Author: Jamie L. Smith, CPA

Jamie L. Smith, CPA https://connectionattheintersection.wordpress.com I am a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA). I am a Finance Leader, Business Advisor & Connector. I am also a wife and a mother of two amazing sons. I am a founder of Amplify Advisors Inc. We are an entrepreneural organization that helps growing business envisage their complete financial picture. We provide CFO/Controller services with our Finance Leaders. We provide consulting services as Business Advisors. We connect by placing candidates in accounting & finance roles as well as through referrals within our network.

The Great, the necessary & the values that differentiate them

One thing I feel extremely grateful for is the people I’ve worked with.

I’ve worked for great people, I’ve had amazing peers & some of those I’ve had a chance to lead were nothing short of extraordinary. I’ve also had fantastic clients.

Those you don’t love sometimes teach you the most – to a limit! Here are the three characteristics of those necessary people that “taught” me.

The incompetent – let’s be honest, given where I’ve worked none of them were likely incompetent but they could have fooled me. Generally we just didn’t share values and I interpreted that as their lacking. These ones really, really challenge you to find the lesson.

The disconnected – I’ve met a few over the years who were clearly intelligent yet did not value relationships or connection. It stumped their growth overall & certainly my ability to see their potential. These ones really confuse me because they could go from good to great with such minor tweaks in client service or business partnering but instead they dwell in their blind spots.

The psychopaths – they can also be brilliant (nearly always are in fact) & best we leave it to the psychologists to diagnose but those that are the smartest guys in the room can only be tolerated for so long before the narcism becomes toxic. These ones make me worry.

Over nearly 20 years there have been few of these people. Overall I’ve made the best of friends from those I met through work. I’ve had bosses become clients. I’ve had clients become bosses. I’ve had so many epic teams it’s really astonishing. I’ve been surrounded by greatness.

I am very thankful for the people I’ve worked with. The best ones I hope to have a chance again. My favourites value:

Communication

Courage

Curiosity

Candor

Collaboration

Revenue-focused, marketing & the conscious mind

I’m a big believer in focusing on the top line.

Of course it’s all important but effort spent on growth and revenue has an exponential impact when compared to similar levels of efforts on costs.

And it is more optimistic (& fun too!) so why not?

Marketing is that funny thing – efforts on marketing could be called either right? They are certainly a cost but for many businesses it’s what we define as marketing that builds the business, the relationships & the client exposure.

Measuring ROI and knowing that your marketing dollar is well spent isn’t easy. (Further complicate that with some IDW podcasts and the concept that our decision making is largely driven by the unconscious mind & this whole thing is mind blowing.)

And if you are a start up or small business you don’t necessarily have the cash to experiment with (really what size entity does?). So how do you get your CFO to say “yes if” & not just “no”?

Well start with some low cost and big impact initiatives. And negotiate what success looks like so that you can have an ongoing decision-making framework.

Here are articles with ideas:

https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/10/01/marketing-ideas-for-small-businesses22 Low-Budget Marketing Ideas For Small Businesses | WordStream

https://blogs.constantcontact.com/market-your-small-business/10 Ways to Market Your Small Business on a Shoestring Budget | Constant Contact Blogs

Bonus: discussions on pitfalls which would certainly reduce your impact and the value of $$$ (or time) spent:

https://www.thebusinesswomanmedia.com/sabotaging-own-marketing-efforts/https://www.thebusinesswomanmedia.com/sabotaging-own-marketing-efforts/

Mind-blowing bonus: http://wakingup.libsyn.com/113-consciousness-and-the-self

Or book to discuss: https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/AmplifyAdvisorsInc@amplifyadvisors.ca/bookings/

#toplinefirst #cfo #marketing #smallbusiness #samharristoo #cfoservices

Communication & Community at Forge

What’s on the agenda today?

A discussion on leases and then Forge!

I’m looking forward to the afternoon with entrepreneurs & learning.

Shane says “Leaders of these firms experience stress and heartache like few others. 96% of all small businesses fail within their first 10 years with 30% of those failures are attributed to the lack of emotional support given to their founders.”

He’s looking to provide a cost-effective option to help address this. Working with small business and helping them with forecasts including cost management & growth has shown me that this learning and community is key. I’m excited to discover more.

Bookkeeping, tax, math, nagging and other stereotypes about accountants – when do you need an accountant?

So when does a business need an accountant? And what’s the difference between an accountant (CFO/Controller), a book-keeper and a tax expert?

If you are interested in growth it is important to set up cost effectively so that you can scale and not pay more to handle your next 10,000+ units or your next product or next location.

This article discusses it well. In summary, I’d say that any growing business, regardless of current size would benefit from a finance leader that helps them envisage their complete financial picture. Beyond the books and tax, a growing organization needs a business partner that leads finance and accounting and offers business advisory so that they can be well informed and scalable for growth.

What are your thoughts? There seems to be some confusion. I think after 18 years in this profession I still have relatives that think I’m busy in April because of tax season. I binged Champions on Netflix with the boys and cringed at the portrayal of the “accountant” who is a sometimes nag, sometimes math whiz and a few other stereotypes. (Good family show otherwise!) So it seems that a discussion about what an accountant can do and how they can be a finance leader, business advisor and connector beyond the books & taxes is overdue. Hope this article assists: https://www.xero.com/ca/resources/small-business-guides/accounting/when-to-hire-accountant/

#financeleader #financeautomation #xero #cpa #smallbusiness

To discuss further : http://ow.ly/yMBA30l5Q86

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The drive towards simple

The balance between simple & comprehensive is a constant struggle.

I love the idea of simple.

I’m a yellow/red but I can honestly say I think time is my driver. Nothing motivates me more than saving time. Nothing angers me more than wasting my time. I’d spend $$$ every time If I had it and it would save me time.

But simple that goes beyond frightens me or maybe confuses me. I learnt this week that bookkeeping software allows chart of accounts without #s (why??). I’ve seen demo after demo in the space that I’ve stumped with the most basic of questions (can I consolidate or include numerous entities?).

But maybe comprehensive is an excuse for “I didn’t have time to write a short letter so I wrote a long one instead.”

Learn more about a comprehensive but practical approach for accounting and finance: http://ow.ly/QEao30l70zS

#culturesmith #time #simple #comprehensive #efficiencies

Jamie L. Smith, CPA – Finance Leader | Business Advisor | Connector

A discussion about business, accounting, leadership & general thoughts.