Practice Success Podcast

Dr. Jackie Meyer Redefines Success in Accounting

Canopy Season 3 Episode 1

Dr. Jackie Meyer discusses her challenges with chronic fatigue and how they served as a turning point, inspiring her to redefine her career. Through her story, she highlights the importance of embracing leadership and prioritizing work-life balance to achieve personal fulfillment and professional success.

KC Brothers:

Welcome to another episode of Canopy Practice Success. I am here, Kasey Brothers, your host, with Dr. Jackie Meyer. Jackie, how are you? I'm doing great. Thank you, Kasey. It's good to have you here. Give us a little background on you, because we've got some really fun things to talk about today.

Jackie Meyer:

Yeah, so much to talk about. Um, well, I am a CPA turned doctor, not that kind of doctor. I recently received a doctorate in leadership, uh, wrote a book called the balance sheet of life formula. And had my own CPA firm for 12 years that I sold a couple years ago and, um, really kind of transformed it from all the traditional ways to modern best practices and, and really like amp the value of it. And so, yeah, there's a lot there, but we can kind of deep dive into each of those aspects as we go.

KC Brothers:

Okay, well, I mean, you've written a book on the, this topic of balance sheet of life, um, which I take is your vernacular for work life balance, harmonies, you know, whatever you want to call it. Yeah. Um, which accountants? Mm. Mm. Struggle with. But I don't know why. I know it's been a topic, like, it's interesting to me, like, I always kind of want to dive back and think, like, okay, where did this start? Who knows, right? Who cares? Almost at some point. But most accountants really struggle with this.

Jackie Meyer:

Yeah, I think it's kind of naturally ingrained in us, um, with our more introverted personalities, very numbers oriented, uh, but also really good. We tend to be good people too. And we want to help people in our own like quirky way. And so that somehow tends to translate into this workaholism that really, you know, gets people over there in over their heads.

KC Brothers:

Yeah. And that, that's fair that that could be a really good thing. obvious root cause of just this desire to help. Um, so tell us a little bit about your situation, what you'd gotten into.

Jackie Meyer:

Sure. Um, so I started thinking I would be in finance, and then I worked in college full time. Um, I started working really young, when I was 15 actually. But, um, I started working for a financial planner slash CPA firm in Fort Worth, Texas. I live in South Lake, Texas now, which is close to DFW airport. And he exposed me to tax preparation, which for most people is like bleh. I loved it. Like I love the idea. Not growing up with a whole lot of money. I had a single teacher, mom. Um, I love the idea of using your brain and knowledge to like magically and legally find people money.

And

Jackie Meyer:

so I fell in love with tax planning. And I kind of like, you know, went got the back way into Deloitte got into their high net worth division. Um, and then went to a smaller firm here in DFW, kind of learned the ropes of running a practice. And I started my own firm in 2010.

KC Brothers:

And I mean, the big four have their own issues with work life balance as well. Oh yeah. How did that transition? Like, were you instantly working as many hours as you'd been working at Deloitte? Like, or, or I'm sure you had to, you know, there's this, um, anxiety that comes with starting in business and you've got to keep the lights on. You've got to bring clients in. Yeah. Yeah. What happened?

Jackie Meyer:

Well, so that's a funny story in itself. So first of all, Deloitte was like, taught me everything that I didn't want out of my career. Uh, it's great on your resume. I got many great clients that said, Oh, you worked at Deloitte. You must be amazing. But you have this huge buildup of like all, how amazing it is to work for the big four. And then. You're in this like competition mode with all the other staff members as to who can stay the latest, who can show up the earliest, who's the smartest. It was just like very toxic environment in my particular niche. Um, so I barely made it to like two years there before leaving. Um, as that transferred into starting my own firm. I would say I easily was working overtime. Um, the firm I had worked at prior to starting my own actually let me go. And so I was very, very upset at the time. Um, I pushed a lot of boundaries. I really wanted to grow tax planning and grow into Southlake and Staff weren't getting a raise. And, you know, it was like all this like argumentative stuff that I didn't realize at the time is really just me being an entrepreneur, but I didn't know I was an entrepreneur at heart. Right. Like I wanted to run the show

and so,

Jackie Meyer:

you know, they wanted me to sign a letter stating that I was quitting. And I was like, no, like I'll sign a letter stating that you're letting me go. And. I thought it was like the worst thing to ever happen to me and felt so low, but looking back, it was the best thing to ever happen to me because it forced me to start my own firm and it forced me down this path that I maybe wouldn't have chosen for myself. But I mean, I had 80K of student loan debt that I paid off in year one of that part time on the side CPA firm, uh, as I was growing. And I just started, it just started multiplying. I mean, the money that you can make doing your own business service based business. Is so much more than working for someone else, but yeah, I got into the, you know, working nights and weekends trap and my husband has always been so supportive of that, but things started to crumble a bit when I, we, we started to have kids, you know?

KC Brothers:

Yeah. And I mean, they, that really kind of puts things in perspective. Anyway, so you started to have kids, um, but you were still, I mean, it's your firm and there's a lot going on and there's this ownership, this emotional attachment. It's almost like its own baby. Yeah. Right. Um, but you ended up selling the firm. So tell us what happened between, you know, this, um, workaholic, uh, portion of starting your own firm, having kids and then getting in a position to be sold. Yeah. So,

Jackie Meyer:

um, I didn't grow up in the kind of safest emotional environment. My mom had, has severe anxiety and, um, she would be worried about the weather or, you know, like someone coming after us or just these really irrational fears all the time. And so it was kind of, you know, unstable environment growing up. Um, I. What I believe now is that I probably had major depressive disorders since I was a child, but being a high performer, I just kind of like went, I'm going to just work through this, work through this, work through this. And that all kind of crumbled around me. Once I had my daughter, the end of 2013, I planned both my kids, by the way, to have them in December. Yeah. Around tax season. Yeah. Um, you know, it just seems so practical, right? Yeah. In

KC Brothers:

fact, to that point, I've seen LinkedIn posts. Yeah. Um, talking about this and how backwards that is, but it's something that like, it's reality and it's such a bummer that it is. For

Jackie Meyer:

sure. Yeah, it is. It is, but you know, teach their own, it all seemed to work out in its own way. But I mean, today is my son's eighth birthday. The end of this month is my daughter's 11th birthday. So yeah, we've got a lot of celebrations right now. Um, but yeah, so I had my daughter and I was still trying to be the perfect, like type A. know it all firm owner and then a mom and the concept of being this baby's like only source of Uh, you know food and water and energy and all those things it just like Really like put life into a totally different perspective. And so What I think now at the time I started feeling really sick like muscle soreness, um, extreme fatigue. I was so brain fogged that my husband would be like, you are talking so slow. Like what is going on with you? And I thought, I'm like, do I have a brain tumor? I went to like all these doctors looking back, honestly, I think it was postpartum depression. And, um, I just didn't even recognize it. It's so hard to recognize those things in yourself. And so I would encourage anyone watching or listening if. If, um, you know, if you identify with that at all, you know, go to a doctor, maybe go to a counselor because after seeing a ton of regular doctors, a counselor is who helped me sort through it the most, because I was focusing so much on how bad I felt that I wasn't able to like, knock myself out of that and be like, okay. What can I do? What medication can I take? How can I get out of this so that I can be the best mom and business owner that I can be? And so I was working through a lot of problems there, ended up getting diagnosed with chronic fatigue. I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, but it's essentially like, we don't know what's wrong with you, but. You sleep twice as much as everyone else and your body's in pain. So it must be chronic fatigue. Um, and I was lucky because I started surrounding myself with the greatest mentors and coaches that really like helped keep me on track and, you know, keep the eye on the prize of what was really important with my family and whatnot. And my husband was always so supportive as well. Um, and so I thought I Getting things back to normal. And then of course I get pregnant with my second child, Gabriel in 2016. And I like almost have this like immense panic attack of like, whoa, I, I got flooded with all the bad, like feelings and vibes and things that I had done wrong, so to speak in 2014 with Alex. And I didn't want to do that again. So I went to a business coach of mine, Chuck Bauer, um, who was a dear friend of mine. And I'm like, I'm pregnant with my second kid. I cannot repeat this again. Like, please help me get out of this. And he asked me one question. He said, What clients do you like working with? And why,

KC Brothers:

and in my, yeah, exactly.

Jackie Meyer:

And in my mind, I heard what clients do you love working with? And why? Cause I love the word love, but he would never say love in business. That's something we joke about. Uh, and I knew like, I loved working with high net wealth executives in my local area that were super sharp. They had come out of the corporate world, started their own entrepreneurial journey. And I just loved helping them find tax saving strategies, you know, contribute back to their legacies, contribute to charity and be able to rub elbows with these amazing people. And so he's like, let's develop packages and pricing around that. So we did, I ended up creating my own pricing method called the ROI method of value pricing. And it's literally just a calculator calculator. That takes the tax savings you can find for somebody and then applies these different factors to calculate a price. So complexity of engagement, urgency, risk involved, and then other benefits like intangible benefits that you do for the client. Wow. Yeah. And so I start quoting my clients one by one to convert them over. I'm three to five times in my practice revenue. I'm equally decreasing my time to get down to one of my favorite books in the world, the four hour work week by Tim Ferriss. Right. And it's like, I'm just like, Whoa, why didn't I do this before? Like, why did I follow this traditional firm path? Why didn't I just go for it with these innovative ideas and whatnot? And I, I guess it's because. We're, I think there's a fear as a CPA that we might do something wrong that, you know, the AICPA doesn't like contingent fees, for example, well, this is not a contingent fee, but people assume it is. And so you kind of want to hide that and be like, well, I know it's working for me. I know it's. Uh, orientating my, orientating, whatever that word is, orientating my clients to like results oriented and they're so much happier by paying me so much more, but why do other people seem to be rejecting this? And so, you know, I went years, kind of started coaching other accountants, found passion and speaking to other accountants about the transformation that I, that I made in my own firm. And um, and then I finally like bit the bullet and created my own tax advisory software and the the whole ROI methodology is ingrained throughout that software. Now here's what's cool and why I'm like so openly speaking about it today. The AICPA is embracing my pricing methodology. Yes, yes, yes, I know. I know it is like a dream come true for them to recognize that we need that change in our industry and profession and to help move CPAs in that direction. So I have a free workbook. I'm happy to provide the link for everybody that's listening today, but the AICPA will be officially releasing. That workbook early 2025 as well.

KC Brothers:

Wow. Yeah. Look at, look at you, Jackie. That is so exciting. Okay. There's some details I want to double down on throughout there. Um, how big was your firm when you really hit the wall? Um, after your first, how many employees? Yeah.

Jackie Meyer:

So I had about four contractor staff members. I was a severe control freak. I think around, like, distrust fears of the way I grew up and whatnot. My

KC Brothers:

next question was going to be, did you have anybody in the firm that you could rely on, that you could delegate to? But it sounds like with the type of employees you had and then what you were just saying, that You didn't set yourself up in a way to, to do that in a firm.

Jackie Meyer:

No, I didn't. I mean, looking back, I did have a couple of people that were just so loyal to me over so many years, even as subcontractors. Um, and I don't know if I, my heart could even embrace or appreciate that at the time, but now I definitely do. Um, you know, especially with the, the employee and, work, uh, landscape that we're in right now where no one wants to do any work. Um, but yeah, so I was micromanaging, I was a control freak and I had about 250 clients, so a decent load for a smaller practice. I was at about 350 K of gross revenue, so I was doing okay. I was netting around like 200, 000 probably out of that with my, my subcontractors. What happened and I'm glad you asked this because there's a really nice like streamline process that happened there that I highly recommend for others. I went to one of my favorite clients, one of these, you know, local executive high net wealth.

And I

Jackie Meyer:

was like, Hey, I want to convert my practice to leading with tax advisory. I want to put you on a package. I'm going to charge you 10, 000 a year instead of 1, 500 for your 1040, right? But I'm going to bring you like 20, 000 a year in tax savings, which was very minimal at the time, but he was so excited and he was like, I've been waiting for you to bring something like this to me. I knew that you had it in you and like I was just waiting for you to take that next leap And so he signed up then I went one by one to other clients that were kind of my favorite clients Not necessarily the top grossing clients

KC Brothers:

but people which is actually a good thing to call out because it's How you work with them. We know, you know, a big problem in accounting, really any service based industry is that the client relationship management, um, the, the communication that happens there, the expectations there. So if you already have someone that you work well with, whether they're the highest, most profitable client really shouldn't matter to your point, because what you can do is work well together. To make them more profitable. I love that.

Jackie Meyer:

Yeah. Thank you. So yeah, so I did that There were a lot of clients I had taken on that were literally just compliance focused. They really didn't need planning And that's what everyone does when they first start their firms and that's okay But I recognize that that 80 20 rule was so, like, so legit in that circumstance. Like, the, the people I was collecting the least revenue from and that I could do the least work for and bring the least amount of value to were taking up the majority of my time. Yeah, yeah. So I had to make a decision. I had to set a boundary. Which again is another thing that no one really teaches us how to do well in life, right? Another book I highly recommend to anybody is boundaries by dr. Henry cloud. That's a great one. It is I agree Yeah, so reading that kind of book having a coach to help me kind of get those parameters up You know, led me down the path of, okay, you know, I can really bring a lot of value and make more money with less time off of 40 percent of my clientele. And then I just randomly went to a broker and I was like, Hey, I have like 70, 000 worth of annual revenue in 60 percent of my clients that I don't want, but I'd rather pick who they go to and, you know, potentially profit from it versus just like, Firing them and having no idea where they go. And so they sold the clients for me. It was like 10 percent a fee on that annual revenue. And I was able to hand select out of like seven or eight different CPA firms, exactly what I thought would best serve those clients.

KC Brothers:

I love that. And then that, that just goes back to adding to your reputation and the way that you deal with your clients, you know, as opposed to leaving them high and dry and saying, Hey, I'm pivoting. You need to figure this out. You've done them a solid, which also benefited you as a win win.

Jackie Meyer:

Yeah. And I just remembered, I don't have the best memory. If you can probably guess from all the things I just said, I signed that sales agreement for those clients. It's the morning of my scheduled c section with my son Gabe. So that would have been eight years ago today.

KC Brothers:

Oh my goodness.

Jackie Meyer:

Yeah. What a great anniversary. I know, right? And yeah, it's like all like worked out so well, but. I have to say, like, you have to have those boundaries, and if you're not good at keeping those yourself, surround yourself. Even if you're paying other people to hold you accountable, like, just do that. Because you have to have that to get that balance in life that you really deserve.

KC Brothers:

So, how did you find your Coaches your business coach. Um, and and what what was it about them that you felt like made them a good fit? For you and what you needed to learn as a professional.

Jackie Meyer:

Yeah Um, I went to an accounting conference And I heard someone bragging about how well they were doing because of a coach that they were using Okay, i'm like, okay. Yes, please tell me all about him. And so that was mr. Chuck Bauer You Um, and he is something else. Um, he is very masculine and like intense. And I meet with him and it's like the biggest investment at the time in my life. It was like eight grand, I think, which was the biggest investment I'd ever made in anything. And I'm like, gosh, this guy is intense. I don't know, like, if this is going to work out. But then, you know, I, I kind of half committed. He had these small groups that he was running. I kind of started going to those and then I'm like, okay, I get this. And I started implementing everything very quickly. I realized like. I wasn't going to do things a hundred percent the same as him, but I could do it like 90 percent and then put my own spin on it and really like make it my own.

And

Jackie Meyer:

then I went to one on one coaching with him and that's kind of when we started deep diving into creating packages for my clients and that, that big conversion. And what's really fun is that after all that in 2018, he asked me to actually coach with him. And so we coached about. 20, 23 or 24 small groups of accounting firm owners over a few years together to help them get all the amazing things he had taught me, but then also things that I learned as a practitioner. And so that was a lot of fun.

KC Brothers:

Awesome. Okay. So we're, we're jumping all over in timelines here. So we, You sold a portion of your book with the brokerage. Yes. Um, but that's not, it was later that you actually ended up selling your firm. I did. Yeah, it was much

Jackie Meyer:

later. So. Yeah. So I, I created TaxPlanIQ, which is my tax advisory software for accountants during COVID in 2020. Okay. Um, I went to a vendor of mine and said, Hey, I have this idea. I don't have any capital. I'm a woman. We all know we don't get VC like the men do. Right. So I'm like, Hey, can I give you like a percentage of sales and you create this thing for me out of my vision? They said, yes. And. The rest is kind of history. A year into that software business, it was worth more than my CPA firm of 10 years. So, yeah, and I was also able to work directly with accountants, which kind of became more of my passion and purpose. Yeah. Because I identified with their, the problems that they had, and I knew that I had solutions for those problems. And so, um, I started thinking like, okay, I'd gotten my time in my firm down to four hours a week. Yeah. Like, you're being serious.

KC Brothers:

You're being 100 percent serious. Oh yeah, for

Jackie Meyer:

sure.

KC Brothers:

Yeah. Yeah. I always thought that Tim Ferriss was speaking hypothetically.

Jackie Meyer:

No, it was four hours a week for sure because I started a doctorate program which was taking, I was writing like, Thousands of words a week for that. And I was starting up TaxPlanIQ and doing the coaching with other accountants. And so I had a time block, like there was no tomorrow. Like make sure I knew exactly what I was doing when during the week.

KC Brothers:

I mean, you are a great case study in the concept of like the path to wealth. Stop, stop thinking that the only path to wealth is trading your time for money. Yeah, you have to think outside of that to achieve wealth like I love that a new level of wealth Yeah,

Jackie Meyer:

yeah, I love how you summarize that that's gonna have to be my next LinkedIn post I think but So yeah Um, I realized like I was starting to get back into those workaholism Tendencies because I get so passionate about all the things I do and I knew like something had to give You And because my passions weren't really with the firm anymore, I also kind of saw the writing on the wall. We were starting to have staffing problems. I had 10, uh, half full time, half part time staff members at that point in my firm that I was delegating, you know, all the work to, really. But, You know, we were hitting, we just hit COVID. We're starting to see that decline in, in, in recruiting people. Well, and one of my coaching students who was like the best implementer in the world, uh, came to me and was like, I know you're really into this new stuff you're doing. Would you be interested in me maybe acquiring some of your clients? And I thought, well, sure. So at first it was just going to be like about half of my clients. And then I was going to keep like a really boutique little firm. And then it all came together so well, um, that I ended up selling the whole firm, um, sold for 1. 5 times ARR in 2022, which is actually very high at that time. Now we're seeing private equity kind of, you know, upping a little bit more. So, um, and it was all like, just, just so perfectly aligned. I mean, it was probably sent from above, but I remember like I was going to sell for 1. 25. And I'm in this group, this like business group, kind of like EO, it's called C12. And I went to them and I told them about it and they're like, why are you selling for so little? And I'm like, that's, that's good for my industry. And they're like, but you're different. Like your firm's different. You have everyone on annual packages. You are bringing so much value to the table. You should ask for 1. 5. And I went back to Michelle, the buyer. And I was like, Hey, you know, I'm feeling a little weird about this. Like my, it was really early in our discussion still. Right. And I was like, I kind of feel like it's worth a bit more. And she's like, well, what do you want? And I was like, I want 1. 5 and she's like, okay, deal. So yeah. And now the clients have like completely forgotten about me. They're taken such good care of by the new firm, but it, yeah, I mean, It all worked out well. I'm four years into TaxPlanIQ, and, you know, we're actually just got an eight figure evaluation, which is, like, blows my mind that I've been part of founding something that can grow so quickly like that and impact so many people.

KC Brothers:

I love it. You've really been a great example of thinking outside of the box, this abandoning traditional mentality of trading your time for money. Um, You've broken all of the stereotypes of accounting and the things that, um, yeah, I think hinder a lot of accountants, um, that will hopefully, excuse me, lay a great groundwork for the very near future of accounting in general, because it's, it's shifting, um, One of our recent episodes with Joe Woodard, he talked about now is the messy middle, and I loved that phrase. Cause it's like, yeah, we're in this painful transition where we're on the edge of a lot of these traditional, um, behaviors, these, uh, high intensity work weeks, um, uh, accounting has been a lagging industry in terms of adopting technology, and so here you are having built a technology to help the industry, I think. Accounting has a bright, bright future because of people like you. So thank you for breaking the mold.

Jackie Meyer:

Oh, thank you. Well, same to y'all. I mean, Kennepe is always breaking the mold as well. I mean, y'all are doing a lot of innovative things over there as well. So it's good to be surrounded by a lot of forward thinkers in this industry. And it is exciting to see where it's going.

KC Brothers:

It really is. And software is a great way to impact that, to create some efficiencies. It's one reason why I love working here is like, I, I see and hear these things and everybody, not everybody, I shouldn't speak for everybody, but it's not uncommon that I hear someone who has a similar background to you. And then there was some tipping point, right? Um, and I'm a firm believer in this concept that you've coined of the, uh, work life balance sheet, um, that your book is on. That like, we are more rounded individuals. We, um, Can accomplish more work when we do allow ourselves that balance when we allow ourselves to show up fully in whatever roles we want to show up as like for you and me, we're both working mom. So, like, going and showing up and being a mother when I'm needing to be a mother, I think really does allow me to then show up more fully in my canopy seat. so much. You know, like it's just, uh, we are all humans. We're not just workhorses there. When we see ourselves more holistically that way, I think we really can perform better in all aspects of our lives. For sure. Well said. Well, thank you. You are an inspiration. We'll share some of the things that you've mentioned, um, in show notes or in a blog post as well. Um, and when you have a link to your book, let us know.

Jackie Meyer:

Awesome. Thank you so much.