list of “Top 10 Most Exciting Jobs”. However, like any other business, it can still feel like a wild roller coaster ride sometimes.
Especially when you consider the strict IRS deadlines we’re working with, clients who haven’t balanced their books since 1972, and needing to stay on top of all the changes and updates in the tax codes - it can get stressful and overwhelming real quick.
Among tax professionals, it is not uncommon to hear stories of people not seeing their families for weeks during tax season, filing paperwork till the wee hours, and even nervous breakdowns at the printer. But if you run your own tax practice, this toxic mess doesn’t have to be your reality.
What if there was a better way to run your tax business?
There is - and I’ve done it. You can build a business that you genuinely love, where your work aligns with your strengths and values, and brings you joy and financial freedom.
In this article, I’m sharing three tips that have helped me build an intentional tax business that works for me.
Tip 1: Choose Things that Light You Up
The field of bookkeeping and tax planning is vast, and these are services that almost everybody needs at some point. While this means that there is an almost endless supply of potential clients, this can also be the reason why you end up with a tax business that slowly sucks you dry.
Many of us first-generation business owners are starting our businesses with no prior experience of how to run a successful business. We may also come from backgrounds where financial stability was lacking - we are no strangers to “the hustle”. I was one of them too.
These factors often predispose us to being eager to say “yes!” to just about any business or client that comes our way. We avoid turning down potential clients who may not be a good fit and begrudgingly accept work that doesn’t align with our interests, values, or skills. We may struggle with a scarcity mindset that brainwashes us into believing that if we reject a client who isn’t a good fit, we will never find another client again. As such, we may accept anyone who wants to be a client, regardless of industry, service they need, or even if it is work we enjoy doing.
The result?
A tax business that feels like a burden more than a blessing.
From there, overwork, burnout, and a sense of disillusionment with your work are almost inevitable.
That’s why my first tip for anyone looking to create an intentional tax business is to choose something that lights you up.
Take some time to reflect on what brings you joy about your work. Is it a certain kind of service that you love providing? Do you enjoy working within a particular industry or a specific kind of demographic? What lights you up about the work you do?
You may find that you want to specialize in a specific aspect of bookkeeping and/or tax planning. You may discover that you have a passion for helping small business owners get their financial foundation set up, or for supporting a particular business industry with tax planning.
When you get clear on these things, it becomes much easier to say “yes!” only to projects and clients that truly resonate with you. When your tax business is intentionally created to support your interests, passions, strengths, and values, it becomes much easier to sustain it over time while avoiding burnout and overwhelm.
Tip 2: Avoid Overwhelming Yourself
You may have started your own tax business for the possibility of earning a higher income, the flexibility it gives you in your schedule or even to avoid having to answer to a boss! But the reality of running a business is much more than just the positives.
From marketing to client acquisition, from sales to customer service, from web development to actually performing the tasks your clients hire you to do - it can be a lot. Particularly if you are a solopreneur, you have to wear all the hats and juggle all the tasks.
It’s one of the things that most people don’t realize when they start their own business but trying to do it all puts you on the fast track to overwhelm and burnout. What’s worse, the quality of your client work also suffers, so you’re not only working yourself into the ground but also likely to end up with unhappy clients.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
You can build an intentional tax business that avoids this scenario.
There’s nothing written anywhere about running a business that says you need to do it all on your own. Hiring help and outsourcing tasks that don’t lie within your zone of excellence or genius will definitely help you create a business you love (and stay in love with!).
This may feel impractical when you are first starting out, but once you get your first handful of clients, start thinking about hiring help and outsourcing. As someone who has supported many of my fellow tax business owners, I can assure you that investing in your business is one of the best ROIs you will ever receive.
Start by making a list of all the tasks you perform in your business. All tasks, small and big, should be listed out. Add in how much time you spend on these tasks each day, week, or month. By taking stock of where your time and energy are going, you can clearly see areas where you may be spending way more time than necessary on tasks that are simply not in your wheelhouse.
Things like marketing, social media management, content creation, and administrative tasks take up a lot of time and are easily outsourced to a specialized Virtual Assistant or Social Media Manager. Website designing, creation, and maintenance, data entry, and scheduling appointments are other tasks that are essential to keep your business up and running but are not the best use of your time or energy. You may also consider outsourcing or hiring help for tasks in your home or personal life that could free up additional time for you to invest in your tax business.
You may encounter some resistance within yourself as you think about outsourcing or hiring help. It may seem like an “unnecessary” expense that you can “save”. This is a common response in many of us who have been told that we should be able to do it all. However, the fact is - very few successful and thriving businesses are run by only one person. It takes a team effort to do it and you could be missing out on thousands or millions in revenue by putting off investing in your own business.
By being intentional in outsourcing or hiring help in your tax business, you will have more time to connect with clients, strategize for their financial success, or develop innovative solutions. When you entrust non-core tasks to capable professionals, you can build a stronger and more efficient business while keeping your passion for tax alive and avoiding overwhelm.
Tip 3: Stop Taking on Too Much Work
Feast and famine is a cycle many small business owners are familiar with. Packed and hectic around tax season, you work 80 or 100-hour weeks for months while trying to meet deadlines with all your clients, and once that’s over, a slump where you don’t have any clients (or income).
If this sounds like how your tax business works, you are not alone.
However, it can be extremely taxing (pun intended!). You don’t just deal with mental, emotional, and physical stress, but also the financial stress of earning the bulk of your annual income within a few months of the year. This almost always translates to you feeling the need to take on too much work in the peak period for tax professionals when demand is high.
Sure, this is one strategy that you can adopt in your business but over time, this is unsustainable and you will burn out, experience overwhelm, and even face medical repercussions on your health! To me, nothing is worth sacrificing my health, which is why one of my top tips for setting up an intentional tax business is to stop taking on too much work.
How can you execute this in your own business?
This starts way before tax season kicks in. Get out of the feast and famine cycle in your business by setting up recurring streams of income. You could offer your tax clients year-round “maintenance” support to keep their books in order so that tax season does not place undue stress on either of you. You could provide quarterly tax strategy and tax planning sessions. There are many options for you to create recurring revenue in your tax business and this takes off the pressure to say “yes” to all the clients that may need your services.
Setting clear boundaries with your clients can also help you avoid taking on too much work. Be clear about the services you are offering and the fees you charge for them. Do not be afraid of communicating and reinforcing your boundaries with clients consistently. This not only prevents you from having to do work that you are not being compensated for, but it also makes for a healthier client relationship!
Work on your mindset. Oftentimes, we take on more work than we can handle because we are afraid that we will not have enough work or income coming in in the future. Operating from this place of scarcity and lack leads us to make decisions that ultimately do not benefit us in the long run. Evaluate your limiting beliefs and consider hiring a coach or mentor to help you break through some of those mindset blocks so that you can create an abundant and thriving tax business.
Get Support Building an Intentional TAX Business
Building an intentional tax business is really about aligning your work with your values, passions, and strengths. It's a path to greater fulfillment and joy in your professional life. By choosing projects and clients that resonate with you, avoiding overwhelm through outsourcing, and setting clear boundaries, you can create a thriving tax business that you genuinely love.
As with anything in entrepreneurship, building an intentional tax business is something you can do on your own. However, it is easier and more fun to do it in community and with support from experts.
If you're ready to take the first step toward building an intentional tax business and are wondering where to get started, the 11 Days of Intention: Growing your Bookkeeping and Tax Business with Intention Mini-Course is perfect for you. In this course, you'll learn practical strategies and techniques to help you implement these tips into your own tax business to set you up for success.
Remember: You don’t have to settle for burnout and overwhelm - you can choose to build a business that brings you joy. Sign up for the 11 Days of Intention: Growing your Bookkeeping and Tax Business with Intention Mini-Course now.
