Tom's Blog

Today we launch our new brand, ProVision Wealth Strategists. I expect the most frequent question from our clients and others to be, "Why ProVision?" We have been contemplating a name change for the past couple of years to be more clear about who we are and what we represent. "DKAdvisors" simply was not a clear representation of the Firm's brand. We considered changing the name back to the original name, Wheelwright Mathis. Finally, we did that which we always counsel our clients to do - we consulted some professionals.

The professionals we consulted were the marketing gurus at BrandWithin. James Burgin and Jon Ward walked us through an extensive exercise to determine a name for our particular brand of service. We had long differentiated ourselves from other CPA firms as a proactive, innovative firm of experienced professionals. What we hadn't done as well was to establish ourselves as a distinct brand and clearly explain what makes us truly unique.

As James and Jon were going through the interview process, it became clear to them that we had one quality that was perhaps truly unique from other CPAs. That quality was the ability to see the vision of what our clients could become. Most other CPA firms are replete with intelligent professionals who want to serve their clients well. That's precisely why I became a CPA in the first place - I wanted to associate with a group of people with these characteristics.

But over the years, I have found that many CPAs live in the past. That is, they work on tax returns for the past year, they audit financial statements of the past year and they record information based on historical cost. While these tasks are necessary, they should not be the only service provided by this group of bright, intelligent professionals.

What most clients need is a clear vision of their future. While some clients see this vision, most of their advisors do not. We learned early on in our firm that this was a peculiar talent of ours. We can see what many cannot see for themselves - a vision of what they can become. A vision is not merely a goal. A vision includes understanding the process of achieving that goal. It includes being able to see all of the components necessary to get where you want to go and the ability to organize these components into a manageable process.

Twelve years ago when I started this firm out of my home office, I had a vision for it. I did not imagine being a sole proprietor doing tax returns for the rest of my life. I imagined a firm where employees could feel challenged and rewarded for their efforts. I imagined a firm where clients would receive responses to their phone calls promptly. I imagined a firm that could deliver creative tax and business solutions.

Later, I imagined a firm that could deliver solutions to problems before the problems occured. One of our first tag lines was, "Solving tomorrow's problems today." I still believe we can do that, so long as we have the proper VISION. Vision is critical to preventing problems and establishing systems that will allow us to accomplish our goals.

Vision is also necessary to keep us motivated. Most, if not all, entrepreneurs begin their business because they want to achieve great things. There is an energy that comes from this desire. Vision is what allows entrepreneurs to maintain their energy. Constantly maintaining a vision of our future allows us to become that vision. It gives us energy and a reason to keep going no matter how difficult the going gets.

Anytime I get at all discouraged, I lean on my vision of the future to get me going again. It's knowing who I am and what is possible that gets me past the difficult times. We all have them. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's part of life. But getting past the difficult times is also a part of life. And how fast we can get past these periods of discouragement can have a major impact on how fast we can accomplish our vision.

Of course, our vision is always changing as our knowledge increases. We begin with a small vision, say of a CPA firm with 15-20 employees. Then, as we are successful, we can see a slightly bigger vision, perhaps of a firm with a few different offices. Our vision today is dramatically bigger than it was even a few years ago. We used to see 10 offices. Now we see ProVision not as a number of offices, but as a methodology. ProVision, along with its strategic coaching initiatives, its visionary capabilities, and its innovative systems, is a methodology that we can see being used by multiple CPA firms throughout the world. There is really no need for multiple offices "owned" by Tom and Ann.

Instead, we need to expand by offering our concepts and thought processes to other CPA firms. This is our mission over the next several years. We begin today by establishing ProVision, a proactive, professional, progressive vision of what CPA firms can and should be. The offices we do own will be the proving grounds for our innovations in client service. But our real vision is to spread these ideas faster through affiliations with other CPA firms.

Our ability to see our own vision and understand how it drives our business comes first. Then, we can use this ability to help others understand their vision and how it can drive their business. This is the business of ProVision - to help others realize their financial dreams faster than they could possibly imagine. After all, this is what professional visionaries should be all about - helping others imagine and achieve their vision.

Warmest regards,

Tom