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We often hear from clients that their prior accountant ‘ghosted’ them frequently. At Blumer CPAs, we aren’t ghosts. Instead we pursue being Transparent. Visible. Accountable.  Transparent: easy to perceive or detect We pursue being transparent at Blumer CPAS. We do a lot of special projects for our clients. We state our main objective upfront so everyone, from team to client, knows our position and mindset when moving to discuss next steps. No one should have to wonder what the plan is or feel like it is being kept a secret. Our transparency can also be seen in simple email communications. [...]

Core values are fundamental principles or beliefs that guide an individual's or an organization's actions, behaviors, and decision-making. They serve as a foundation for how people or organizations operate and interact with others. Sounds pretty important for an individual to have some strong core values...of course! But what about a business who will come in contact with hundreds, maybe even thousands of people a year? What an impact a business can make by having strong core values and team members who hold themselves to those core values as well!  One of the strong core values that Blumer CPAs shoots for [...]

When taking core values as an idea and applying them to reality, it is important to have something to strive towards but be achievable as well. Blumer’s core values “Good, Great, Growing” is a perfect example of this principle in action. They are clear and easy to understand and help not only on an individual level but also companywide when everyone is working towards these values. Let’s dive deeper and look at each one individually. Good to Others Being good to others is what we learned as the golden rule in school and is the right way to act in [...]

Pop quiz: When did you last think about your company's vision and core values? Can you repeat any of them? Are they something your employees joke about with fellow new hires when they are stuck in the boredom of training? When they watch that video and hear the lecture from leaders about your company's core values, do they believe in them?  Or let's look at it from another perspective: do you, as a leader, feel cheesy giving the speech about your core values? Do you cringe at the thought that you have become the human equivalent of just another motivational [...]

Like many of our clients, our firm is at a size where we have to nail down the revenue production of our firm. That is, at our size, we have to have a machine that is now producing our revenue to support our team of 15, as well as the growth we anticipate over the next few years.  Like many things in scaling a service organization, we’re finding that what got us here won’t get us there. We have always been an ORG (“Owner Revenue Generated”) company. As the owner and founder, I’ve always sat in the seat of sales [...]

Our firm focus for 2025 is Mindset.  So imagine what a surprise it was to be asked to proofread an essay my 9th grader, Michael, had to write for his Honors English class…and find it written about that very thing!  His writing prompt was: “How should intelligence be measured?” And his entire essay is below. Intelligence is like being a turtle; dedicated to learn on its own, being patient with itself, and able to apply knowledge. Having the ability to apply your knowledge is the key to being intellectually smart. There are studies that show how you can work to [...]

How you have conversations in your organization, and the intention with which you speak, matters. “Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can’t, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.” – Robert Frost Overspeaking, looping with no point, and speech riddled with generalities or exaggerations do no good to move your organization and your team forward. But transforming speech turns out to be a difficult challenge.  Your speech patterns are habitual, and likely have been allowed by those around you for years and years. So if you [...]

We coach and consult with many service-based organizations and we are finding some patterns after the pandemic. Many entrepreneurs are struggling with what it is like to now lead a company considering the remembrance of where they were before the pandemic, what the pandemic has done to their companies, and how they have been affected personally as leaders.  We’ve all been struggling personally after the impact of the pandemic on our lives and those around us. And now an unstable economy is bringing a lot of discouragement to service entrepreneurs. You are not alone if you feel this too. Many [...]

With experience comes a lot of value and power in business. You can typically raise your price or hourly rate as you learn more and hold yourself out as an expert. We teach entrepreneurs how to narrow into a market just so they can do this - become experts. But with experience and knowledge comes the belief that you ‘know enough.’ You prove this to yourself every day as you solve complex problems and you become the person that people go to for answers. You begin to believe that you know enough. This belief can sneak up on us as [...]

Remote jobs are a big draw these days to job seekers.  They are like a shiny new car…great in theory, with no maintenance for a while, better gas mileage than a similar used car, and the technology is top notch.  Sounds like a dream, right?  The only thing is, once you get that new car, a lot of times it’s more work than you expected.  You want to keep it looking nice, so you take it to the car wash once a week.  That remote work technology is great…when it works.  You can get out of bed whenever you want [...]