Welcome back to Count Me In,

IMA's podcast about all things affecting
the accounting and finance world.

This is your host Adam Larson,

and I'm here to preview episode
160 of our series. Katie Thomas,

owner of Leaders Online, rejoins Count
Me In today to talk about finding,

connecting, and developing
relationships with key stakeholders.

Katie does a lot of marketing and social
media for executives and helps them

increase their presence in the industry.
In her conversation with Mitch,

she talks about the power of technology
and social media as it pertains to

increasing influence and
nurturing lasting relationships.

Keep listening as we head over to
the main part of the episode now.

So Katie, the first time we spoke,

you talked about how technology really
changed the landscape of the accounting

industry. We talked about
analytics, growing your business,

becoming more profitable,
things along those lines.

But I understand a lot has changed
since we spoke and that was, you know,

February of 2020. So what I
wanna kind of get into and,

and start off is if you can
kind of explain, you know,

what you've seen over
the last year and a half,

and what else has changed
across the accounting industry?

Yeah, so man, since February of 2020,

I feel like technology has had
to be embraced more than ever.

I mean, there were a lot
of firms using technology,

but then there were a lot not,

and I think it was this thing
where the firms who weren't fully

embracing technology, they knew about it,

but it was kind of scary be
because what you've done before,

and if it was working, it's
like why fix what's not broken,

but then the pandemic hit and there
was something that was broken.

You could no longer have
face-to-face meetings.

You could no longer
operate as you did before.

And so it really forced the accounting
firms and their clients into

digital relationships,

even if they were traditionally
local relationships, like come in,

meet face-to-face, it was, Hey,

we've gotta find different ways
to communicate with our clients.

A lot of people jumped on Zoom and
then managing the staff and the firm

members that also had to change.

So if you didn't previously
use project management

tool or document sharing,

all of that had to be quickly
learned and leveraged and

utilized.

So I think that the outcome of all
of this is really cool because firms

had to become confident in using
this and they realize that they don't

necessarily need as big of an office
or they don't need to meet in person as

much. And they can still
maintain those relationships,

whether it's with clients or with staff.
I know a lot of firms I work with.

They're like, okay,

we miss getting together in person and
we're still gonna do that. But you know,

maybe it's, you don't have to be in the
office eight to five every single day.

There's some flexibility.

Yeah. I think that's a
great point. And you know,

our focus for today's conversation
really is on these relationships, right?

Whether it's clients or key stakeholders
inside or outside of the business,

we'll get into, you know, how
we connect with them and such,

but to kind of connect the dots
where we were and where we are.

Can you first talk a little bit about
maybe some of the things that technology

can influence when it comes to stakeholder
relationships and where we're going

with our conversation today?

Yeah. So people really
connect in two ways.

There's gonna be emotional connections.

So like that's just gonna
be like conversations and
how you feel out someone.

maybe you have similar
views, goals, thoughts,

and people really connect this way
through talking and through stories.

So there is some technology
that can help with this,

even like Zoom or Loom or
apps that just connect us.

But really I see technology on the
other side of how we connect the logical

way that we connect and with technology,

you can really see into the
data and create a story through

this to then help you connect and
talk about why you're doing certain

things, the outcome of
why of what's happening.

The data really gives us the facts and
the technology and able to us to access

the data to then create
stories around this data.

So technology is a key
piece in communicating,

but I really see it supporting a lot
of that logical side of how humans can

connect.

That's really well said.

And we did briefly talk about
analytics last time and you know,

the data and everything you just
mentioned. It's, it's a great point.

So to take it a step further,
you mentioned Zoom and
some other, you know, apps,

as far as technology goes,

whether they're specific tools or more
broadly social media, just in general,

what kind of resources can our
listeners use to better find,

connect and develop relationships
with key stakeholders? You know,

what can they go out and access in order
to improve these relationships for the

long term?

Yeah, so I definitely think
Zoom's a really popular one.

Another one I mentioned was Loom. So
that's like a screen recording tool,

which is super helpful if you're trying
to explain something and you're not,

maybe you're gonna deliver
this through an email.

You can walk someone through like
financials or maybe a process or a report.

And you can actually show yourself
talking about it as well as share your

screen. I think this one's great
client portals are great tools.

So client portals can be used
to share documents, securely,

communicate through them.
I think that's a great one.

and then social media platforms are also
awesome because you can create content

for a wide variety of people. You can
have conversations in the direct message.

You know, there's a lot
of platforms out there.

Maybe it's even like your
project management tool
where you're communicating,

but really it's just identifying maybe
where there's a gap in communication.

And since there is a tool for about
everything, if you Google that,

you'll probably find someone that's found
a solution or created a solution that

you can utilize.

Yeah. Google is a, it's a great
tool in itself and very, you know,

very helpful on a daily basis.
But as I said earlier, you know,

there's obviously a lot more to
our conversation than technology.

There's a lot more to the
profession than just technology.

So I do wanna take this a step further
and really make sure we cover, you know,

our listener side of things,
the management accounting side,

a little bit more of the
accounting finance profession.

As far as connecting with individuals,

I know something that you really focus
on with the marketing side of your

business is enabling individuals
to increase their influence.

So I'd like to hear your
thought on, you know,

whether it's tools or strategies,

what can individuals do to increase
their influence and really make a greater

impact on the business.

So I think one of the number one
things that individuals can do

to create a greater influence on the
organization and individuals as a whole

it's to really align their why
with the company's why and why this

is so important is if you can come
to work every single day and you

can see like your why,

which if you haven't read Simon
Sinek's book all about find your why I

highly recommend it to everyone,

but based it's your personal
why is different from someone

else's.

And if you can figure out what yours is
and how it can fit into an organization,

then you can come to work every
single day with a purpose and

a driving force. And whenever you do that,

then you can take that and you can be
passionate about what you do and you can

help others do the same,

because if you can help others
through you being passionate about it,

find meaning in their work, because
otherwise it's just a job, right?

If you can help others do that,

then they're gonna be committed to
the ultimate goal of the organization.

They're gonna be excited
about what they do.

They're gonna feel
positive and enthusiastic,

even when times get tough because they
they're connected to something greater.

I think that's so
important. So as leaders,

whether you're the owner of a company
or you just started a company,

you can still be a leader and
you can still create influence,

but it starts with leading by example and
being passionate and connected to what

you do and why you do it.

Yeah. I think if there's something that
the last 18 plus months have taught,

a lot of people it's, you know,

really gotta take care of
yourself first and foremost and,

and understanding your why you're
passionate in making sure that everything

you're doing is, you know,

keeping you physically
mentally healthy along the way.

Otherwise the job just takes away from
that. I think that's a big part of it.

So, I certainly know where you're
coming from here. And, you know,

I know I mentioned the marketing,
the social media side of things,

and you help executives really increase
their presence within the industry.

I'm just wondering if you
have any strategies, you know,

anything that our listeners can take
away from this conversation where even if

they're just contributors to
a team or something like that,

they can really stand out. You know,

what is it about understanding
your passion and your why
that enables anybody to

stand out in the organization
and make a difference?

Yeah. So this is a process
that anyone can apply.

And if someone is listening to this
and wants to know more about it,

I have a whole guide that they can
download. That'll go into more depth,

but it's called the 4C process.

And if you go to leaders/online.com/4C,

anyone can get that guide. but basically
it's built around, you guessed it,

the 4 C's. And, we can talk
a little bit about those now,

but basically you need to
choose a platform to be on.

And when you're trying to
choose a platform to be on,

when it comes to social media, think
about where do your stakeholders hang out,

or maybe this is where do your ideal
staff hang out, whatever your goal is,

think about where those people are
hanging out and then about what platform

plays to your strengths. So, for example,

if you're someone who you
don't like creating videos,

then maybe don't use YouTube.

Even if your stakeholders are
on there or your ideal clients,

or your ideal staff,

like pick a platform where you can
create content that you feel comfortable.

So you've gotta choose a platform
and just pick one. And then,

you've gotta figure out how to connect
with the people that you really want to

connect with.

So LinkedIn's really popular for
professionals and people in our industry

because it's a professional
platform. And so with LinkedIn,

you can go find people by searching by
their name, their title, their location,

their experience,

and you know how you find these
people and you connect with them.

It's gonna be a little different for
each platform. So Facebook, it might be,

you find them in groups, Instagram,
you may find them by hashtags,

but you've gotta find them.
You've gotta connect with them.

and then the third thing you've got
to do, so you've chosen your platform.

You've connected with them.

Then you've gotta talk to them because
if you went to a brand new cocktail

party, and this is a new group,
and you didn't say anything,

you just stood in the corner, what
would happen? Probably nothing.

So you've actually go out to go
out and talk to these people,

whether you know them, or you've never
met them, start a conversation with them,

ask them what they're seeing
in the industry. Ask. them
what they're working on.

What they're excited about.

Just ask them a question is
whenever you ask a question,

you open up the doors for a conversation
and the fourth step in this is gonna be

to create. So we picked our
platform. We chose our platform.

We connected with our ideal people that
we're looking to build relationships

with. We conversed with
them, and they'll finally,

we're gonna create and create is
something that a lot of people,

people can get hung up on. And it's
something that should come last.

So if you aren't actively going out
and building your community and having

conversations with these
people, if you create content,

then not as many people are gonna see it.

So content's like the gas
to your fire. It comes last.

And when you create a lot of
people, be like, I'm not creative,

everyone's creative because
everyone has a story they can share.

Everyone gets emails with questions on
a regular basis. Everyone's doing work.

You can talk about what you're doing,
what's going on in your company.

What's going on in the industry,

maybe how you got into the
position you're at today.

Maybe some of the
challenges you're facing,

there's so much content
that can be created.

And that's something that is so fun to
work with professionals on to help them

share their story, share. What's
exciting them, what they're changing,

maybe in the industry. This is
where we love to help out. But,

it definitely only comes
last in a lot of people.

They can try to do it first and then they
don't see the results they're looking

for.

So I'm actually gonna rewind for a second,

because as you're explaining
all of this, you know,

your passion for what you're doing it's
very noticeable. And I can tell that,

you know, you enjoy what you do.
So I kind of wanna go back to the,

the beginning of our conversation
here and kind of ask you, you know,

what's your, why, I know that you're,
like I said, so passionate about this.

So I'm just curious,
you know, why is that?

What have you been able to figure out
when it comes to helping others increase

their influence and increase
their, their presence?

What do you enjoy most about doing this?

My why is to help people be more
confident in what they can do so that they

can create a bigger impact.

And that just excites me because I think

as a profession, we do so much great
work and we create a lot of changes,

whether it's like helping a business
succeed, that's external to us.

Maybe it's our internal company, maybe
it's teaching staff, like we do a lot.

And a lot of us aren't
confident in what we do.

We aren't confident to talk about
it or to share our knowledge.

we like to just kind of do
the work and we do it well,

and we don't talk about it. So we aren't
creating as big of impact as we could.

We aren't having the
influence that we could.

and a lot of us aren't making
the money that we deserve.

And so my why is helping people
become confident about it.

And it's so cool to see
that transformation that
someone can have when we work

with them.

That that's awesome and I'm sure many
of your clients greatly appreciate that.

Like I said, it definitely comes
across, even in this conversation here,

but to wrap things up, you know, like
I said, we spoke a year and a half ago,

and you could argue
that a lot has changed,

but you could also say that nothing has
really changed because as we said in the

beginning, technology continues to
evolve. Analytics is so important.

Relationship buildings,
you know, upscaling,

rescaling everything across the
profession. When we started, you know,

before we started recording here,

you mentioned your business has changed
a little bit since we last spoke as

well. So things continue
to evolve is my point.

And I'm just curious to get your thoughts.

We wrapped up the conversation
the same way the last time.

How do you envision the accounting
profession moving along into the future?

You know, what else do you see coming up?

Whether it's because of the result of
the pandemic or just technology impacting

the profession,

how do you see things progressing
for all of our listeners coming up?

There's a lot of ways that this
question could be answered.

It's definitely the accountants are
moving into more advisory roles.

As technology becomes more advanced and
can do some of those lower level tasks.

I think it's a lot more smaller
firms are now coming into play

because technology makes it
easy to start up your own firm.

And then it's this whole idea
of digital relationships.

someone doesn't need to
be located in your same

city or your same state to work with you,

whether that's a client or a staff member,

whether or not these tools and resources
were available to people pre pandemic

that doesn't really change anything
other than the fact that now more

and more people are seeing the opportunity
and maybe even had the time to say,

okay, during the pandemic,

they got to reimagine what's possible for
their self and their business or their

current role. So they are changing.

And I think that it's ultimately
more opportunity for everyone.

This has been Count Me In,

IMA's podcast providing you
with the latest perspectives
of thought leaders from

the accounting and finance profession.

If you like what you heard and you'd
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visit website at www.imanet.org.