If this tax season felt like it was a matter of survival, you’re not alone. Something most of us are wondering is “Where are all these new clients coming from?”. Well, I’ve got my suspicions but that’s not important. What’s important is that you take this time now to take stock.
Something I’ve heard from several practitioners is how the questions coming from people seeking their tax preparation services went from “How much do you charge?” to “Are you taking on new clients?”. Clearly, there’s more and more people out there looking for qualified tax preparers and I believe, less and less of us providing it. Bad for the public. Good for those in the business of tax preparation.
I’ve already written newsletters on the topic of post-tax season beef and bouquet where you allow everyone on your team to discuss and vent about what didn’t go well during tax season, what should be done to improve, and also, things we did better than ever before. Something I cannot stress enough on is doing an inventory of the number of new clients you got and from there, think about how you will better handle next year’s influx of new clients and extra work and the fees you will want and need to charge to possibly curve this influx.
And now, more to the point of this article.
Too often, I see practitioners who hardly slow down after tax season. Sometimes, the demand makes the slowing down very difficult. However, as much as you may enjoy what you do, be careful not to let yourself become too tired. So how do you know you’re headed towards a burnout? I’m no psychologist, but one of the tell-tale signs I believe is how much you care about your team, your clients, and the work you’re doing. When you become more interested in simply getting the work out than really doing all that you can for your team and clients, you know it’s time to back off and take a break. I’ve been there a few times myself. Not good. I became bitter and unpleasant and my ability to really give a darn disappears. Clearly, I’d gone too far. I should have taken a break sooner. I should have let the client know their work would have to wait and take better care of myself and my team rather than the clients. And of course, as a leader, you need to look for those signs of being too tired in your team too.
Enough said. I’d prefer you take a break than read, so I’ll stop here.
Think about what it is you can do that would really fill your tank, allow you to rest, and who with. And just do it.