He has closed over 500 accounting firm acquisitions. Not 50, but 500. He knows exactly which deals fall apart and why.

Episode 87 features Shannon Hay, Senior Vice President of Commercial Lending at United Midwest Savings Bank, where he leads SBA and commercial lending for accounting and tax firms nationwide. Over 30 years in commercial lending, with stops at Bank of America and Live Oak Bank, and nearly $500 million in accounting and tax firm transactions behind him.

In this conversation Shannon explains why the SBA 7(a) program lets an existing firm owner buy another firm with no money down, what actually kills a deal before closing, and the tax advice that makes accountants wince: if you plan to sell in the next three to five years, stop mitigating so hard and start dropping income to the bottom line, because margin drives value and banks lend on the last three years of returns.

He also breaks down why it is still a seller's market, what buyers get wrong in the letter of intent, how private equity consolidation is changing the lower market, and why his philosophy is education first, sales second, including the trade show he called a waste of time that turned into a $3 million loan three years later.

His number one action item: never stop learning, and never stop teaching.

Connect with Shannon:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-hay-accounting-tax-leader

X: @shaysba

Email: shay@umwsb.com

Cell: 614-648-9199

United Midwest Savings Bank: https://umwsb.com/about/experience/shannon-hay

Send us Fan Mail

Tired of referrals that only show up during tax season?

Most firm owners are one slow quarter away from panic. We fix that.
We help accounting and bookkeeping firm owners build predictable client acquisition systems using paid advertising, so qualified prospects are coming to you year-round, not just when it's convenient for them.

Book a free strategy call > accountingleadsnow.com We'll look at your firm specifically and map out exactly what it would take to build a pipeline that doesn't go quiet in July.

Grab my book, Booked Solid > Get your copy here The digital marketing playbook built specifically for accounting firms. No theory. Just what works.

Join our Skool community - 7 days free > Join here Get access to the exact systems we implement for our clients. Frameworks, templates, and a community of firm owners doing the work.

Most firm owners think the problem is the market. Sometimes the problem is that you do not believe the number you are about to say out loud.

Episode 86 features Marit Burmood, CPA, EA, MTax, owner of Flair Financial LLC in Salt Lake City. She holds a master's in taxation from Weber State, was named a 2026 Top U.S. Tax Advisor by Insightful Accountant, speaks at GrowCon and AICPA Engage, and writes for OnPay. She also tripled her firm's revenue in eight months, and not by finding a better niche or hiring a sales team.

In this conversation Marit explains how imposter syndrome quietly set her pricing for years, why she chased an EA and then a CPA hoping credentials would finally make clients respect her advice, and the mindset shift that changed everything: raise your prices so you need fewer clients, which buys back the time you thought building a firm would cost you. She breaks down how to price the intangible value you are already giving away for free, why you should test a new price on your least favorite client first, and how she got to the point where she can say her range out loud without wanting to barf.

Then it turns to marketing. Marit shares the advice she got from a seven-figure firm owner at GrowCon about niching plus showing up at industry events, why visibility beats credentials, and the line every firm owner needs to hear: making a social media post is not marketing.

James adds the Nine Two Media side of raising prices, why the best kept secret in town never gets the phone call, and why the firms you dislike are winning on visibility alone.

Her number one action item: block half a day every single week for your own firm and your own growth. She blocked every Friday and calls it the best decision she has made.

Connect with Marit:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marit-burmood

Instagram: @the_extroverted_accountant

Send us Fan Mail

Tired of referrals that only show up during tax season?

Most firm owners are one slow quarter away from panic. We fix that.
We help accounting and bookkeeping firm owners build predictable client acquisition systems using paid advertising, so qualified prospects are coming to you year-round, not just when it's convenient for them.

Book a free strategy call > accountingleadsnow.com We'll look at your firm specifically and map out exactly what it would take to build a pipeline that doesn't go quiet in July.

Grab my book, Booked Solid > Get your copy here The digital marketing playbook built specifically for accounting firms. No theory. Just what works.

Join our Skool community - 7 days free > Join here Get access to the exact systems we implement for our clients. Frameworks, templates, and a community of firm owners doing the work.

Most firm owners who feel stuck are not short on skill or short on clients. They are short on clarity about what they are actually worth, and what they actually want.

Episode 85 features Will Hill, founder and owner of Will Hill Consults, LLC, a coaching and consulting firm serving the tax and accounting profession. Will has been working with firms since 2001 and was named to Accounting Today's "Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting."

In this conversation, Will breaks down the two versions of stuck he sees on almost every first call, why "I keep changing things and I am just busier" is a symptom of an alignment problem and not a technical one, and the order he uses to roll out a new value proposition: new clients first, then clients hitting a natural life cycle change, then clients being served below your minimum, and the price-only conversations last. He also explains why firms should track client goals the same way they track numbers, what happens to team trust the moment an owner fires a client who mistreats staff, and the one exception he will never make no matter how much that client pays.

James adds the Nine Two Media side of it, including the client they refunded on the onboarding call and why that decision changed how the team saw the business.

If you are one to three months out from a price increase or a service restructure, listen to this one first.

Connect with Will:
Email: will@willhillconsults.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wghill
Website: https://willhillconsults.com

Send us Fan Mail

Tired of referrals that only show up during tax season?

Most firm owners are one slow quarter away from panic. We fix that.
We help accounting and bookkeeping firm owners build predictable client acquisition systems using paid advertising, so qualified prospects are coming to you year-round, not just when it's convenient for them.

Book a free strategy call > accountingleadsnow.com We'll look at your firm specifically and map out exactly what it would take to build a pipeline that doesn't go quiet in July.

Grab my book, Booked Solid > Get your copy here The digital marketing playbook built specifically for accounting firms. No theory. Just what works.

Join our Skool community - 7 days free > Join here Get access to the exact systems we implement for our clients. Frameworks, templates, and a community of firm owners doing the work.

It took him 15 years to build his book of business. He rebuilt the same thing in under two years after niching down.

Episode 84 features Emil Abedian, CPA, founder and CEO of Counsel CPAs, a firm that works with law firms only. Emil started his practice around 2009 in Los Angeles after beginning his career in Sweden, and for years he said yes to everything: tax, bookkeeping, payroll, sales tax, cash flow analysis. He was working 80 to 100 hours a week and building what he calls a high-paying job instead of a business. He is also the author of "Counsel to Counsel: From Practice to Business."

In this conversation, Emil breaks down how he graded his clients A through D and handed the D book to a younger CPA, why he now dictates the services instead of letting clients dictate them, and how specialization turned his sales process into a conversation he does not have to sell in. He also explains the weekly email that keeps clients and prospects reaching out to him, why his real bottleneck is team capacity and not lead flow, and why he thinks automation matters more than AI for the average firm.

If you are still taking on the electrician, the dentist, and the referral who is completely out of your lane, this one is for you.

Connect with Emil:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilabedian

Counsel CPAs: https://www.counselcpas.com

Book, Counsel to Counsel: https://a.co/d/09y7nh4E

Send us Fan Mail

Tired of referrals that only show up during tax season?

Most firm owners are one slow quarter away from panic. We fix that.
We help accounting and bookkeeping firm owners build predictable client acquisition systems using paid advertising, so qualified prospects are coming to you year-round, not just when it's convenient for them.

Book a free strategy call > accountingleadsnow.com We'll look at your firm specifically and map out exactly what it would take to build a pipeline that doesn't go quiet in July.

Grab my book, Booked Solid > Get your copy here The digital marketing playbook built specifically for accounting firms. No theory. Just what works.

Join our Skool community - 7 days free > Join here Get access to the exact systems we implement for our clients. Frameworks, templates, and a community of firm owners doing the work.

He's an Enrolled Agent, a franchise firm owner, and a rapper. And the craziest part? His firm makes more money now that he's not involved in the day-to-day.

Episode 83 features Scott Scarano, the visionary behind Padgett Business Services in Raleigh, NC, also known as Scotty OKR (yes, OK Rapper). Scott grew Padgett NC to $1.5 million, replaced himself in every seat on the org chart, and then did something most firm owners only dream about: he walked away from operations entirely.

In this conversation, Scott breaks down how EOS helped him see the aspirational org chart that changed everything, the guilt that hit when he realized the firm ran better without him in it, and why the jump from $300-500K to $1.2M requires you to make less money before you make more. He also gets into why Google reviews are still the most underrated growth lever for local firms, the team page trick that made prospects say "I want to work with that person," and how rapping became the creative outlet that kept him sane after stepping away.

If you have been stuck doing everything in your firm and cannot picture anyone else doing it, this one is for you.

Connect with Scott:

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/scottscarano

Facebook: https://facebook.com/scottscarano

Padgett NC: https://www.padgettnc.com

Send us Fan Mail

Tired of referrals that only show up during tax season?

Most firm owners are one slow quarter away from panic. We fix that.
We help accounting and bookkeeping firm owners build predictable client acquisition systems using paid advertising, so qualified prospects are coming to you year-round, not just when it's convenient for them.

Book a free strategy call > accountingleadsnow.com We'll look at your firm specifically and map out exactly what it would take to build a pipeline that doesn't go quiet in July.

Grab my book, Booked Solid > Get your copy here The digital marketing playbook built specifically for accounting firms. No theory. Just what works.

Join our Skool community - 7 days free > Join here Get access to the exact systems we implement for our clients. Frameworks, templates, and a community of firm owners doing the work.

He spent 22 years inside Intuit, co-hosts the #1 podcast in accounting, and now he's building the CPE app that lets accountants earn credits from any content with a play button. And his best career advice? "The procrastinators will be rewarded."

Episode 82 features David Leary, Co-Founder of Earmark CPE and co-host of the Accounting Podcast. David started at Intuit doing tech support at 21, took thousands of calls, climbed through QA, engineering, and product management, and had a George Costanza moment that changed how he builds everything: do the exact opposite of what everyone else is doing.

In this conversation, David breaks down why vibe coding is a double-edged sword for accounting firms (your clients are about to build their own broken apps), the MVP mindset that landed his Intuit project in the appendix of The Lean Startup, and why firms need to document their processes before they touch any AI tool.

If you've been wondering whether AI is going to replace your firm or create more work for it, the answer might be both.

Connect with David:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidleary

Earmark CPE: https://earmarkcpe.com/

David's website: https://davidleary.com/

Send us Fan Mail

Tired of referrals that only show up during tax season?

Most firm owners are one slow quarter away from panic. We fix that.
We help accounting and bookkeeping firm owners build predictable client acquisition systems using paid advertising, so qualified prospects are coming to you year-round, not just when it's convenient for them.

Book a free strategy call > accountingleadsnow.com We'll look at your firm specifically and map out exactly what it would take to build a pipeline that doesn't go quiet in July.

Grab my book, Booked Solid > Get your copy here The digital marketing playbook built specifically for accounting firms. No theory. Just what works.

Join our Skool community - 7 days free > Join here Get access to the exact systems we implement for our clients. Frameworks, templates, and a community of firm owners doing the work.

She'll tell you straight up: she doesn't like bookkeeping. She built a successful bookkeeping firm anyway. Then she bought a marketing company.

Episode 81 features Heidi Ryder, a former middle school math teacher who started Healthy Books LLC in 2017 and replaced her teacher's salary within six months. Last year she acquired keepful, the marketing automation platform built to help bookkeepers, accountants, and tax pros organize leads, automate follow-up, and build stronger client relationships, all while homeschooling four kids.

In this conversation, Heidi breaks down the LinkedIn strategy that turned cold connections into referral partners and clients (hint: it involves hitting record), how she juggles two businesses without pretending there's such a thing as balance, and her playbook for actually getting ROI out of conferences like GrowCon instead of flying home with a notebook full of ideas you never touch.

If marketing is the part of your firm you keep avoiding, this one's for you.

Send us Fan Mail

Tired of referrals that only show up during tax season?

Most firm owners are one slow quarter away from panic. We fix that.
We help accounting and bookkeeping firm owners build predictable client acquisition systems using paid advertising, so qualified prospects are coming to you year-round, not just when it's convenient for them.

Book a free strategy call > accountingleadsnow.com We'll look at your firm specifically and map out exactly what it would take to build a pipeline that doesn't go quiet in July.

Grab my book, Booked Solid > Get your copy here The digital marketing playbook built specifically for accounting firms. No theory. Just what works.

Join our Skool community - 7 days free > Join here Get access to the exact systems we implement for our clients. Frameworks, templates, and a community of firm owners doing the work.

You ask clients to send a PDF through a secure portal. If they can't, they're not your client.

Sounds harsh. It's not, it's a filter.

Episode 80 features Christopher Papin, who runs a law firm AND a CPA firm at the same time, and somehow still keeps a third of his day for life outside the office. Forbes and Thomson Reuters have both recognized his work. He's also the author of "168 Hours" and host of the BLABO podcast.

In this conversation, Chris breaks down the exact onboarding system that gets him a 70-80% close rate, why he calls every signed letter of intent a "promise ring," and how hiring people with bartending and hospitality backgrounds fixed his client communication overnight.

If you've ever lost a deal because you didn't ask the right follow-up question, this one's for you.

Send us Fan Mail

Tired of referrals that only show up during tax season?

Most firm owners are one slow quarter away from panic. We fix that.
We help accounting and bookkeeping firm owners build predictable client acquisition systems using paid advertising, so qualified prospects are coming to you year-round, not just when it's convenient for them.

Book a free strategy call > accountingleadsnow.com We'll look at your firm specifically and map out exactly what it would take to build a pipeline that doesn't go quiet in July.

Grab my book, Booked Solid > Get your copy here The digital marketing playbook built specifically for accounting firms. No theory. Just what works.

Join our Skool community - 7 days free > Join here Get access to the exact systems we implement for our clients. Frameworks, templates, and a community of firm owners doing the work.