I don't know about you, but 2024 has been a wild ride for my firm.

This year, we did some things wrong but we also got some key things very right. 

Through those experiences, I've learned a ton of important lessons. 

But I think that some of the best lessons I learned this year actually came from other firm owners that have shared their experiences with me! 

Today, I'm going to share 4 of the most impactful lessons that I've learned in 2024 - not just from my own experiences, but also from some of the firms that I have the most respect for in our industry.

Let's dive in. 

Lesson #1: Hire an EA, Day 1

Note: In this context, EA means "executive assistant", not "enrolled agent".
(No shade intended for the enrolled agents out there!) 

This lesson comes courtesy of Cameron Deike and Jay Dotson of Prosper CFO. 

Cam and Jay were sharing with me that they were able to get more done in the first 30 days with an EA than they were able to get done over the past several months COMBINED. 

This experience isn't unique to Cam and Jay either. I can't tell you how many other Fractional CFOs and Fractional CFO firm owners have reported similar results. 

I've seen those results myself. In fact, I've had assistants for the past 5+ years and I'm an advocate for Fractional CFOs hiring an EA as their very first hire! 

Why are they so impactful? 

Yeah, they help with email, calendaring, and other such tasks. But a GOOD EA will force you to get your life in order, get prioritized, and stay focused. 

What's the price of not having your life in order, not being prioritized, and not staying focused? 

🤔🤔🤔 

Lesson #2: The Firms That Prospect Consistently Grow Consistently

This was my personal biggest takeaway from 2024.

I talked about it in THIS LinkedIn post, so I won't belabor it here but here's the tldr:

I have personally talked with HUNDREDS of Fractional CFO firm owners in 2024. In fact, I have had the blessing of talking with and learning from many of the fastest growing firm owners as well. 

Some have specific niches, some don't.
Some charge $2k/mo and others charge $8k/mo.
Some have W2 employees while others use a 1099 model. 
Some are heavy on social media while others are public speakers.

The one common thread across those firms is that they all prospect for new clients consistently and, as a result, they have consistent (and usually rapid!) growth. 

Want more consistent growth? 
Start prospecting for new leads more consistently. 

Lesson #3: You Also Have to Consistently Prospect for Top Talent

This lesson comes courtesy of my friend Jim Emerich of Backbone CFO - and he's absolutely right. 

As you get more clients you'll need more team. 

If you're anything like me or Jim, you're going to want to have the best people on your team. After all, you probably can't afford to hire a dud (nor would you want to if you could). 

But what Jim has learned is that if you wait to recruit until it's time to hire, you probably aren't going to find the best. The truth is that recruiting talent is a lot like finding clients.

You have to prospect. 

That means that you have to go out and introduce yourself to the people you want on your team. You have to develop relationships. You have to explain why they'd want to work on YOUR team. You have to develop trust and rapport. Those things take time and so you need to be in that process all the time - if you want the best talent. 

One of the things that I was slow to realize is that the recruiting and hiring process takes time - but I didn't account for that time on my calendar. I now have time blocked every week exclusively for recruiting, just like I do for prospecting for new clients.

The result? 

We have a significantly better pipeline of talent than we've ever had. 

Lesson #4: Hire a Full Time Salesperson So You Can Be the CEO

This one comes from another friend of mine, Pam Jordan of Pivot Business Group.

Pam has invested a TON of time and money in 2024 to put herself in a position to be able to hire a full-time salesperson for Pivot. 

Pam shared with me that early in the process it became clear that before she could hire a salesperson, she had to get her business development and sales playbooks dialed in and documented so that her salesperson would know what needed to be done and how to do it. 

In other words, just hiring a salesperson without having the playbooks for them to use wasn't going to work. So Pam spent months getting those in place. She then invested in having someone help her recruit and interview sales people until she found a rockstar.

Several months in, Pam's top line is growing at a record pace without her having to go out and do all the prospecting and sales calls. 

This has freed up Pam to run her company and work on more strategic priorities. 

PS - I have to give a huge shoutout to Pam for doing this! Seeing her do it successfully is what inspired me to go out and do it as well. Our new salesperson starts in 2 weeks. Thanks Pam 😊

Onward to 2025 and Beyond!

I'm grateful for the opportunities and growth I've been able to experience in 2024.

I'm also grateful to have other amazing firm owners around me that are willing to share their lessons learned so that I can apply them, but also so that I can share them with you. 

My hope is that you're able to take some of the insights and lessons I've shared in my blogs, YouTube videos, and other content and apply them in your firm so that you can have an amazing 2025 and beyond.

See you next year!