The Unplugged Vacation - How Accountants Value Time

Brannon Poe is the author of "The Unplugged Vacation," and founder of Poe Group Advisors and Accounting Practice Academy. Rob Brown and Brannon Poe delve into the often-overlooked challenges accountants face in managing their time and achieving work-life balance. Brannon, sheds light on the realities of the accounting profession, where the relentless demands of clients and the struggle to maintain boundaries can lead to burnout and dissatisfaction.Brannon's book, "The Unplugged Vacation," serves as a guide for accountants to reclaim control over their time and learn the art of truly disconnecting from work during vacations. Through personal anecdotes and insights, he underscores the importance of setting boundaries, purging underperforming clients, and implementing value-based pricing to create a sustainable and fulfilling practice.The conversation explores the challenges accountants face in saying "no" to clients, leading to unfocused and overextended practices. Brannon emphasizes the importance of firm culture, work-life balance, and the need for accountants to break free from the billable hour mindset, which can perpetuate the cycle of overwork and undervaluation.Key Takeaways:Accountants often struggle with time management, staff shortages, and an inability to let go of work, leading to burnout and dissatisfaction.Setting boundaries, purging underperforming clients, and implementing value-based pricing are crucial steps to creating a sustainable and fulfilling practice.Taking a truly unplugged vacation requires advance preparation, team readiness, and acceptance that some balls may drop during the absence.Firm culture, work-life balance, and moving away from the billable hour mindset are essential for attracting and retaining top talent in the accounting profession.Booking a vacation and committing to being unplugged is an actionable step accountants can take to recalibrate their priorities and improve their overall well-being.Quotes: "You don't like your practice, keep raising your prices until you do." - Brannon Poe"If you're equating your time to money, well, there's probably one of the first problems you got to solve." - Brannon PoeView this episode in video on YouTube here:https://youtu.be/LIP3OXh_yEk◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢The Accounting Influencers Podcast, hosted by Rob Brown, is one of the world's leading shows for accounting leaders, professionals, finance specialists, software vendors, tech providers and influencers. To participate in our international virtual speed networking events for the accounting community, book your place at the next gathering. Great for building your personal brand and making valuable industry connections in return for a small donation to charity: https://accountinginfluencers.com/events◣━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━◢Thanks to our sponsors:ADVANCETRACK OUTSOURCING. Transform your accounting firm with AdvanceTrack. Our top-tier offshoring solutions free your team from mundane tasks, allowing you to focus on growth and client engagement. Experience seamless scalability and expert support. Visit advancetrack.com and elevate your practice today. https://www.advancetrack.comACCOUNTEX. Bringing the accounting world together with UK and international events for the accounting and tech world. https://www.accountex.co.ukIf you'd like to sponsor the show and elevate your brand with our audience, reach out to show host Rob Brown on LinkedIn and his team will reach out to fix up a chat to explore.