A colleagu
e asked me the other day how my Rainmaking program was going. And the answer was, unfortunately, “It’s going well, but not taking off as quickly as I’d like it to.” After thinking about it, I got mad at myself and decided to shift the conversation to “It’s going amazingly well – thanks for asking!” The conversation needed to be reframed in order to honor the dream and the encouragement I’ve received from my friends and colleagues. So, thank you!
If you’re a frequent reader of this blog, you’ll know that most of the time it centers on practical tips and articles about multistate tax issues – my primary business. But, if you search “Rainmaking” within the blog, you’ll also know that I’m following a long-time dream to share the experiences and knowledge of building a successful consulting practice with fellow CPAs and other service providers who want to fill their pipelines. So, for several months at the beginning of the year, we featured weekly or bi-weekly posts on the Rainmaking topic as well. And then…it became much more sporadic. Ultimately, it’s been quite a while since we’ve dedicated a post to Rainmaking. So, this blog is a refresh!
The main cornerstones emphasized in the Rainmaking program are consistency and accountability. I encourage people to consistently engage in activities aimed at their target market, to get in front of the right people, to do public speaking (if that’s your thing), and to blog, among other things. All of those things are done as part of an overall plan of action which also has an accountability piece. The accountability is so key – especially if you are mainly accountable to yourself – and so many of us are. So, when I realized how long it has been since the last Rainmaking blog, I felt a little guilty. But, then realized that there have been several accomplishments in the Rainmaking side of the business in the last several months. And I wanted to share them here and “come clean” to you, the readers, because we all know that we’re not perfect, and we stumble on the follow-through sometimes, BUT it’s OK and we can quickly recover.
So, here’s the accountability piece. In the last 6 months, I have:
- Given several Rainmaking presentations to CPA firms, and have delivered the 3 part “Jumpstart Your Rainmaking” webinar series;
- Been asked to speak at the AFWA National Conference in Denver on October 27th on the topic of Rainmaking;
- Engaged the services of a fellow NAWBO sister, and long-time keynote speaker, Mimi Donaldson, to help take my Rainmaking keynote presentation to the next level of audience engagement;
- Booked at least 3 additional speaking engagements to associations related to Rainmaking;
- Selected the dates for our next 3 part webinar series (stay tuned!)
Overall – not so bad after all! I just wasn’t looking at it in terms of What Has Been Done – I was getting bogged down in the What HASN’T Been Done. It’s easy to do. But I’m back. Practicing what I preach.
I hope you’ll follow me down the Rainmaking road again – excited to be back in the blog-o-sphere! And there are a lot of cool things to share in the upcoming months, because, well – I really have been working pretty hard at this in order to provide the best possible information to you. And I’m thrilled to share! Please keep asking me how it’s going – and join the conversation.
Monika Miles is President of Miles Consulting Group, a firm specializing in multi-state tax consulting for middle market businesses. Clients include technology, manufacturing, software and SaaS based companies doing businesses across state lines. Miles Consulting Group assists companies in determining the sales tax and income tax ramifications of creating a taxable presence in a state and how to address these issues with the various states. When she’s not assisting clients with multi-state tax issues, she passionately shares Rainmaking strategies with other professional services firms.
