The Accounting Community Rocks! Here’s Why You Should Get Involved

The accounting community rocks. 

Recently, I’ve had the privilege of managing Hubdoc’s social media channels and attending several industry events. I’m continually amazed at how special and supportive this community is. Advisors from all over the world are keen to share insights and tell stories that will help each other improve practice management, provide a better client experience, and get more fulfilment in their careers.

If you’re just starting out in the cloud accounting space, getting involved in the accounting community – i.e., proactively engaging with fellow advisors and forging relationships with your peers online and in-person – might seem a little daunting.

As advancements in technology continue to transform the accounting industry, it’s becoming more important for advisors to lean on their communities for information and support. Moreover, the community becomes even stronger when more advisors share their unique experiences.

To better understand the benefits of being involved in the accounting community, we sat down with Sherrell T. Martin, Chief Financial Solutions Officer at Nitram Financial Solutions and longtime social butterfly to learn how being an active member in her community adds value to her business.

Read on for three reasons to get involved in your accounting community!

Open doors to new opportunities

Building strong relationships is vital to growing your business. Getting involved in your community is one of the best ways to create new relationships and strengthen existing ones.  Specifically, the relationships you form with your peers, prospective clients, and others will help introduce you to new opportunities that can take your career to the next level.

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are a great place to start getting involved. Joining shared interest groups, participating in chats, and sharing content helps to build trust and develop real relationships that can provide value to your business.

For Sherrell, getting involved in the weekly #QBOChat on Twitter led to the Intuit Trainer-Writer Network, which has opened up tons of opportunities for her business. “Connecting on social media has allowed me to find out about new opportunities because of the relationships I have built,” says Sherrell. “One opportunity leads to the next, which leads to the next, creating a snowball effect.”

Strengthen your referral network

Every accountant and bookkeeper will come across potential clients that are not a great fit for their firm. Whether you're focusing on serving a specific niche or the client is requesting services that fall outside the scope of your firm’s offering, sometimes you’ll have to refer these opportunities elsewhere.

Having a strong referral network will enable you to confidently recommend their business to other professionals who can help. As Sherrell says, “If I can’t solve the problem, I like to be able to point them in the direction of someone who can.”

Getting involved in the accounting community will allow you to build a robust referral network by meeting professionals in and outside of your industry and learning about the services that they offer.

“Right now, it’s all about niches. We currently only work with creatives. If someone reaches out to me who is in construction or retail, I have a strong network of professionals I can refer them to,” says Sherrell. “Interacting with your community allows you to build trust with each other, which helps you refer each others’ services with confidence.”

In addition to referring business to fellow advisors, Sherrell also uses social media to build connections with cloud accounting apps. “It’s not only about recommending apps because of their features, it’s also important to be able to vouch for the people behind the app,” says Sherrell. “Connecting with the team on social media allows you to build those relationships and feel confident recommending apps to your clients.”

The more you put in to the community, the more you'll get out of it! Lend a helping hand wherever possible and you're likely to get business referrals coming your way, and maybe even be recognized as an advocate by your favorite cloud tools.

About the Author

Paige is an Education Specialist at Hubdoc. She draws on her experience on Hubdoc's support and marketing teams to provide users with top-notch digital educational resources. Paige takes her knack for teaching to the yoga studio and chases any opportunity to learn something new.

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