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The Wize Way

Wize Mentoring for Accountants and Bookkeepers

Feeling stuck in your firm or on the edge of rapid growth but don't know how to build the business so that it’s not reliant on you?

Join the Wize team as they share the insights, stories, strategies and tools that have helped transform the businesses and lives of our Wize Guys and hundreds of Accounting, CPA and bookkeeping firm owners around the world.

In each episode, we dive into the leadership, marketing, sales, systems and mindset tactics that'll get you to your goals without burning out.

Subscribe to transform your challenges into opportunities and build a business that can run without you.

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S3 · E221
Thursday · 18 min
Episode 221: How To Market Your Firm When You Have No Time For Marketing
Jamie Johns is in his accounting firm about one day a week, and he still gets a tip out to his clients every week without setting aside hours to write it. He spent close to ten years sending technical newsletters that went almost entirely unanswered, and when he finally changed what he was writing about he found the marketing took less time and gave him far more back. In this episode, Jamie breaks down how accounting and bookkeeping firm owners can market consistently without finding hours they do not have. He covers the habit he built from a single calendar reminder, the two questions he asks himself once a week, and the line he draws between being genuinely useful and doing the paid work for nothing. You'll learn: ✅ How weekly marketing becomes a habit rather than another task on the list ✅ The two questions that give Jamie a year of content without planning any of it ✅ Why the content clients actually respond to is quicker to write than technical updates ✅ How to be genuinely useful every week and still run a proper sales process ✅ Why the more marketing you do, the smaller the sales conversation becomes ✅ When to hand your marketing to someone else and what to look for If you have ever told yourself you will get to your marketing once things slow down, this episode will change the way you think about how much time it actually takes. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E220
September 24 · 18 min
Episode 220: The 40/35/25 Rule: How to Tell If Your Firm Is Actually Profitable
A firm can run for twenty years without anyone looking closely at profitability. Revenue grows, the team grows, everyone is busy, and the assumption is that it must all be working. Then a big client leaves, or wages climb, and suddenly the only question that matters is where the money actually goes. In this session, Tim Causbrook works through how to answer that properly, one team at a time. Tim is a Wize mentor and the owner of Causbrooks Chartered Accountants, and he opens up the capacity planner to show what a profitable team looks like on paper, what the benchmarks should be, and why a team can be flat out and still lose money. You'll learn: ✅ Why firm profitability is really the sum of each team's profitability ✅ The 40% COGS, 35% overheads, 25% EBIT benchmark and what to check when a team misses it ✅ What happens to a team's numbers when it loses a major client and keeps the headcount ✅ Charge-out multiples by role, onshore and offshore, and where the margin actually sits ✅ Why an all-onshore bookkeeping team struggles to reach 25% ✅ How low productivity and write-offs distort a capacity plan and lead to hiring you don't need ✅ Why resource mix matters as much as headcount, and what goes wrong when a senior person is missing If you've never budgeted at team level, or you have a team that feels stretched while the capacity plan says otherwise, this session gives you the numbers to check before the year gets away from you. Want access to the capacity planner and the rest of the WizeHub? Get it here → https://get.wizehub.co/ This is a visual walkthrough, so if you want to see inside the WizeHub as Tim navigates each section, tune in to the episode on YouTube. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E219
September 17 · 21 min
Episode 219: The Real Reason Marketing Keeps Failing in Accounting Firms
Marketing is the one part of a firm that most owners have already tried and already given up on. They hired an agency, or handed the socials to a junior, or committed to a weekly email that lasted about three weeks. It cost them, the leads never showed, and the conclusion they drew was that marketing doesn't work for firms like theirs. In this episode, Bren Ward pulls apart why that keeps happening inside accounting and bookkeeping firms, from the knee-jerk push that never survives lodgement season to the weekly email that quietly stops going out. He also lays out how to size a budget properly, working backwards from the growth goal to the leads it takes to get there. You'll learn: ✅ Why a bad first experience with marketing says more about the starting point than the marketing ✅ The two things that break firm marketing by month three ✅ Where the content that actually connects comes from, and why a prompt won't produce it ✅ The case for giving your best thinking away for free ✅ How to work backwards from a revenue target to the number of leads your firm needs ✅ The 5% of revenue benchmark, and what to do if you're spending nothing today ✅ The two areas inside your existing client base worth exhausting before you market to strangers If you've written marketing off after one expensive attempt, or you're about to spend again and want to get it right this time, this episode gives you somewhere sensible to start. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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September 10 · 26 min
Episode 218: Inside WizeHub: How Firm Owners Build Freedom One Step at a Time
Have you ever finished a training, felt completely clear on what to do next, and then looked up three months later to find nothing in your firm had actually changed? In this episode, Raul takes us inside the WizeHub for a full walkthrough of the tools built to close that gap. From the Freedom Map steps to the Task Hub, he shows how firm owners turn what they've learned into work that has an owner, a date, and a place to be followed up, so freedom gets built one step at a time instead of staying an intention. You'll learn: ✅ How the Freedom Map sequences the path to a firm that runs without you, laid out as Discover, Plan, Execute, and Measure ✅ Why every step carries its own tools, resources, training, and project, so you are never hunting for the next action ✅ How to break a step like appointing a senior client manager into the position description, the A and B client analysis, and a capacity planner placeholder ✅ How to hand those smaller pieces to your admin assistant or production manager so progress stops depending on you ✅ How to link a step to your executive or weekly managers meeting so it lands on an agenda instead of a to-do list ✅ Why learning about a role does not let you mark the step complete, and what finished actually looks like ✅ What to record when you put a step on hold, so it's ready the day your firm is If you've got steps sitting at 70% complete because the next move felt too big to start, this episode is your reminder that momentum comes from one bite of the elephant, not the whole thing at once. This is a visual walkthrough, so if you want to see inside the WizeHub as Raul navigates each section, tune in to the episode on YouTube. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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September 3 · 23 min
Episode 217: Right Person, Right Seat: How Accounting Firm Owners Get Both
Before Tim met Ed Chan in 2019, hiring at his firm worked the way it does in most firms. Someone said "we need more staff," so they threw more bodies at the problem. No structure, no org chart, no way of knowing whether anyone was in the right seat. Then he and Ed spent five hours mapping every person in the firm, strength by strength, weakness by weakness, and placing each one in position. That exercise is what this episode is about. Wize mentor Tim walks through how firm owners can answer two questions that sound like one: is this the right person, and are they in the right seat? The answer applies equally to last month's hire and to the team member you promoted three years ago. You'll learn: ✅ Why the capacity planner is where every seat decision has to start ✅ How write-offs and productivity numbers expose who is too slow for their role ✅ The resource mix problem that keeps work stuck even when capacity looks fine ✅ When a client manager genuinely needs a production manager beside them ✅ Why two complementary people in the right seats beat one unicorn every time ✅ The 3-times rule for telling incompetence apart from inexperience ✅ How clear outcomes let you judge any seat within 30 to 60 days Every firm owner gets a seat wrong eventually. Tim has, Jamie has, Ed has. The difference is having a system that catches it in weeks and fills that seat with the right person the next time. This is a visual walkthrough, so if you want to see inside the WizeHub as Tim clicks through each section, tune in to the episode on YouTube. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E216
August 27 · 15 min
Episode 216: The Vision, Mission, and Values System for Accounting Firm Owners
Kristy Fairbairn wrote her vision, mission, and values early in her business journey. She pinned them above her desk and told nobody. Not her team, not her clients. For years, they changed nothing about how the firm ran. In this episode, Kristy walks through what she does differently now, and how those three statements became the filter for who she hires, which clients she takes on, and when she makes her next hire. ✅ The difference between vision, mission, and values, and why owners collapse all three into one vague paragraph ✅ The fill-in-the-blanks prompt for writing a mission that is specific enough to act on ✅ Why a vision that feels comfortable is a vision that is too small ✅ How one value, balance, screens job candidates before the interview even starts ✅ The link between your values and your capacity planner, and how to spot a team member who has fallen out of alignment ✅ Where your eulogy exercise fits, and why your business values and personal values should not be different If you have never done this work, start with one statement this week. If you did it years ago and have not looked at it since, this is your prompt to open the document again. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E215
August 20 · 27 min
Episode 215: The 90/10 Shift That Made Ed Chan's Firm Run Without Him
Someone once told Ed Chan he should write a checklist. He was working 100 hours a week, so his answer was the obvious one. Where was he supposed to find the time? Everything that eventually got him out looked like that. The checklist. Training the hire. Writing the policy. All of it sat in the pile he would get to once things calmed down, and things never calmed down. Ed explains what changed his thinking, and how far it took him. ✅ Why the work that never feels urgent is the only work that changes anything ✅ The question that decides whether your next hire should be a junior or a senior ✅ Why the money objection to hiring comes down to how you read your own numbers ✅ What happens to write-offs and turnover when people sit in the wrong seats ✅ The deep and narrow team structure, and why adding more people rarely fixes a workload ✅ How to hand work over when you are certain nobody will do it to your standard ✅ The exercise Ed used to sort every single thing he did into one of four places Ed does not work in the firm anymore, and it still runs. This is how that happened. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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August 13 · 22 min
Episode 214: Inside the WizeHub: How to Spot an Unhappy Employee Before They Quit
Have you ever lost a great team member out of nowhere, with no warning signs and no explanation that made sense? In this episode, Raul takes us inside the Wize Hub for a full walkthrough of the tools built to stop that from happening. From the team NPS to the career and energy audits, he shows how firm owners can get a true 360 view of how their people are really feeling, long before a resignation letter lands on the desk. You'll learn: ✅ How to track your team NPS monthly and what the score is actually telling you ✅ How the career audit uses AI to identify whether someone is a Grinder, Minder or Finder, and whether they're in the right seat ✅ Why the energy audit and life wheel help employees feel valued, especially in remote teams ✅ How the different access levels keep sensitive information private until an employee chooses to share it ✅ How to build a complete staff profile covering strengths, weaknesses, revenue capacity, and your ideal charge rate Raul shares a real client story about a firm owner who kept training great people only to watch them leave, and how one small change turned that pattern around. If you've ever assumed your team was fine because nobody said otherwise, this episode is your reminder that the problems you can't see are the ones that cost you the most. This is a visual walkthrough, so if you want to see inside the WizeHub as Raul clicks through each section, tune in to the episode on YouTube. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E213
August 6 · 18 min
Episode 213: How to Recruit When You Don't Have a Recruitment Team
Every hire that goes wrong can usually be traced back to one step someone decided to skip. Not because they were careless, but because they were busy and it seemed like the step that mattered least. In this episode of The Wize Way Podcast, Dani breaks down how to run a proper recruitment process without a recruitment team: working out who you actually need, getting the job ad written in minutes, screening properly, and testing before you commit. You'll learn: ✅ How to decide whether your next hire should be an admin or an accountant ✅ The four transferable skills that matter more than qualifications ✅ Why hiring admins from outside the accounting industry often works better ✅ How to use AI to create job ads, interview guides, and job offers in minutes ✅ The job sites worth posting on for local and offshore roles ✅ How LinkedIn headhunting builds your talent pipeline before you need one ✅ Why pre-screening, reference checks, and testing are the steps you never skip Hiring on your own takes more time, but done right, it does not have to mean settling for less. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E212
July 30 · 17 min
Episode 212: The Simple Weekly Rhythm That Keeps Your Sales Pipeline Moving
There is a version of your pipeline where every lead has a clear next step and someone responsible for it. Getting there takes 30 minutes a week. In this episode of The Wize Way Podcast, Thomas walks through the sales meeting rhythm Wize teaches firm owners to run with their client managers, and why it works better than any CRM or automation your firm could buy. ✅ Why the purpose of a sales pipeline is focus rather than reporting ✅ The difference between a lead and a prospect and why the distinction changes how you follow up ✅ Why chasing a clear no is worth as much to your firm as chasing a yes ✅ The six questions that turn a short sales meeting into the most useful half hour of your week ✅ Why client managers stop selling to existing clients and what that costs you ✅ How a thin top of funnel is what makes your team sound desperate on discovery calls ✅ Why a no-blame culture is the thing that finally gets your team comfortable with sales If leads keep going quiet and nobody can tell you why, this is the rhythm to build your pipeline around. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E211
July 23 · 12 min
Episode 211: Meet the PUB: The Productivity Meeting Your Firm Is Missing
Somewhere in your firm, there's a desk where every problem ends up. Maybe it's yours. Maybe it's your senior manager's. Either way, the work slows down every time a question lands on it. In this episode of The Wize Way Podcast, Kristy breaks down the PUB Meeting, the Daily Productivity Unblocker. One structured hour a day where blockages get cleared, questions get answered, and your team learns to solve problems instead of passing them up the chain. You'll learn: ✅ What the PUB Meeting is and how it picks up where your daily huddle leaves off ✅ How to run it at two levels: one for your senior managers, one for your production team ✅ How to turn every blockage into micro-training that lifts your whole team ✅ Why recording these sessions gives you a training library for every future hire ✅ How to tell whether a struggling team member has a confidence gap or a competency gap ✅ The simple checklist that stops your team coming to you without doing the thinking first ✅ How to withdraw from the day-to-day without your senior manager inheriting the bottleneck If your firm feels out of control, there's a meeting missing from your day. The PUB is probably it. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E210
July 16 · 16 min
Episode 210: Stop Hiring to Fill a Gap and Start Hiring to Build a Firm
Hiring in a panic is one of the most expensive things an accounting firm can do. And most firms do not even realise they are doing it until the damage is already done. In this episode of The Wize Way Podcast, Dani walks through the hiring mistakes that hurt firms the most, why they keep happening, and the practical prevention strategies that change how you approach every hire from here on. You'll learn: ✅ Why small firms feel bad hires harder than larger ones ✅ The three hiring scenarios that cost firms the most time and money ✅ Why a culture mismatch can be more damaging than a skills gap ✅ How to run interviews that feel like conversations and still get the information you need ✅ What real reference checks actually sound like ✅ Why your probation period is only useful if you are willing to act on it ✅ How to define your non-negotiables before you start looking so you stop compromising under pressure If you have ever found yourself hiring someone just to fill a gap and paying for it months later, this episode gives you the framework to make sure it does not happen again. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E209
July 9 · 25 min
Episode 209: The Noise Around AI and What Firm Owners Actually Need to Know
The noise around AI is getting louder, and most firm owners are not sure what to believe. In this episode of The Wize Way Podcast, Ed Chan draws on 40 years in the industry to cut through the noise and tell you exactly what AI means for your firm, your team, and your client relationships. You'll learn: ✅ How every major technology shift has played out in accounting and what it means for AI ✅ Why the relationship with your client is still your most valuable and most overlooked asset ✅ How to lead a team that is anxious about being replaced ✅ Why communication is now the most important skill you can develop in your firm ✅ The difference between visible and invisible money and how to invest in both ✅ How to protect the trust you have spent years building as automation increases If you have been feeling uncertain about where AI fits in your firm, this episode will settle a lot of that noise. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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July 2 · 12 min
Episode 208: The Power Of The Daily Huddle For Firm Owners
How much time would you get back if your meetings actually worked? In this episode, Kristy walks through the daily huddle, the simple meeting Wize teaches firm owners to run with their team every day, so you can build a quick daily touchpoint that keeps your team aligned and nothing slips through the cracks between conversations. You'll learn: ✅ Why the daily huddle is one of the simplest habits that changes how a firm runs ✅ The difference between something you unblock right in the huddle and something that needs its own follow-up: the PUB meeting (production unblocking meeting) ✅ How to know when it's time to hand the huddle off to your production manager ✅ Why rotating who hosts the huddle keeps the team engaged and brings fresh energy to the room ✅ How daily huddles build real connection across remote and hybrid teams ✅ What changes in your firm's production line once the daily huddle becomes a habit This is a real look at how one accounting firm built a daily rhythm that keeps the whole team aligned, told by a mentor who has been running daily huddles for years. If you've ever wanted your team to walk into each day already knowing exactly what to work on and where things stand, this episode will change the way you think about your team's daily rhythm and what happens once that habit takes hold. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E207
June 25 · 10 min
Episode 207: The Meeting Framework Behind a Self-Running Firm
What does it actually look like to run a meeting system that keeps your firm moving without everything falling through the cracks after every conversation? In this episode, Thomas walks through the full meeting framework Wize teaches firm owners, from the daily huddle to the annual planning meeting, so you can build a clear cadence that keeps your team aligned and your action items from disappearing into thin air. You'll learn: ✅ Why the daily huddle is one of the most powerful change management tools in your firm ✅ The difference between a daily huddle and a productivity unblocker, and why both matter ✅ How to know when an agenda item has outgrown your weekly tactical ✅ Why the monthly board meeting is the backbone of your operational rhythm ✅ How one well-run annual planning meeting can reduce chaos for the rest of the year ✅ Where to store and track action items so nothing gets lost between meetings If you've ever walked out of a team meeting with a full list of action items and watched half of them quietly disappear by the following week, this episode will change the way you think about your meeting structure and what happens after each one wraps up. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E206
June 18 · 21 min
Episode 206: What to Ask in Every Job Interview (And What the Answers Tell You)
What does it actually look like to run a job interview that tells you whether someone is the right fit for your firm — before you make a decision you can't easily undo? In this episode, Dani and Kristy break down the questions that go beyond the resume and what the answers actually reveal about a candidate, so you can walk into every interview with a clear process and walk out with the information you need to hire with confidence. You'll learn: ✅ Why a 5-minute pre-screen call can save you hours in your hiring process ✅ The questions to ask at every stage — and what to listen for in the answers ✅ How to handle the salary conversation without derailing the process ✅ What a candidate's answer about leaving their last role actually tells you ✅ Why each role requires a different type of person — and how your questions should reflect that ✅ How to involve your team lead in the interview without overcomplicating it ✅ The remote work questions most firm owners skip — and why they matter If you've ever walked out of an interview feeling confident about a candidate and then regretted the hire weeks later, this episode will change the way you approach your hiring process — and the questions you ask in it. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E205
June 11 · 22 min
Episode 205: The Only Marketing Plan Your Accounting Firm Actually Needs
You have tried the ads. You have posted on social media. You have handed it to an agency. And yet here you are, still wondering why the leads aren't coming. In this session, the Wize team breaks down exactly what it takes to build a marketing plan for your accounting firm that doesn't just look good on paper but actually gets executed week after week. ✅ Why 5% of your revenue should be dedicated to marketing and what that looks like at every firm size ✅ How to identify who you are actually attracting before you spend a single dollar reaching them ✅ Why consistency beats strategy every time and how to pick the marketing channel you will actually stick to ✅ The SEO approach that generated 58,000 monthly website views and still holds without being touched for two years ✅ Why outsourcing your marketing without a strategy first is one of the most common and costly mistakes firm owners make ✅ How to study your own client base to build a data-driven marketing plan that actually converts If you have been spending money on marketing and wondering why it isn't moving the needle, this session is your reminder that the right plan, the right channel, and the discipline to execute consistently can change the trajectory of your firm faster than you think. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E204
June 4 · 12 min
Episode 204: Wize Factor Chat: How to Fix a Firm Without Starting Over with Melanie Sikma (One Stop Tax Strategist)
When Melanie and her dad started One Stop, everything looked good on paper. But somewhere between the vision and the reality, things started to crack. What came next was a decision that changed everything, and a lesson most firm owners only learn the hard way. ✅ Why the external partnership model was costing them clients and what they did about it ✅ What it looks like to have a coach who has already walked the same path ✅ How stopping trying to figure it out alone and just working a proven plan changed the game ✅ Why losing control of the client experience was the wake-up call that changed everything ✅ Why bringing in an external third party changed the way the whole family business operated ✅ What freedom actually looks like when you build the firm around your life and not the other way around If you have been holding everything together and wondering when you get to step back, this episode is your reminder that the right system and the right support can fix what feels broken faster than you think. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E203
May 28 · 44 min
Episode 203: Find the Right People, Learn the Right Things, Become the Right Person
Somewhere between setting the goal and achieving it, something breaks down. And it's almost never what you think it is. In this conversation, Jamie sits down with Bren Ward for an honest look at what it actually takes to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be, and why the answer is simpler than most people think. ✅ Why the knowledge gap is the real reason people stay stuck, and where to go find it ✅ How surrounding yourself with the right people shortcuts years of costly trial and error ✅ Why motivation is overrated and what replaces it when you get this right ✅ The three-step framework behind every person who has ever made lasting change ✅ How to stop managing your goals and start becoming the person who already has them ✅ Why your calendar is the truest reflection of what you actually want from your life If you have been working hard and still wondering why things aren't moving, this episode is your reminder that the right knowledge, the right people, and the right identity can change the trajectory of your life faster than you think. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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S3 · E202
May 21 · 33 min
Episode 202: The Truth About HR Software for Accounting Firms.
What does it actually look like to build a hiring process for your accounting firm that finds the right person every time, without expensive software, without guesswork, and without starting from scratch every time a role opens up? In this session, Dani and Kristy from the Wize team break down exactly how to take the chaos out of hiring, whether you are doing it yourself or working with a talent team, and why a clear process will always beat an expensive platform. ✅ Why AI screening tools can quietly eliminate your best candidates before you ever see them ✅ How a simple scorecard takes the emotion out of comparing candidates and why that changes everything ✅ The hiring mistake Kristy made that cost her a client manager in two days, and what she does differently now ✅ Why software experience should almost never be the reason you say no to a great candidate ✅ How your capacity planner tells you exactly who to hire before you even start looking ✅ The reference check tool worth paying for, and why it catches what interviews almost always miss If you have been bringing people on and hoping for the best, wondering why it keeps going wrong, this episode is your reminder that the right process and the right support can change the way you hire faster than you think. ________________ PS: Whenever you’re ready… here are the fastest 4 ways we can help you fix and grow your accounting firm: 1. Download our famous Wize Freedom Map for FREE - Find out the 101 projects every firm owner must implement to build a $5M+ firm that can run without them - Download here 2. Need to hire right now? Book a 1:1 FREE discovery call with our WizeTalent hiring coaches to help find your next team member the Wize Way – Click Here 3. Work with Jamie and our mentors for 8 weeks - Build a custom business plan for your firm - Apply here
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