How to Break the Six Figure Barrier In This Offline Business?

18 replies
hi guys.i have been doing the direct mail and online pay per click campaign for this client who provides accounting services for about a year and a half now.

He has grown from just a few small clients to a six figure business. Client outsources all the actual accounting to freelance accountants and though he has grown his business to a six figure business, he has now hit a ceiling.

He has hit the max of accounts that he can deal with using this business model. This model itself was good in getting him from nowhere to six figures but this same model is preventing him to grow to 7 figures.

Lack of quality freelancers to outsource the work to has prevented him from taking in new clients.How would you propose he can revamp his business structure to break this ceiling?

Marketing and sales have played their path but he needs something further:rolleyes:
#barrier #break #business #figure #offline
  • Profile picture of the author John Durham
    Once heard Willy Crawford say you could create a 100k in income in one month...then he clarified and said you would start a mailing list that did 10k within 30 days...made alot of sense. There are alot of ways to skin a cat that arent that unrealistic when you really break it down.

    A simple 10 $1,000 per mth clients for example is 120k per year.
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  • Profile picture of the author DABK
    Write down how he did it, sell weminars, put up 3-day conference where accountants who want to go from nowhere to six figures learn how to do it.

    Keep the same structure but add another layer: he's on top, supervising accountants who supervise freelancers. He hires review accountants too.

    Stop managing accountants and start managing accounting account managers.

    Originally Posted by rathnavelpandian View Post

    hi guys.i have been doing the direct mail and online pay per click campaign for this client who provides accounting services for about a year and a half now.

    He has grown from just a few small clients to a six figure business. Client outsources all the actual accounting to freelance accountants and though he has grown his business to a six figure business, he has now hit a ceiling.

    He has hit the max of accounts that he can deal with using this business model. This model itself was good in getting him from nowhere to six figures but this same model is preventing him to grow to 7 figures.

    Lack of quality freelancers to outsource the work to has prevented him from taking in new clients.How would you propose he can revamp his business structure to break this ceiling?

    Marketing and sales have played their path but he needs something further:rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
    Complex service delivery models are the only way to really efficiently scale.

    Otherwise, the traditional model is the usual "partnership practice" where every resource is a carbon copy who does everything. Little division of labor in professional service delivery, and a whole lot of duplicated effort.

    That's where things like business process modeling and it's sister, business process automation become golden.

    By reducing time spent managing various workflows within an overall system to deliver some work product, the framework can scale based on a work breakdown structure that load balances specific skill requirements and resource availability.

    In the olden days, we called this sort of thing "quality management" or "continuous improvement". But with the advent of mega-awesome process automation tools, things have evolved into "workflow". How stuff gets done and delivered with all of the associated information, documents (content and meta-data), reviews, approvals, etc... that go along with a specific "thing we do" in the operation.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    How do you scale any business?

    Employees.

    The fact that he doesn't understand this answer shows that he built a job ($100k ceiling sounds about right for a job) vs. a business. He needs to get over the money and hire people. Every person he hires will be less money for him but he will leverage them into more money and a larger business over time.

    So in summary in case you missed it the secret (not really secret) answer is one word.

    EMPLOYEES
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  • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
    Michael hit it on the head.

    This is a problem that every company eventually encounters if they are in a growth phase. With a business like this, it is highly scalable so growth can continue for quite a long time.

    You can really help this client if you can become skilled at analyzing the workflow and business processes looking for wasted efforts, redundancy, or skill mismatches.

    Start out with some sort of diagram building software and capture the workflow all the way from prospect to product delivery. You must capture every aspect of the work: Who performs it, how long it takes, the steps required, the cost to the business, the tools involved, training required, and ANY other aspect that can be quantified.

    Look for:

    1 - Wasted Efforts - These are often found in communication systems. For example, are the same types of files emailed regularly to the accountants? If so, can they be centralized into some sort of cloud platform? Something as simple as Google Docs could help a great deal.

    Wasted efforts are also often found in the details of a task. For example - are there repetitive logins, copying/pasting, calculations, analysis, saving, converting, exporting, etc...that can be automated? Are there software suites available that can automate many of the core functions of the business? Anything that can be automated should be. It may cost several thousand dollars but automation is repeatable and scalable.

    2 - Redundancy - This is very close to wasted efforts but is a bit different. For example, is there a glitch in the workflow which causes unnecessary steps? Things like saving documents multiple times, emailing back and forth, repetitive analysis steps and anything else that can be optimized should be. It is not uncommon to look inside a business and find multiple people doing the exact same things over and over again. Sometimes it can be hard to find and it can require a great deal of communication with the employees.

    3 - Skill mismatches - This is a BIG one. What things are the accountants doing which could be handled by a lower skilled person? What are the core duties of the accountant and what tasks are distracting them from these tasks? For example - You really only need an accountant for the "core" accounting skills. The challenge is to utilize him for only these core skills and have others do everything else. Things like creating profiles, making simple entries, data entry, customer support, importing, exporting, copying, formatting, creating reports, etc..etc..etc. These things are keeping the accountant from handling more clients. Have someone else (a skilled assistant) get EVERYTHING ready for the accountant and handle all other non-accounting tasks. This will allow the accountant to handle many more clients. Look at every single step the accountant does in an average job and ask "Can someone else do this?"

    When you do this type of analysis, you might find a 50% (or more) wasted capacity is built into the business as it currently stands. Doing this type of streamlining is time consuming, and extremely valuable.
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  • Profile picture of the author bob ross
    outstanding thread already.
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
    The "diagram software" is now integrated directly with the workflow automation tools, so while you're prototyping a business process, you're developing the framework right in. This is what we specialize in... and what I use all of my dastardly B2B internet marketing ninjitsu prowess to promote in our "niche".
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  • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
    Originally Posted by rathnavelpandian View Post


    He has hit the max of accounts that he can deal with using this business model. This model itself was good in getting him from nowhere to six figures but this same model is preventing him to grow to 7 figures.

    Lack of quality freelancers to outsource the work to has prevented him from taking in new clients.How would you propose he can revamp his business structure to break this ceiling?
    I don't see the business model as flawed at all.

    You say "lack of quality freelancers" is the restraint.

    So the answer lies in training more to do the tasks.

    Best,
    Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
    Or, making the ones you do have X% more efficient.
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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      [QUOTE=MichaelHiles;7485760]Or, making the ones you do have X% more efficient. [/
      QUOTE]

      Or getting the top ones to recruit and train for you.

      They know the top people and don't like working with those that don't pull their own weight.

      I've had Filipino girls do that for me.

      Best,
      Ewen
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      • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
        [quote=ewenmack;7485775]
        Originally Posted by MichaelHiles View Post

        Or, making the ones you do have X% more efficient. [/
        QUOTE]

        Or getting the top ones to recruit and train for you.

        They know the top people and don't like working with those that don't pull their own weight.

        I've had Filipino girls do that for me.

        Best,
        Ewen

        That's what's so delicious about process. McDonald's proved they could take a snot-nosed kid off the street. Run them through a very rudimentary training on a very well-documented process. Viola, nearly instantaneous, productive labor to manage some incremental piece. The key to all of it is a tight process and management. People are evaluated based on a standardized approach. Toyota, etc... Then, when you minimize subjective poo, culture changes for the better. Drive morale, further improve.
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        • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
          Trainer says, 'Repeat after me, would you like fries with that?'

          Parents would wish their snotty nosed kids could be trained as well
          so as to clean up their bedroom.

          Maybe they better get a job as a Mack trainer.

          Best,
          Ewen



          [quote=MichaelHiles;7485802]
          Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post



          That's what's so delicious about process. McDonald's proved they could take a snot-nosed kid off the street. Run them through a very rudimentary training on a very well-documented process. Viola, nearly instantaneous, productive labor to manage some incremental piece. The key to all of it is a tight process and management. People are evaluated based on a standardized approach. Toyota, etc... Then, when you minimize subjective poo, culture changes for the better. Drive morale, further improve.
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  • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
    I have a hard time believing there is a lack of quality accounting freelancers. There are large consulting firms that make all their money helping other large corps outsource their accounting. These BPO firms (like Accenture) would be screwed if they couldn't find cheap labor to do things like accounting.

    There are companies with hundreds of employees in India who are educated and competent accountants trained in US accounting law, best practices, and software.

    Your client could hire a firm such as these and stop trying to manage all the freelancers themselves. Your client does not run an accounting company, he runs a marketing company.

    Just like Nike is not a manufacturer (they don't handle production)...they are marketers. So too is your client.
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    • Profile picture of the author James Basher
      your previous post was reallly outstanding mate..actually everyone's contribution here was of very high quality

      the client is not based in the US , its a small country with a very rigid and specific accounting law that doesn't follow the ones in the US.even the big four firms here have a shortage of accountants and just launched a mega recruitment campaign.

      im going to compile a report with all these posts here and discuss with my client:p

      Originally Posted by Prevalent View Post

      I have a hard time believing there is a lack of quality accounting freelancers. There are large consulting firms that make all their money helping other large corps outsource their accounting. These BPO firms (like Accenture) would be screwed if they couldn't find cheap labor to do things like accounting.

      There are companies with hundreds of employees in India who are educated and competent accountants trained in US accounting law, best practices, and software.

      Your client could hire a firm such as these and stop trying to manage all the freelancers themselves. Your client does not run an accounting company, he runs a marketing company.

      Just like Nike is not a manufacturer (they don't handle production)...they are marketers. So too is your client.
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      • Profile picture of the author DaniMc
        I see! That changes things then doesn't it?

        How about GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practices)...does your country adhere to these? If so, it might not be too hard to outsource the bulk of the accounting work to GAAP outsourcers in India, then have your local in-country freelancers double check the work and make sure it is all good with the local laws.


        Originally Posted by rathnavelpandian View Post

        your previous post was reallly outstanding mate..actually everyone's contribution here was of very high quality

        the client is not based in the US , its a small country with a very rigid and specific accounting law that doesn't follow the ones in the US.even the big four firms here have a shortage of accountants and just launched a mega recruitment campaign.

        im going to compile a report with all these posts here and discuss with my client:p
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  • Profile picture of the author Adrian John
    I would increase the prices and maybe add more value to the packages offered.
    Also, you could invest in training for the freelancers and motivate them to cover more accounts individually.
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  • Profile picture of the author markcr
    Banned
    Scale and increase your funnel size.
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  • Profile picture of the author jherewini
    I would start an accounting membership site and charge $97 per month to the membership he only needs 100 members to easily crack the 100k barrier a webinar is a good way to start the membership drive.
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