I can’t believe it, but the first season of Life First Accounting Firm is officially in the books!

Yesterday in Aligned Accountants, we hosted a panel discussion on tax scheduling. (Tax scheduling = having your clients sign up for a specific week they want you to complete their tax return.)

How do you run 6-figure accounting firm in only 15 hours a week? How do you do it? What’s the magic formula?

I’m at a local networking event all day today (I wrote this yesterday). After years of focusing on national and virtual reach for finding new clients, I now have a growing itch to focus locally for lead generation.

A couple weeks ago, I got out of my office and met up with a bunch of accountants celebrating the end of tax season.

I’m launching a brand new podcast. It's called the Life First Accounting Firm podcast, and it's for solo firm owners (and accountants thinking about starting their own firm) who want success without giving up their life outside of work.

A few weeks back, I shared my firm’s 2025 P&L details. You can catch up here, if you missed it. I also asked for you to hit reply for any and all questions you had.

At a high level, I think there are 2 ways to grow an accounting firm…Option 1: Fast & Furious or Option 2: Slow & Methodical

If taking the first step to starting your own accounting / tax / CAS / fractional CFO firm is on your 2026 resolution list, and you don’t know where to start, here are the 5 simple foundational steps to building the foundation of your firm:

If you’ve ever prepped for a new baby in your family, you likely went through a “nesting” period. You built the crib, washed the onesies, and generally got everything in the right place before the baby got there.

Quietly, behind the scenes, Lou (my web designer), my daughter (the 14yo), and I have been toiling away getting all past newsletters loaded up onto a website. And…

Here’s a recent win from an Aligned member (shared with permission):

My first real corporate internship was when I was 19 years old, at a place called Hewitt Associates. At the time, Hewitt was a privately held company, headquartered in Chicago’s northern suburbs. The particular building I sat in was surrounded by wooded acreage right off I-94.

Last week was county fair week. For context, I spent my entire life in the suburbs of Chicago until our family moved to very rural, very small town Idaho 6 years ago.

Only 110 days until Christmas, but more importantly…Only 25 more days until the Fall Selling Season. Why is September thru early-December a selling season for small accounting firms?

We’re talking about the “casual drop” today…

When I was about 1 year into my accounting firm ownership life, I was in a Girl Scout carpool headed to a weekend jamboree camp.  Me in the driver’s seat, my newish mom-friend Amy in the passenger seat, and lots of 8 year old girls in the back. (I later found out that my spiritual gift is not carpooling lots of small children, but I digress.)

It’s no secret that I do my best to run my firm with iron-clad boundaries. But I do this from a place of being part of a two-income household with my husband holding a W-2 accounting job that offers health insurance.

I was raised as a kid in typical American culture where “success” was defined as 1st place trophies in little league, straight As, high scores, and perfect attendance in school.

I'm also former KPMG but with 25 years of financial services industry experience in various finance and controlling functions.  I'd like to make the jump like you did but don't have the tactical experience just yet.

Most importantly…congrats to all who made it through this week’s deadline!! You’re almost there!!