Building a client-focused firm: Our process changed everything

When people say, “What’s your firm’s niche?” they expect you to say dentists, real estate investors, influencers, or about a dozen more.

Our answer is different.

Our niche is clients who follow the process. Clients who value structure, respect boundaries, pay upfront, and want to work digitally from anywhere.

We didn’t always know that was our niche. But once we figured it out, everything changed.

The turning point

A few years ago, our firm was drowning in paper dropoffs, chasing payments, and getting stuck in endless email loops with clients who couldn’t upload a document or make a decision.

At some point, we had to ask: What kind of clients do we actually want to work with?

We realized these were clients who uploaded to SmartVault, signed agreements on time through Anchor, followed our deadlines, and respected our time; those were the ones we enjoyed working with most. They got the best results. We did our best work.

Our team didn’t burn out.

So we leaned all the way in.

Building the firm around the right clients

We went remote. We stopped accepting paper. We enforced a “no payment, no work” policy and stuck to it.

We raised prices and lost a few clients who weren’t a fit and immediately realized how much easier our work became.

Our niche became less about who we served and more about how we worked. 

Whether you’re an S Corporation owner, or a digital nomad, you’re a great client if you follow our process.

We stopped making exceptions, and we started building systems for onboarding, pricing, document collection, and communication.

What about the tax side?

Do we still deal with tax complexity? Of course. Most of our clients are small business owners or solopreneurs juggling multiple states, 1099s, or year-end catch-up bookkeeping. But the technical work is easier to manage when you’re not constantly chasing paperwork or reacting to last-minute surprises.

We shifted the firm away from reactive compliance to proactive guidance, but only for clients who buy into that model. Trying to “educate” resistant clients used to wear us down. Now, we just don’t take them on.

What this niche gave us:

• Less burnout.
• More aligned clients.
• A team that knows what to expect, every day.
• Time and space to think, improve, and enjoy the work again.

Our firm didn’t just get more profitable … it got healthier.

Where the profession is headed

You don’t have to pick a traditional niche to run a successful firm. You just have to pick the kind of client you want to serve and build around that.

For us, it’s the clients who respect process, value systems, and want structure. We’ve learned that clients don’t need their accountant to be available 24/7; they just need us to be reliable, clear, and confident.

In a world full of chaos, we’re offering clarity. That’s the real value of a modern firm. That’s a niche worth committing to.

Editor’s note: Do you have a niche you want to write about? Leave a comment below and we will follow up with you.