18 - From Vinyl to Corporate to Virtual: James Heyward's Path to Running His Own Firm

18 - From Vinyl to Corporate to Virtual: James Heyward's Path to Running His Own Firm

---------------------------------------- James Heyward joins Nick to break down how he grew up around accounting through his father’s practice, took a detour through Duke, DJing, record promotion, and owning a vinyl-only retail store, then eventually returned to accounting and launched Heyward CPA in 2010. He shares how early business ownership taught him how to survive as a firm owner, why corporate accounting felt too siloed after public accounting, and how the timing of leaving a stable paycheck became a family and lifestyle decision as much as a career one. James walks through how his firm grew through word of mouth, website lead generation, SEO, Google Ads, and a focus on serving the African American business community, plus how he is now refining that funnel to attract more growth-minded business owners rather than simply chasing volume. The conversation also dives into advisory positioning, why not every client is an advisory client, and how James thinks accountants should stop centering the value of their work only on deliverables and instead charge for process, judgment, accessibility, and client communication. He explains the firm’s move away from traditional ongoing bookkeeping toward a “Be Your Own Bookkeeper” model built around training, oversight, quarterly meetings, and stronger client ownership of the numbers. They wrap with lessons on pricing, filtering bad-fit prospects, using tools like Jetpack Workflow and Help Scout to manage workflow and client communication, and building a practice that reduces aggravation while creating better conversations with business owners. To connect with James, visit his firm's website: https://www.heywardcpa.com/ [https://www.heywardcpa.com/] Check out his podcast Heyward CPA Live: https://www.youtube.com/@heywardcpa [https://www.youtube.com/@heywardcpa] If you would like to connect with us visit: https://sagaaccounting.com/ [https://sagaaccounting.com/] or to appear on the show, fill out a guest application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoshMXYliGh_4tU3OrHw2EjsVwZu3k8KbPi8fRMTCVjca1ig/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=102990742476444666854 [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoshMXYliGh_4tU3OrHw2EjsVwZu3k8KbPi8fRMTCVjca1ig/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=102990742476444666854]

17 - Nick & Matt - From 16 to 72 Returns: Our First Full-Time Tax Season In Review

Nick and Matt sit down for another Firm Deep Dive episode to break down Saga’s first full tax season systems review, including how the firm went from 16 returns the prior year to 72 returns and counting. They walk through the tech stack that carried the season, including StanfordTax for organizers and workpapers, Financial Cents for practice management, Drake for tax prep, Ignition for proposals and upfront billing, plus mid-season additions like Tallyfor for entity trial balances and Verito for hosted tax software access. The conversation digs into what worked, especially billing 100% upfront, having Marisa run client communication and admin, and bringing on Keyasa mid-season to help with organizer review and 1040 prep. Nick and Matt also unpack what broke down, from an unfiltered calendar link that created too many unqualified sales calls, to incomplete organizers entering the prep queue, to the friction of using a separate KBA e-signature platform. They walk through the full client lifecycle from proposal, onboarding, organizer delivery, prep, internal review, client questions, Loom video delivery, e-signature, e-filing, and acknowledgment tracking. They wrap with lessons on capacity planning, expectation management, using Financial Cents as the source of truth, building a “pizza tracker” style return status system, and moving toward a more scheduled tax season with clearer priorities and fewer reactive client touchpoints. If you would like to connect with us visit: https://sagaaccounting.com/ [https://sagaaccounting.com/] or to appear on the show, fill out a guest application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoshMXYliGh_4tU3OrHw2EjsVwZu3k8KbPi8fRMTCVjca1ig/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=102990742476444666854 [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoshMXYliGh_4tU3OrHw2EjsVwZu3k8KbPi8fRMTCVjca1ig/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=102990742476444666854]

16 - Bryce Morrison - From Zero to 40+ Clients in Under a Year

Bryce Morrison joins Nick to unpack how he went from a public accounting path at a growing Boise-area firm to launching Blacksmith CPA, a niche practice focused exclusively on nonprofit tax and compliance work. He shares how his early exposure to nonprofit returns showed him a gap in the market, why he left his prior firm without taking clients, and what it was like starting from scratch in May 2025 with no book of business. Bryce breaks down how joining state nonprofit associations became his best client acquisition strategy, especially through referral partners like bookkeepers, grant writers, auditors, and other nonprofit service providers, while LinkedIn and Facebook groups proved far less effective for generating quality leads. The conversation also covers his service mix, including Form 990 compliance, state filings, exempt organization formation, bookkeeping support through a subcontractor, and helping smaller nonprofits build stronger financial policies, procedures, and internal controls. Bryce walks through his tech stack, including CCH Axcess, CCH Engagement Essentials, Microsoft tools, QBO, and TaxDome, plus how he prices tax work as fixed-fee projects and handles bookkeeping or advisory work more hourly. They also dig into the realities of capacity planning in a new firm, why Bryce wants to avoid the traditional public accounting “sweatshop” model, how quickly steady work arrived after months of client hunting, and his evolving decision to hire rather than stay solo. They wrap with lessons on niche positioning, saying no to poor-fit clients, nonprofit conference booths as a referral engine, and the freedom that comes from building a firm around family, focused work, and a better version of public accounting. To connect with Bryce, visit his firm's website: https://blacksmith-cpa.com/ [https://blacksmith-cpa.com/] or follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brmorri [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brmorri] If you would like to connect with us visit: https://sagaaccounting.com/ [https://sagaaccounting.com/] or to appear on the show, fill out a guest application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoshMXYliGh_4tU3OrHw2EjsVwZu3k8KbPi8fRMTCVjca1ig/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=102990742476444666854 [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoshMXYliGh_4tU3OrHw2EjsVwZu3k8KbPi8fRMTCVjca1ig/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=102990742476444666854]

15 - Crystal Wambeke - From Capacity Chaos to Measured Workload Planning

Crystal Wambeke joins Nick to break down how she went from a government accounting role to building a bookkeeping firm from the ground up, including a 9-year side hustle phase that eventually turned into a full-time practice. She shares how early client acquisition came from platforms like Craigslist and Elance, why being selective with clients paid off long term, and how hitting capacity and burnout forced her first hire a few years in. Crystal walks through her current 7-person team structure, including the role of a client success manager and how work flows from senior account managers to associate bookkeepers, plus the challenges of maintaining clear communication across email, text, and internal tools like Slack and ClickUp. The conversation also dives into her niche in fraud examination work, which now makes up a portion of firm revenue, how her background in loss prevention led to becoming a Certified Fraud Examiner, and how writing a book unexpectedly became a source of inbound leads. They wrap with lessons on delegation, system tradeoffs, and the realities of scaling a firm without formal marketing. To connect with Crystal, visit her firm's website: https://www.wambekeassociates.com/ [https://www.wambekeassociates.com/] or follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wambeke-associates [https://www.linkedin.com/company/wambeke-associates] To check out her book referenced on the podcast visit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692923160 [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692923160] If you would like to connect with us visit: https://sagaaccounting.com/ [https://sagaaccounting.com/] or to appear on the show, fill out a guest application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoshMXYliGh_4tU3OrHw2EjsVwZu3k8KbPi8fRMTCVjca1ig/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=102990742476444666854 [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoshMXYliGh_4tU3OrHw2EjsVwZu3k8KbPi8fRMTCVjca1ig/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=102990742476444666854]

14 - Nick & Matt - A to Z: Saga's Bookkeeping Process

Nick and Matt use this episode to unpack the firm’s current bookkeeping process from end to end, framed by the reality that tax season pushed the podcast onto a three-week hiatus and exposed a few operational weak points along the way. They talk through the lessons from launching an accounting podcast during busy season, why they are shifting to an every-other-week cadence for now, and how a growing backlog forced them to get more honest about capacity, cleanup work, and what a good-fit bookkeeping client actually looks like. They also break down their full client journey, including discovery calls, intake and filtering, pricing off estimated time, three-tier proposals in Ignition, mandatory cleanup work, and the move toward a more structured onboarding process with clearer expectations on both sides. From there, they walk through how the bookkeeping pod operates day to day, with Financial Cents, QuickBooks Online, customer success handoffs, review standards, month-end close, management reporting, and time-budget tracking all working together to deliver monthly books while tightening the system in real time. If you would like to connect with us visit: https://sagaaccounting.com/ [https://sagaaccounting.com/] or to appear on the show, fill out a guest application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoshMXYliGh_4tU3OrHw2EjsVwZu3k8KbPi8fRMTCVjca1ig/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=102990742476444666854 [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeoshMXYliGh_4tU3OrHw2EjsVwZu3k8KbPi8fRMTCVjca1ig/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=102990742476444666854]