“I knew early on that growth at my firm would have to be controlled; I wanted to travel and spend time with my family,” said Hill-Trawick. “I wanted to work with clients. I enjoyed and respected them more than the revenue they generated and the referrals they provided. I wanted to work with a team of accountants that didn’t have to prioritize work over living and that enabled me to grow a firm to the right size for me.”
As her workload rose, Hill-Trawick said that taking time away from work became more difficult.
“Ultimately, I opted to sunset all the back-office services that required Little Fish to act on behalf of the client, so we stopped offering payroll, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and contractor payment services. That decision was made possible because the firm tracked key metrics for each service line, and evaluated the performance based on those metrics and staff feedback. At this point, I was willing to make changes.”
After its second year in business, Little Fish stopped offering annual tax prep and bookkeeping as standalone services in favor of year-round partnerships.
“The small businesses we wanted to serve needed more than just an annual check-in and could provide more ongoing support by taking fewer clients at a higher price point.”
Have a staffing strategy
When you work alone, you are only as productive and successful as the work you can handle by yourself.
“Overwork can grow faster than your business, so, the answer is to get some help,” said Hill-Trawick. “I hired an administrative assistant because I was overwhelmed with extraneous tasks such as contracts, invoicing, and follow-up emails.” She said her assistant did so well that she started giving her operations duties. “But [the additional] expectations weren’t properly set; we weren’t happy with the result.
After hiring multiple replacements for that role, Hill-Trawick eventually created an ideal job description for what she needed.
“I had to pause taking on new clients, but doing so allowed me to build the back end to a business at which everyone involved would be better served. Once I completed the job descriptions for current roles, I built an organizational chart for what the company would ultimately require to be fully staffed. That helped me realize that while the firm would stay small, I needed more people than I thought.”
However, hiring help doesn’t have to mean directly adding team members.
“I started by making a list of tasks and duties that were taking me away from my main focus: leading the firm to meet financial and operational goals. Next, I hired technical support to help the team with hardware and software issues, increasing security and giving the team a point of contact that wouldn’t be a bottleneck to progress.”
Slowly, she added retainers for a law firm and an HR agency to free up her time to focus on leadership and business development.
Bottom line
Building a successful accounting firm doesn’t require the constant pursuit of growth. By intentionally limiting their size, firms like Little Fish Accounting can provide excellent service while maintaining their team’s work-life balance. Strategic staffing, outsourcing non-core tasks, and focusing on core services allow small firms to thrive and reach their goals without sacrificing quality or employee well-being.
I cover this strategy in detail in my forthcoming book: "Building a Sustainable Accounting Firm.”
