All over our website, we talk about being entrepreneurial accountants – which means we dare to think outside the box, we understand our client’s business needs on a deep level, and we take a team approach to getting sh*t done. But looking outside of Provision CPA, we believe that any employee at any company can foster and exude entrepreneurial spirit. By doing so, the individual benefits with exponential professional growth and accomplishment, and the company usually scales and succeeds at a faster pace.
So, let’s break that down with examples and talk about how any company employee can be an entrepreneur in their current role.
1. LEARN TO LEAD PEOPLE
This in itself could be broken down into a series of articles, but the gist is that one of the keys to working as an entrepreneurial employee is leading and inspiring people, whether that be clients or colleagues.
For any idea or initiative that you may have, you’ll need people to help you execute and achieve your desired results. An entrepreneurial employee will take the time to get to know their peers and figure out how to leverage their strength zones to reach individual, departmental, and company goals. The better you get at mobilizing your team, the more agile your execution becomes and the more you can achieve.
For over 20 years, we’ve been providing accounting, taxes, and financial strategies to entrepreneurs in Canada. But in all these years, our priority remains our people – our team. This informs our efforts in building capacity, cultivating talent, and inspiring growth in our team of tax accountants and CPAs.
People are a company’s greatest asset. This is our mantra at Provision CPA, where we ensure that the same relationship we build with our clients, we first sustain with our team. The same value we place on our clients, we place much more on our tax accountants and CPA
2. MAKE ‘YES’ YOUR DEFAULT
Creativity is the magic wand of entrepreneurs. They provide economical solutions to people. They tick all the boxes, then think outside the box, and, if need be, break the box entirely so they can make a huge difference in people’s lives. The same mentality can be embraced and sustained by employees. The secret? Make “yes” your default.
Rather than approaching problems with a “that won’t work” or “it’s never been done before” attitude, start every problem-solving exercise with “yes, we could do that if…” and let the possibilities, no matter how outrageous, come to the surface. There’s no harm in exploring “how could we make this work?”
In Vancouver, Canada, no accounting firm does it better than Provision CPA. Our team of tax accountants and CPAs are not just accounting professionals; they are entrepreneurial accountants. This way, we bring meaning to our clients and contribute immensely to Canada’s economic growth.
At Provision, we know that the foundation of economic freedom is built with an entrepreneurial mindset. This is our secret strategy – our E² Potential, with which we help entrepreneurs navigate the odds stacked against them and their businesses.
We identify with ingenuity, encourage creativity, and specialize in difficult tasks. We are masters of the grey areas and provide entrepreneurs with strategies that help them chart their course through the murky waters of doing business in Canada.
3. DEVELOP YOUR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Pacesetters in our industry do more than just give expert advice to clients. Instead, they strive to strike a meaningful and personal relationship with them.
Any employee can embrace an entrepreneurial approach by developing their emotional intelligence and empathy. Practice asking questions to your clients and colleagues simply to understand them better. The more you know them, the more you can help them and provide value to them.
At Provision, our team consists of accountants who are specialists in doing more than the ordinary business of accounting. We bring meaning and value into the lives and businesses of our clients.
We don’t see our clients and their challenges as mere tasks that need to be done away with speedily. Together, we cut deeply through their fears and worries and proffer solutions that enable them to hold their heads high.
Why are we the only accounting and taxation firm in Canada that provides our clients with direct, on-call access to entrepreneurial CPAs? Because we have a deep understanding of our entrepreneurial clients and know that when fires need to be put out, they need to be put out right away, and not when their accountant has time for an appointment. We’ve designed our business model around knowing our audience and what makes them tick.
4. BUILD YOUR RISK TOLERANCE
Nobody ever blazed a trail by standing in one spot. Do you find yourself hesitant to take risks and do new things? Take baby steps until it becomes a habit and a thrill you may even enjoy. Try improving upon an existing work template. Or suggesting a new exercise for team brainstorms. What about a new format for presenting proposals?
You don’t have to be a business-owning entrepreneur to try new things (and learn from mistakes). Expect that not everything you try will be perfect from the get-go or even work at all. But it’s the effort of taking the risk and trying new things that fans the flames of the entrepreneurial spirit.
This same strategy is espoused by Provision CPA, where we help our clients grow their businesses by accommodating risks and providing strategic financial advisory. In the same line, we support our employees to think differently and take smart risks to help our clients, and we back them up no matter what.
Top accounting firms understand that safety is not the most important thing; adventures and wins are. Safety opposes the entrepreneur’s mindset. We believe that the only way to change narratives and break records is by leaving our comfort zones.
5. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH OTHER ENTREPRENEURS
If you’re at all inspired by the content above, perhaps you’ve just found your community. None of this is revolutionary, but not all accounting firms believe in these approaches. At Provision CPA, we encourage, nay, require, an entrepreneurial mindset in order to be excellent CPAs. And we’re quite sure there are accountants out there who would align with us perfectly. If that’s you, see current career opportunities or contact us directly.
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