Working ON the Business in Las Vegas

Who would believe that you could spend a productive weekend in Las Vegas working ON your business instead of IN your business?

Five of us spent last weekend in Las Vegas attending the “A Day With the Disrupters” event sponsored by the VeraSage Institute. VeraSage challenges people to break free of traditional practice methods that marginalize their professions, undermine their purposes and fail their clients.  We had already thrown away our time sheets a while back and looked forward to hanging out with other forward-thinking professionals who are committed to changing the accounting profession.

We got to interact with other professionals who, like us, believe the primary business model of our profession is flawed – especially the notion of billing by the hour.  Our customers buy our knowledge and problem solving abilities.  They don’t buy our time.

Beyond the inspiration we received from the conference, we also benefited from being away from the office together in a social atmosphere.  We learned more about each other on a personal level. Hopefully this leads to increased trust and communication and helps us to be more effective with our customers.

We had informal opportunities to discuss the things we each took from the VeraSage conference on a personal level and as business owners and managers, and discuss how we could implement some of them.

Some of this stuff never happens at the office because the opportunities to get together for an extended period without the distractions are rare. We always seem to be busy with the daily demands of working IN the business – responding to customer requirements, managing our work load, paying the bills, etc.

Get yourself and your team out of the office more often! Done right, the intangible benefits far outweigh the costs. And, best of all, it’s fun.

Written by: Doug Johnstone, CA